Overview
A fully in-depth mask guide to each and every mask in Hotline Miami. Features how to unlock each mask, the abilities of each mask, at least two screenshots of the masks, and any story significance of a mask.
Introduction
Welcome to an In-depth guide looking at each and every mask within the game. I’ll be showing how to unlock the masks, providing at least 2 screenshots for each masks, explaining where best to use the masks, any story significance of a mask, and my personal grade ratings of each mask.
NOTE: This guide contains minor spoilers to Hotline Miami. This guide also includes information on returning masks featured in Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number.
Richard
Special Ability: N/A
Unlocked By: N/A (Always unlocked)
Animal: Rooster
Richard is a rooster mask with no special abilities. He is the first mask you unlock in the game. Since he has no special ability, he is somewhat useless. However, he is technically the canon mask that Jacket wears, and he is a character within the game itself. For that reason, whenever I play for the story, I like to play as Richard.
Grade rating: B-
Reason: Since he is heavily featured within the story.
Rasmus
Special Ability: An Eye for Secrets
Unlocked By: Completing The Metro with a high score
Animal: Owl
Rasmus is an owl mask thats special ability makes it easier to find puzzle pieces & masks throughout the level. Useful on a first time 100% playthrough. However, once you’ve 100% the game, Rasmus becomes useless. Rasmus provides no other special ability.
Rasmus is one of the three masked characters Jacket hallucinates throughout the game, the others being Richard & Don Juan. Upon any of Jacket’s visits, Rasmus always seems very angry and annoyed by his presence. This is thought to be because it’s possible Rasmus could be Jacket’s interpertation of the mobsters he has killed, as Rasmus is seen wearing the same clothes as the mobsters.
Grade Rating: C
Reason: Since he becomes useless after a complete playthrough, but he is featured in the story.
Tony
Special Ability: Fists of Fury
Unlocked By: Completing No Talk with a high score
Animal: Tiger
Tony is a tiger mask unlocked by completing No Talk with a high score. It gives the player killing punches on all enemies (including dogs), with the exception of fat guys. In my opinion, Tony is useful in speeding through levels, since you don’t have to worry about picking up weapons (except for fat guys, of course). In normal play, he is pretty useful. Pretty awesome mask!
One thing to note, on the level Tension, the tied up man in the bomb room, on the second floor, is wearing a mask very similar to the regular Tony Mask. The only difference is the eyes are black.
Grade Rating: B
Reason: Very useful for speedy runs.
Aubrey
Special Ability: More Guns
Unlocked By: Completing Overdose with a highscore
Animal: Pig
Aubrey is a pig mask unlocked by finishing Overdose with a highscore. When Aubrey is worn by Jacket, many of the melee weapons throughout the levels change into guns. Useful if you are a player who likes to use guns, but not very helpful if you’re aiming for those A+ ranks.
A character wearing the Aubrey mask can be seen in the intro to Biker’s first level Safehouse. 
Aubrey also makes appearance in Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number. It is worn by a fictional, more violent version of Jacket in a movie called Midnight Animal.
Grade Rating: D+
Reason: Useful for players who like to use guns, not much besides that.
Don Juan
Special Ability: Lethal Doors
Unlocked By: Completing Decadence with a high score
Animal: Horse
Don Juan is a horse mask unlocked by completing Decadence with a high score. It provides the player with two special abilities.
1. Instead of just knocking down an enemy upon opening a door next to them, it actually kills them!
2. Wall executions (when an enemy is knocked down by a wall, and the player presses space on them) award far more points.
Killing doors doesn’t award a huge amounts of points, but the wall executions award a whole lot. Actually pretty good for getting high scores, if you just stroll around on the leaderboards for a minute or two, you’ll see a lot of high players used Don Juan.
Grade Rating: A+
Reason: Don Juan makes highscores a lot easier, so it is fully recommended in attempts to climb the leaderboards.
Graham
Special Ability: Walk Fast
Unlocked By: Completing Tension with a high score
Animal: Rabbit
Graham is a rabbit mask unlocked by completing Tension with a high score. It grants the player slightly faster walking speed. Obviously, this would be fantastic for speed runs, however, the Brandon mask (‘walk faster‘) is even better than this one. Although, I have heard some people comment that they prefer Graham more than Brandon; As Brandon is far to fast for some people. At times, it can be quite difficult to use melee weapons with Brandon. But, in my opinion, I like the Brandon mask more. I would recommend if not for the Brandon mask.
