Enchanted Portals Cuphead Controversy

Overview

The Enchanted Portals-Cuphead Controversy refers to a series of critical comparisons between the 2017 video game Cuphead and the upcoming video game Enchanted Portals. Many have noted the similarities in animation and gameplay styles, leading many to accuse Portals of copying ideas from Cuphead. The developers of Enchanted Portals have defended their game, calling the similarities intentional and asserting that Cuphead inspired their game.

Background

On October 8th, 2019, the Twitter account for the video game Enchanted Portals tweeted the tailer for the developer's "upcoming kickstarter campaign." The post received more than 1 million views, 9,000 likes and 1,800 retweets in 24 hours (shown below).

Here's the trailer for our upcoming kickstarter campaign!#gamedev #indiegame pic.twitter.com/lWAJeULb3K

— Enchanted Portals (@PlayEnchanted) October 8, 2019

Developments

Online Reaction

Following the release of the trailer, many reacted negative to what they recognized as similarities to Cuphead. For example, Twitte^[1] user @EpicFunnyName tweeted an image an interface message from the game Fallout that reads, "You've been caught pickpocketing" (shown below, left).

The following day, Twitter^[2] user @streetgrind_ tweeted a series of side-by-side images from the two games. They captioned the images, "Enchanted Portals: Can I copy your homework? / Cuphead: Sure just make it look different so it doesn't look like you just copied it / Enchanted Portals: Sure thing. / BOYYYY if this isn't borderline plagiarism…" The tweet recieved more than 3,300 likes and 720 retweets in 24 hours (shown below, center).

Twitter^[3] user @RiseFallNick shared a message from the developers of Enchanted Portals stating that they were inspired by Cuphead. @RiseFallNick wrote, "Look I wanna give Enchanted Portals the benefit of the doubt but… I can't, either can most of the community. It literally looks like they're trying to cash in on both look and gameplay of the pre-existing Cuphead, and that's not great. Fine line between inspiration and ripoff." Within 24 hours, the tweet received more than 2,000 likes and 400 retweets (shown below, right).

That day, YouTuber Jim Sterling published a review of the trailer, calling Enchanted Portals a "brazen" rip-off of Cuphead. The post received more than 180,000 views in 24 hours (shown below).

Developer's Response

The following day, speaking to Polygon,^[4] two people from Xixo, the studio behind Enchanted Portals, defended the game. They said:

Yes, of course Cuphead was a huge inspiration for Enchanted Portals. We’re both avid fans and we wanted to make something similar, but always from a place of respect and admiration for the original.

We were prepared for some backlash, but the trailer definitely reached way more people than we could ever anticipate, and all the hate and negativity coming our way has definitely had a huge impact on us.

That being said, along with all those negative responses, a lot of people have also reached out to us to say they adore the game and they would love to see it succeed. So we’re trying to turn our attention more towards all those who are supporting us and sending their love for the game.

Search Interest

Not available.

External References