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| The protagonists clearly didn't take the game's own advice |
Cuphead began development in 2010 and was created by a team of 19 people at Canadian company StudioMDHR - short for Studio Moldenhauer. StudioMDHR is an indie game development studio founded by the Moldenhauer brothers: Chad and Jared. They aspired to create a game that represented cartoons of the 1930s, the likes of Popeye the Sailor and Betty Boop being sources of inspiration, along with early Walt Disney cartoons such as "Silly Symphonies" and "Plane Crazy", especially for their more surreal elements. Chad Moldenhauer referred to Fleischer Studios, those responsible for the production of Betty Boop and Popeye the Sailor cartoons as "the magnetic north of his art style". The animation in Cuphead is based on the "rubber hose" technique, where every limb acts as if it has no bones so it wiggles erratically, like a rubber hose.
To create the 30s vibe authentically, the team implemented techniques of that era: this includes things like traditional hand drawn cel animation and live jazz recordings. The designs of the characters and the world they inhabit have been finely crafted - characters are adorned with bold black eyes, simplistic but fun designs and dynamic animations. The inclusion of a film grain overlay, watercoloured backgrounds and level title cards that are reminiscent of those shown before a 30s animated short enhance the accuracy of StudioMDHR's love letter to the era.
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| A selection of characters owned by Fleischer Studios, one of the main inspirations for Cuphead |
Cuphead is a story about two brothers, Cuphead and Mugman, who ignore the advice of their Elder Kettle and go gambling at a nearby casino. The Devil, who runs the casino, attempts to bargain for the duo's souls but instead agrees that if they can capture the souls of some other troublesome beings, they will be freed from the Devil's contract. The game features single player and local co-operative game modes, the gameplay is heavily inspired by the likes of Megaman, Contra and, to a lesser extent, Metroid. The protagonists also have a range of special moves and traverse a world full of secrets to discover.
The character of Cuphead was inspired by a Japanese animated propaganda film from the mid-30s; it features a man with a teacup for a head who morphs into a tank. The Moldenhauer brothers emulated the animation seen in this short film because they thought it was strange, according to the duo it stuck "right away". There are clear inspirations in Cuphead's design to the likes of Mickey Mouse, with the prominence of gloves and red shorts. In contrast to Cuphead himself, Mugman's design is like the Luigi to Cuphead's Mario, if you will. The two characters share design similarities, but with a contrasting key colour and one character is slightly taller. The personalities of the duo, with one being sensible and level-headed and the other being more carefree, can even be likened to the Mario brothers to a point. The trope of a reckless character and a sensible character occurs throughout media, a few examples of this are: titular characters Banjo and Kazooie, Tommy and Chuckie from Rugrats, Hiro and Tadashi from Big Hero 6 and the protagonist trio of Charmed, where one sensible character looks after two characters, one reckless and the other somewhere in the middle.
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| The Mario & Luigi RPG series shares some resemblance in art style, as well as protagonists that follow a similar trope to the protagonists of Cuphead |
When Cuphead started development, it was just going to consist of a series of boss battles, this was, however, a scaled back vision of what the Moldenhauer brothers wanted for the game at the time. The game was in development for a long time, the road was hard and at a time content was drastically cut before being added back in. At the start of its development cycle, Cuphead was being worked on by a team of 3 people only working over weekends. The Moldenhauer brothers decided to make a bold move by quitting their jobs and remortgaging their houses so that they could begin expanding the team with people who were equally passionate about making Cuphead great: “This was our chance to actually deliver the game we wanted to make all along, rather than the cut-scope game we originally planned with a three person team.” It was risky for them as an independent studio, but the gamble appeared to pay off: upon Cuphead's release today, positive reviews have emerged, pinning the game at around 8 or 9 out of 10 on average.
In my opinion Cuphead has done a wonderful job of showcasing StudioMDHR's passion for the cartoons of the 30s and the ruthless difficulty balanced with the thoroughly enjoyable gameplay inspired by the likes of Contra. The designs of the two protagonist characters, Cuphead and Mugman, are memorable as mascot types. I also feel that they would have fit right in if they were characters in an old cartoon, the fact that they are silent but animated in a dynamic way helps with this. The world and NPCs are interesting and colourful, the music is a joy to listen to. It's very hard to find bad things about this game, aside the fact that every game has an end.
In terms of my Masters project, learning about the development of Cuphead and experiencing the game in person has given me a good insight into mascot characters of the current age. While he isn't notable as a classic character with a long, rich history (yet), I imagine that Cuphead will be memorable for years to come.
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| Cuphead (left) and Mugman (right) |
References:
https://goo.gl/mKe7cN - Suszek, M. (April 2014)
https://goo.gl/8z4mcW - Purdom, C. (July 2014)
https://goo.gl/5AWnLE - Peckham, M. (April 2016)
https://goo.gl/g1G7CY - Clark, J. (February 2017)
https://goo.gl/dm2DWa - Gilyadov, A. (June 2017)
https://goo.gl/WWEHuk - Locke, J. (June 2017)
https://goo.gl/twvJg1 - Webster, A. (September 2017)
https://goo.gl/imEqXH - Travis, B. (September 2017)
https://goo.gl/x2Q4cC - Kleinman, J. (September 2017)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btB_ayT-Q0c - GameInformer (September 2017)
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