Cuphead is a 2017 run and gun game developed and published independently by Studio MDHR. The game follows its titular cup-head character and his brother Mugman, as they make a deal with the Devil to pay casino losses by repossessing the souls of runaway debtors. In the game, up to two players control Cuphead or Mugman to fight through several levels and boss fights; the game does not have a rigid narrative structure. As the game progresses, the protagonist acquires more power and abilities, eventually facing the Devil. Players, however, can only equip a limited number of these abilities at a given time.
The game's creators, brothers Chad and Jared Moldenhauer, took inspiration from the rubber hose animation style from the golden age of American animation and the surrealist qualities of the works of Walt Disney Animation Studios, Fleischer Studios, Warner Bros. Cartoons, MGM Cartoon Studio and Walter Lantz Productions. Reminiscent of the aesthetics of the 1930s and the Jazz Age, the game is noted for its animation and soundtrack. All in-game assets were created through traditional animation with deliberate human imperfections, and the soundtrack was written for and recorded with a full big band.
Cuphead was announced in 2013, had a preview at E3 2014 and was released in 2017 as a timed exclusive for Microsoft's Windows and Xbox One, plus later ports to other systems. The game was a commercial success, selling 2 million copies within 2 weeks of release and 6 million in 2 years. Cuphead received universal acclaim for its art style, gameplay, soundtrack, and difficulty. Multiple outlets extolled it as one of the best video game soundtracks of all time, one of the hardest video games ever made, and one of the best games of 2017. Its many awards include a trio of Game Awards and D.I.C.E. Awards, as well as a British Academy Games Award. A DLC expansion, Cuphead: The Delicious Last Course, was released on June 30, 2022. An animated series adaptation, The Cuphead Show!, premiered in February 2022 on Netflix. An untitled sequel to the video game, as well as a spin-off, Mighty Cuphead Adventure, were announced in June 2026.
Gameplay
Cupheads gameplay is centred on continual boss fights, interspersed with run and gun levels. Each is housed in one of four worlds, with the final fight against the Devil (has 3 phases). Each boss fight includes simple, regular, and expert difficulty modes (except for the final two bosses, which lack a simple mode). Defeating a boss on regular mode is required to progress through the game and unlocks expert mode for that particular level. Most boss battles take place on land, although some involve player characters piloting aeroplanes and play like a side-scrolling shoot 'em up. The game includes role-playing elements and a branching level sequence. Player characters have infinite lives, maintaining all equipment between deaths.
Equippable weapons and special abilities, referred to as Charms, can be purchased from Porkrind's Emporium, an in-game shop, using coins found in levels and the overworld. Player characters can use a slapping parry attack on objects marked in pink to various effects, the most important of them being a super meter charge that enables more powerful attacks. The super meter is represented by a row of five playing cards, and can also be charged through attacking or Charm effects. An enhanced attack can be executed at the cost of one card, with its particular form determined by the currently equipped weapon. The most powerful strikes, or Super Arts, require the Super Meter to be fully charged and will completely drain it upon use. Three Super Arts are available, one in each of the first three worlds; to earn each one, the player must enter a mausoleum and parry a horde of ghosts to stop them from reaching an urn at the centre of the screen.
After completing a level, the players are ranked with a grade based on performance, determined by the time taken to complete the level, hit points left post-battle, number of parried attacks, and the number of times part of the super meter was used, in addition to the level difficulty. The levels are accessible through a top-down overworld perspective, each with its own secret areas.
The game has a two-player local cooperative mode, in which either player character can return to the game after being killed if the one parries the other's soul before it rises off the screen. Cuphead's brother, Mugman, serves as an alternative skin and a potential co-op partner in the game. The DLC expansion, The Delicious Last Course, adds a new area with its own campaign, including new bosses, weapons and Charms; a third playable character is also added, Ms. Chalice, who replaces either Cuphead or Mugman when equipped with the Astral Cookie Charm. Ms. Chalice has her own unique set of moves, including a double jump, an invincible roll maneuver, and a parry dash.
Plot On Inkwell Isle, the game follows Cuphead and Mugman, two fun-loving brothers who live under the watchful eye of Elder Kettle. Against his warnings, the brothers wander off to the Devil's Casino and begin playing craps. When they go on a winning streak, the Devil appears and makes a deal, offering to give them all the money in the casino if they win the next roll and threatening to take their souls if they lose. Cuphead accepts the offer but loses by rolling snake eyes. As he and Mugman beg for mercy, the Devil offers them another deal – if the brothers can collect the "soul contracts" from his runaway debtors by midnight the next day, the Devil might spare them. After returning home and informing Elder Kettle of their predicament, he gives the brothers a potion that allows them to fire blasts of energy from their fingers and warns them that the debtors may not willingly turn in their soul contracts.
