Kao the Kangaroo Achievement Guide & Road Map

Kao the Kangaroo
Kao the Kangaroo Achievement Guide

Overview:
- Estimated achievement difficulty: 3/10 [Achievement Difficulty Rating]
- Offline: 15 [1000]
- Online: 0
- Approximate amount of time to 1000

: 6-8 hours [Estimated Time to 100%]
- Minimum number of playthroughs needed: 1
- Missable achievements: None [level select]
- Does difficulty affect achievements: No difficulty option
- Unobtainable/glitched achievements: None

For questions, comments or feedback, please visit the Achievements and Guide Discussion thread.

Introduction:
Welcome to Kao the Kangaroo, the return of a Sega character from the Dreamcast era, in a 3D platforming adventure reminiscent of classics such as Spyro, Crash Bandicoot, and the more recent Super Lucky's Tale. If you have no memory of this character, don't worry - neither did I, and I owned a Dreamcast. However, this game is a surprisingly solid platformer. You'll likely notice tons of inspiration from various other classic platformers, such as collecting letters, collecting heart pieces, semi open levels and hub worlds, and boss fights. The achievement list is very simple but very back-heavy, with most unlocking at the end after doing everything. Let's get started.

Abbreviated Walkthrough:
Since nothing is missable, feel free to jump right in. However, two things to know to make the completion quicker and more efficient:

All collectibles can be gotten in your first run of a level. There is no need to replay levels with later abilities or anything like that. Therefore, I recommend keeping a collectible guide handy to knock them all out as you go, eliminating the need to replay any of the (relatively long) levels)
The only collectibles not in levels are the heart fragments purchased from the shops in the hub world. To unlock the achievement for all heart fragments, you'll need to buy all the fragments from each shop. Each shop sells two, and each costs 500 Ducats. As a result, that's what you should be spending your money on. Save up your coins as you play through levels, and each time you get to a new hub world, immediately go to the shop and buy both heart fragments

Even though I recommend buying the heart fragments right away, I don't mean to imply money is scarce. To put it in perspective, I bought all heart fragments (500 Ducats each), bought 10 extra lives (500 Ducats each) to unlock Health Insurance (90G), the outfits (750 Ducats each) needed for Mystery of the Volcano (30G), and I still finished the game with over 5,000 Ducats left. So, there is an abundance of coins throughout the game, far more than you'll need.

That's really all there is to this completion. Follow the collectible guide linked in Between Worlds (90G) to ensure you get all the collectibles along the way, and by the time you finish the game you should have nearly every achievement. If you're still missing a couple miscellaneous achievements, refer to the guide to very quickly knock them out.

Conclusion:
Despite this game apparently being pretty buggy and problematic at launch, it plays completely fine now. I didn't encounter a single issue during my time with this game. I can therefore confidently say this is a very solid 3D platformer, and quite casual. Nothing should put up much resistance, especially once you start getting more hearts so taking damage and falling in water doesn't pose nearly as much threat anymore. This is a pretty quick completion too, making it a short and sweet game. Congrats on the completion!

[XBA would like to thank Necrophage33 for this Roadmap]

...And lived happily ever after

100
Finish the game
Story-related; cannot be missed.

This will unlock after the final cutscenes, after beating the Eternal Warrior.
Warm up

15
Complete the tutorial with Walt
Story-related; cannot be missed.

This will unlock after completing the first level, the tutorial.
Out of Bubblegum

15
Find and defeat Terror
Story-related; cannot be missed.

Terror is the boss of the first area, and you'll actually fight him after the first level, Dark Forest, before finishing the other level in this area.

This is a very basic fight. For the first phase, he sends a tornado in a set line shown on the ground. Simply move out of the way, and jump over the flames left behind if need be. Once he crashes and is stunned, go combo him a few times, then get out of the way. This first phase is really easy.

For the second phase, he stays in the center and sends out waves of tornados. Stay far back to give yourself plenty of time to react to the swaying pattern of the tornados. When they die down, grab a rock and throw it at him to damage him. Repeat this a couple more times.

