I've wanted to play cuphead for a long time, but I haven't been able to take a look at it because I didn't have much time. Cuphead's graphics are really impressive, I think I can say that the best retro graphics I've seen among retro games. The drawing of the characters and bosses looks pretty cute but they laugh so evil while attacking us, it's a little creepy but still cute xD.
I felt like I was in a cartoon while playing the game. It's like watching cartoons but I'm controlling this cartoon, it's an excellent feeling that everyone should experience.
Cuphead is a game designed as co-op, but you can also play it as a single player. Cuphead is a really difficult game, you have 3 lives (HP) in each level, but if you get even one damage during the game or if you bump an enemy, you will lose one life and you will die when all your lives are gone. Cuphead is very fun when played by two people, but if you play in co-op mode, the game does not get easier, on the contrary, it becomes much more difficult, so even if you play with your friend, you may need to play some levels as a single player.
Cuphead's story is not actually an innocent story, but I still liked it a lot. Our two main characters, Cuphead and Mugman, who live on Inkwell Island, lived with their grandfather Kettle. Cuphead and Mugman took a dangerous road that should not be taken on Inkwell Island, despite the Kettle's warnings, and entered a casino owned by the devil.
Surprisingly, mugman and cuphead won all the games they played in the casino. The dice king reports this to the devil, and the devil comes to the table where Cuphead and Mugman are gambling and makes an offer to our characters. As you can imagine, the offer was "Let's play a game, if you win I'll give you all the prizes in the casino, but if I win I'll take your souls". Although Mugman does not accept the offer, Cuphead accepts this offer and immediately agrees to gamble with the devil.
At the end of the gamble, of course, the devil wins the gamble and according to the agreement he comes to take the souls of our characters. Cuphead and Mugman beg the devil in regret and say to the devil: "We'll do anything you want, please don't take our souls."
The devil accepts the offer and gives us a list of those who owe him. If we take the souls of the debtors, the devil says he will not take our souls.
Right after, our characters go to the Kettle and tell what happened, and the Kettle gives our characters a potion. Kettle's potion gives us special abilities and this is how the game begins. Thanks to these abilities, we can attack enemies on the island who owe money to the devil.
The story ends here and we start playing. We can get new quests by talking to people on Inkwell Island. From the shop on the island, we can buy buffs, extra lives (HP) and new special abilities with the gold we have. After completing our preparations, we go to the marked places on the Island and fight the debtors.
The game offers you two difficulty options, one is "Simple" and the other is "Regular". If you play in simple difficulty mode, when you complete the level, you will not be given the debtor's soul contract and you cannot finish the game, so you have to finish the battles in regular difficulty mode.
As for the game modes, there are 3 different game modes in the Cuphead. The first is classic boss fights, you fight directly with the boss and when you kill the boss, you get the boss' soul contract.
The second is Run 'n Gun mode, this mode is very fun, you kill the enemies that come in front of you by walking, but that's not all. Objects come from everywhere from above, right, left and below, if you touch these objects, you will lose one HP. Actually, that's why Cuphead is a very difficult game because you have to handle multiple attacks, not just one enemy.
I can really say that this is the most difficult, especially the airplane boss at the beginning of the game was really difficult. The game teaches you new mechanics in airplane boss fights because you fight the boss by using the airplane.
I think the best of these modes is the Run 'n Gun mode because you can collect the gold on the map while walking. As far as I remember, the only way to collect gold is to play the Run 'n Gun levels.
With the gold you collect, you can get extra lives (HP), new special abilities, permanent and temporary boosters.
In addition to your normal abilities in the game, as you hit monsters and bosses, the cards next to the HP indicator on the bottom left increase, these cards represent our ultimate (super attacks). We can increase the cards with normal attacks, but there is a parry feature in the game.
If we parry the pink colored objects among the objects sent by the bosses or monsters to attack us, this card multiplies much faster and we can inflict high damage on the boss by using our ultimate ability.
Basically the game continues like this, the Inkwell Island consists of 4 areas. When we defeat all the debtors and collect the soul contracts, the new area of Inkwell Island is unlocked. Cuphead is really a game that everyone should play, but you have to be very patient because it is a really difficult game. Don't let this challenge scare you because the graphics, character drawings and music of the game are really cute and relaxing, I'm sure you will love the game even if you get angry. :)
Last Words
Thank you very much for reading my retro game review!