Dustforce

Glitched on version 1.00. This trophy is a real nightmare and will see you struggling in all 57 levels of the game to get those precious SS Ranks. If you are mediocre or barely good at platform games, it is highly advised to play on version 1.00 and use the Finesse glitch (explained in the Roadmap) in at least the hardest levels of the game (mainly Gold and ! levels, although Silver levels can be troublesome as well at times). You can use the glitch in every level except for Observatory, Clocktower and Exa Difficult, since these 3 levels lack checkpoints. If you are a pro or just wish to dedicate hundreds of hours on this game and master it, you can play it on version 1.01 and SS-rank everything legitimately, which means you will have to finish each level without dying, without skipping a single patch of dust, without ever getting hit by enemies, and without ever breaking your combo.

The Tutorial (located in Nexus) is the 1st level you should SS-rank to learn the game mechanics and, after that, SS-rank all 48 levels in the 4 main hubs to get 16 Red keys and enter the ! hub with the last 8 levels of the game. Refer to the following video to understand how to find the ! hub:

If you are going to use the glitch in version 1.00 and get an SS-Rank in every level, there is a chance the trophy might not pop, forcing you to restart a whole new playthrough. The PS Vita version suffers this problem the most and you will not get this trophy on version 1.00, whereas you can get it on the PS3 1.00 version providing you never browse the level tomes (the books at the start of each hub), you never check the leaderboards and you never watch replays (thanks to A1rPun for explaining this). If you are going to do it legitimately, you can get the trophy on either console by playing the 1.01 version.

A few general tips to make your journey a little easier:

• Even though you can Finesse-glitch the majority of the levels, keep in mind that you still need to collect all dust, therefore always double-check you haven’t skipped a minuscule portion of dust before moving onwards (this is especially important in the ! levels where dust can be very hard to see due to the game’s graphics);
• Always keep checkpoints enabled or else the glitch is useless;
• YouTube is your best friend for the hardest levels, so make sure you check as many videos and different methods as possible if you get stuck. I would recommend to avoid watching the World Records replays, because, even though they are fantastic runs from pro players, they use advanced techniques which can be troublesome to reproduce when you play the game yourself, especially if you are really bad (like me);
• Dustman (the light-blue guy) is the most versatile and noob-friendly character and you should use him in pretty much every level except for a couple which are discussed in the ! levels appendix below; Dustgirl (the red girl) should be avoided in every level, since she is similar to Dustman, but slightly harder to get used to;
• I have left a few more tips in the ! levels appendix below, which I recommend browsing, especially for Yotta, the most difficult stage in the game.

! levels appendix

This appendix’ purpose is to offer you a few tips for some of the ! levels, known to be the most arduous of the game.

• Yotta Difficult
  
  Hardest level of the 8. If you can do this, then you will surely be able to finish the other ones. The following video is the best one to watch to learn the level without using advanced techniques (credit goes to AnimatorZed):

  Always keep checkpoints enabled and learn every section one by one by referring to the video. The reason why this level is so hard is due to the atrocious length and the many 1-frame jumps in it, which will see you struggle for hours on the same section until you eventually get used to them. The 2nd hardest section of the level is the so called “Tera section” (0:44-0:55 of the video). Thankfully, you can cheese through it if you have an Area attack ready. In order to have it ready, do not use it when you reach 0:42 of the video; instead spikejump on the 45°-angled spikes just below the blocks and heavy-attack the blocks (spikejumping is done by pressing + right before touching 45°-angled spikes: If you did it correctly, your character won’t die and he’ll jump on the spikes). Here’s a video showing how to get through the Tera section easily (credit goes to Mark van der Broek):

  Near the end of the level, you’ll have to slide onto the dreaded ramps: First of all, you need to gain enough height and, while midair, downdash ( + ) once or multiple times (if I recall correctly, I kept mashing while holding until the character landed), making sure the character lands on the angled part of the platform (the platforms I’m referring to are shaped like this: _ or _/ followed by the ramps themselves; you basically want to land onto the or / to gain more speed). Right after landing, stop dashing if you were doing it multiple times and use the only, following the direction of the ramp (if the ramp goes to the top right, you’ll hold ): The character will hang onto the ramp and slide over it automatically without pressing any other buttons until he runs out of speed and falls off. Rinse and repeat for every other ramp keeping the rhythm for this annoying section. Keep in mind what you learned here for the Zetta Difficult level!
  
  The hardest section of the level is unfortunately the last part. There are no easy ways for this one, other than keep practicing and getting a little lucky with the timing. The only useful tip I can give you to make it slightly easier is to skip the block AnimatorZed hits at 2:56; instead, hit the block at 2:57 and go up the last block at 3:00. When you reach it, use an Area attack, which will destroy the block you skipped before and allow you to jump to the left to the end of the stage.
  
  When you finally reach the ending blocks, charge the Area attack gauge by hitting the large blocks with light attacks, destroy a few of them but not the ones on the top, otherwise you risk leaving some dust on the ceiling and finally use the Area attack method to take advantage of the Finesse glitch and clear the level.
   

• Zetta Difficult
  
  Considered to be the 2nd hardest level of the game. Pretty much most YouTube videos you’ll find are enough for it. What makes it so hard are the ramps. The level is literally swarming with them, therefore keep in mind what it has been said for Yotta Difficult.
  
  A useful tip I can share is for the ramp after the very long jump where you use an Area attack to destroy a block high above and to recover an air charge to land onto the _ platform: Since this ramp is long and gaining enough speed is troublesome, just walk onto the top part and use heavy attacks to wipe out the dust on the other side where you would have normally slid. Also, I can’t remember if it works for the last ramp of the level, so try it there as well if you are having trouble.
   
• Exa Difficult
  
  Most players would say that this level is not so hard after some practice. I have found it really hard to be honest. First of all, keep in mind you cannot Finesse-glitch it, because there are no checkpoints. Secondly, use Dustworth here, as he is the best character for this level. There are some YouTube videos where players clear the level with him: Watch them and mix in their strategies as you believe it’s best for your playstyle.
  
  A 1st major tip I can share is to keep light-attacking the 1st big dustblock in the bottom-right part of the level (trust me, you really won’t miss it) until the Area attack gauge is full. Keep proceeding until the 2nd big dustblock and, right after that, there is a really tricky part with 4 dustblocks to your left. 2 of them are placed horizontally and the other 2 vertically. The 2 vertical blocks are placed between 2 vertical columns and the gap between these 2 columns is small and may get you easily killed due to the spikes. The 2nd major tip for this level is to destroy the 2 horizontal blocks first and then jump between the 2 vertical columns that have no dustblocks between them; the reason behind this is the bigger gap you will find here compared to the columns with the 2 vertical blocks. By doing this, you will be to the left of the 2 vertical blocks with a column separating your character from them. You can heavy-attack them through the column, then go left, destroy one more block, drop down a little and finish the level with an Area attack .
   
• Giga Difficult
  
  This level is difficult, but not as much as the above 3 in my opinion. The only 2 things that need to be said here are to use Dustkid, since she makes the level more manageable than Dustman would, and, considering the awful aesthetic of the level, keep in mind it’s extremely easy to skip some dust without realizing it. Proceed slowly and try to double-check whenever possible.
   
• Remaining ! levels
  
  No useful tips for these ones, but they aren’t nearly as hard as Yotta or Zetta, therefore some YouTube videos, practice, and the glitch should be enough.

Upon SS-ranking the last ! level (you can complete them in any order), you will unlock this trophy. Best of luck to you!