The third phase has the same attack pattern (just the tornados), but now you need to jump up a few platforms and hit a crystal. This can make things a little trickier, making sure you make the jumps without hitting a tornado, but in general the hit detection is pretty good and it's not as bad as it seems. Just be patient and wait for an opening before you jump. After punching the three crystals, you'll defeat him.
Another day at the office

30
Defeat Jayabaya
Story-related; cannot be missed.

Jayabaya is the boss of the second area, and while he's quite big and you do much less damage to him that the first boss, he's pretty easy.

In the first phase, he's pretty aggressive, but you can do the same. He'll jump at you, so just roll away out of the circle, then roll right back in and start punching. When he winds up to hit you, roll behind him and keep the combos going, even through his next attack, until he jumps again.

For the second phase, he'll be up on a ledge and will throw mugs at you. You'll need to jump and hit them to deflect them back at him. Between each, you'll need to fight a simple mob of enemies.

For the final phase, he comes back at you with all of his attacks. Just roll behind him and keep the combos going throughout. His quick ground pound doesn't seem to hit you if you're behind him, despite the circle on the ground indicating that it should hit you.
Reborn

30
Defeat The Oldest One
Story-related; cannot be missed.

The Oldest One is the boss of the third area, and is even easier than the previous boss.

For the first phase, keel running in circles to avoid the projectiles, grab a fireball, punch any mirror, then get behind it and stay there until his shot deflects back at him and stuns him, so you can run in and hit him. Repeat this two more times, taking note that the mirrors move now, so you'll need to stay moving behind them.

For the second phase, he splits into clones. They'll appear around you when you're in the center. While each clone has a snowflake above their head, the ice that you can get from a totem just turns them into an ice cube for a bit, so it's really not that useful. Instead, look for the clone acting different from the other, and just go up and combo him. The others will disappear once you hit the right one. Repeat this process, rolling around until you identify the real one, and he'll be gone very quickly.
Reunited

30
Beat The Eternal Warrior
Story-related; cannot be missed.

The Eternal Warrior is the final boss of the game, and definitely more involved than the other bosses, both in terms of a longer fight and more stuff that'll hurt you.

In the first phase, you'll get a group of four enemies spawned around you. Beat them while being careful of the warrior's chain attack. Once they're dead, he'll raise up three platforms with a blue object on the highest. Jump to the top while being careful of his chain, because just touching it hurts you. Pick up the blue object, aim, and throw it at him, while still being careful of a chain attack. After four cycles phase one will end.

Phase two is markedly easier. His only attack is his chain attack, and as long as you keep moving around the circular arena it won't be an issue. There are three crystals you need to hit, and each requires at least two different elements. There is a totem for each element on the ground. Run/roll around and grab one of each element, then head to each crystal where you'll need to use at least two to reach it, typically unfreeze it, then punch it. After punching one, hop down and punch the boss, then repeat for the other two crystals until he's beaten.
KAO!

100
Collect the KAO letters on all levels
Refer to Between Worlds (90G) for more information.
Healthy

90
Unlock all extra heart slots
Refer to Between Worlds (90G) for more information.
Find’em All

90
Collect all the Kaopedia entries about Foes
While this achievement isn't technically story related, it might as well be.

The Kaopedia entries come in the form of scrolls that you'll come across in the hubs and the levels. However, you do NOT need to collect the ones shown on the pause screen in each level and hub. The only scrolls required for this achievement are the ones about enemies, and those scrolls are received automatically for defeating the associated enemies. Assuming you defeat all enemies you come across and don't just run past them, you'll unlock this achievement with natural progression as you play through the first level of the final area. My experience is that it always seemed to be the second enemy of that type to drop the scroll, rather than the first one.
Master Key

100
Collect all the runes
Refer to Between Worlds (90G) for more information.
Flawless Victory

100
Defeat one of the bosses without receiving any damage
This is easiest to do on either the first or third boss. It's actually pretty likely you'll do it on the first boss on your first attempt. If not, it shouldn't take more than one or two more tries to get the attack pattern down. For the first boss, all it really comes down to is dodging those tornados at the end.