Grade Rating: C+
Reason: In a lot of people’s opinions, Brandon is better than Graham. But, I can understand why some people can find Brandon hard to use.
Dennis
Special Ability: Start with a knife
Unlocked By: Completing Full House with a high score
Animal: Wolf
Dennis is a wolf mask that allows the player to start a level with a knife. The mask is unlocked by beating Full House with a high score. This mask COULD be useful for speedy level runs, as you don’t need to grab a weapon, however, there are better masks out there for speed runs.
Dennis is probably named after one of the developers of Hotline Miami, Dennis Wedin of Dennaton Games.
A man wearing the mask can be seen outside of Beard’s store in the Tension outro, surrounded by russian mobsters. The mobsters and the man disappear, leaving behind a pool of blood, if Jacket talks to Beard. It’s possible this could be another person who signed up for the 50 blessings newsletter and started getting phone calls.
Grade Rating: C
Reason: Other more useful weapon/speedrun masks.
George
Special Ability: Look further
Unlocked By: Completing Clean Hit with a highscore
Animal: Giraffe
George is a giraffe mask that allows the user to look farther while holding shift, it provides no other abilities. Vaguely useful for larger levels, but since most levels in the game are tight, George is useless.
Unlocked by completing Clean Hit with a highscore.
I think George would’ve been useful in the larger Hotline Miami 2 levels, as many times in that game, you can get killed by enemies you can’t see. Hopefully, it’ll be useful in Jacket levels for the upcoming level editor levels.
Grade Rating: D-
Reason: Completely useless
Ted
Special Ability: Dogs don’t attack
Unlocked By: Beating Neighbors with a highscore
Animal: Dog
Ted is a dog mask that stops dogs from attacking while in use, it gives no other special ability. It’s unlocked by finishing Neighbors with a highscore. Ted, in my opinion, is even more useless than George, as George is at least helpful on a few levels. Since a lot of levels don’t even have dogs in them, and the ones that do only have a few, Ted is made useless.
Grade Rating: F
Reason: Even on the levels that have dogs, Ted is useless, and even more so on levels that don’t have any.
Rufus
Special Ability: Survive one bullet
Unlocked By: Beating Push It with a highscore
Animal: Elephant
Rufus is an elephant mask acquired by finishing Push It with a highscore. When equipped, it allows the wearer to survive one bullet. I’ve found whenever I play with Rufus, I still usually die from one bullet, although at times I have survived. It seems nearly useless against any automatic gun in the game or the double barrel/shotgun. As, even if you survive the first bullet from a machine gun, it seems you’ll usually get hit a second time by it. Not the most useful mask, I must say.
Star Rating: D+
Reason: Still usually die from the first hit.
Rami
Special Ability: Extra Ammo
Unlocked By: Beating Crackdown with a highscore
Animal: Camal
Extra Ammo is provided by a camal mask called Rami, obtained by finishing Crackdown with a highscore. Adds 1/3 of base ammo while in use. Here’s a chart of six of the firearms in the game:
Grade Rating: C+ to B-
Reason: Pretty decent for a gun mask. If you like to play with guns, this is a decent one.
Willem
Special Ability: Rip and Steal
Unlocked By: Beating Hot & Heavy with a highscore
Animal: Monkey
Willem is a monkey mask that gives the player the ability to rip out enemies throats when pressing space next to them, then, takes their weapon away. This could be considered a speedy mask, as you can kill henchmen and take their weapons without having to execute them, if you don’t have a melee weapon. Not super useful as you can only use it on unaware enemies.
Grade Rating: C-
Reason: Somewhat useful on the first enemy in a level, somewhat useless after that.
Peter
Special Ability: Quiet Gunshots
Unlocked By: Beating Deadline with a highscore
Animal: Unicorn
Peter is a unicorn mask, unlocked by completing Deadline with a highscore, that supresses the sound of the player’s gunfire while equipped. Useful if you like playing with guns. However, although very rarely, sometimes I do alarm enemies. Out of all of the gun masks in the game, I would say this is one worth while trying out. Pretty cool!
Grade Rating: B-
Reason: Pretty cool, despite being a gun related mask.
