Cuphead

[WolfofWords]

Released in 2017, Cuphead became all the rage for YouTubers and Twitch streamers. The game met a lot of the criteria for a good streaming game. 1) The art and gameplay are interesting and easy to see 2) there is no voice acting so streamers can do funny voices and 3) the game is really difficult so it leads to both rage moments and colorful commentary. The peak of the game's memetic popularity came when GamesBeat journalist Dean Takahashi failed to beat the tutorial for 26 whole minutes. Most people finish it pretty quickly. It does have some interesting concepts and the jumps require timing but even Mr. Takahashi admits that 26 minutes was crazy. It was a touchstone that each person who played it for an audience could not help but mention.



The plot of the game is a lot of fun and plays out like an old-school morality tale. Cuphead and his brother Mugman (both children) go to the Devil's Casino. Cuphead is on a hot streak at the craps table. As is the case in any casino, this draws the attention of the staff and The Devil himself offers to raise the stakes. If they win their next roll then they will empty the casino of all of its riches. If they lose the next roll they forfeit their souls to The Devil. The Devil offers them a further deal. If they collect the souls of others who owe The Devil their soul then they will earn their souls back. The boys reluctantly agree to be bounty hunters for The Devil. They must face off against desperate creatures in debt to Hell, King Dice, and The Devil himself. However, the brothers have a plan. They figure if they can collect all of the souls, they can use that power to beat The Devil.



The game was such a labor of love. It was the first game created by Studio MDHR founded by Canadian brothers Chad and Jared Moldenhauer. The brothers had watched a ton of cartoons in the "rubber hose" style usually exemplified by Fleischer Studios (Betty Boop and Popeye) and early Disney (Mickey Mouse's Steamboat Willie). They decided to lean more toward Fleischer. For those that are not familiar, the original Fleisher cartoons were surreal, crazy, and sometimes very creepy. They hired three animators to help with the art of the project which was quite a chore. The characters and backgrounds are drawn by hand which is astonishing. The backgrounds in particular are done in watercolors with some digital colorization.



The style really lends toward the craziness of the game. There are two kinds of levels. The first and most common type is a boss fight. These are against the debtors and they are a lesson in learning patterns. You are expected to die over and over as you learn each boss. Boss levels usually have at least three stages. The first is fairly simple, the second picks up the pace, and the third is usually maddening. For example, let us look at Clip Joint Calamity's bosses Ribby and Croak. Phase one is facing off against both of the frog brothers on the right of the screen throwing projectiles at you. Phase two has the brothers being on either side of you with one throwing projectiles and the other generating high winds that hamper your movement. Phase three has the brothers merging into a huge slot machine that spews all sorts of BS at you depending on each pull of the lever.



The other type of levels are called Run and Gun levels. The point of these is to get from the starting line to the finish line. They require you to guide your character through a chaotic gauntlet as you shoot anything that moves and complete difficult platforming. These levels also can end with a confrontation with a miniboss who stands in your way and prevents completion of the level. Unlike the boss levels, you can beat a large percentage of run and guns by simply surviving to the end. This means you do not have to shoot everything. In fact, some of the enemies in these levels are invulnerable.



The game's last levels are a pair of boss levels. You face off against King Dice, the manager of the casino who bet The Devil that the brothers would not collect the souls in time. He tries to kill the brothers so that he can win his bet and deliver the souls himself. His level involves rolling dice which determines a series of minibosses en route to King Dice himself. The Devil is the final boss, of course. He actually has four phases and is the hardest in the game.



Finally, I would be remiss if I did not mention the music in this game. It is filled from top to bottom with great jazz music similar to what you might hear in Fleischer cartoons but with a Cuphead flair. The whole soundtrack is great and was composed by Kris Maddigan. There are 51 tracks all performed by jazz and big band musicians. Only two of the tracks have lyrics. The first is the opening screen which is done by an acapella group who tell the story of the game. The other is King Dice's theme which sounds reminiscent of Cab Calloway.

[Ravenfreak]

Cuphead is a great game but it's definitely challenging! I actually ended up with a "free" copy on my Switch. I put "free" there because long story short, I traded in my old switch at a local game store a few years back and they didn't wipe my Switch, so whoever bought it was using my account. They added their own card information to my account (don't worry I delinked it from my account once I logged into my new one) and they bought Cuphead. I tried contacting Nintendo, but there was nothing that could have been done. The other person never created a new account, so I couldn't just transfer it. (I'm not even sure if that's even possible...)

[WolfofWords]

Cuphead is a great game but it's definitely challenging! I actually ended up with a "free" copy on my Switch. I put "free" there because long story short, I traded in my old switch at a local game store a few years back and they didn't wipe my Switch, so whoever bought it was using my account. They added their own card information to my account (don't worry I delinked it from my account once I logged into my new one) and they bought Cuphead. I tried contacting Nintendo, but there was nothing that could have been done. The other person never created a new account, so I couldn't just transfer it. (I'm not even sure if that's even possible...)

Considering how bad Nintendo is with online stuff, I'm not surprised and it was probably not possible to fix. Looks like you benefited and tried to do the right thing, though. It's a great game and the sequel is coming out very soon. The tv show is also out on Netflix and it is very cute.

[atomictrivia]

Cuphead is a great game but it's definitely challenging! I actually ended up with a "free" copy on my Switch. I put "free" there because long story short, I traded in my old switch at a local game store a few years back and they didn't wipe my Switch, so whoever bought it was using my account. They added their own card information to my account (don't worry I delinked it from my account once I logged into my new one) and they bought Cuphead. I tried contacting Nintendo, but there was nothing that could have been done. The other person never created a new account, so I couldn't just transfer it. (I'm not even sure if that's even possible...)

Considering how bad Nintendo is with online stuff, I'm not surprised and it was probably not possible to fix. Looks like you benefited and tried to do the right thing, though. It's a great game and the sequel is coming out very soon. The tv show is also out on Netflix and it is very cute.

Wait, there's a TV show? I shouldn't be surprised, considering the rendering style is so reminiscent of animation of the 1930s.