However, whichever boss you attempt this on, refer to the achievement specific to each boss for their attacks and general strategy for beating them.
Between Worlds

90
Find and complete all of the Eternal Wells
There are quite a few collectibles in this game, so it's important to know what's required:
- KAO Letters - Every level has the letters K-A-O hidden throughout, in sequential order. They're the same color as coins but a bit bigger
- Heart Fragments - Every level has at least one, but upwards of three, Heart Fragments to collect. Collecting four total gives you and extra heart
- Eternal Wells - Most levels have two Eternal Wells. These act like challenge rooms. Note that all that's required is to beat them. It doesn't matter how many coins you collect or if you collect any gems
- Runes - These are required for progression, and out of the 50 in the game, you need 48 to access the final boss, so you'll be unavoidably getting almost all of these anyway. The ones in levels are always right on your path so you don't miss them. The ones in hub worlds are the only ones you may need to hunt down
And what's NOT required:
- Gems - After finishing the game and doing seemingly everything, I still have absolutely no idea what these do. I never used a single one, so feel free to ignore them completely
- Scrolls - Here I'm referring to the scrolls that are tracked for each level on the pause screen. Each level and hub has one or more scrolls hidden somewhere to collect. These are not required for any achievements. The scrolls that are required for Find’em All (90G) are dropped by enemies and aren't the ones tracked on the pause screen
Note that, of the required items, Heart Fragments are the only one not tracked on the pause screen. In fact, I couldn't find them tracked anywhere. This means that if you miss one, you unfortunately have no way of knowing which level you missed them in. Also be aware that, in addition to the Heart Fragments you need to collect in levels, the shop in each hub world sells two Heart Fragments, so make sure to buy the two in each hub world when you get there.

The good news about tracking is that all collectibles in the game save as soon as you pick them up. This means if you grab one and die, it stays collected. This also means that if you miss anything and need to replay a level to get it, you can simply grab it and then quit back to the hub, and it'll stay collected.

In terms of a guide, I'm the type of person that prefers a text guide over constantly watching a video. The best text guide I've found is by PowerPyx, HERE. If you prefer a video guide, refer to THIS PLAYLIST. Full credit to the creator of that content.
Health Insurance

90
Have 20 lives in total
It's theoretically possible to unlock this by the end of the game if you don't die at all and pick up all the extra lives throughout the levels (many of which are hidden). That's probably unlikely to happen though, so here is what you'll likely end up doing.

As noted in the roadmap, there is no shortage of coins throughout the game. Each shop in the hub worlds sells five extra lives for 500 Ducats each. Once you've bought all the heart fragments in the game, there's nothing left to spend money on, so buy as many lives as you can afford with the coins you have left. There's a good chance that'll be enough to get you this achievement (I had 5,000 Ducats left after that). However, if you still need more lives and don't have any more money, replay the tutorial level, Walt's Dojo. Play until you reach the extra life right in your path, then quit back to the hub and repeat until you reach 20 lives.
Fatality

90
Defeat five enemies at once with a finisher
There's actually a pretty good chance this will happen naturally as you progress. There are quite a few fights with five or more enemies. Basically, punch them all once or twice to damage them and to fill up your finisher meter (under your health), at which point you can press when you see the prompt over an enemy. This will do an AoE attack, and you need it to hit and kill five enemies.

If you don't get this during natural progression, replay the first normal level, Dark Forest. Proceed almost halfway through to where there's a band playing on stage. Nearly ten frog enemies attack you at once. Punch each one once or twice, let them gather around, then unleash your finisher and you should easily kill five.
Mystery of the Volcano

30
Wear an outfit from Kao 3
The shop in each hub world sells outfits at the wardrobe near the vendor, and for this achievement, you need to buy a hat and shirt from the third Kao game. The game me gives no indication which game the outfits are from, but in the image below, you need the highlighted hat and the shirt just below it, both of which cost 750 Ducats. Both of these items become available to purchase as soon as the reach the second hub world, Hungry Jungle. Simply buy both and the achievement will unlock.