Zack
Special Ability: Longer Combo Window
Unlocked By: Beating Assualt with a highscore
Animal: Frog
Zack, when worn, gives Jacket a longer combo window. It’s unlocked by completing assualt with a highscore, and the mask resembles a frog. Extremely useful for A+ runs, as combos hugely contribute to your final score. Most useful on large levels where the enemies are far apart. You’ll see a decent amount of people using the Zack mask high on the leaderboards. Although, you’ll probably see people even higher on the leaderboards using Don Juan or Carl.
Grade Rating: A- to A
Reason: Pretty good for A+ runs, but there is one or two better masks.
Oscar
Special Ability: Darkness
Unlocked By: Beating Vengeance with a highscore
Animal: Mole
After finishing Vengeance with a highscore, a mole mask called Oscar is unlocked. When worn, the screen becomes much darker and turns dark red, it provides no other abilities. This mask only serves as a challenge to a player who uses it. If you want a little bit of extra challenge in Hotline Miami, use this mask. Although, I think Nigel provides a lot more challenge, as it plays pretty much the same as Richard, just darker and red.
Grade Rating: B
Reason: Provides a bit of extra challenge, but I’d recommend Nigel more.
Rick
Special Ability: Good Shot
Unlocked By: Finishing Safehouse with a highscore
Animal: Fox
The fox mask Rick, unlocked by finishing Safehouse with a highscore, makes any bullet a one hit kill, no matter what. Really only useful if you’re using the pistol, as the pistol seems to take two shots a lot of the time for me. Not super useful, in my opinion.
Grade Rating: C+
Reason: Not super useful.
Brandon
Special Ability: Walk Faster
Unlocked By: Completing Fun & Games with a highscore
Animal: Brandon
Brandon is a panther mask that when worn, allows the player to walk faster. Pretty much a greater version of the Graham mask. Unlocked by completing Biker’s second level Fun & Games with a highscore. One of the best masks for a speedrun, and it can help you while aiming for large combos. The only problem is, for me, I found it some what difficult to get use to using melee weapons while moving with this mask, as it’s SO fast. Other than that, this is probably my favourite mask in the game, up there with Don Juan and Nigel.
Grade Rating: A+
Reason: Probably one of the most useful masks in the game. Absolutely great!
Charlie
Special Ability: More Melee Weapons
Unlocked By: Found in Saferoom
Animal: Octupus
Basically the opposite of Aubrey, Charlie is an octupus mask that converts most guns throughout a level, when worn, to melee weapons. It can be found in the kitchen of Saferoom, you can pick it up after killing all enemies. A lot better than Aubrey, but still, not very useful. Not much to say on this one.
Grade Rating: C+ to B-
Reason: A bit more useful than Aubrey, not much more than that.
Louie
Special Ability: Hard to Spot
Unlocked By: Complete the game with the normal ending
Animal: Chameleon
Louie is a chameleon mask that, when worn, makes Jacket harder to spot. It can be unlocked by completing the game with the normal ending. Pretty decent mask, takes a little longer for enemies to notice you whilst you’re in their line of sight. Although, sometimes, I seem to get spotted around the same time without the mask. Can be slightly useful in large open areas with a lot of enemies, such as the first floor of Clean Hit.
Grade Rating: C+
Reason: Useful at some points in the game
Phil
Special Ability: French Translation
Unlocked By: Found in Resolutions
Animal: Fish
Phil is a fish mask that, when equipped, changes all dialogue to french. Phil can be found in the final Biker level Resolutions. Pretty pointless, doesn’t have any story significance, doesn’t make the game any more fun, and doesn’t provide a challenge. All this mask really is is just a joke mask.
The mask’s name and its animal [, a fish,] likely refers to video game developer Phil Fish.
Grade Rating: F-
Reason: Stupid and pointless.
Nigel
Special Ability: Reversed Controls
Unlocked By: Finish the game with the secret ending
Animal: Bat
Nigel is a bat mask that, when equipped, reverses the movement controls. It’s unlocked by finishing Resolutions with the secret ending, which can be done after collecting all puzzle pieces, putting them together, and using the computer in resolutions. I actually really like this mask. It provides a decent amount of challenge and requires practice and skill to play with it. If you want a challenge, this is the mask to play with.
Grade Rating: A+
Reason: Provides a lot of challenge!
Earl
Special Ability: Survive Two Bullets
Unlocked By: Found in either Overdose or Exposed
Animal: Walrus
Earl is a walrus mask that can be found in Chapter 2 Overdose, or in the bonus chapter Exposed. When worn it ‘supposedly’ gives Jacket the ability to survive two bullets, although, much like Rufus, I usually die on the first bullet hit, anyway.
