Cuphead Wiki – Everything you need to know about the game

Cuphead is a run and gun side-scrolling platformer that is being put together by Chad and Jared Moldenhauer, operating as Studio MDHR. The game is drawn with a unique art style that calls back to 1930’s era illustrations and features a main character that appears to be a coffee cup with a straw coming out of his head and who also has two arms and two legs. As Cuphead, the player fights a series of bosses in his quest to repay a debt to the devil. Though the game doesn’t have an official release date, it is expected to land sometime in 2016 and will be published on the Xbox One and the PC.

• 1. Development
• 2. Story
• 3. Gameplay
• 4. Characters

Development

Cuphead is the very first game being developed by Studio MDHR and features some additional illustration work from Jake Clark. The game’s development officially began in 2010 and the brothers that make up the studio started out working from their respective homes. The Moldenhauers claim they got the idea for the art style in the game from a number of 1930’s era cartoons they watched when they were kids. The brothers say they just happened across most of these cartoons from either using VHS compilations or by getting DVDs as gifts. The character that became Cuphead came from a 1936 Japanese propaganda film where a man with a teacup for a head morphs into a tank as the film goes along. The brothers decided to borrow this style for their game because they found it strange and “right away it stuck”.

The team actually tried to put the game together back in 2000, but found they didn’t have the tools to make it work the way they wanted. Eventually they did indeed get the tools they wanted, but they have still figured out a few changes the game has gone through. One in particular is that the brothers were originally hand painting the cells but they actually found it presented the same quality using a technique that includes Photoshop.

The game was first announced at E3 2014 during the Microsoft Xbox One press conference, though it was not playable. As of July 2014, the company said that the artwork for the game was about 40 percent complete. Built on the Unity game engine, the title is expected to be released sometime in 2016 and will have a number of expansions using DLCs. While it isn’t known just how many expansion packs are planned, there are said to be about 10 to 15 bosses per pack.

The game was originally slated for a 2015 release date but was pushed back and the brothers explained the delay in a release saying, “We know we said that Cuphead would be out in 2015 and now we’re saying that Cuphead will be out in 2016. We’re sorry. But this Cuphead isn’t that Cuphead. This Cuphead is so much better. With Microsoft helping us out, we are able to push the art further, refine the mechanics more, and deliver the Cuphead game we’ve always dreamed of. In development, time is our greatest asset, and pushing the release to 2016 allows us to make for the best game possible.” The game had another trailer released at E3 2015 in order to prepare for its 2016 release.

Story

The story of Cuphead is not a particularly complicated one, which in and of itself is a nod back to 1930’s cartoons. The game’s basis is that Cuphead and Mugman were gambling with the devil and they both lost. Cuphead and his partner Mugman if the players are using the multiplayer option have to play through a number of different levels, taking out bosses as they attempt to try and pay the devil back. While the developers originally said they wanted to set the record for number of bosses in a run and gun platformer, it’s not clear if all of the 30 bosses they claimed they were adding are actually in the launch day version of the game.

Gameplay

Cuphead is a run and gun side-scrolling game. The title features a branching level sequence and is based around continuous quick and destructive boss fights. Whether playing as Cuphead or Mugman, the user has infinite lives and is able to keep any weapons collected between deaths. Cuphead and Mugman each have parry abilities and the two characters will parry various color coded objects will fill up a special meter that will enable Cuphead or Mugman to perform a unique special move. The levels are accessible through an action RPG-style world map with its own secret areas. The game has a two-player cooperative mode that adds another human player to the single-player boss battles playing as Mugman.

Among the weapons and items that can be collected by Cuphead and Mugman are planes that will be used in specific levels throughout the game. The game will also allow for both characters to gain special powers, as well as special moves and weapons in order to take on an increasingly difficult number of bosses. Just what kind of powers can be picked up by the characters as they go through the different levels isn’t yet known and likely won’t be known to a great degree until the title is officially released.

Characters

Cuphead and Mugman are the main characters in this game. The other characters featured prominently are the devil, with whom the characters lost a bet and a massive number of enemies and bosses. The names of these bosses are not yet known.

Note: This wiki will be updated once we have more information about the game