Cuphead is an insanely nuanced and packed game- there’s so much going on, so much to unravel, and so much to dig out and discover. There are alternate endings, there are hidden gold coins, and there are upgrades to buy. In this guide, we walk you through all of that.

ENDINGS

There are two endings in Cuphead:

• Agree to hand over the Soul Contracts to the Devil when he asks you to- in this case, you unlock the ‘Bad’ ending
• Refuse to hand over the Soul Contracts, fight the Devil, and take him down, to unlock the true, happy ending, where everyone who was bound to the Devil is now free of him

COIN LOCATIONS

1. You’ll get a Coin simply for completing the tutorial. Go you!
2. Beat the bosses in Inkwell Isle 1. The Axeboy moves aside, ad you can find a Coin.
3. Go behind the Aviary Action boss stage, go right and take the shortcut to the other side of the island, to the Gingerbread Girl who will give you this Coin.
4. Parry four times without landing (i.e. ‘juggle’) for the Juggler in Inkwell Isle 2 to get this Coin.
5. There is a Coin next to the Green Shack near the exit to Inkwell Isle 3.
6. Find a Coin behind the stand near the Theater
7. Look behind the stairs outside the Casino- the Coin is there, in plain sight.

SPECIAL ABILITIES, CHARMS, AND WEAPONS

Weapons

• Spread – 4G: My personal favorite, Spread is like a shotgun- immense damage, but low range. It can be devastating in boss fights.
• Lobber – 4G: Lobber is another great weapon that hits hard. Unlike Spread, it doesn’t take a hit in range- instead, it can be really slow to fire. Only really patient and skilled players can make use of this properly.
• Chaser – 4G: Chaser is a great jack of all trades weapon. Its bullets home in on enemies (so you don’t need to aim), and and it has a great range. As expected, it does not hit hard.
• Charge – 4G: Literally does what the name suggests- charges up a shot before you fire. It hits hard, but is very slow firing.
• Roundabout – 4G: Great coverage, but mediocre range (though you can make up for that by firing backwards)

Super

• Invincibility: Complete the Mausoleum Challenge 2 to get this one
• Energy Beam: Complete Mausoleum Challenge 1 for this one
• Giant Ghost: The ultimate power which combines both the previous two, unlock it by completing Mausoleum Challenge 3

Charms

• Heart – 3G: Upgrades your health by 1 point- degrades your attack power.
• Twin Hearts – 5G: Upgrades your health by 2 points, but degrades attack equivalent only to 1H upgrade
• Sugar – 3G: Your initial parry move
• Smoke Bomb: – 3G: The invisible dash, that makes you invincible as you dash
• Coffee – 3G: Fills up your meter even when you are not doing anything
• Whetstone – 3G: A parry move paired with an axe attack for extra damage

Cuphead is a hard game- so unlocking its Achievements, which require a mastery over it, can be even harder. We’re talking about a game that can demand you get an A-Rank (or worse still, complete a Pacifist Run) across the board, to be able to get all the Achievements it has to offer.

At least with Cuphead, you know the Achievements are actually something living up to their name, rather than being handed out like free candy, as they often are. That said, you might need help figuring out just how to get some of them. That’s where we come in!

Taking Names 10
Defeat a boss

A Walk in the Park 30
Defeat every boss in Inkwell Isle I

A Day at the Fair 40
Defeat every boss in Inkwell Isle II

A Trip Downtown 50
Defeat every boss in Inkwell Isle III

Put On a Show 50
Get an S-Rank

Sheriff 50
Obtain an A-Rank or higher on all bosses in Inkwell Isle I

Boss 50
Obtain an A-Rank or higher on all bosses in Inkwell Isle II

Mayor 50
Obtain an A-Rank or higher on all bosses in Inkwell Isle III

King 50
Obtain an A-Rank or higher on all bosses in Inkwell Hell

Magician Lord 30
Obtain all Super Arts

Butter-and-Egg Man 40
Buy everything in Porkrind’s Shop

Coffers Full 60
Get every coin in all of the levels

Parry Persistance 10
Complete 20 parries

Parry Performance 25
Complete 100 parries

Beat The Devil At His Own Game 100
Complete the game on Expert

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfJ_wgjXkW4

Perfect Run 30
Complete a level without getting hit

Porcelain Power 20
Defeat a boss with a Super Art

Ceramic Strike 15
Defeat a boss with an Extra Special move

Bouncing Ball 40
Parry five times before hitting the ground

Souls Saved 100
Complete the game on Normal

Swing You Sinner 70
Defeat the Devil

High Roller 0
Get every coin in the game

Pacifist 0
Complete all levels without killing an enemy

Rolling Sixes 0
Defeat King Dice without taking a hit

Bravo Zulu P-26 0
Defeat a boss using only the mini-plane bullets

Cutting Corners 10
Find a shortcut

Selling Out 10
Give in to the Devil

Cuphead is a really difficult game- in fact, as you will soon realize, the tired meme ‘Dark Souls of 2D action platformers’ might actually apply to it for real. The game’s bosses are brutal, levels are difficult, and myriad of systems make it easy for you to progress too far only for you to realize you might have made some wrong choices along the way. Cuphead does not pull its punches.

But we’re here to soften the blows for you. Here are some essential tips and tricks that we believe will make your Cuphead experience that much better.

