Comprehensive Deathless Guide

A detailed deathless guide for Broforce, created by two victors. We recommend completing the Ironbro hard campaign before attempting this even once.
However, even if you have not done much in Broforce, this guide is made so any player at any stage of progression can look to this guide for tips.

The intention of this guide is to help future deathless victors save time with pathfinding, as the two of us spent hours beating our heads into a brick wall to figure out the safest route. This guide will be the combination of the strategies used for each of our clears.

This guide provides helpful strategies, but getting the deathless achievement is a difficult task and will require many hours of work. As of writing this, the deathless campaign has only been legitimately done 4 times.
Below are each of our runs. Our runs differ a lot, so we felt it was needed to finally get a real guide on this out on Steam.

madhazards' Run:
https://youtu.be/wA_aLudZD2w?si=Pmrp4dFbhL37xJsQ
Breed's Run:
https://youtu.be/WLjePNhFEYM?si=ywfeL2xHNT5FkcTz

Completing the game deathless (normal difficulty) is around two to three times harder than completing the Ironbro campaign on hard difficulty. Funny how the two achievements have the same unlock percentage. It was shocking to learn how much harder the deathless was when going off of that information. It is just so easy to die to something random you were not prepared for an hour and a half into your run.

https://youtu.be/P68zpUtCe88

This guide is made for players who have already completed both Ironbro campaigns, as some instructions such as "run through the tower without getting shot" might sound insane and completely vague to someone without experience, but someone with at least 40 hours of playtime would know what to do.
NOT ALL OF THESE STRATEGIES WORK IN HARD MODE

Best of luck soldier, o7

Character names will be used in this guide. Picture with names below of all the characters.

We both realized some characters were a lot stronger for deathless and some were stronger for the Ironbro hard campaign. We each made a tier list.

Breed Deathless Tier List:
Heavy emphasis on digging.
madhazards Deathless Tier List:
In general usage, S through Brolander rank.

While we disagree on some characters, most characters get put in similar tiers.

Some might think it is simple enough to abuse the Boondock Bros and restart every time one dies, but we have found him to be not that great, many deaths are unreactable, along with him being an inefficient digger.

Brolander is by far the worst character and deserves his own spot at the bottom of each of our lists.

Level 1
Bro: any
As easy as it gets. Climb left wall or run through building.

Level 2
Bro: any
Can easily run past the enemies on the bridge here.

Level 3
Bro: Ranged/Digger
Found it easiest to immediately climb up the ladders to the top platform. Shoot enemies up top, run to the right. Push the explosive barrels to kill enemies below (or just jump to Satan immediately).
Can also run to the right instead of taking ladders and dig into the right mountain, but much slower.

Level 4
Bro: High DPS to kill 1 brute quickly
Jump on top of the truck, climb left and around. Can easily dig and avoid the first explosives. Climb the ladder and the cutscene should play. Quickly run up and past the brutes and kill the one at the very top (for safety).

Level 1
Bro: Any, but ranged is better
Run above and right past the first two buildings. Up ladder and jump on tops of buildings. Once you reach the propane tank, you can rocket ride to the end. Don't drop the propane on bombers.

Level 2
Bro: Any
Go right and climb up the ladders while dealing with enemies. Use the propane to ride to the end (note that you have to jump off pretty early).

Level 3
Bro: Any
https://youtu.be/doXtcjutQLs
This is a fun one. Drop the explosive on the dogs, then use the propane above to get a speed boost to rush through the enemies in the corridor. Then just run up to the end.

Level 4: Terrorkopter
Bro: anyone with at least a medium range
Rush through the enemies to reach the boss. The boss has a pretty low health, so you can kill it pretty quickly with any proper ranged character.

Level 1
Bro: Ranged
Rush through most enemies pretty easily, watch out for dogs. It is a good idea to take this level a bit slower than other early levels, just because of the dogs. Stay on upper path to avoid dogs below.

Level 2
Bro: Ranged/Digger
Go above and deal with any enemies in the way. You can also dig below.

Level 3
Bro: ranged
https://youtu.be/E42-_xE9vFk
You can rush through the enemies here pretty easily, just watch out for the dogs at the end (they are the reason you want a ranged character here).

Level 4 Terrorcannon
Bro: fast digger, high dps
https://youtu.be/NBXlKVXqvac
Respawn untiil you get preferred character. You have invincibility frames when you spawn so you can often kill the bruiser in front of you immediately and keep going forward. Run past the truck and dig into the wall.
The strategy is to dig under the boss so that it falls down to its death.

