Indie games have never looked so classically cool. From StudioMDHR Entertainment comes Cuphead, a run-and-gun indie platformer with some seriously unique (and retro) art. The artists were heavily inspired by the animation and look of the 1930s cartoons, and this is the style ever present in the game.
While the animation of Cuphead certainly is cute and cuddly, the gameplay itself is an entirely different ballpark. Players take control of Cuphead, who essentially looks very similar to an early rendition of Mickey Mouse. The goal is to "Run 'n Gun!" through the enemies from left to right, shooting blasts of energy out of Cuphead's fingers. The enemies all move in patterns but they come at you in heavy supply, so be careful.
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It's good that the game comes with infinite lives, because you'll need them. The boss fights are especially difficult as well, and there doesn't appear to be any checkpoint system throughout the levels. Gamers will get three tries before having to start at the beginning of each stage.
Some have said that Cuphead was inspired in part by the Mickey Mouse game, World of Illusion, which came out for the Sega Genesis in 1992. While it certainly is evident that Cuphead resembles Mickey Mouse, the games are very much different art styles. Cuphead is way more old-school, and World of Illusion does have decent graphics given the console, but World of Illusion is cast more in the actual Disney universe, whereas Cuphead has the freedoms and fresh animations of an indie title. Both games feature platform elements and co-op gameplay, but a clear line of inspiration is thin at best. Cuphead is a revolutionary addition to the platforming genre.
But don't just take it from us, Cuphead is receiving some pretty positive reviews thus far, winning the Best Xbox Won game at E3 in 2015, 5/5 star ratings from GamesRadar, and 9.5/10 from Destructoid.
Cuphead's producer and artist Maja Moldenhauer had this to say of the development process. "The gameplay came first. "Chad and Jared grew up playing an obscene amount of video games. The art style came second. We knew it was going to be a cartoon-based game, and the aesthetics from the 1930s really stuck. We married those two together, and that's Cuphead."
Short and sweet, and ever observable in the game itself. Cuphead looks and feels like were are no longer gaming, but writing our very own retro cartoon episode. Apparently the developers tried a number of different cartoon based visuals, but landed on the 1930s style due to the animation process.
The game was animated at the same frame rate of the old-school cartoons, 24 frames per second. The coloring was done digitally, Moldenhauer mentions, "There was no visual difference coloring it digitally versus painting it. We thought, let's save ourselves a lot of years and a lot of money. It gets scanned in, colored digitally, aligned and inserted into the game."
It certainly has taken its time. Cuphead has been in development for nearly eight years, and has seen many mock ups and versions. The Moldenhauer brothers went through a few trial and error runs with other games first. Eventually, it came down to designing the protagonist,
The nostalgic visuals of Cuphead in combination with the gameplay has given Cuphead some serious attention. This art style is something gamers have not seen in quite a while. The developers are anticipating a positive entry into the gaming industry and are prepared to build off of the success of Cuphead,
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