This guide will spoil anything relevant to what it's trying to discuss, including hidden achievements. Don't look if you don't want to know.

Also i'll be referring to stages with the stage name and a number following it. I break it up based on where the save points/black transitions are in a stage. Mermaid Falls 1 is the actual waterfall/ruins section, while Mermaid Falls 2 is the factory, Mermaid Falls 3 would be the slide where you avoid the barrels.

Also as of this writing the trigger for The Great Escape only goes off if you NEVER get hit by a gear, unlike Jump Jump Slide Slide which seems to reset if you fall in a pit after hitting a barrel. You'll have to re-fight the final boss to get another chance.

If an achievement is incorrect feel free to tell me, there's a good chance i'll mix up something for the story progress ones.

The fastest way to get gems that i've found is running through Tassle Town 1 using the Harpy with the Harpy Talon. As soon as you start begin flying and break all of the large pots you see while flying from the top of the screen. It's fine if you break more but to do this the fastest, only focus on breaking all of the largest pots, anything else is gravy. Keep going until you reach the transition point and use the Whistle to leave and re-enter the stage. Generally I get 150-200 gems every time I run through the level.

The Harpy Transformation is the final transformation you unlock via story progress, specifically for beating the boss of Hypno Baron's Castle.

The Harpy Talon requires having the Waterfall Charm, one of the waterfalls you can enter in Mermaid Falls 1 leads to a Genie Realm portal containing it.

The Waterfall Charm is located directly above where you spawn in Main Street 2, and requires having the Harpy transformation. It allows you to swim up or down specific waterfalls in the Crab or Mermaid forms.

Clear the opening section where Shantae is in her nightgown exploring the trapdoor under Uncle's lab. This is a Plot Progress achievement and can't normally be missed in a normal playthrough.

Find the Magnet and give it to Uncle.

Go to the Bath House and you should see Bolo standing there. Talk to the Bath Lady to get the Sales Reciept.

Take this to the Shopkeeper next door to get the Magnet. Bring this back to Uncle.

Plot Progress achievement.

Defeat P.O.O.P. T.O.O.T., the boss of Main Street.

Plot Progress.

I'm not sure if every item with a gameplay effect is considered a "Relic" or not, but you will unlock this for buying any of the spells or upgrades from the Scuttle Town Shop.

Defeat the Giga-Mermaid, the boss of Mermaid Falls.

Plot Progress.

Buy anything from the Snake Merchant. You can find her by looking for an odd looking pot in Mermaid Falls 2 or Tassel Town 3 and ducking down to whip it.

Find the Copper Ore for Uncle.

In Main Street 2, there's a chef standing on a small rooftop to the left of the first climb. She'll ask you to clear 30 pirates out of her restauraunt with the three big windows in it. Tinkerbat Pirates will endlessly spawn from the windows and when you kill some of them, a counter will appear. The 30th Tinkerbat will drop a Health Permit. Take this to the chef to get the Salted Caramel. (Special Note for Hero Mode: this cannot be done during your first time in Main Street, the counter will not appear. You'll need to return after defeating P.O.O.P. T.O.O.T.)

Return to Scuttle Town and give the Salted Caramel to the little girl in Sky's Hatchery. She'll give you Bird Seed.

Give the Bird Seed to the birdkeeper standing in the Shop. He will give you the Cooper Ore for Uncle.

Plot Progress.

Defeat Wilbur, boss of Tassel Town.

Plot Progress.

Unlock any door in the Art Gallery.

There are 10 keys hidden throughout the game. Due to author lazyness this guide will not list their locations but by being diligent you should be able to find all but one just by looking.

If you're missing one key, it's probably in Tassel Town 2. There's a point where you can push a block down quite a few levels, you can push it down low enough to use as a platform where you can Elephant Charge into one of the flame spitting heads. Inside is a block puzzle of Mouse passageways.

Get the Dark Shard for Uncle.