Level 1
Bro: fast ranged digger
One of those levels where the safest route is digging below all the enemies. Just watch out for the bombers near the start.
Can also do this to save time once you get consistent.
https://youtu.be/bPkGgJjGwaA

Level 2
Bro: fast ranged digger
More digging below everything. Around halfway through, you need to climb up a building and use the rope to reach the next building. From here, you can drop to the left and continue digging. At the final building, you want to avoid as many encounters as possible, so climb the outer walls and dig into the rooms with no enemies. You can also use propane to kill some of the enemies for you.
The final tower sequence is the hardest part, so learning these jumps is another difficult option that gets pretty consistent.
https://youtu.be/wCxIZjxbENY

Level 3
Bro: anyone with good survivability or sneak ability (once you jump off propane)
Respawn until you can see a propane tank in front of you.A weird level that you can mostly skip by riding a random propane at the start. Can be a little risky, but still the best route, as this level is otherwise quite hard, with unforgiving turrets and bombers.
Digging below is also an option here, if you don’t like riding the propane. Cannot recommend.

Level 4
Bro: any
Can rush through the outside of the initial tower, left or right side. Take the zipline to the first mech. Then capture two mechs one after another to fly to the end.

Level 1
Bro: fast ranged digger
You really don’t want to proceed through the missile barrage above, so the safest route is to dig below everything. Just watch out for some random missiles that land near you, and the dogs at the end.

Level 2
Bro: any
Here you can just wait for the first wave of missiles to hit, then jump down and capture the mech. Make sure to land safely, then deal with nearby enemies and move or dig right to reach the next robot, which you can use to end the level safely.

Level 3 Stealth Tank
Bro: Bro Hard or Bro in Black (their ability stuns the boss) / Brodator, Brochete or Broffy (long range attacks that push enemies away) / B.A. or Raiden (high dps)
You can almost reach the boss by flying two mechs one after another from the start. Use the above mentioned characters to kill the boss, just make sure to deal with the bombers on the right and any back-up units.
The boss cycles between shooting and rockets, and also throws bombs if you’re too close to it (watch out for their huge AoE). These should be easy enough to dodge by moving behind the boss whenever it turns around. One extra note is that Brochete can kill the boss with a single special if you jump above the boss and aim it below

Side Note: If you dig 2 blocks below the boss you are invisible to it and the cutscene will not trigger immediately.
https://youtu.be/23qZJAGmosU
Long pause inside to emphasize how long stuns work on machines.

Level 1
Bro: any
Ride the random propane at the start to reach the end, just make sure not to overshoot.

Level 2
Bro: digger
You can rush / dig through this level pretty easily.

Level 3
Bro: fast digger
Either rush through the enemies above (watch out for the brute at the start!) or dig below to reach the first mech, which you can fly all the way to the right. After the checkpoint, you can dig below to reach the end.

Level 4 GR-666 (Easiest boss in the game)
Bro: any
Rush to the mech at the start and use your mech to shoot the boss to push him all the way off the edge at the right. Lots of ammo crates, you will never run out of gas.

Level 1
Bro: ranged digger
Dig through the wall at the start and climb up the left wall. Jump down past the first rope, then glide the second rope and jump over the enemies to the third rope. Deal with the enemies behind the wall in this area and watch out for the motorcycle. After the area is clear, you can start digging below from the small pit until you reach all the way to the right. Climb up to reach the end.

Level 2
Bro: fast ranged digger
Kill the enemies behind the door and below. Destroy the cables or the bridge, then fall down and dig right until you reach the door with a dog and mook behind. Kill both and deal with the incoming motorcyclist and big bomber as well. After this, dig below from where the bridge used to be and start digging upwards when you see the wall ending. Once you’re below the truck, you should be able to safely fall down, after which you can continue digging below. Watch out for the falling explosive barrel after you trigger the propane. At the end, you only need to deal with two dogs (which you can both bait to jump off the building) and one big bomber.

