------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nicktoons MLB Achievement Guide for Xbox 360 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Legal Stuff: ------------------ Created by Andrew Jett (Bombdirt) First update 5/6/13 Most recent update 5/7/13 Version 1.25 This FAQ represents the writer's own work and may not be changed or altered in any way. If you would like to use this guide in a non-profit capacity, please give full credit where applicable. Updates will be posted to www.gamefaqs.com. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Table of contents ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Introduction/About This Guide 2. Getting Started 3. Achievements and Strategies 4. Conclusion 5. Credits, Revision History and Contact Information ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Introduction/About This Guide ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Greetings and welcome to my achievement guide for "Nicktoons MLB" on the Xbox 360. This is my first FAQ, so if you notice a formatting error or the guide just generally makes you ill, you have my apologies. If you have any questions regarding this FAQ, feel free to e-mail me (I'll post a contact address at the end). Just make sure you title the message "Nicktoons MLB" or something like that; otherwise I'll probably delete it. This guide is designed to aid gamers in acquiring all the achievements for the game in a relatively simple and timely fashion. There are a total of 35 achievements in the game, and they are fairly easy to obtain once you've got a feel for things. That's more than I can say for most games out there. When you're finished, you'll have an extra 1000 points of street cred for your efforts. What I'll do is list each achievement, then go a little more in-depth with the strategy involved in getting it. Many are pretty self-explanatory, but a few can cause confusion to some gamers, especially if you're not familiar with professional baseball. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Getting Started ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For the purposes of getting all the achievements in "Nicktoons MLB," the first thing you should do is enter the "Options" menu at the start screen. Set the difficulty to "Rookie" (don't worry; I won't tell anyone) and the innings to "3." Shorter games help cut down on the time investment involved in getting all the achievements, but you'll have to come back to the "Options" and switch it to "9" to get a few of them. I'll make a note of that when I go over each one specifically. I'd also recommend turning off the Game and Menu Tutorials. They can get really annoying. For the purposes of the Tournament and a large chunk of the card collecting, It's probably best to pick one team (preferably one loaded with big hitters) and stick with them. Familiarity with your lineup can go a long way toward knowing what to do in certain baseball situations. Personally, I went with the New York Yankees for the majority of the game--and not just because I'm a Yankees fan. They're loaded with talent at the plate, most notably Alex Rodriguez, Curtis Granderson and Robinson Cano. Mariano Rivera is probably the best closer in the game as well. Also--and I can't stress this enough--make sure you're comfortable with the timing involved while pitching. Getting a "Perfect" rating by filling up your meter makes it much easier to throw strikes, and if your pitcher is rated highly in that particular pitch, you're pretty much unhittable if you're maxing out your meter consistently on the "Easy" difficulty. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3. Achievements and Strategies ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. "Three Up Three Down" -- Have a 1, 2, 3 inning with a single pitcher in any single-player mode (25 G) Advice: There's not a whole lot to this one. All you have to do is get through one half-inning without issuing a walk, allowing a hit or switching pitchers. This should pop for you without any effort. 2. "Walk This Way" -- Hit a walk-off home run (50 G) Advice: Easier than it sounds. Set up a three-inning pick-up game (make sure you're the home team, otherwise it won't work) and don't score or allow your opponents to score until you reach the bottom of the third. Hit a turbo home run with any player to end the inning and the game. 3. "Quality Start" -- Go six or more innings and allow less than four earned runs with your starter (25 G) Advice: You'll have to adjust the innings in the "Options" menu for this one. Pick a team with a solid starting pitcher (San Francisco, Philadelphia, etc.) to improve your chances. 4. "Complete Game" -- Have your starting pitcher go the distance in a 9-inning game (25 G) Advice: Just don't pull your starter, even if he stinks. Finish the game. Done. 5. "Perfect Game" -- Pitch a perfect game (9 innings) (100 G) Advice: This one can get a little tricky if you don't have the timing down on pitches. For those that don't know, a "perfect game" in baseball means a starting pitcher goes nine innings without issuing a walk or a hit. That's no baserunners at all; 27 up and 27 down. To do this, try to stay just outside the hitters' hot zones. If you can get a "perfect" full meter the vast majority of the time, the batters won't be able to make contact. It also helps if you're playing against a relatively crummy team like the Cubs. Stick with your five- star ranked pitches as well. Also, if a hitter tries to pull out a turbo hit on you throughout the course of the game, counter it with a turbo pitch and you should be fine. One extra note on this one: it has to be your starting pitcher. I tried pulling Phil Hughes in favor of Mariano Rivera right as a game started, then pitched a perfect game and the achievement didn't pop. 6. "One for the Books" -- Have a single pitcher record at least 18 strikeouts in a single game (50 G) Advice: This goes hand-in-hand with the "Perfect Game" achievement. Get your timing down as a pitcher, stay out of the hot zones (but within the strike zone) and play against a lesser team. Obviously, you'll need to be set at nine innings for this one (or technically six). If you want to improve your chances, don't record outs anywhere else. That means screwing up routine fly balls and not throwing out baserunners. 