Twitch and Vinegar will appear at the far right of Scuttle Town after you clear Tassel Town, asking for Gator Steaks. The Gators in question are the hard-hatted enemies in Mermaid Falls 2. If you deal the killing blow to one of these enemies with any of the Fire spells from the Shopkeeper, they will always drop a Gator Steak. You may deal as much damage with other means as long as the last hit is from a Fire spell. Once you have at least two of these, return to Twitch and Vinegar for your Race Ticket.

Also in Mermaid Falls if you go as far right as you possibly can along the ground floor (low enough that you can still see water, at least) you'll find some destructable blocks and a big block for the Elephant to charge into. Inside this room is the Blobfish Grandma. She'll ask you to find her grandkids and give you the Claw Snap attack for your Crab form, allowing you to clear grass blocks underwater. All 5 Blobfish Kids are in the water of Mermaid Falls 2 and several require the Claw Snap. Bring all five back for another Race Ticket.

Bring both tickets to Rottytops for your Dark Shard.

Plot Progress.

Get half of all Magic Relics. I don't know exactly how many there are, but you'll need a lot of gems to get most of them.

Defeat Twitch and Vinegar, the FIRST Boss of Cape Crustacean.

Plot Progress.

Defeat Ammo Baron, the SECOND Boss of Cape Crustacean.

Plot Progress.

Deal the killing blow to 10 enemies using any of the Fire spells from the shopkeeper.

An easy way to do this is to kill Tinkerbats in Main Street. However you do it, only the final killing blow needs to be the fire to count.

Get the Light Shard for Uncle.

After clearing Cape Crustacean, a man will appear at botton of the tower in Tassel Town 2. He'll give you the Elephant Stomp and ask you to go find remains throughout the tower. All of the remains are in this section and are found in passageways behind the flame-breating heads on the walls. Remember that the Elephant Charge continues even when it goes over an edge, so as long as a platform is on the same level as the head and close enough, you can get through. Just use the Elephant Stomp on flowers to unearth what's beneath it.

Give all five Remains to the man at the bottom and he'll give you an item called "Sick". Take this to the doctor in the Scuttle Town Bath House and he'll give you a Lollipop.

Go to Mermaid Falls 1 and look for a glowing light (a different glowing light than the one in the Genie Realm doors, this one has no doorway) right next to two giant breakable blocks. What you need to do is find a way to travel along the Mouse Tracks into that hole. You'll have to find the right spot and travel along the "inside" of moving platforms to get to the right tracks, but you'll find it eventually. It's not very far from the light itself.

The light turns into a Wizard when you get to it, give him the Lollipop and you'll get the Light Shard for Uncle.

Plot Progress.

Defeat Squid Baron mk 3: The Squiddening: Guest Starring Hypno Baron who is the Friend of our Lord and Savior Squid Baron*, the Boss of Hypno Baron's Castle.

Plot Progress.

*Some regions translated this as "Dual Barons"

Unlock any 5 doors in the Art Gallery.

There are 10 keys hidden throughout the game. Due to author lazyness this guide will not list their locations but by being diligent you should be able to find all but one just by looking.

If you're missing one key, it's probably in Tassel Town 2. There's a point where you can push a block down quite a few levels, you can push it down low enough to use as a platform where you can Elephant Charge into one of the flame spitting heads. Inside is a block puzzle of Mouse passageways.

Obtain every single transformation dance in the game. This includes all eight animal forms required to beat the game along with Dryad Form, Gempot form, and Blobfish Form that the Snake Merchant has. I'm currently unaware if the self-healing dance is required, but if you've owned any of the forms involved with trades with the Snake Merchant you'll have credit for them even if you don't currently have them.

Crush any enemy with a pushable block.

The easiest places to do this are in the first two sections of Tassel Town. Just push a block down while an enemy is moving by to kill them.

Get the Iron Slab and Zombie Hamster for Uncle.

