My Cuphead love is peculiar in a sense, considering I rarely buy gaming merchandise. Despite The Legend of Zelda being my favorite video game franchise for my entire gaming life, I now own more Cuphead stuff than even Hyrule memorabilia. I finished Cuphead on launch weekend after a laborious and painstaking run-in with King Dice, who is by far the hardest boss in the game. After dealing with the Devil, I immediately went back to the beginning and started again on expert difficulty. After clearing that less than a week later, you would think that my time with Cuphead had come to an end.Įndlessly enamored with Cuphead‘s magical cadence, I kept replaying stages to look for any details I may have still missed. Now that Cuphead has arrived on Switch, I’ve played through it yet again. Even 1.5 years later, Cuphead remains fresh. At this point, I’ve beaten most of the bosses at least ten times. Yet I’m still here, revisiting stages, trying to see just exactly how each one ticks. The art direction is what made Cuphead such a hotly anticipated title when it was initially revealed in 2014. But the sound design is equally impressive. All throughout, an old film reel fizzles in the background. Jazzy snare drums reverberate during tense moments. Horns squeak, whistles pop, and strings twang. The sound design masterfully complements the cartoon visuals. They wouldn’t be nearly as powerful in isolation, but together they transport you to a very specific moment of the 20th century. If you couldn’t tell already, my love of Cuphead is intrinsically tied to its aesthetics. The gameplay is great, too, if not wholly original. What I truly appreciate about Cuphead‘s gameplay is how minimalistic it remains from start to finish. While there are unlockable weapons, charms, and super moves, every single boss can be defeated with the tools you have from the very beginning: A peashooter, jump, dash, and parry. It’s tough in the same vein as early ’90s run and gun games, but it doesn’t overwhelm the player with superfluous mechanics. What you see from the start is what you can expect all the way up until the Devil.

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