7. "Blowout" -- Win by 10 or more runs (50 G) Advice: If you're using a power-hitting team (like the Yankees) and playing against a relatively bad team (like the Cubs) you should have no problem with this. 8. "Grinder Ball" -- Win by only hitting singles (50 G) Advice: Everyone loves bashing homers, so this one takes a bit of restraint. Keep your thumb over that "A" button (contact hit) and resist the urge to use the left stick to guide your player around first base. Keep hitting singles and the CPU baserunners will do the rest. Here again is where a strong pitching performance really helps. 9. "Straight to the Show" -- Win a 9-inning game in a single-player game (25 G) Advice: This should come naturally. 10. "World Champion" -- Win the tournament (50 G) Advice: Go to "Tournament" mode and play through the progression of teams waiting to meet you. You'll have to win two out of three games to advance to the next round each time. Set the innings to "3" to speed this up. Again, a good power-hitting team really helps. 11. "Twice as Nice" -- Pull off a double play (25 G) Advice: There's really no concrete strategy for this one, but you can set yourself up with better chances by selecting a team with high fielding rankings and having a few bars of turbo. Intentionally walk a hitter to get a baserunner on first, then try to get a ground ball or a short fly. You can use the turbo throws to speed up the play, but they're not necessary to get the achievement. 12. "Got 'em All" -- Hit for the cycle (50 G) Advice: "Hitting for the cycle" means that one player registers a single, a double, a triple and a home run in the same game. So, you'll need at least four at-bats to accomplish it. That means a nine-inning game is likely in the cards. Homers are the easiest to get (turbo) and triples the most difficult. Use a player with high marks in power, contact and speed (Matt Kemp from the Dodgers comes to mind) to make your attempt. Try to get the triple out of the way first, since it's the hardest. Set yourself up as the visiting team and just go for three-baggers with each hitter in your lineup. If you can't get it in the first inning, start the game over and try again. Once someone gets a triple, keep track of his stats the rest of the way (there's no way to tell in the game) so you don't duplicate anything. It'll take some persistence, but you'll get it eventually. 13. "One Man Wrecking Crew" -- Have a single player account for 10 or more RBI in one game (50 G) Advice: Tougher than it sounds. Try to load the bases in front of a power hitter and unleash a turbo home run when he gets up to bat. If you can manage to hit four or five homers in a game with two or three baserunners on each time, you should get enough RBI to qualify. 14. "Spreading the Love" -- Have all starters on your team earn at least one hit in Single Player mode (25 G) Advice: This isn't as bad as it sounds, especially if you're playing a nine- inning game. Use turbo homers to supplement bad hitters if they're struggling. 15. "Welcome to the Majors!" -- Chase the opposing team's starting pitcher in the first inning (50 G) Advice: "Chasing the pitcher" means getting the opponent to switch out his starting pitcher with a reliever. To do this in the first inning, you basically just have to get a lot of hits/runs. I'm not sure there's a concrete number for triggering it, but turbo homers (you can fill your bars up during the top of the first if you're playing as the home team) and extra-base hits certainly help. For example, the first time I did it--if I remember correctly--I hit two or three homers, one double, a few singles and scored six runs. It's just one of those achievements you'll have to keep trying until you get it. 16. "I Make This Look Good" -- Hit consecutive home runs with the same player in two at-bats in the same game (25 G) Advice: Two words: turbo homers. 17. "King of the Hill" -- Make it through a game without falling behind once (25 G) Advice: Shouldn't be too hard. Keep the pressure on with lots of turbo homers. 18. "I'm Not That Easy" -- Hit a home run with a pitcher (25 G) Advice: You'll have to use the turbo on this one, as the pitchers aren't good hitters at all. One thing that may confuse people, however, is that their pitchers never come up to bat. If that happens, you're using an American League team with a DH (designated hitter). To prevent the DH and make your pitcher earn his paycheck at the plate, play with National League teams. For example, select a game between the Cardinals and Cubs at Wrigley Field. 19. "Winning Ways" -- Win a single-player game (5 G) Advice: No problem. This will occur naturally as you're playing. 20. "The Final Showdown" -- Win a 9-inning game in Showdown Mode (25 G) Advice: Not much to it; select "Showdown" from the main menu and choose your team. If you're good at pitching you won't have any problems. 21. "Tape Measure Shot" -- Win a Distance Derby round in single-player (15 G) Advice: Select a five-star power hitter (Prince Fielder, Albert Pujols, etc.) and a comparatively bad opponent. Aim the left stick at the targets that pop up in the stands, then toward center field when you've hit three homers in a row. With a talented hitter, this should be very easy. 22. "Life is Grand" -- Hit a grand slam (25 G) Advice: Load the bases with contact hits (make sure to manually keep your runners from advancing on their own) and slap a turbo home run. No problem. 