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A Beginners Guide to Little Important Things and Unlockables Hints

By Azul

Because a nudge in the right direction is better than getting table-topped with spoilers.
Current as of 6/21/2025

Credit to the excellent contributors of Nuclear Throne's Fandom Wiki for much of the reference material here.

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Created by

Azul
Online

Category: Characters, Gameplay Basics, Maps or Levels, Secrets, Walkthroughs

Languages: English

Posted

Updated

2 Jan, 2015 @ 5:17pm

23 Jun @ 8:40am

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369	Current Favorites

Guide Index

Overview

Gameplay

Unlocking Character Hints

Secret Character Hints

Unlocking B-Skin Hints

Secret Level Hints

Comments

Gameplay

Leaving a Red Weapon Chest unopened by the player and the exit portal in a level results in an accumulating 25% chance for a Large Weapon Chest containing three weapons to appear in place of the returning Red Weapon Chest in the next level. This chance stacks every time a Red Weapon Chest is left unopened to reappear in the next level (1st 25%, 2nd 50%, 3rd 75%, 4th 100%). Keep in mind however that level 7-3 cannot spawn a Large Weapons Chest.
Orange Ammo Chests give ammo corresponding to the weapon you are currently holding upon opening it. If your primary weapon is an ammo-less melee weapon or your current weapon has full ammo, ammo will be given a random ammo type instead.
Mini Ammo Chests dropped by Enemies have a 50/50 chance of giving you ammo for either your primary or secondary weapon types. If the selected weapon has full ammo, then you'll receive ammo for a random weapon type. If you have an ammo-less melee weapon equipped in either your primary or secondary weapon slot, Mini Ammo Chests have a 60% chance of giving ammo for the weapon that uses ammo.
Mini Medkits do not have a separate drop chance from Mini Ammo Kits, instead they have a 0-66% chance to convert Mini Ammo Kit drops into Mini Medkits based on how much missing health you have.
Present Chests will give you three Small Ammo Chests drops worth of ammo for any weapon types you are not currently holding, but you can extract two of the Small Ammo Chests if you strategically spawn an exit portal close enough to open the chest instead.
I.D.P.D. Ammo Chests can be opened with a strategically spawned exit portal to extract all 5 of their Mini Ammo Chests and have a quick way out.
Big Radiation Canisters that spawn after missing a regular Radiation Canister have 5 less rads than two regular Radiation Canisters, making them a partial reimbursement.
There is a rather subtle bassy "doom" sound when there is only one enemy left in a level to warn you of the impending exit portal spawn.
There is a small "woop" sound when a melee weapon is ready to be swung again.
Try setting your volume settings to 15% music and 100% ambiance to help pick out the previous two sounds.
Weapons will not reload when put away in your secondary slot until after entering a portal. Steroids is the only character able to reload his secondary actively.
You can swap between your primary and secondary weapons while loading between portals or selecting a new Mutation.
Entering an exit portal will increase your Difficulty Level by 1, unlocking more weapons from the drop pool and increasing the number of enemies in the next level. Entering some secret levels will have you travel through more exit portals than typical level progression hastening your Difficulty Level growth, while some other secret levels skip you ahead in level progression slowing your Difficulty Level growth.

Unlocking Character Hints

Y.V. (Yung Venuz): Grab a screwdriver quickly and shank a new way out of the Scrapyard.
Chicken: Make a final wish, then a chilling opportunity will present itself peacefully for you.
Rebel: Don't trust the legends make sure it stays down.
Horror: Experience fades over time, but it might be better to move on than struggle to catch up.
Rogue: Trust what you heard the mutants couldn't have all been wrong.

Secret Character Hints

As Melting, find a dark way to defy death like you saw so many had done before.
With any character, trade one weird rusty gun for another see how the next character likes it on the way out to their next run.

Unlocking B-Skin Hints

Crystal: Fulfill the family prophecy, show them the taint of the wasteland.
Eyes: Look closer in the dark dankness, bring some flash powder to lead the way.
Steroids: After practical testing of the big wasteland theory, peer review your methods.
Robot: Try some fast food, tastes a bit exotic by comparison.
Chicken: On Hard Mode (2 Loops in), just keep persisting.
Rebel: After proving your namesake, earn that novelty mug.
Horror: After you've proven yourself to be the best nuclear anomaly, be the best beam spitter as well.
Rogue: After getting back on track with your department's values, go clear your desk.

Secret Level Hints

The Desert secret level requires a focused mentality for overwhelming the big guy to access it.
The Sewers secret level requires the player to blow the lid off the entryway to access it.
The Scrapyard secret level requires some fine portal defying shanking skills with a screwdriver to access it.
The Crystal Caves secret level requires faith in a bonded weapon to access it.
The Frozen Wasteland secret level requires a dire desire to be able to spare some serious health to access it.
The Post-Throne Looping secret level requires grabbing a different kind of ride on the go to access it.

45 Comments

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dukmann 28 Mar, 2023 @ 11:06am

Thank you for the tips. I also love the way you explain secret levels and characters.

nb109 1 Mar, 2022 @ 3:01pm

@DEAD_STATIC Not quite. The first time you skip a rad canister, you get a large rad canister with [regular rad canister rad quantity * 2 - 5] rads. But if you skip THAT one, too, something else happens .

worm. 23 Jan, 2022 @ 3:30pm

Thanks for the helpful info.

Conalo 27 Dec, 2021 @ 12:37am

Much as I still need to learn how to loop even once, thisll be definetly helpful. Thanks man

Daniel 9 Dec, 2021 @ 9:57am

bro thank you ive played this game for years now and i never knew the white outline of the rad can

Father Nebulous 29 Sep, 2021 @ 12:51pm

Well written with some cryptic, yet helpful hints. I'm by no means a new player, but I do still like this.

EbombCDXX 22 Aug, 2021 @ 9:39am

agreed

CubicSkull 15 Apr, 2021 @ 10:13am

nice

floof birb 28 Dec, 2020 @ 7:47pm

so basically, superkrat, you need to get last wish and then you must interact with the object that spawns. a character will be unlocked when you enter it. the caves can be accessed by getting a funky gun with crown of curses

DEAD_STATIC 24 Nov, 2020 @ 8:14pm

The same thing that happens with un-looted chest happens with rad canisters.

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