Level 3
Bro: any / Cherry (for shooting downwards) / Brode, Brofessional, Broden or Bro Lee (who can clip through the right border and fall down all the way to the end)
There are two ways to beat the level really fast.
You can either use your i-frames at the start to fall down into the spike pit and start digging left until you reach the border. Make sure to dig in a way that leaves ledges so that you can ledge-grab to get out of bounds. Fall down all the way near the end and get out by digging right. You can use the propane to deal with the most critical enemies in this area.
You can also use the five other specifically mentioned characters to either go out of bounds on the right, either by melee-attacking, or pressing down twice with Broden, or simply shooting down with Cherry. All these methods will let you fall down all the way to satan.
https://youtu.be/pkIBKconMvs

Level 4
Bro: fast ranged digger who also has AoE capability
Kill the dogs at the start, then destroy the bridge to your left with an AoE attack, after which you can fall down and start digging all the way to the right. Mind the few pits on your way.

Level 5 Megacockter
Bro: Seth
This was a choke point for both of us until we realized Seth makes this free. Once you have rolled Seth, climb to the second floor of the building and teleport into the boss once it is on the same horizontal level as you. This should instakill it.
https://youtu.be/o4HPlAD9uh0

Level 1
Bro: fast digger
Rush through the enemies at the start while you still have i-frames and jump past the mine field until you reach the ladder. Go down and dig right until you reach the end (watch out for random missiles while doing so). At the end, bait out the dogs and bombers to their death before moving to kill satan.

Level 2
Bro: anyone with good survivability or sneak ability / digger
Rush to the right and let yourself fall down. Keep moving right and rush through the enemies until you see a mech on the bridge. Capture it and fly it until you reach the checkpoint. Deal with enemies inside the mech in this area, after which you should proceed slowly and carefully. At the end, you can either dig below the bridge to reach satan from behind or use your ability to safely run across the bridge.
https://youtu.be/8mzeZU38-bU
Level 3
Bro: ranged
Rush through the enemies above until you reach the checkpoint, then fall down and capture the mech to fly up. Climb up the ladder and shoot the enemies behind the door. This should also trigger the explosives behind, so wait until the mayhem ends and then you can either climb up through the building or the outer right wall.
https://youtu.be/hOU0pQ49y1A
Level 4 Sky Fortress
Bro: anyone with high dps
Very easy boss with anyone who deals good damage. Just quickly hug and destroy both sides before it can do anything. The boss will not shed its arms while you are on it, so just jump in place on the boss. then the center part will be available to attack and you’re done.

If you're too slow to jump on either side of the boss the cannon will activate.

Level 1
Bro: fast ranged digger
Climb down the second ladder and kill the enemies there. Shoot the propane in your way and dig right. At some point, you need to start digging upwards. Once you have reached a room with two propanes and an explosive barrel, trigger them and jump right. At the end, you just need to deal with two dogs and a brute.
You can also run above the first saw blades, and take the highest path you can the entire level, requires lots of practice.
https://youtu.be/cH-9617y1LI
Level 2
Bro: fast ranged digger
Dig through the wall at the start, climb up the ladder halfway through and destroy the sawblade machine. Then continue digging right and kill anything in your way. Destroy the second sawblade machine you come across as well for safety. Move right and climb up the left wall next to the third sawblade machine. Then just deal with any of the enemies in your way.

Level 3
Bro: anyone with good survivability or sneak ability / digger
There are two ways to approach this level: You can either climb up the ladders and proceed carefully, or you can dig below at the start and climb up the right outer walls to reach the end (watch out for the sawblades on the latter route).

Level 4 Rail Fortress
Bro: any / anyone who can kill the boss from the outside (listed below)

This level also has two approaches.

With any character, you can use ropes to glide inside the boss and quickly finish it. This can be a bit tricky to pull off and sometimes you may fall down even after getting inside.

The easier method is using a character who can hit the television screen from the outside, and there are a few of them (some of the ones I know are listed above).
https://youtu.be/bLBigjnIJ4w?si=DYxtk6V9rMwdmRzS
Here is the full list of character who can hit the boss from the outside, instantly killing it:

Blue = can hit with ability and normal attacks
Green = Normal attacks
Yellow = ability only
Red = cant
Yellow dotted = can hit the screen but its not reliable
Red dotted = couldn't do it but is probably possible

Credits to Brodigy for testing all the characters.

Level 1
Bro: anyone who can kill a brute fast
Just rush right, and once you glide through the rope, jump on the missile vehicle and climb the left wall. Then you can just rush through the ladders to the end and kill the brute.

Level 2
Bro: any
Climb up the left wall (requires you to dig in a little too), then rush through the enemies to reach the ropes. Glide through them until you see a mech, then capture it and fly near the end. You can safely kill the enemies in this area inside the mech.

