Cuphead was published in 2017, after being announced at E3 2014. As the trailer spoke for itself, it was a game-changer, truly an original idea.
Going back to the frame by frame animations of the 1928’s Mickey Mouse in Steamboat Willie, the developers (Studio MDHR) took this concept to the next level: animating a whole game frame by frame. The characters, the projectiles, the effects, all were hand-drawn. To fit the nostalgic style even more, the backgrounds are watercoloured and the soundtrack is sweet jazz & blues. It’s like playing a 30’s cartoon. The creators gave their best to make Cuphead feel like one of a kind.
Fair in mastery
It’s a run and gun game, which borrows from classics like Contra and Metal Slug. The difference is that the bosses are the all-stars, not the run and gun levels which require you to go from left to right with at least one life left.
Don’t get me wrong, these levels are arduous, you’ll have a hard time getting through the first 2 or 3 of them, but the bosses are something else. Each has their own personality which is reflected in their moves and skillsets.
You have to learn each and every attack to get by one of them, just to face a harder foe in the next rounds. They are not insanely hard, but they push your abilities to their utmost limit.
Luck has nothing going for it in the back and forth of the bosses. Each victory is well-deserved, every drop of sweat shed is leading to mastering a level, a boss, and finally the whole game.
In my discussions with others, I learned that “the hardest boss” wasn’t a particular one. Each player meets his nemesis at some point and there’s a high chance that it’s not the same as yours.
Progessing with options
Cuphead doesn’t focus only on reflexes, memory and nerves, but on adaptability. The shop puts at your disposal a wide variety of “guns” (different types of projectiles coming out of your hand pointing gun), passive abilities and dashes. I’ll be honest, not every ability is needed for specific levels.
There are some that make your work easier, depending on a boss’s movement patterns and platform layouts, but there are other abilities that are better used just for fun’s sake (for example, I used the Teleport Dash the whole game and changed from spread bullets to homing ones many times).
The levels are set apart on three islands, and although the first one showcases best the game’s style and mechanics, it serves as training grounds for the next ones. That’s where the true Cuphead lies.
Core style
As stated before, the OST is a blend of jazz and blues. It encapsulates the old times perfectly, while the fluid gameplay makes up for a modern feel. The creators did a great job of balancing their source material with the marvels of modern technology.
The first songs you hear, “Don’t deal with the devil” and “Die House”, the only two songs with lyrics accompaniment, stuck with a long time after finishing the game. They are so iconic, the first one narrating the premise of the story, hooking you up in the game’s fantasy world, and the second one implying that you have to beat every level in order to advance to the next area. Simply put, hard work is needed to beat the game, it isn’t a choice.
Talking about the story, did you guess why the game is called Cuphead? Because it’s your character, the protagonist. Although, if you want to play local co-op, your partner would be Mugman. These characters are basically Mickey Mouse with the head of a cup and implicitly a mug.
I’m not going to spoil the song that I talked about earlier, but it all comes down to one mission: beat the devil and his minions. This simple plot accentuates the ‘30’s vibes when a couple of frames of Mickey driving a boat and whistling made your day. Trues, the story could be non-existing as well, but it has a lot of charm given its fantastic scenes and characters.
Worth fighting for
So, the game is a masterpiece. A fresh, original idea, executed so right that it leaves not a frame unscratched from the source material, never forgetting how important the gameplay is.
Despite being frustratingly hard at times, the fun persists, that’s what kept me going, restarting so many times after the bosses had 1% left of their health (yeah, the game shows you the level progression % after you finish, kinda’ mocking you).
The game stands as a classic now, and as an example of good indie games.
