One of the ID@Xbox games that has kept gamers entertained and interested in its progress for years if Studio MDHR’s Cuphead. The side-scrolling action game was on display at this year’s E3 in Los Angeles, California, and there was an 11 minute demo made available so gamers could see what the side-scrolling platforming was like in the game.
YouTuber Live Games managed to post up the 11 minute demo, which you can check out below.
The game plays out a lot like the old Super Mario titles, where you travel around in the overworld and complete stages and then move on to the boss rounds in order to progress.
We see one of the platforming levels and then Cuphead makes his way to a store shop in order to pick up some supplies before facing off against the Carrot and Onion boss.
You can purchase new weapon upgrades from the pig vendor. We find out that there are a total of eight different weapons you can unlock throughout the game, along with eight different charm upgrades. You get a total of two different weapons to use and a super special as well.
We then get to see another forest stage where Cuphead utilizes the multi-shot to make quick work of some enemies across various platforms.
Some of the enemies have certain behaviorisms you’ll also need to watch out for, such as the mushrooms who are invincible until they rear their heads, or the flying acorns that will suicide down on you from the air.
A couple of other noteworthy things were on display in the demo: First up, the pencil and coloring work looks marvelous. It literally looks like an old 1930s cartoon come to life. Instead of seeing jaggies from the rendering resolution of the assets, we actually see the coloring grades where the images and sprites were painted or inked in with real life pencils. Studio MDHR had said previously that the game was designed using the same animation techniques as Disney’s old films from the 1930s, but I didn’t think they were going to be that dedicated about it.
The significance of this particular technique is that the game is now timeless. The shaders won’t age, the ambiance won’t degrade, the shadows won’t appear outdated, or the prebaking in the levels making the experience look off-putting or visually ancient, since it’s already designed to look like it comes from the 1930s!
The music and audio is also top notch, so much so that it’s even inspired content creators like Daddyphatsnaps to create a rap song for Cuphead. You can check it out below.
Cuphead may have had a slothful development pace that required a lot of time and attention to detail to bring to fruition, but gamers will be able to get their hands on it starting September 29th, 2017 for PC and Xbox One.