Level 3
Bro: fast ranged digger
Dig through the wall at the start and let the explosive barrels fall down. Continue digging right, past the saws, through the dogs, and then dig under and past the wall mounted missile launcher once the sky turns from light to dark. Climb up the right wall, dig a small hole, and jump to the right side of the pit. Continue digging right (and soon slightly upwards), and watch out for the falling rocks and one falling bomber. Deplatform the enemies at the door while keeping distance and kill the single jetpack enemy. Then climb up the ladder and trigger the propane on the right. After that, wait a bit and you should reach the helicopter safely.
Don't get cocky.

Level 4 Terrorbot
Bro: Seth (teleport instagib) / Bro Hard or Bro in Black (their ability stuns the boss) / Tank Bro (tank deals massive damage to the boss) / B.A. or Broden (high dps)
Just rush through everything and climb the ladders up to reach the boss. Kill it using whichever of the characters mentioned above.
https://youtu.be/2zf4FNRI1nk

Start of Alien Section

Level 1
Bro: any
There are a few enemies hiding in the bushes, but you can just run through everything here.

Level 2
Bro: any
There is literally nothing in this level, just run through.

Level 3
Bro: fast ranged digger / anyone ranged with good dps
The start of this level is the most dangerous part. If your character can dig super fast, you can just dig below the enemies with ease. The other option is to deal with the enemies carefully. Anyway, once you reach the large pit, climb up the ladders, dig a small hole to the left and jump to the right side. There will be a short cutscene afterwards, after which you can just rush to the end.

Level 4
Bro: anyone ranged
Rush through and shoot the few enemies in your way. Once you jump down and see purple aliens, stay in the middle platform and keep shooting them in both directions (also watch out for some missiles and running bombers). Once the coast is clear, you can easily reach the end.

Level 5
Bro: anyone ranged
Climb up and move right at the start. Shoot the bunch of enemies around the flag and climb up again. At the proper checkpoint, you will face a boss, although you can just keep running right to end up on its right side before it pops up from the ground, so you can basically skip this boss (just watch out for the acid spit). You can then just rush to the end.

Level 1
Bro: ranged
Not many enemies in this level. Just run through, kill any enemies you face and watch out for headcrabs from above.

Level 2
Bro: fast ranged digger
As with many levels in this stage, you can jump to the nearest wall above you and start digging right and upwards. Continue digging until you reach a flag, then deal with the enemies below, after which you can start digging right again at the next flag to reach the end.

Level 3
Bro: fast ranged digger
Go right and kill the single purple alien. You will see a platform with another purple alien at the top. Climb up and kill that one too, then start digging through the nearest right wall. This way you can also safely kill any other aliens that spot you. Continue right until you see an opening above you. Climb up and start digging right again as high as possible, and you should be able to skip the boss of this level.

Level 4
Bro: fast ranged digger
Jump up to the nearest wall on the right and dig right and upwards. You should reach an open space, which you can just run through to reach the end.

Level 5 Miniboss + Humungocrawler
Bro: fast ranged digger
There are two approaches to this level: You can either dig above everything and skip the midboss, then jump up to the highest part of the actual boss and keep dealing damage there until the boss dies (hopefully without falling down once).
The second approach involves destroying the bridge at the start and digging below everything. This means that you will kill the midboss safely, then continue digging right. Once you reach the actual boss, dig into one of the small chambers with hostages and use the tube to enter inside the boss. Here you can safely kill it.

Level 1
Bro: fast ranged digger
Glide through the ropes and enter the building above the room with the door. Shoot the wall and jump down. There will be a few dogs here, so kill them and watch out for the sawblades. Then dig the right wall, climb up a little and jump to the other side of the pit. Continue digging right and deal with any headcrabs. Once you reach the building with terrorists, dig up and rush through all the enemies.

Level 2
Bro: fast ranged digger
This level introduces the acid crawlers, so watch out for them. Dig right at the start and kill any acid crawlers in your way. Keep digging below the sawblades and jump over the pits. Climb on the floor above the hostage and dig right to create an opening that you can jump over. This way you can ignore most of the headcrabs above, just watch out for the big purple alien rushing towards you. Then you can just deal with the last enemies and activate the platform.

