Cuphead is a classic run and gun action game that focuses heavily on boss fights. Inspired by cartoons from the 1930s, visuals and audio are elaborately designed using the same techniques of the era, ie with traditional hand-drawn animations, water color backgrounds and original jazz recordings.
The question of what “Cuphead” actually is is not an easy one to answer. Many media titles the game as Jump n ’Run, which can wake inattentive players. In some levels, the game hops and runs from left to right in a classic manner, but at its core the game has much more in common with “Contra” than with “Super Mario”.
A relentless flood of enemy missiles needs to be avoided, while we almost never let go of the “fire” button. There are also various power-ups that can change our skills or weapons. Even in the so-called “Run and Gun” levels, we mainly fight against opponents in order to achieve the goal with at least one health point.
Success is only possible if you memorize each opponent’s movements and show patience and lightning-fast reflexes. But the boss fights are what really makes “Cuphead” stand out.
Cuphead and his brother Mugman gambled their souls at the Devil’s Casino and, to pay their debt, they agreed to collect the souls of other debtors. This very simple story fits perfectly into the extraordinary setting of the game: From the start screen to the end, the game looks like a cartoon from the 1930s.
Both Cuphead and each of his opponents were animated with the means available at the time in order to create a picture that was as authentic as possible. The whole thing is supplemented with watercolor backgrounds and a soundtrack with catchy tunes.
Even if you can’t do anything with the gameplay, you owe it to yourself to see “Cuphead” at least once in motion. It’s impressive that they were able to implement the graphic style of that time so convincingly, but “Cuphead” doesn’t stop there. Each of the 15 bosses comes with at least three phases, in which gameplay and appearance change significantly.
So it happens that in one of the first fights we fight against an angry potato, a crying onion and a telepathic carrot. Each boss’s design is incredibly creative, evoking memories of Disney’s early works without copying their style.
There is a variety of games thanks to the “Run and Gun” levels already mentioned, of which there are two in each of the three worlds. These are primarily used to collect coins that can be exchanged for useful power-ups on the upper world. We also put certain boss fights in a plane, whereby the gameplay really only differs in freedom of movement.
Our main task is simple: As in Super Mario World or other 2D marios, we have to maneuver our little hero (and his buddy Mugman when we play in co-op) over an overworld map to target one boss after the other, who shoots’ em Up-, Bullet Hell- or Platforming mechanics come up. In between, short Run & Gun levels in the style of Super Probotector: Alien Rebels alias Contra 3: The Alien Wars loosen up the action, in which we have to run and shoot from (usually) left to right.
Cuphead’s focus is on boss fights, with only a handful of the side-scrolling Run & Gun levels. Compared to the crazy arguments that always take place in several phases, a large part of the running sections fades, even though outstanding moments remain in the memory – for example, when Cuphead is running on the ceiling in a creepy cabinet or being chased by a troll through a ruin.
The heroes’ repertoire of movements is perfectly tailored to the requirements: Cuphead and Mugman shoot, jump and cover distances by boost. If you press the jump button, as soon as you land on objects marked in pink, your super bar will be charged – with it you will unleash particularly strong attacks.
Thankfully, the control is completely configurable; Sprinting on the Y key and fixing the hero with LB is not a good idea, the best thing to do is to change it immediately. From hidden coins, you can buy new weapons (such as bullets or bullets with scattered damage) and tools such as additional heart containers from dealer Porkrind.
From time to time you are not on foot, but on the plane above the clouds. In addition to the two weapon options and the boost, there is the option of shrinking in this setting to make it easier to dodge. Firepower and range are limited in miniature form.
Depending on your skill, you will be busy with your diabolical job for five to seven hours, if you are interested in the unlockable content and the top ratings, you will add a few hours more. Success feels satisfying and deserving in Cuphead, especially since it is a pleasure to see how you can cope with the challenges better and better over time.