Don’t play the game on Easy. This might sound counter-intuitive, but there is an actual reason here- playing on Easy means you don’t get any souls, which means you can never access the final area. Not just that, you can’t even use it to practice and get used to the game’s bosses’ strategies- playing on Easy changes their patterns, so it’s useless for that, too. Best to just suck it up and deal with the difficulty.

Exploit the stage. Much like in Dark Souls, there are ways for you to exploit the geometry of the level to be able to land hits safely and cheese enemies- if you scope each arena out, you should be able to figure out where you can stand invulnerable from boss attacks, and use that to your advantage.

Upgrade wisely. You need to be very careful of what upgrades you buy- don’t spend money blindly. Consider buying utilitarian upgrades that will give you a leg up, such as the Spread Shot and the Invisible Dash.’

Don’t upgrade your health. At this point you probably think I’m just trolling you, but bear with me here- every time you upgrade your health, you degrade your damage output. Effectively, you aren’t helping yourself. You’re tankier, but because your damage output is reduced, battles last longer, which means you’re now likelier to open yourself up to enemies that much more…

Learn to parry. Plain and simple, you’re not finishing this game if you can’t parry. Learn to parry, parrying will help you in combat, and it will also help you to reach some of the harder places in every level via Parry Jump.

Get those Gold Coins. Explore each stage thoroughly, as well as the Hub Word, because you can find Gold Coins- and these are what are used to purchase new weapons and charms. Don’t be (too) afraid to explore!

Embrace failure. Look, you’re going to die. A lot. But it doesn’t have to be frustrating, and death does not have to be a fail state. Much like in Dark Souls, treat death as a game mechanic to learn the nuances of an area’s layout or boss’s pattern, and get back to it. The thrill of Cuphead is in prevailing against the challenge- don’t let the challenge prevail over you!

If you are playing the Steam or GoG version on PC, there are also these cheats (such as unlimited health), shown off in the video below, that you can try and utilize to have things go your way (a little bit). However please use this at your own discretion.

https://youtu.be/sNhf7uUfTfY

Cuphead is finally out, ending a years long wait by fans to play the gorgeous looking, hard as nails action platformer and boss rush game. And yes, the final game has in fact lived up to the hype and billing it received all this while- that includes the difficulty, too.

Maybe you are stuck in the game because of how hard it is. Maybe you are scared away because of its difficulty, but you still want to see a playthrough. In both cases, you need help with the game- and there is no shame in that, given what Cuphead is. And we are here to give you just that help that you are looking for.

Below, you will find a full video walkthrough for Cuphead. The walkthrough includes the end of Cuphead, too- so, you know, spoilers. Make sure you don’t skip ahead of where you are, unless, of course, you don’t care about getting spoiled.

Cuphead‘s graphical style is gorgeous- it pops and is like a vintage 1930s cartoon in so many ways. Except, as some of our most astute readers have probably figured out, a lot of cartoons and cinema in the 1930s was black and white, and not full color.

So- how to make Cuphead look even more like its very obvious inspiration? As with everything else in the game, it will be difficult. But you can do it! Here’s how this will work:

• While speaking with NPCs you will come across a turtle who is sitting on a rock and he will give you a hint- his hint is referring to unlocking this mode
• Essentially, you need to complete all of the game’s platforming stages, and you need to do it without shooting any enemies. You can still use supers granting you invulnerability, and dashing and parrying will be allowed- but no shooting.
  • Forest Follies
  • Treetop Trouble
  • Perilous Piers
  • Rugged Ridge
  • Funfair Fever
  • Funhouse Fazzle
• Completing a level in such a way gets you a ‘P’ grade and a ‘P’ flag. Once you have a P Grade and P Flag on all stages, you unlock the black and white mode.

Cuphead is finally here- it has been under development for a very long time now, and Xbox fans have been waiting for it for what feels like forever. But now it is here, and it lives up to those years of hype. It is a great fun game with an impeccable art style- that is also gruelling, difficult, and exacting.

As a matter of fact, it is so difficult that its difficulty has become a meme at this point- and nowhere is it exhibited better than in the game’s boss battles, which are, in fact, essential to the Cuphead experience. Before expanding into a 2D platformer, a boss rush mode is what Cuphead started out as.

These bosses are so difficult that no one will blame you if you feel frustrated and ready to give up on the game because of them- but before you do, it might be better to look at our guide that includes some tips and strategies for you to utilize in tackling them. The video guide below has tips on taking on every single boss- be wary of spoilers!

0:00 – The Root Pack
1:50 – Goopy le Grande
3:17 – Ribby and Croaks
5:25 – Hilda Berg
7:35 – Cagney Carnation
9:04 – Baroness von Bon Bon
11:08 – Djimmi the Great
13:17 – Beppi the Clown
15:41 – Wally Warbles
17:47 – Grim Matchstick
19:56 – Rumor Honeybottoms
21:39 – Dr Kahl’s Robot
23:41 – Sally Stageplay
25:51 – Captain Brineybeard
27:49 – Werner Werman
29:42 – Cala Maria
31:56 – Phantom Express
34:49 – Tipsy Troop
36:08 – Chips Bettigan
37:03 – Mr. Wheezy
38:28 – Pip and Dot
39:28 – Hopus Pocus
40:40 – Phear Lap
41:29 – Pirouletta
42:33 – Mangosteen
43:35 – Mr Chimes
45:31 – King Dice
46:17 – The Devil
48:50 – Ending