Level 3
Bro: fast ranged digger
Dig straight through at the start, just watch out for any falling headcrabs or explosive barrels. Once you reach the other side, rush through before the worms pop up from the ground. Climb up the ladders and keep rushing right. At the flag with some acid crawlers above, jump on the closest right wall and dig right, then above and left to create a space for yourself. Now you can deal with the acid crawlers. Go right and dig as high as possible to reach the end of the level. You should be able to just rush to activate the platform.

Level 4 Terrorcrawler Chase 1
Bro: preferably ranged
In this level, you just need to learn the terrorcrawler’s patterns to know when to go fast and when slow. There are a few characters you can use to outrun the terrorcrawler and get through the level faster, such as Cherry, Brade, Brocketeer and Time Bro.

Level 5 Terrorcrawler Chase 2 + Terrorcrawler Fight
Bro: Tank Bro, Broden or B.A.
This level should be safest to beat with any of the three above characters. Just keep your distance from the acid crawlers and purple aliens. Once you reach the boss, you should go down and create a small safe space for yourself to shoot the boss from with the last two characters, whereas with Tank Bro you can summon your tank and just shoot the boss without any worry, as the tank seems to be immune to acid.
Bro Lee can also oneshot the boss with his ability, but getting through the level is very hard with him.

Level 1
Bro: ranged digger
Kill the dogs at the start and dig through the right wall. Jump over the pit and enter the small cave a little above. Here you can just rush through all the aliens except two purple ones coming towards you, which you should kill. Once you reach a vertical hole, climb up about halfway through, dig a small opening to the right and wait until the acid crawlers above explode. Then you can just climb up, glide through the ropes and reach the end.

Level 2
Bro: fast ranged digger
Kill the aliens at the start and jump up to the nearest wall on the right. Dig right and upwards until you are as high as possible, and then keep digging right. Dig past all the alien eggs until you reach two acid eggs hanging on the ceiling. Shoot them down, and shortly after, jump down. There will be some acid crawlers, so quickly jump on the ladder. After this, you just need to deal with the aliens guarding the platform.

Level 3
Bro: fast ranged digger
Immediately jump to your right and start digging. You can just rush through the room full of alien eggs and dig through the wall so that you can jump over the pit to the other side. Dig a little more, fall down, kill the two purple aliens, climb down the ladder and start digging through the wall on the right. The aliens above will kill themselves by running into mines, and you can deal with any remaining ones. Continue digging like this all the way to the end, at which point you just need to deal with the aliens guarding the platform.

Level 4
Bro: fast ranged digger
Go up, but watch out for the missiles and aliens. Also grab the flex crate if there is one, mostly for the teleport flex ability. Even if you don’t get it, climb up the building and grab the wall to your right. Start digging through all the way until you reach the other side. Here you will encounter more missiles, so watch out. After this cross the bridge dig through the hill with the end flag, creating an empty space that is 4 tiles high. This way the purple aliens won’t be able to reach you during the countdown. After this, hide under the end flag so that the acid flies won’t notice you, and wait there until the helicopter arrives.

Level 5 Heart of the Hive
Bro: fast ranged digger
You can run through the entrance of the cave, or you can just dig below all the spikes. Just watch out for the falling rocks. At the checkpoint, destroy the spikes on the right wall above, then jump there and start digging. Dig upwards until you reach as high as you can, then keep digging right until you reach the boss and kill it.

This is it! Final stretch.

Level 1
Bro: preferably ranged / digger
Here you can just run right until you reach a cutscene. At this point, there are three options: You can kill all the enemies and continue doing so while moving right, or you can dig below everything until you reach the end, or you can climb up and use the propane to launch yourself to the end.

Level 2
Bro: preferably ranged
In this level, you mostly just have to watch out for the dogs, otherwise you can just keep going right and rushing through enemies.

Level 3
Bro: any
Trigger the propane at the start and use it to reach the other side, then climb up until you see another propane. Use that to launch yourself again. Jump down and deal with the enemies in this area. Once you reach the cutscene, just rush through the enemies.

Level 4
Bro: fast digger
Take it slow at the start and let the bombers explode. Go below the flag and start digging through the wall. Bait out some more bombers a few times and otherwise continue digging. Climb up the start once you reach the end and kill the single bomber. After the cutscene, you can just use a propane to launch yourself up and reach the rope.

Level 5
Bro: fast digger
Dig through the wall at the start and run through the crumbling wall. Then keep digging right and run through the sacrificial room to continue digging more right. Once you’re below the flag, jump over to the other side, climb up and rush to the end.

