Rare Replay

Step 1: TURN OFF BOTH INFINITE LIVES AND INFINITE TIME
Step 2: Start a new game
Step 3: Save at the end of Cavern 1
Step 4: Complete Cavern 1 and the following bonus round
Step 5: Reload your save
Step 6: Repeat steps 4 and 5 until achievement unlocks

You should get about 15,000 points for completing Cavern 1 and another 15,000 to 25,000 points for completing the bonus round. If you follow the above guide, you will have the achievement within 15 minutes (possibly sooner if you do this after completing several of the other achievements).

Step 1 is crucial because it will prevent points gained from completing Caverns 1-8 from counting towards this achievement. Bonus round points will count regardless of whether these cheats have been turned on or off.

EDIT (10/1/16): It has been reported by multiple users that you CAN have cheats on while attempting this achievement, although this was not true at the time this guide was written. Please do so at your own discretion.

Happy achievement hunting! Please comment with any questions!

Right before the end of the first level, Save.

Exit the level which will give you 10k, play the mini-game, I usually got another 10-15k here. Load and repeat. It took me 30 seconds per try, so roughly 10 minutes for this one.

BTW, B to Jump. A with the shovel to swing.

The guides telling you to complete caverns 1 and 2 and rinse and repeat are perfectly fine. As Cavern 2 is much more time consuming than Cavern 1, I just repeated Cavern 1 and bonus stage (which I suck at) in about a minute and was getting anywhere from 38K-49K depending on how I did on the bonus stage.

To maximize the points in this quick run through, what I did was this:
1. Dig down and to the right(only way you can go)
2. Go down the lift/lever/button that opens the door.
3. Slide down to the right, but crawl down left instead of finishing the level immediately by going right.
4. Kill the mosquito and pick up the diamond worth 5K, Then jump up left and go to the far wall where you will be warped back up to the right of the lift for another 2.5K.
5. Go to the right instead of back down the lift to you get to another diamond (Note: this 2nd diamond will not appear if you you just go right from the beginning before going down the lift for the first time. I believe it is the warp that makes it appear.) kill any enemies in your way for a few extra points.
Edit: So I am not sure what exactly makes the 2nd diamond appear, as it has not been there on a few occasions when I have used this method as it was before, but it's worth checking for it. You can at least kill a couple enemies for points.
6. Now go back left and down the lift. Follow the path down and to the right to find the exit for about 18K.
7. Do your best on the bonus level. You should at least be able to get the first 4 treasures that I believe are 2.5k apiece for another 10K, but if you are better than I am at the navigation in this you could net 50K+ in about a minutes time.
8. Hold Start, select Load and New Game. Rinse and Repeat.

I did do this with the Cheats on, because why not? It makes it easier.

I was getting annoyed wandering around Cavern 2 and feel like overall I spent less time just repeating this method than I would have beating the first 2 caverns, as 2 1 minute or so runs on Cavern 1 net you about as many points as beating both the first 2 caverns. I hope people take the time to read down to this solution and that it will save you time in the long run. If there is any confusion about my walk through please message or comment me and I will be happy to try to help better explain it.

Go into the options screen and turn infinite lives and infinite time on. Start a new game and complete Caverns 1 and 2 (both are very easy and only take a couple of minutes) and the bonus screens. This nets around 80,000 to 100,000 points per go. Start a new game and repeat.

Near the beginning of Cavern 4 there are some hidden rooms to stock up on large amounts of dynamite and ladders in exchange for gems. Going through the passages nets around 1100 points every 2-3 seconds. While the points might not be as much in one shot as the other solutions, I found it more efficient because I didn't have to frequently load the game to net the points. You can see the spot I am referring to in the following video at about the 55 second mark, give or take. Also, it shows the hidden warps on the first three caverns to get there quickly, in case you forgot to save the game initially.


I had about 300K to go and got it somewhere between 10 and 20 minutes (sorry, I didn't think about actually timing it until I finished).