Trophy hunting often goes hand in hand with exploits and glitches. The quest for platinum trophies can be fraught with grindy and difficult challenges, many of which can encourage players to search for easier methods.
Below, I outline 11 different games where trophy hunters managed to get trophies in ways that the developers never intended. Have you heard of or personally used any of these exploits and glitches in your trophy hunting efforts?
Table of Contents
11. Final Fantasy XV
Downgrade for Comrades Trophies
Final Fantasy XV was a divisive entry in the long-running JRPG series by the same name. It introduced an open world and had ambitious ideas that didn’t always pan out. The game also released with a striking amount of DLC packs with additional content. In fact, going for 100% completion of this game will see you parsing through 8 new stacks of trophies.
Trophy hunters that care about 100% should be warned. It is impossible to complete this game under normal means. Unfortunately, the game was updated to remove one of the game modes required to obtain all of the trophies. This comes in the form of the fourth DLC: Multiplayer Expansion Comrades. Playing an updated version of this game means that you will not even be able to access this mode, let alone complete the trophy requirements.
Thankfully, your fellow trophy hunters found a workaround. It is actually possible to downgrade your version of the game to give yourself access to the Comrades expansion content. It is more difficult to get the trophies as you will be stuck with AI partners rather than others online, but it can be done. You can read all about how to revert your version of Final Fantasy XV here.
Instantly Defeat the Adamantoise
You may be surprised to see two different entries for Final Fantasy XV on this list. One trophy on the base game’s list, aptly named “Tortoise Toppler,” requires the player to defeat the incredibly tanky optional super boss, the Adamantoise. This beast can be challenged in a level 99 hunt in Hammerhead, but take caution. The Adamantoise sports a healthy 5+ million hit points! It can easily take you 1-2 hours to hack through if you’re unprepared.
Of course, trophy hunters found an exploit to get this done faster. You can actually use the Ring of Lucii key item obtained in the story to instantly defeat the boss, no questions asked. It may take a few tries as it is not a 100% guaranteed effect, however, you will almost certainly trigger Death much sooner than defeating the Adamantoise naturally.
10. Hollow Knight
Invincibility Glitch
Hollow Knight is a unique Metroidvania title that is well-known for its interesting lore and tight controls. One trophy that bumps up its difficulty significantly requires players to complete the various Pantheons. These are essentially boss gauntlets where you need to defeat swaths of previously encountered enemies along with a few new ones.
The fifth Pantheon in particular is especially grueling, requiring you to defeat every single boss in the game in a row. For those unfamiliar, that is easily 20+ fights! To make matters worse, the hardest fight is saved for last. Even if you get through all the other battles leading up to the Radiance, you’re definitely not out of the woods yet.
Many trophy hunters have tried and failed to best the Pantheons through sheer will and determination, hence the popularity of this exploit. For those looking for an easier way, an invincibility glitch can be used to get through the Pantheons. Watch the video below to see how you can pull it off.
9. Call of Duty Black Ops 3
“God Mode” in the Training Simulator
Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 is notorious among trophy hunters for its difficulty. The platinum trophy requires extensive playthroughs through the story mode as well as forays into the online multiplayer and zombies modes. If you’d like to read more about what exactly makes the game so difficult to complete, be sure to read all about it in my article where I discuss some of the most difficult games to platinum.
One requirement for the platinum trophy is to complete all 16 waves of the training simulator on realistic difficulty. This is an insanely brutal feat to perform under normal circumstances, as just 1 or 2 stray bullets can end your entire run.
You may be surprised to learn that there is a method to make this task much easier. And by much easier, I mean almost completely free. There is some set-up required to get this glitch to work, so don’t be discouraged if it takes you a few tries. Successfully implementing the glitch will make it so that you take no damage at all inside of the training simulator. You can see how to get the “God Mode” glitch to work here.
8. Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations
Handicap Glitch
Generations is an interesting entry in the Ninja Storm series. It covers the original anime’s story and the first few arcs of Shippuden. For those familiar with trophy hunting in these games, this one is just like all the others; you have to complete the story mode, explore free battle, and grind for collectibles. In this entry, that means getting a large amount of Ryo and info cards/titles.
For trophy hunters, the free battle mode is likely the largest time sink. One of the requirements for the platinum trophy for Generations is completing all of the various tournaments and survival brackets. These are extensive and can take quite a long time to complete. The later survival brackets can have up to 10 different matches in a row!