Earl is (in the canon) found on the head of a dead, tortured man in Overdose. It’s likely this could be another person getting the phone calls from 50 Blessings.
Grade Rating: D+
Reason: Still usually die from the first hit.
Jones
Special Ability: More Gore
Unlocked By: Found in Full House
Animal: Crocodile
Jones is a crocodile mask that generates more gore when equipped. It’s found in Chapter 5 Full House. After killing all enemies on the first & second floor, instead of going directely to Jacket’s car, grab the crowbar (found on the first floor) and go outside. Find the manhole cover and use the crowbar to open it, and climb down the ladder. You’ll see a man’s body, and a mask laying next to him. You can pick it up the mask there.
This mask, in gameplay, is useless. I don’t see much difference, and even if I did, I wouldn’t care.
Grade Rating: F+
Reason: Useless
Carl
Special Ability: Start with a drill
Unlocked By: Found in Push It
Animal: Locust
Carl, a locust mask, can be found in Push it. When worn, it equips Jacket with a drill. This is the only way to get the drill within the game. The drill will only knock enemies down, although the drill’s execution will give a decent amount of points. Only problem is it doesn’t affect dogs. Not one of the best masks, but still, pretty good.
Grade Rating: A
Reason: Drill gives a lot of points for executions, you also get points for knocking the enemies down.
Jake
Special Ability: Killing Throws
Unlocked By: Found in Hot & Heavy
Animal: Cobra
Jake is a cobra mask, found in Hot & Heavy, that, when worn, makes throwing weapons kill, instead of knocking down, enemies. Pretty decent mask, but, personally, I don’t throw weapons very often. But, I do like using this mask.
The mask is found on a dead body in Hot & Heavy. This is Jake, and his character is expanded upon, and playable (in only 2 levels), in Hotline Miami 2. Like Jacket, in 1989, Jake is getting the same phone calls. You can also find the same subscription letter, from 50 blessings, in his apartment, that can be found in Jacket’s apartment.
Grade Rating: A-
Reason: Pretty cool mask!
Richter
Special Ability: Start with a silenced uzi
Unlocked By: Found in Assault
Animal: Rat
Richter is a rat mask that equips the player with a silenced uzi from the start. It can be found in Assualt. Probably one of the better gun masks, in my opinion. Not much more to say about its gameplay.
Richter is a character within the story, as well. He kills Jacket’s girlfriend and shoots Jacket in the head, sending him into a coma. 
Grade Rating: B
Reason: Since he is an important character within the story, and he isn’t too bad for a gun mask.
Conclusion
Thank you all for reading! I hope you found this guide either helpful or just fun to read. Either way, hope you liked it!
What are my Favourite Masks?
I’d personally say my favourite masks are Don Juan, Brandon, Nigel, and Jake.
Other Guides (By Me!)
Hey, did you know I’ve written other guides?
Check ’em out:
Changelog
May 9, 2018:
-Fixed/Added to misc. lines (Massive update may be coming soon)
-Misc. Changelog diction changes
December 16, 2015:
-Added link to “In-Depth Marine Weapons Guide” in the “Other Guides (By Me!)” Section
December 6, 2015:
-Changed some misc. stuff
December 2, 2015:
-Fixed misc. lines
November 25, 2015:
+Added to the Notes section of the Introduction
November 22, 2015:
-Changed Rasmus’ rating
November 11, 2015:
-Changed the next two mask images to transparent variants.
-Changed some misc. stuff around.
+Expanded upon Phil’s section, just slightly.
November 2, 2015:
-Changed the first four mask images to transparent variants. Will change the rest of the images when I have time.
October 30, 2015:
-Fixed Willem’s header saying RAMI instead of WILLEM
October 27, 2015:
+Expanded upon Richter’s section
-Now, if you click my name in the credits, it’ll send you to my steam profile
+Changed and added to Graham’s section
-Changed Graham’s mask rating
Credits
This guide was written by, and only by, MandatoryAlcatraz. Any persons in the future who contribute to making this guide better will get the proper credit.
MandatoryAlcatraz – Writer, screenshots
I’d also like to give credit to the Hotline Miami Wiki [hotlinemiami.wikia.com], I found a lot of information on there.