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| “ | ♫ Well, Cuphead and his pal Mugman - They like to roll the dice. By chance, they came upon Devil's game and gosh, they paid the price - paid the price... And now they're fighting for their lives on a mission frought with dread. And if they proceed but don't succeed... Well... The Devil will take their heads. ♫ | „ |
| ~ Theme song |
Cuphead is one of the two titular main protagonists (alongside Mugman) of the 2017 Studio MDHR indie run-and-gun video game of the same name, and its DLC sequel, The Delicious Last Course.
Cuphead is a young anthropomorphic teacup that has found himself and his younger and more sensible twin brother, Mugman, in debt with the Devil after making a reckless bet with him. He manages to resolve this mistake after he not only defeats the Devil, but even going as far as burning all of the contracts from all of the debtors that owed him, setting them free from the Devil's clutches and influence.
In-game, Cuphead is voiced by Luke De Ayora for one specific line when being revived, proclaiming "Thank you!" like his brother, Mugman.
Appearance[]
As the name suggests, Cuphead is an anthropomorphic teacup with a humanoid body and a teacup as a head, hence the suggestive name. He appears to have gray skin, a red and white-striped bent straw protruding out the back of his head, along with liquid filling his head. He has large semi-circular eyes with pie-cut pupils and a small red nose. He wears white Mickey Mouse-esque gloves, a black long-sleeved shirt, red shorts, and brown shoes.
In the bad ending, Cuphead's appearance dramatically changes. As a demonic teacup, his red coloration changes to a darker shade of purple and he now has a bitten straw and demonic yellow eyes with black and red pupils, a maniacal smile, and sharp teeth. In various official artwork, he is also shown to have fire rising out of his head.
Personality[]
While kindhearted and faithful, Cuphead is relentlessly optimistic and problematic, as his confidence and desire for adventures can lead him to being devious or getting himself into trouble, and Mugman as well, although he regrets this eventually, even though he has the tendency to leap before looking.
Cuphead is the more irresponsible, arrogant, and confident twin brother of Mugman. He seems to be a daredevil, willing to perform a lot of risks for pristine rewards without thinking twice about the devastating consequences, especially for his desires. This is demonstrated in the infamous bet with the Devil, that almost cost his and Mugman's souls. However, his greed has eventually diminished over the course of the game, especially in the DLC (which he has been virtually reformed from).
Even with these flaws, Cuphead is still a selfless and lighthearted savior who is admired by his heroism, demonstrated in the good ending where he and Mugman burn all the soul contracts, setting everyone free. However, Cuphead is also vengeful and quite wrathful, if not unforgiving at all, as demonstrated in after Chef Saltbaker mourns the destruction of his bakery, Mugman and Chalice sympathize for him, while Cuphead, on the other hand, dismisses him and states he got what he deserved in anger, as he was still displeased that Ms. Chalice/Mugman/himself was kidnapped for the wonder tart, and deceived by the chef the entire time.
Biography[]
Cuphead[]
Cuphead and Mugman lived happily in Inkwell Isle together with their caretaker, Elder Kettle. One day, when the duo both wandered far from home, the two ended up in the Devil's casino. In the casino, they both won lots of games and ended up having The Devil offering them both: If they win, they will own the casino, but if they lose the Devil will take their soul. Cuphead, blinded by easy riches, rolled the dice (ignoring Mugman's advice) and ends up losing the bet. Cuphead and Mugman begged for mercy and the Devil ended up giving them a task to collect his soul contracts.
After beating King Dice and collecting the contracts, the Devil would offer Cuphead two choices: to join him or not. If the player chooses to join him, Cuphead and Mugman ends up being demonic cups. If the player refuses to join the Devil, the Devil will be outraged and Cuphead will end up dueling each other.
Cuphead wins at last and burns all the soul contracts, alongside Mugman. After that, Cuphead and Mugman went back happily and announced all of the residents about their saviors to Inkwell Isle.
The Delicious Last Course[]
In the DLC, Cuphead and Mugman take a trip to Inkwell Isle IV, as the duo hear that Ms. Chalice require their help. When the duo arrive, Ms. Chalice greets them and gives Mugman an "astral cookie", which causes Ms. Chalice and Mugman to switch forms; Ms. Chalice being restored to a solid and living form, while Mugman becomes part of the astral plane and becomes a ghost. This cookie also allows the player to play as Ms. Chalice.