Thankfully, other players found a workaround to make this stage somewhat more bearable. You can actually trick the game into using the handicap settings outside of private matches in order to make your survival and tournament runs much easier. Not only does this make the battles much easier to win, they also take much less time. Battles that could have taken the entire 99 second timer can easily be completed in a fraction of the time. You can read more in depth about how to accomplish this glitch here.
7. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge
Online Piggybacking
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge is an excellent arcade beat-em-up that was unique in its execution of multiplayer mechanics. One of the coolest features that this game boasts is the ability to play with up to 6 different players at once.
The trophies are well-known for their difficulty, too; to get the platinum trophy for this game, you have to beat the arcade mode on hard mode and defeat the final boss without taking damage. These are both quite difficult in their own right and require a high level of mastery with the game. In fact, defeating Super Shredder was made more difficult in post-release patches, too; you can no longer farm for your super attack meter in between his attacks!
For better or worse, trophy hunters found yet another workaround to get past this difficult hurdle. You can actually join others’ online matches near the end of the run and get the trophy for free. You simply wait for the host to defeat the boss, then officially enter your character and join the fray.
In essence, you are “piggybacking” off of those players’ work, so it is definitely a more questionable method than the others on this list. It would be best if you could coordinate this with other players so you can boost the trophies rather than taking advantage of others trying to play normally.
6. Melty Blood: Type Lumina
Perfect Clear Rate Made Easy
Melty Blood: Type Lumina is a pixel-art fighting game visual novel hybrid in the Tsukihime universe. The game has a cult following due to its beautiful graphics, large roster with well-balanced and unique options, and rollback netcode. Players can enjoy the fast-paced combat in online multiplayer modes or in the game’s story mode.
The trophy “Perfect Clear Rate” requires getting 100% completion in the single player mode with any character. This, however, is easier said than done. Under normal circumstances, you need to do the following on every difficulty (easy, normal, and hard):
- Complete the story mode;
- Get an S-rank in Score Attack;
- Get an S-rank in Time Attack;
- Get an S-rank in Survival;
- Get an S-rank in Mission.
It cannot be understated that getting the S-ranks on hard mode is difficult. Even those with some experience in fighting games might struggle. This can be especially true if you are unlucky and get matched up against a character with long-range beam attacks like Vlov. However, trophy hunters need not despair; there is an easier way!
All you need to do is complete the story mode for Arcueid B or Ciel B on every difficulty. In other words, of those 5 requirements listed above, you just need to do #1. Now that is a huge time save!
The below images are shown for reference. As you can see, Arcueid B and Ciel B both only have the “Story” option as compared to Saber. You don’t even need to worry about your performance or score; simply completing the story for either of these characters is sufficient. Successfully doing so renders the “Complete” tag below and unlocks the trophy.
5. Borderlands Series
Multiplayer Duplication Glitch
Anyone who’s played the Borderlands games with some friends is likely familiar with this glitch. A very common exploit in this series involves using a second player to duplicate weapons, items, and money in your inventory by trading amongst each other. This can make several trophies much easier to obtain.
For example, in Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands, the trophy “Mule Character” requires the player to purchase every inventory upgrade. With normal gameplay, this would require a great deal of grinding to obtain. However, using the duplication glitch, you can exponentially increase your gains and get all the money you need in just a few minutes.
You can read more about the duplication method here.
4. Final Fantasy X HD
OHKO Any Boss with Yojimbo
This popular game originally released on the PlayStation 2 with fewer bells and whistles in the west than other versions. With the advent of the HD version, Square Enix remedied this by including all content for a worldwide release. For American players, this meant brand new content to see and experience for the first time. For trophy hunters, this meant we had more work to do.
Of particular note is the trophy “Perseverance.” To claim this as your own, you must defeat the extremely powerful secret boss, Penance. This fight was not included in the original North American release of the game.
In fact, not only do you need to be adequately prepared for the fight with max level characters and decked out Sphere Grids, you must also go through a long list of auxiliary fights to even unlock the chance to fight this beast. You have to defeat all 8 dark versions of your Aeon companions, two of which must be encountered and bested multiple times.
Assuming you get through all of that, the actual fight with Penance himself is liable to take upwards of an hour due to his tanky stats. Thankfully, trophy hunters have honed in on a much more reasonable method: Yojimbo.
If you have treated this money-grubbing Aeon well during your Final Fantasy X HD playthrough, you may be able to extort him in your trophy hunting efforts. Well, extortion goes both ways in this case, as he will ask for hefty sums in return. If you pay him well and don’t let him get defeated in battle, he becomes more likely to use his overpowered one hit knockout move, Zanmato. This works on Penance, meaning you can end the battle in just a couple of minutes.
