Naruto The Broken Bond

This one is a pain in the ass, especially because of Candy Drop. So I'm here to help those who are having as much trouble with it as I had. When playing Candy Drop and the candies are falling faster when you're just about to beat the high score for the Gold Medal. Rapidly press the corresponding buttons to make sure to grab the candies one at a time before the others fall through. Keep an eye on what's falling as you are pressing the corresponding buttons as you might end up accidently catching a nut or let too many candies fall so that you'd have to start all over again. It has worked for me after a few tries, just be persistent and don't give up and eventually you'll get this achievement if Candy Drop is the last mini-game you're getting the Gold Medal for. It's frustrating as hell so I might save that achievement for last unless you like a good challenge that requires luck.

There are a total of 7 games in Tanzaku Town, and to unlock this achievement you need to beat the pre-existing high score on each of them (which wins you the "gold medal" mentioned in the achievement description).

Not all of the games will be available when you first arrive at Tanzaku Town, but they will become available as you progress through the story. One of the story missions also requires that you engage with the games (though it does not require you to get gold medals).

Each game has a "high score" board that starts pre-populated with scores you need to beat. Each time you score, Naruto's name will be placed on the scoreboard, so if you beat the top score, "Naruto" will become the first place entry. Once you've won the gold medal, the map icon for the game will show a little gold star next to it.

They're all mini games that require some skill, so there is no fixed "solution" to beating each one, but there are some potentially helpful strategies!

Snake Smash: Bonk the snakes with the hammer to get points - starting with 1 point per snake and building up to a maximum of 4 per snake based on your current streak. Missing (hitting nothing) or hitting a toad ends your streak. You lose a hammer if any of the snakes "escape" by remaining unbonked for too long. But you gain hammers after long streaks. The snakes get more numerous and faster as the game goes on, so the key is keeping up the x4 streak early on.

Always bonk the snakes in the order they appeared - even if later ones are closer - because the time left before they disappear (and cost you a hammer) can be very tight. However, in the faster sections, if you're sure you won't reach a particular snake that is too far away, bonk any of the nearest ones to get some points before you lose the hammer and the game resets. If you practice so you can make few/no mistakes for an extended period of time while the game is still speeding up, you'll get plenty more points than you need.

Candy Drop: This is a Guitar Hero game. When the candies are over the relevant buttons on the "strum bar", you need to press them. Despite appearances, you are not able to catch candies that have passed the strum bar but not yet gone off the bottom of the screen. Take some time to get some muscle memory going for the face buttons to line up to the positions and you should be ok. Avoid catching the lug nuts. The game ends when you miss a few candies in a row, so don't fret if you miss one, you can recover.

Target Practice: This is a quick reflexes game where you press the button that pops up, unless it's covered in bandages, in which case you need to let it pass. There is a definite strategy to this one because you do not want to go as fast as you possibly can. The meter on the left hand side of the screen tracks if you're doing well or badly, each successful hit moves it up slightly and a miss moves it down a lot. You lose the game when it hits the bottom.

However, the game scales up faster if you're succeeding while the bar is at the top. It also slows down each time you make a mistake. To maximize your points without requiring superhuman reflexes, keep an eye on the left hand bar and when it's immediately below the top of the bar, intentionally let one of the targets pass. This will slow down the game, give you a second for a breather, and knock that bar down to about half way. Now go back to playing normally. Repeat that cycle and you'll get more points before the game gets faster than if you'd simply succeeded all the way through.

The Flying Fan: You need to get 10 points per round to keep going and only have 3 kunai in each round. You get the full 10 points for hitting the circle in the center of the fan and 5 for hitting the fan at all. You can get more than 10 points in a round as well - so hone your skills on the early rounds that are slower and easier to predict. Coming out of round 1 with 30 points instead of just 10 puts you in a much better position. That way you don't need to get as far in the faster rounds to reach the point total you need for the gold medal.

Don't try to throw the kunai at the fan while it's angled away from the screen - there's no time limit so you don't need to rush trying to hit a smaller target.

The Cup Game: A standard cup game where a ball will be hidden beneath one of the cups and then the cups shuffled. You have to pick where the ball stopped. There is no way to earn bonus points in each round (15 points per success), and 3 failures means you're out, so you'll always have to get to at least round 11 to win. The cups get very fast as the game goes on, so try to do what works for you to keep track of it. I found it easier to step back and focus on the whole picture, rather than narrow in on the one where the ball started.

Kingyo Sukui: (fish catching minigame) You must get 15 points in each round in order to continue. Gold fish are worth 3 each, yellow fish worth 5 each, and black fish worth 10 each. Avoid the turtles, since they cancel your scoop and you lose it. You have 3 scoops in each round. The fish get faster as the rounds go on.

Generally, you want to try to catch multiple fish at once in order to get to 15 (or beyond it) as early as possible each round. There is no time limit forcing you to dip the scoop in the water, so wait until you see a good cluster of fish coming together and not next to a turtle. Since gold fish (the slowest fish) are 3 points each, if you grab 2 with every scoop, that's enough to take you to 18 points and pass the round.

The key is consistency - once you have 15 points in a given round, you can be daring with your remaining scoops (try to catch a black fish when it overlaps several others, or maybe nearer a turtle) because even if you fail that particular scoop completely, you'll still progress.

Shuriken Toss: First you control a very wobbly aiming reticle aiming at a bullseye-style target board. When you press A to lock in your position, a meter will appear next to your reticle and start rising up. You need to press again to lock in the meter position and then your shuriken will be thrown at the target board.

The number of points you need each round to continue increases with each round you succeed. The bullseye is worth 50 points, the interior of the inner ring is worth 25 points, and the next ring out is worth 15.

The key here is that when you stop the meter determines accuracy relative to your stopped reticle position. Letting the meter go above (into the red) will cause your shuriken to be thrown above your target position, stopping it early will cause the shuriken to go below. Hitting the marker on the meter will cause the shuriken to be thrown straight at your targeted position. This mechanic allows you to compensate for a misplaced reticle in order to still hit the bullseye. Because you can only control up/down with the meter, you want to ensure that you pay most attention to getting the left/right position of your reticle correct when aiming, then quickly decide how much power to give the throw based on whether you landed exactly on the bullseye or not.



And those are the strategies! They all still take some practice and a bit of luck, but they are doable! Best of luck!