Mighty Cuphead Adventure
Cuphead and Mugman star in a side-scrolling platform shooter from Studio MDHR, styled after the 8-bit home consoles of the 1980s. The studio developed and published it in-house, and no release date has been announced.
Top 3 Reasons to Play
- A Master System wish from 2014. In a 2014 press update for the first Cuphead, the studio floated a Master System port with cartridge, instructions and box as a long-shot goal. The same update mentioned that the team grew up on the console, and a cartridge for that hardware is now planned for this game.
- A 32-color rule. Studio MDHR describes the game as 8-bit platforming in 32 colors. That limit stands in for the watercolor backdrops and traditional animation of the 2017 game.
- Bosses with history. Boss fights were the backbone of the 2017 game, and the teaser footage includes enemies that look like some of them, now redrawn as sprites.
Story and Lore
No plot has been revealed for this spin-off. The setting, at least, comes from the 2017 game: on Inkwell Isle, brothers Cuphead and Mugman live under the watch of Elder Kettle until a craps game at the Devil's Casino goes wrong. Cuphead rolls snake eyes, and the brothers can only keep their souls by collecting contracts from the Devil's runaway debtors.
Where this game sits in that timeline is an open question. The only framing offered so far is tonal: Studio MDHR has called the project a tribute to the era of games that drew its own team into the hobby.
Gameplay and Mechanics
Studio MDHR's own label is fast-action platform shooter, and the debut footage showed only a short stretch of play. Game Informer's impression of it was a game that plays like traditional Cuphead, blending precise platforming with bullet-heavy hazards.
On presentation, outlets reached for different touchstones. Game Informer saw early Sonic the Hedgehog in the pixel art and box art, while Engadget compared the screens to Super Mario Bros. 3.
Left unsaid so far:
- Whether the parry and super meter from the 2017 game return.
- How many stages there are, and whether bosses arrive in a rush or between platforming levels.
- Which weapons and upgrades exist, and whether difficulty settings return.
Characters and Factions
Cuphead and Mugman are the named leads, the same brothers from the 2017 game, and both appear in the teaser. No fuller cast list exists yet. Possible returnees from the series, none of them confirmed for this game:
- Ms. Chalice: a playable character added by the 2022 expansion The Delicious Last Course.
- Elder Kettle: the brothers' guardian in the original.
- The Devil and King Dice: the antagonist and his right-hand man in the original.
Factions haven't been described either. In the 2017 game the opposition was the Devil's casino operation and the runaway debtors the brothers had to fight.
Editions
Nothing about editions has surfaced. Studio MDHR hasn't mentioned a deluxe version or DLC, and no price exists for any format. Listings on GAMIVO deliver digital copies of the game.
PC System Requirements
Studio MDHR hasn't published PC system requirements and has spoken about PC support only in broad terms. Nothing is stated about operating systems or storage needs, and there is no minimum or recommended specification to quote.