You can read more about how Yojimbo’s affinity system works here, but be warned; it can be complicated for those less inclined with math and coding.
3. Doom (2016)
The UAC On Ultra-Nightmare = Ultra-Easy
This fast-paced shooter/platformer reboot of the classic Doom series received generally positive remarks from critics and players alike when it released back in 2016. Many fans raved about the unique slaying animations and responsive movement. Trophy hunters, however, may complain about some requirements barring them from obtaining the platinum trophy. One trophy stands out; “A Toe Into Madness” requires the player to complete the game’s first level, the UAC, on Ultra-Nightmare difficulty.
Playing at this difficulty level is ill-advised under normal circumstances, as the slightest attack can quickly put you out of your misery. That makes this trophy very difficult and extremely frustrating, as you can often be defeated without even realizing what was attacking you. As a result, you will be sent back to the “game over” screen with alarming frequency. Like all the other entries on this list, thankfully, there is an easier way to do this.
About halfway through the level, you can actually go out-of-bounds with careful platforming. This allows you to circumvent the remaining battles and skip straight to the goal. Although you still need to get through some of the earlier fights on your own, they are much easier than the final room and can be done with much less heartache.
You can see this trick being performed in the video below, at around the 3 minute mark.
2. A Hat in Time
Assist Mode in Seal the Deal
A Hat in Time is a cute 3D platformer that seems simple on the surface. The main game is easy to complete and boasts a near 30% completion rate on PSN Profiles. However, with the addition of the Seal the Deal DLC, the difficulty was ramped up considerably.
In particular, the “I Refuse to Die!” trophy requires players to obtain all of the Death Wish Stamps—in other words, they must complete all optional objectives in each level. There are over 100 stamps to collect, some of which require some pretty difficult boss fights to be completed without taking damage. It can be strikingly easy to go down from the slightest mistake, so you basically have to execute your moves perfectly in order to succeed.
Enter the “Assist” mode. Surprisingly, you can turn on this setting and still obtain all of the trophies available in the DLC. This mode gives you additional HP and allows you to recover your health without any pick-ups. This is a huge deal for the aforementioned boss fights that otherwise would be extremely difficult.
1. The Last of Us Remastered
Skip Days in the Online Factions MoDE
This first-party game developed by Naughty Dog came with one of the most unpopular features among trophy hunters: an online mode. Not only was this mode required to obtain the platinum trophy, but it also came with a plethora of additional DLC trophies, too.
The Factions mode is surprisingly detailed and interesting, boasting the same gameplay the main game is known for with a base management/survival mechanic hinging on your performance. It can be scary for trophy hunters, too; certain events can easily wipe out all of your progress. Obtaining the “Firefly” and “Hunter” trophies respectively require completing the entire mode from both perspectives.
Doing this normally requires 150-200 matches, amounting to about 30 hours of gameplay. That’s a tall order, given the main game takes less time than that. However, some trophy hunters learned of a quicker way to get through this experience.
You can skip days in the multiplayer mode by joining matches and leaving early. By doing this, you can easily bring down your time spent in this mode by half or even a third. It’s considered a bit scummy by the community to disconnect from matches, however, so you should really try to get these trophies legitimately. Plus, you might surprise yourself by finding out you actually enjoy the game mode.
If you’re still interested, you can read more about this exploit here.
Is it Cheating to Use Exploits and Glitches?
While going through this list of games, you may be wondering whether it’s really fair to implement any of these tricks. Personally, I find it difficult to cast a blanket-wide statement across all of these situations as to whether they’re cheating or not. While it is best to obtain trophies in the way that the developer intended, often, this can lead to more frustration than they’re worth. It can be really easy to take the path of least resistance, especially when doing it legitimately could take 10 times as long.
As an avid trophy hunter myself, I will always respect those who obtain difficult and grindy trophies legitimately more than those who don’t. I don’t think it’s wrong to use exploits and glitches present in games to your advantage, but passing it off as if you didn’t is another thing entirely. Further, when it affects others as in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or Last of Us examples, it gets a bit more complicated.
It’s up to you to decide what you’re willing to accept in your own trophy list. It’s true that hunters that use exploits and glitches to their benefit might be robbing themselves of the experience of earning these trophies on their own, but it’s also true that we’re all here to have fun with our games. So, you should do whatever keeps you happy and motivated hunting for trophies.
What trophies have you earned sooner than intended? Do you think that any of these exploits and glitches should be considered cheating? Let us know where you draw the line down below!
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