One of the most anticipated games of this year was released on September 29. The game, “Cuphead” was in production since 2010, and has blown up the internet since its release.
The premise of the game is that Cuphead and his brother, Mugman, travel far away from home and end up at the Devil’s Casino. Cuphead ends up with a winning streak, and the character, King Dice, decides to raise the stakes. He invites the Devil himself to bet against Cuphead and Mugman. Cuphead is blinded by riches as he quickly agrees and rolls the dice. Rolling snake eyes, the boys are at the mercy of the Devil. The Devil wants their souls, but they beg for mercy. The Devil offers them the deal that they have to collect the souls of those who also lost against him and then he would let them off the hook.
A majority of the game is boss battles, with a few platform levels scattered throughout. In order to defeat the bosses, you rely heavily on memorizing the enemy’s movements and patterns in order to block or dodge the attack.
Cuphead uses the “Parry” feature, which is when you double tap the “A” button on a pink colored object or enemy in order to increase Cuphead’s special attack. If the special attack meter is full you can use all of it to throw a huge deal of damage to the boss. If the meter is not full, then it is a smaller attack with less hit points to the enemy.
As the player, you collect coins throughout the levels which you can use to level up Cuphead’s attacks and unlock special attacks.
A lot of players have found this game to be extremely challenging. The game does not offer check points or extra lives during the boss fights. So, if you die, you have to start at the beginning and try again.
There is a location in the game that will tell you how many times you have died. The only way to collect the enemy’s soul for the Devil is to defeat the boss on the harder difficulty.
The reason that the game took ten years to create is because of the art style. “Cuphead” was created with the classic cartoon look. The creators of “Cuphead” were inspired by classic cartoons such as Popeye, Betty Boop, and the original Disney animations. This type of animation is called “Rubber” because of the way the characters move their bodies. They are extremely flexible and able to contort in ways that are physically impossible.
Unlike today where games and cartoons are created digitally, the creators of “Cuphead” drew and animated everything by hand. The creators wanted every character and background to look perfect, which is why they kept pushing back the release date.
“Cuphead” is currently available on the Xbox One and PC. The game only offers single player and local co-op, but online multiplayer is in the works. No date has been released for the online multiplayer.
Paige Rogers
Reporter