23. "All-American" -- Defeat all the American League teams (50 G) Advice: Look at your baseball card collection to see which ones you still need to beat. A three-inning pick-up game is your best bet. 24. "National Pride" -- Defeat all the National League teams (50 G) Advice: Look at your baseball card collection to see which ones you still need to beat. A three-inning pick-up game is your best bet. 25. "A Full Deck" -- Unlock all baseball cards (25 G) Advice: This is the achievement that will take the most time--by far. To check which cards you've acquired already, select "Card Collection" from the main menu. Select a card to see what it takes to unlock it. Challenges range from relatively easy (load the bases) to relatively hard (hit for the cycle). Most of them mirror the Xbox achievements, so you'll get the majority by just going for those. There are some exceptions, though. You'll have to beat all the MLB teams to earn a card for each one, and there are a few associated with hitting targets in the Distance Derby. When you're playing games against each MLB team, you'll want to set the innings to three, obviously, and make sure you choose the home team. That will eliminate another half-inning of work if you're in the lead by the bottom of the third. Also, if you're confident in your pitching (which you should be), you can speed things up even further by getting an early lead and breezing through the rest of your at-bats by tapping bunts straight back to the pitcher. Once you've got it down, you can plow through a game in four or five minutes. For the Distance Derby cards, you'll have to employ a certain strategy. Go with an excellent power-hitting player (Prince Fielder, Albert Pujols, etc.) and assign your opponent to a bad hitter so you won't have to worry about losing before you reach your goal. Aim for the targets that pop up in the stands by pointing the left stick toward them. Once you hit three in a row, intentionally miss the next pitch. This will prevent you from hitting the high-scoring targets that will end your game prematurely. Keep hitting the targets (and intentionally missing the next pitch after every third time) until you've got enough. There are cards for hitting five, 10, 15 and 20 targets. 26. "Throwing Smoke" -- Throw a turbo strikeout (10 G) Advice: Easy enough. Go into turbo pitch mode (RT) and toss a decent pitch for the third strike. 27. "Under the Sea" -- Hit a turbo home run in the Poseidome (5 G) Advice: Self-explanatory. Try to take care of this one as you're going through the Tournament. 28. "The Wind is Blowing Out" -- Hit a turbo home run in Air Temple Courtyard (5 G) Advice: Self-explanatory. Try to take care of this one as you're going through the Tournament. 29. "That's Just Cold, Man!" -- Hit a turbo home run in Frosty Freeze Field (5 G) Advice: Self-explanatory. Try to take care of this one as you're going through the Tournament. 30. "Going, Going, Ghost" -- Hit a turbo home run in Ghost Zone Stadium (5 G) Advice: Self-explanatory. Try to take care of this one as you're going through the Tournament. 31. "I'll Take That To Go" -- Hit a turbo home run in IRKEN FIELD (5 G) Advice: Self-explanatory. Try to take care of this one as you're going through the Tournament. 32. "Break a Few Eggs" -- Hit a turbo home run in Yolkus Stadium (5 G) Advice: Self-explanatory. Try to take care of this one as you're going through the Tournament. 33. "Locked and Loaded" -- Load the bases (5 G) Advice: Pretty simple. Keep going for contact hits, and make sure to stop your runners from advancing on their own. 34. "Hitting for Average" -- Earn a multi-hit game with one player (5 G) Advice: Shouldn't be a problem at all. You'll earn this one naturally. 35. "Squeezed In There" -- Gain an RBI from a bunt (30 G) Advice: Could be a little tricky. Make sure you've got a fast runner on third base and a fast runner up to bat before you try this. Aim the bunt down the third-base line, and when the pitcher grabs it, send your runner home. It may take a couple of tries to get the timing down, but with speedy players it shouldn't be much of a problem. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4. Conclusion ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Well, that was an easy 1000 G, wasn't it? "Nicktoons MLB" is actually a pretty fun game, even if you're well past the age of Nickelodeon viewing. There are some familiar faces for people of just about every age (Ren and Stimpy were favorites of mine) so bagging all the achievements isn't nearly as tedious as it can be in some other games. Sure, there are some flaws--the painful in-game commentary for one--and you should look elsewhere if you want an accurate baseball simulator, but on the whole it's a pretty solid title considering the target demographic. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5. Credits, Revision History and Contact Information ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks to GameFAQs for hosting this guide. Thanks to you for clicking on it. If you have any questions relating to the game, or if you'd like to point out mistakes or better strategies for any of the achievements, e-mail me at bombdirtaol.com (yes, I still have an AOL account. I use it for signups and the like). I'll give credit in this section to anyone who helps out. Just make sure you put "Nicktoons MLB" or something like that in the subject line or it probably won't get opened. Version 1.0 of this guide produced on 5/6/13 - First posting Version 1.25 of this guide produced on 5/7/13 - Added some extra information; fixed a few minor typos and spacing issues ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright (c) 2013 Andrew Jett