After clearing Hypno Baron's Castle, head to Main Street and use the Mermaid ability to reach him in an underwater pipe. If you do not have the Mermaid ability ask the townspeople and Bath House lady for hints. (My apologies, I don't remember exactly where it is. I just remember that it's the genie realm door with the blowing desert sands inside it, either in Main Street or Mermaid Falls) He will give you the Vorpal Sword.

Take the Vorpal Sword to the Scuttle Town shop and give it to the knight inside. He will give you the Foxy Grandma Hat.

Give the Foxy Grandma Hat to the Blobfish grandmother standing in Scuttle Town to get the Mermaid Bubble, the Mermaid form's attack.

Use the attack to break underwater rocks in Tassel Town 1 and find the Iron Slab.

Talk to Poe (The short Zombie brother) in Hypno Baron's Castle 1 to get the Zombie Hamster. To find him, use the Harpy to fly outside onto the roof and head right to drop into the next hole you find.

Plot Progress.

Bring the Iron Slab and Zombie Hamster to Uncle. This is a seperate achievement from the last one triggering when you actually give Uncle the items.

Plot Progress.

Attract 3 of the starfish enemies at a time using Mermaid Shantae's charms.

This one is nearly impossible to miss, and the easiest place to get it is in the shmup section of Risky's Hideout 1. Mermaid Shantae automatically makes the starfish enemies that normally hinder your movespeed friendly within a hude radius and you likely have to try not to get all three of them in the shmup area.

Defeat Risky Boots, the FIRST boss of Risky's Hideout.

Plot Progress.

Defeat Tinkerbrain, the Final Boss of Shantae: Half-Genie Hero.

Plot Progress.

Escape the erupting base and finish Shantae: Half-Genie Hero. You did it!

Plot Progress.

Unlock all 10 doors of the art gallery.

There are 10 keys hidden throughout the game. Due to author lazyness this guide will not list their locations but by being diligent you should be able to find all but one just by looking.

If you're missing one key, it's probably in Tassel Town 2. There's a point where you can push a block down quite a few levels, you can push it down low enough to use as a platform where you can Elephant Charge into one of the flame spitting heads. Inside is a block puzzle of Mouse passageways.

Reach the end of Cape Crustacean 1 without taking damage from falling off the screen. This is technically easier when revisiting the level after clearing it since you don't need to fight Twitch and Vinegar again. Also you can just fly through the entire level with the Harpy and it counts. The Bat may work too, but you'd better be careful you're not at an altitude to get stuck behind something.

Get from the start of Tassel Town 2 to the transition to Tassel Town 3 as fast as you can. This can be done easiest with the Harpy and some fast fingers for transforming on the fly, but one thing to note is that if you're climbing next to some chains or a wall, the Monkey is actually faster at ascending than the Harpy. Keep in mind that this is a race to the tower exit, and not to the actual top of the tower.

Collect every Magic Relic in the game. You'll need thousands of gems to buy out both of the shops, so refer to the grinding guide.

Get all four of Risky's items from the Barons around Scuttle Town after finding Risky's Hideout Map.

Techno Baron needs a Data Chip, which can be found in a secret cave at the top of Mermaid Falls 2.

Hypno Baron (Inside the Bath House) needs 10 Sunken Souls, which can be found only in levels with water, as they're all underwater. You'll need the Crab and Mermaid attacks to get them all.

Ammo Baron needs 5 Scrap Metal, all of which are located under flowers that require the Elephant Stomp. (For reference, one of these flowers is all the way to the left in Scuttle Town.)

Squid Baron wants fan art of himself, talk to him in the Art Gallery to get a Velvet Poster. Bring this to Abner in the Hypno Baron's Castle 1. Get to the point where you can fly out of the hole in the roof to get outside, but instead of going outside, go to the right and drop down. Enter that doorway and you should be in Abner's little corner. Trade your poster for a Squid Baron poster and give that to Squid Baron.

If this hasn't triggered for you, try not turning in any of Risky's items to Uncle until you're holding all four of them. (I only say this because it didn't trigger for me the first time, but did in my next playthrough where I did this.