A large part of the fascination is of course also the unique design of the game: With unbelievable attention to detail, Cuphead captures the charm of classic animation from the 1930s like no other title. The game owes its authenticity to hand-painted backgrounds and classic animation, which is, however, expensive and time-consuming – which is why the long-awaited title had to be postponed several times.
The bombastic look comes with contemporary sounding jazz and ragtime pieces composed especially for the game. Creativity does not stop at the graphic implementation, far away from boring everyday opponents, Cuphead burns off a firework of creative boss ideas, in which other titles go green with envy: where else do you fight a fire-breathing cigar in an ashtray or a renowned theater actress who you agree to have to put whole piece over in four different sets?
Despite the obvious qualities, Cuphead will not like every Jump & Run fan because of its strong orientation towards classics and a comparatively high level of difficulty. Cuphead is more closely related to Mega Man and titles like Metal Slug and Contra than with Rayman and Mario – if you don’t have a problem with that, you should quickly make the dirty deal with the devil!
Quick successes are rare in Cuphead, the core of the 2D spectacle consists of internalizing the boss attack patterns – and this can sometimes take a while, depending on your genre experience. However, mere memorization alone does not necessarily lead to victory, the random elements ensure that. Many bosses combine attacks and projectiles sometimes behave randomly. Occasionally this leads to unavoidable hits, but overall the level of difficulty of Cuphead is absolutely fine for genre relationships, especially since you have the choice between two levels (one will be added later).
Unlike in a lot of classics, you never have to worry about the number of your lives, you have endless attempts and time to master the challenges. From time to time, a duo of design sins creates unnecessary frustration: in some arenas, objects in the foreground obscure the action, and the hit boxes of some bosses do not always match their silhouette.
On the Xbox, there was a crash and a few bugs during the test, but most of the time Cuphead runs flawlessly and smoothly. Patience requires charging times on Xbox One.
At the heart of the “Cuphead” philosophy is undoubtedly the enormous difficulty. This is literally a trial and error game in which we run against the wall until we can sleep the boss. For the five bosses of the first world and the two “Run and Gun” levels, Cuphead has blessed 102 times in the test. Overall, “Cuphead” already has about three hours of play in the first third. Who, theoretically, defeated every boss straight away and flawlessly could finish the game in under two hours.
This will not happen to almost anyone. Later bosses turn the difficulty up a good bit and it is often advisable to experiment with different pwer-ups to make the boss fights easier. Purists can also play through the game completely with the initial weapon and try to achieve the coveted “A +” rank in every fight. For this, attacks must be parried, the special maneuvers used and no health lost. So if you have something to prove to yourself and the world, you can work your way up to become an expert here.
If you want to make the game a little easier, you can either set the level of difficulty to “simple” before each fight, or on the other hand get a friend in the local co-op. So the bosses can endure a little more, but should one of the players die, the other has a short time window to revive him. However, caution is required when choosing the simple level of difficulty. This makes the bosses a little more vulnerable to damage and takes some of their strongest attacks out of the game, but you don’t make any progress with them. This mode is therefore only suitable for practicing the boss.
The thing may be 2D and look like Mickey Mouse is peeping past here with his boat, but don’t be wrong. The comic-like, sweet-looking fights, the endearing bosses and the lovingly created Gun and Run passages are tough and punish every little mistake.
Equipped with two lives, you will be thrown into new boss battles with crazy, new mechanics over and over again and may be surprised again and again phase by phase. In doing so, we were quite successful in laying one or the other in the first attempt, while on the other hand we spent hours beating up a go-card clown.
Cuphead is straight forward, heavy and has the perfect look. Not that the classic old Disney look is generally the perfect look, but what was done here is actually perfect in exactly that area. Style and atmosphere are just a dream, because even in the toughest fight, the cartoon mood doesn’t break.
Of course, you can ask yourself whether difficult is equal to how difficult, or how difficult is still in order, but in general I think that if you as a player immediately recognize where the mistake was and what you did wrong without feeling the fact that it was enforced does not diminish the fun, even if it takes hours before you win in the end. The fact is: Cuphead is highly recommended.
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