Level 6
Bro: fast digger
Carefully move down and let some of the bombers explode, if necessary. Start digging through the wall under the flag until you reach the room with the hostage. Dig up and deal with the bombers in this area. Climb up the ladders until you reach the end. From this point on, at the end of each non-final level, you need to spill enough blood to open the end portal, either by killing enemies or baiting the bombers to hit the portal.

Level 7
Bro: ranged / digger
Quickly rush through all the enemies and kill the two bombers after the small rooms with crush blocks. Climb up and go right to trigger a cutscene, then dig through the wall to the right and jump down. Go right and dig through the wall to hide from the enemies spawning above you until the end.

Level 8
Bro: fast ranged digger
Deal with the new enemy at the start, after which you can start digging right. Dig above the hostage and jump over the pit. Keep digging right, deal with the dogs, and then continue digging more. Dig above the pit so that you don’t fall down when the boss triggers, after which you can kill the boss underground.

Level 9
Bro: preferably ranged (if going through normally) / Tank Bro, Brominator or Seth (to jump over the gap on the right at the start safely)
You can either clear this level normally, or you can use the other characters mentioned above to jump over the gap full of spikes. There are some other characters who can also work, but those seem the safest. On the other side, rush through the enemies until you reach the end. Move under the end flag if you notice too many bombers at the same time.

Level 10
Bro: fast digger
Go left and above to hostage, then dig right. Deal with any enemies in your way and keep digging right until you reach an explosive barrel. Shoot it and run over the crumbling tiles. Continue digging right until you reach the end. Climb up carefully and kill any enemies that you need to.

Level 11 Double Bone Worms
Bro: fast digger
Go immediately to your left and hide under the flag in case any skulls notice you. Jump down and dig through the walls and jump over any pits. After the checkpoint, you still want to keep digging right, although you need to reposition yourself so that you can get over the pits. Once you trigger the two bosses, kill the left one first underground, then the right one.

Level 12 Satan First Form
Bro: Seth, Brode, Brofessional or Broden (to skip the boss) / McBrover (to kill the boss the safest way) / fast digger (to create a pit)
You can just skip this boss with the first four characters and trigger the escape sequence. With McBrover, you just place one of the turkey bombs to pacify the boss, and then bombard him with your dynamites to end him fast. You need two turkey bombs total, one for each phase.
Another option is to pick a fast digger and create a massive hole under Satan, so that he will fall down into the pit and trigger the escape sequence.
Teleport to the right here with Seth to trigger the deathfield cutscene.

Level 13 Deathfield
Bro: ranged character with a straight trajectory
The easiest and safest way to go through this level is to fall down with the blocks once the fireball hits them. Climb up the ladder and destroy the explosive barrel. This should also trigger the propane. Jump on the propane for a speed boost past the checkpoint. At the second propane, destroy the wall first to create an opening for yourself, then trigger the propane and ride it to the end.
https://youtu.be/uXu49BUIZhg

Level 14 Satan: True Form
Bro: Tank Bro (by far the safest character), some other good ones are McBrover, B.A., Brodell, Ash, Bro Max, and Broheart.
Rush through to reach the boss, then climb on top of it and destroy the laser part on Satan’s forehead. Once it’s down, start shooting either side of Satan’s face until you trigger the final phase. Head under the boss and shoot both of Satan's “cheeks” from the inside. Especially with Tank Bro, this should end the final phase super fast and safely.

Broforce is really buggy, and you will encounter bugs that will end your run as you attempt this. Luckily most of the bugs have to do with respawning (after dying), so you will probably encounter most while playing the Ironbro campaign. You won't be doing any dying for this challenge.

Deathless Related Bugs:

Breed originally unlocked the Deathless achievement on steam in a one death run, where he fell off the bottom of the map into a pit. After testing, the achievement will still unlock if you die on your final life. Meaning if you do not pick up hostages in levels (probably cannot respawn in a mid level checkpoint either) you can die as many times as you want and you will still get the achievement. INSANE oversight, most likely not intentional from developers.

Stage 15 Level 13
Deathfield Helicopter bug
https://youtu.be/j1CUJXn8aBE
Sometimes, holding right at the helicopter and hitting the side of the screen can kill you. After the helicopter is shot down, fall straight down instead of right to prevent this bug from happening.