This is how you get the Good Ending.

In the slide that makes up Mermaid Falls 3, complete the entire section without hitting the barrels.

If you hit a canister but fall into a pit to restart the section, you DO get credit if you make it through again without being hit.

If you're having trouble with this, come back when you have the Magic Tiara from getting all 10 Gallery Keys, along with the 3rd level of either Fire magic or Lightning magic. The Tiara gives you unlimited Magic power and if you jump in the air too high for the barrels to reach you and just use the most powerful forms of those spells, you'll stay suspended in the air as long as you hold the button, allowing you to cheese the entire section and get this.

Hit every competitor in the Magic Carpet Race of Cape Crustacean 1.

Just whip or otherwise damage all of the NPCs in the race to knock them off the carpet. If you fall off the screen you get bounced up with some damage in this stage only, so don't worry about that too much.

Use the Mirror to reflect 5 enemy projectiles back into the enemies. The easiest way to do this are agains the small cactus-like enemies in Tassel Town 1.

An important note is that Mirror is the ONLY THE SECOND LEVEL of the Bubble spell. Once you upgrade it to the third level you'll have to turn the Mirror part back on in the pause menu. (Thank you Chaos Theorist!)

Complete the game 100%. The save file will show you how much you need, but specific metrics are:

Buying everything except Potions from both shops, including trading for the Blobfish and Gempot spells from the Snake Merchant at least once.

Collecting every collectable item from every stage, the spaces underneath the stage name on the Stage Select will show if you're missing anything, and any item with more than one of itself in a stage will show a counter.

Finding all 10 gallery keys and unlocking all of the doors, so Mayor Scuttlebutt will give you the Magic Tiara.

Beat every stage, 100% will only trigger after escaping Risky's Hideout.

Kill 20 enemies with lightning.

Just go to Main Street and murder Tinkerbats. It works on any enemies but they're very weak and non-threatening.

Kill 10 skeletons with the Elephant.

This is best done in Hypno Baron's Castle 1 as that's the main place to find those enemies after the first visits.

Complete the escape after the final boss without being hit by any of the rolling gears.

One important note is that you CANNOT fall off and try again if you get hit by a gear, unlike the Mermaid Falls one. I highly recommend cheesing this with the Magic Tiara from finishing the Art Gallery, and using the 3rd level of the Fire or Lightning spells to float in mid-air the entire time.

The description may make you think you're trying to kill a skeleton with the Spider form, but you're actually trying to kill a spider-girl enemy found only in Hypno Baron's Castle 2. This can take a while since she blocks attacks and you only do 3 damage with your spider's attack, but if you damage her with any other means it still counts as only the killing blow needs to be with the Spider form's attack.

You need to get from the start point to the end point of Mermaid Falls 2 without the gator enemies noticing you. Obliterate dance does NOT do enough damage to kill them, so you have no way to damage them without alerting them. They have a fairly short sight range but you still need to be careful. Fly through most of the level carefully with the Harpy form until you reach a low ceiling area being patrolled by two of the gators. Wait until one is walking away and drop down into the first crevice, and then wait until BOTH of them are walking past for you to run to the next one and eventually run to the slide at the end. This is only a matter of time and patience.

Additionally, this tip is from ELECTRONIC MOM in the comments:
"Simply wait for the first one to have his back turned, then cling to the ceiling. Since Shantae crouches while walking on ceilings, her hitbox is *just* outside the gators' measly sight range. You can walk right over their heads without having to be sneaky. It sucks to have the achievement ruined right before the end!"

Defeat Risky Boots with the Mouse Bite.

