Cuphead

About

Cuphead is a run and gun platform video game with graphics illustrated in the style of rubber hose animation. The game was released on PC and Xbox platforms in late September 2017 to positive reviews and garnered a reputation to its reportedly difficult gameplay.

Gameplay

In the game, players control the titular protagonist Cuphead, who uses various weapons to destroy enemies and bosses while progressing through levels entered through an overworld screen. Additionally, a two-player cooperative mode allows a second player to join the game as Mugman.

History

In 2010, brothers Chad and Jared Moldenhauer began development for Cuphead with animation contributed by Jared Clark, using 1930's cartoons as inspiration for the game's aesthetic. In 2014, the gameplay for Cuphead was shown during the Xbox press conference at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). On June 15th, 2015, a trailer for Cuphead was released at E3. On June 11th, 2017, a new trailer was released (shown below, right). The game is scheduled for release for Xbox and Microsoft Windows on September 29th, 2017, though it may be ported to Mac and Linux platforms at a later date.

Cuphead: The Delicious Last Course

At E3 2018, Microsoft announced a new DLC pack for Cuphead, called Cuphead: The Delicious Last Course, slated for release in 2019. The DLC will feature a new playable character, called Ms. Chalice (trailer shown below). Additionally, there will be new bosses, enemies, and charms.

On Reddit, user AlphieRDL noticed that the title was an acronym for "DLC," gaining over 4,200 points.^[10] Some Twitter users joked about the announcement; for example, user @InkDragonWorks posted a joke comparing an episode of Rugrats to the DLC, gaining over 190 retweets (shown below, left). Additionally, Ms. Chalice was instantly a subject of fan art (example shown below, right).

The Cuphead Show!

On July 9th, 2019, The Hollywood Reporter^[11] reported that Netflix and King Features Syndicate were partnering to create an animated series based off the game called The Cuphead Show! Chad and Jared Moldenhauer of Studio MDHR will serve as executive producers on the show, along with C.J. Kettler, Netflix Animation and Dave Wasson.

Twitter user @GeekyBlackGir^[12]l tweeted she was excited for the release of the show along with Animaniacs!, old-style Looney Toons shorts, and Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, gaining over 2,000 retweets and 5,000 likes (shown below). User @pop_lys^[13] tweeted "nothing matters anymore, only Cuphead," gaining over 400 retweets and 1,800 likes (shown below, right).

Online Presence

On June 9th, 2014, the /r/Cuphead^[5] subreddit was created for discussions about the game. On September 2nd, 2015, the Cuphead Facebook page was launched.^[4]

Fandom

On June 12th, 2017, Redditor Karma_Kurva submitted a GIF featuring various scenes from the game titled "Cuphead = 💗" to /r/gaming,^[2] where it received more than 4,600 points (93% upvoted) and 250 comments within three months.

On July 3rd, Redditor Kzandor posted a Legend of Zelda fanart inspired by Cuphead to /r/zelda, where it gained over 7,200 points (93% upvoted) and 140 comments within two months.^[3]

Controversies

Dean Takahashi's Gameplay Video

On August 24th, 2017, the VentureBeat YouTube channel uploaded footage of GamesBeat journalist Dean Takahashi struggling to complete the Cuphead tutorial level. Within two weeks, the video received upwards of 300,000 views and 2,100 comments, many of which mocked Takahashi. That day, VentureBeat^[6] released an article written by Takahashi about the video titled "Cuphead hands on: My 26 minutes of shame with an old-time cartoon game."

On September 2nd, journalist Ian Miles Cheong posted a clip from the video, saying "Game journalists are incredibly bad at video games" (shown below). Within four days, the tweet received more than 25,000 likes and 11,600 retweets.

On September 4th, the video game news blog GameRevolution published an article about the video titled "Cuphead Reignites the 'Game Journalists Should Be Good at Games' Debate." On September 5th, the video reached the front page of /r/pcgaming,^[1] where it was compared to a Doom gameplay by Polygon.

Reception

Cuphead was very well received by critics. As of October 2nd, 2017, the game has a score of 85/100 on Metacritic.^[7] Reviewers praised the game's beautiful art-style and challenging but rewarding gameplay. At the time of the game's release, an article published by GamesRader+^[8] two months prior to the game's release began recirculating around social media. Social media users commented on the article's headline: "'We quit our jobs, remortgaged our houses' – how relentless passion made Cuphead a reality." On September 30th, Tumblr, user FourPointStars^[9] used the title to encourage users to not pirate Cuphead, gaining over 17,000 notes (shown below, left). On Twitter, user @Juliemuncy23^[10] commented of the headline, "how a lack of social safety nets makes independent art a near-suicidal venture," gaining over 8,000 retweets and 18,000 likes (shown below, right).

Meanwhile, memes related to the actual Cuphead game began appearing online (examples shown below).

Cuphead Flower / Cagney Carnation

Cuphead Flower, also known as Floral Fury or Cagney Carnation, is an exploitable image macro series depicting a cartoon flower from the 2017 video game Cuphead smiling innocently and then screaming angrily with its tongue out. It’s typically used as a meme format for showing conflicting reactions where the subject of the caption is outraged or angry when someone else does something, but then cute or innocent when applied to them in the same situation.

Search Interest

External References