Day 34: Cuphead

Time for a great slam and then some, it's Cuphead, a strong contender for one of the hardest games I've ever played. But thankfully it's that kind of hard where it's mostly your fault that you lost, for the most part anyway, and you find yourself doing better and better with each time you retry.

Difficulty aside, let's talk about that story. It follows Cuphead and his pal Mugman who decide to visit a casino run by this game's villains, King Dice and the Devil. After Cuphead loses a game after betting his and Mugman's souls, the Devil decides to cut them a deal where if they go after his other debtors and collect their souls for him, he'll forget the bet and let them go. So Cuphead and Mugman set out to go after these debtors in some of the craziest and hardest boss fights you'll ever face.

Just to name a few of the foes you'll be facing there's a pair of boxing frog brothers that turn into a slot machine, a mermaid that turns into a gorgon, a possessed sunflower, an evil professor with a robot that turns the game into a Touhou styled shoot 'em up, a mouse piloting a tank and then a robotic cat, a blimp lady that turns into the freaking moon, and this all culminates to an epic confrontation with the Devil himself. All of these bosses are fun and unique in concept, and with the exception of a few of them I have a good amount of fun facing them.

When you're not beating up bosses, however, you're playing through the occasional run and gun stage which plays out like Contra or Megaman. Just shoot any enemy that comes your way, collect coins to buy at the shop, build up your parry meter when you see something pink, and hope you get a good score at the end.

The game also has moments where you must save Ms. Chalice from ghosts in a mausoleum in each section of Inkwell Isle. Succeeding will grant you a special ability to use in the field like a powerful lazer that takes up half the screen, brief invincibility, or this hard to control muscular Cuphead ghost. I'll be honest I rarely used the second and third power ups and just used the first one. The lazer is reliable, easy to use, and it knows how to get shit done.

The coins you find in each run and gun level as well as all around the overworld can be used to buy more shots and charms to equip. Shots in this game include your standard Peashooter, shots that act like Kirby's Cutter Ability, a charge shot, homing shots, spread fire, and lob shots. The charms you get are also unique as they can give you a few extra slots of health, smoke bombs that allow you to not take damage during a dash, automatic parrying, actively filling charge meters so you can use your super ability faster, and a charm that makes your first parry in a jump able to do damage to an enemy.

All of these charms, super abilities, and shots add a good amount variety to the game play and a good amount of combinations to try in each level or boss fight.

The gameplay tries to be different every now and again with very fun 2D shooting sections that feel like a 1930s Gradius, with big bosses to take out, attacks to dodge and parry. I really like these sections and find them to be a nice change of pace.

And finally, we come to the sound and graphical presentation. From a graphical standpoint, this is probably the best looking game I've played, if not in the top three. All of the graphics, colors, set pieces, and character movements ooze 1930s cartoon, even the music fits this vibe. I'm not a big fan of jazz music but Cuphead's soundtrack is very catchy with some of my favorite songs being Floral Furry, Clip Joint Calamity, Shootin n' Lootin, Murine Corps., King Dice's theme, and The King's Court. Cuphead is just a beautiful game overall.

One last tidbit of information is that, apparently, the lead developers of this game put everything they own on the line for this game, even going as far as quitting their jobs and remortgaging their houses. They knew that had to make a great game or else they'd be in more trouble than Cuphead and Mugman. Well, they wanted a fun and successful game, and they got a fun and successful game with five million copies bought as of October 2019, a port on the Nintendo Switch, upcoming DLC that looks promising, and a Mii costume in Smash Bros. Ultimate!

(And I haven't even talked about some of the memes and fanart surrounding this game)

The developers of Cuphead made a gamble, and now they're dancing with Lady Luck. This is a fun, challenging, and beautiful game to play that I can recommend to any gamers looking for a challenge, fans of old Fleischer and Disney cartoons, or fans of games like Contra.

Cuphead is nothing short of amazing, it's one of the best indie games I played, and you bet I am excited for 'The Delicious Last Course' DLC.