Yeah this is the joke achievement. The Mouse Bite can be found in Tassel Town 2, and it's a rapid fire attack that does 1 damage each time. Risky has hundreds of HP at least. (2000 HP according to Chery Soup)

You only need to do the KILLING BLOW with the mouse bite for this to count, thankfully. Here's a specific strategy I used:

Turn Scimitars on (Level 3 Pike Ball) and keep whipping away at her with maximum Silky Cream and Shampoo upgrades. Attack her as much as you possibly can until she is FINISHED with her Anchor attack pattern and is floating down from the top of the screen. At this point if you've kept attacking her most of her health is gone, from this point just keep trying to bite her with the mouse as much as possible and watch your HP. You'll eventually pull it off, just keep at it if you mess up.

100% Speedrun.

I don't know the time limit you have to beat to unlock this, but my time is under 2 hours and 30 minutes, so that's a benchmark at least.

One of the best things I can advise is to try and figure out what you can get early and to minimize stage revisits as much as you can. To make things easier on you, outside of looking for Heart Holders I would try to rush story progress as much as possible and just grab as much in one visit as you can. Once you've gotten far enough to get the Mermaid Bubble you can access everything so that's a good time to start wrapping up stages. Refer to the Grinding Guide once you're out of other items to look for.

One specific strategy I can advise though, right as soon as you start Main Street the first time:

1: Start Main Street 1 by flying over everything as the Harpy

2: Main Street 2 immediately fly straight up and grab the Waterfall Charm

3: Main street 2 in the area directly to the left of the Chef's Restauraunt, there's a hole for the Monkey to climb through with a Heart Holder that's very nice for early safety. If you got the Monkey Bullet you'll need to drop down to the left of it to avoid skipping this.

4: Mermaid Falls 1 one of the waterfalls the Crab can enter holds the Harpy Talon. Another one holds the Mermaid transformation, if memory serves.

5: The Harpy Talon has much better DPS than Shantae's hair whip for this point in the game, and can fly up to hit the high locks for the Giga-Mermaid quickly. Also it can instantly end the second phase of the fight after her first lightning bolt attack since it can just fly up and shoot her in the face a lot.

From here on you'll make your own way, most likely.

See the Speed Collector guide for various tips, the only specifics are that obviously now you're trying to avoid collecting useless fluff items like Gallery Keys since they're too slow.

I don't know what the times to beat are, but it's likely not too terribly difficult. Don't worry, I have faith in you!

One thing to do is to try and gather at least a few Heart Holders so you're not a glass cannon by the end. And the Harpy Talon strategy from Speed Collector is still something I highly advise.

Beat the game on Hard Core Mode.

There's not much to this achievement that you couldn't figure out for yourself, the items are all in the same locations, puzzles remain the same, the only differences are enemy locations, boss patterns, and damage. That said, if you don't prepare yourself it will be very frustrating since amost every enemy in Mermaid Falls will instantly kill an un-upgraded Shantae. Here's my advice for starting:

Beat Main Street as normal, then play through it again until you have at least 200 gems. Also while you play through it a second time, grab the Heart Holder in Main Street 2. It's in a small hole you need the Monkey to access, and it's in one of the areas where Tinkerbats are bursting out of barrels. Use your gems to buy the Bikini Armor from the store in Scuttle Town, since it halves all damage Shantae takes.

Really the entire mode is balanced around you having Bikini Armor. Other upgrades of note are having Bubble by the time you tackle Tassle Town, as not only can it make getting around the little "cactus" enemies easier, it can block the bombs that birds drop, and can fully protect you from the projectiles the boss fires from it's eye. The Magic Bracelet is also nice since it halves magic use.

At some point you should absolutely get the Revitalizing Dance from the Snake Merchant. It's up to you if you want the fully upgraded version, it's a lot of extra grinding but it is worth it. To go with this get the Magic Tiara for finding all 10 Gallery Keys. It's been nerfed in this mode but it will still slowly replenish your magic instead of giving you infinite like in the normal modes.*

*For all I know it's been nerfed in the normal modes too, they did seem to polish and change a few things since I originally made this guide, back before Hard Core mode was a thing at all. Either way, at least in Hard Core it makes your magic replenish slowly when you're not using it, which makes the Revitalization Dance extremely helpful even in the final battles.