The brothers travel across Inkwell Isle, fighting the debtors to obtain their contracts. As they enter the second sector of the island, Elder Kettle notices that the duo is getting stronger from their battles and urges them to make the right choice when they meet the Devil. After Cuphead and Mugman enter the third sector, King Dice, the Devil's right-hand man, reports the brothers' progress to his boss and says he is suspicious of their intentions. The Devil replies that if the brothers were to try anything, he would be ready for them.
The brothers eventually collect all of the soul contracts and return to the Devil's Casino. King Dice stops them, saying that their success has caused him to lose a bet. In retaliation, he sets up an extended casino-style battle in an attempt to exact revenge. After defeating King Dice, the brothers confront the Devil, who tries to tempt them by inviting them to join him if they turn over the soul contracts. If the player chooses to do so, Cuphead and Mugman are transformed into the Devil's demonic lackeys, and the game ends. If they refuse, the Devil becomes furious with the brothers for failing to uphold their end of the bargain and battles them. Cuphead and Mugman defeat the Devil, incinerate the contracts, and return home. Learning that they have nothing to fear from the Devil anymore, the former debtors honour the brothers for their heroism as everyone celebrates.
The Delicious Last Course After freeing a spirit known as the Legendary Chalice from one of the main game's mausoleums, Cuphead and Mugman receive a summons from her to visit the distant DLC Island. Once they arrive, Chalice demonstrates an "Astral Cookie" which allows her to trade places with the brother who eats it, turning him into a spirit and temporarily bringing her back to life in a youthful form. The cookie's inventor, Chef Saltbaker, unveils his recipe for a special dessert called the Wondertart, which can give Chalice a permanent body. Saltbaker notes that several antagonistic inhabitants on the island possess the required ingredients, and the brothers set out to collect them with Chalice's help.
Once the trio returns to the bakery with the ingredients, they find Saltbaker in its cellar. He reveals that the Wondertart requires a living soul baked into it to work and that he has kidnapped a member of the trio in their spiritual form, who may be any character not in play upon reaching the bakery, with the intention of using the Wondertart himself to conquer the astral plane. The remaining two engage Saltbaker in battle and defeat him, leading to the bakery's destruction and preventing the Wondertart's creation. Unwilling to let anyone else give up their soul for her benefit, Ms. Chalice decides to remain in her spiritual form until she can find a non-sacrificial way to revive herself while offering to continue helping Cuphead and Mugman when needed via the Astral Cookie.
In an epilogue, Saltbaker is arrested for his crimes and sentenced to a form of community service that involves assisting the inhabitants of DLC Island with their various problems. Saltbaker changes his ways as his sentence nears its end, rebuilds his bakery once it is served, and prepares pastries for everyone, including Cuphead, Mugman, and Chalice, the latter of whom is implied to have found a way to return to life permanently as an apology.
Development
Cuphead is a game by Studio MDHR, a Canadian indie game development studio founded by brothers Chad and Jared Moldenhauer. The game was written by Evan Skolnick; additional animation work was contributed by Jake Clark, with programming led by Tony Coculuzzi. Its development began in 2010 using the Microsoft XNA, later switching to the Unity game engine in 2014, and it was developed from the brothers' homes in Oakville, Ontario and Regina, Saskatchewan, respectively. It was inspired by cartoons from the early days of the golden age of American animation such as those from Disney and Fleischer Studios, along with cartoonists Ub Iwerks, Grim Natwick and Willard Bowsky. Chad Moldenhauer called Fleischer Studios "the magnetic north of his art style", and particularly sought to mimic their "subversive and surrealist" elements.
The Moldenhauers watched many early golden-age cartoons in their youth, largely from VHS compilations their parents supplied. Among other siblings in their Regina, Saskatchewan childhood home, the duo shared an interest in video games. They attempted a game in the style of Cuphead in 2000 but lacked the tools to continue. The brothers decided to try again after the success of the indie game Super Meat Boy, released in 2010. The character that became Cuphead descended from a 1936 Japanese propaganda animated film featuring a character with a teacup for a head. The Moldenhauers emulated the animation because they found it strange, and "right away it stuck". Before settling on him as the main character, the brothers had created many different character designs, including a kappa wearing a top hat and characters with a plate or fork for a head.
Their animation techniques are similar to those of these cartoons. Chad Moldenhauer, who had previously worked in graphic design, hand-drew the animations and painted the backgrounds using watercolours, colourizing them in Photoshop. The gameplay's frame rate is sixty frames per second, while the animation runs at 24 per second, which is the standard in American film. Chad Moldenhauer saw the deliberately included human imperfections of their art design as a reaction to the perfectionism of modern pixel art. Jared Moldenhauer worked on other aspects of the game, and they discussed gameplay design together. Their studio hired a Romanian developer, a Brooklyn animator, and an Ontario jazz musician for the project. They sought to use recording processes vintage to that era. The score was composed by Kristofer Maddigan and consists of fifty-one tracks performed by jazz and big band musicians.