Ms. Chalice explains that collecting very specific ingredients can allow a special dish to be made, the "Wondertart," which would allow Ms. Chalice to remain in a solid form without the need for anyone else to be trapped in spirit form. The ingredients need to be given to Chef Saltbaker, the greatest chef on the island. The ingredients, however, must be collected from fighting bosses - in the same manner the original game is played.
Once all the ingredients are collected, returning to the Chef will reveal his true and heinous intentions. He kidnapped one of the player's friends while the other characters were away, and is planning to bake the kidnapped character's soul into the Wondertart, with the intent of ruling over the astral plane. The playable characters beat the Chef into submission after a difficult battle, whereas the fighting and chaos caused the Chef's bakery to collapse.
Chef Saltbaker is arrested for his crimes, but slowly redeems himself by not only peacefully serving his time, but rebuilding his bakery and giving treats to everyone in the island. He also reestablishes his friendship with the protagonistic characters, including Cuphead himself.
Other Media[]
Super Smash Bros.[]
In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Cuphead makes his first appearance as a DLC Mii costume for the Mii Gunner along with the Floray Fury song. Cuphead's spirit makes its appearance in the "Ready? Wallop!" event, which is an ace-primary attack spirit that increases the player's power on shooting items. His spirit battle is a stamina battle on the omega form of the New Ponk City stage against Mega Man (Mii Gunner on Cuphead's costume if the said costume got purchased) with increased power on ranged weapons and three giants of Princess Peach. Only Mega Man/Mii Guner requires to be defeated to win.
The Cuphead Show![]
- Main article: Cuphead (The Cuphead Show!)
Powers and Abilities[]
Physical Abilities[]
- Dash: Cuphead can swiftly get out of harm's way by launching himself a short distance, best versatile when Cuphead needs to get out of the path of an immediate attack.
- Parry Slap: Cuphead can turn his straw into a hand to slap pink objects. Each successful parry slap grants one card on Cuphead's super meter.
Weaponry[]
Cuphead can fire various projectiles using his index finger. Each projectile is different from one another. Cuphead's default weapon is the peashooter, but better projectiles can be purchased with gold coins at Porkrind's Emporium.
- Peashooter: Cuphead's starting projectile, fires small light-blue long-ranged projectiles with average damage.
- Spread: Fires high damage-dealing but low-ranged red projectiles that spread into 3 perpendicular directions.
- Chaser: Fires small green homing projectiles. Does not require aiming, but deals low damage.
- Roundabout: Acts as a boomerang, fires large blue projectiles. The Roundabout will first travel the direction it was initially fired, but almost instantly reverts the opposite direction. Deals high damage.
- Lobber: Fires dark blue projections that travel upwards in an arc shape, but then travel back downwards. Deals above-average damage, but has low range.
- Charge: Fires chargeable yellow projectiles that, when charged, deal high damage. However, uncharged projectiles are considerably smaller and deal low damage.
- Crackshot: Fires rhombus projectiles that shoots forward for a while before breaking off and aiming for the enemy.
- Converge: Fires three electricity bolts, passing through enemies that they hit.
- Twist-Up: Fires three tornadoes that arc upwards towards the direction of the finger gun.
Charms[]
- Smoke Bomb: Allows Cuphead to dash without taking any damage.
- Heart: Grants Cuphead the fourth heart, but reduces his attack power.
- Coffee: Automatically fills Cuphead's super meter.
- Whetstone: Doubles Cuphead's parry as a damaging ax attack.
- P. Sugar: Cuphead's first parry slap is automatic.
- Twin Heart: Grants Cuphead five health points, but lowers his attack damage slightly more than the Heart charm.
- Astral Cookie: Allows Cuphead to switch places with Ms. Chalice.
Trivia[]
- According to Studio MDHR, the liquid in his head is the essence of his soul.
- Cuphead's shoes and gloves tend to change coloration depending on what screen he appears on.
- In the Steam Store artwork illustration for Cuphead, Cuphead appears to be wearing red shoes, despite him wearing brown shoes in-game. In the title screen, he is seen with white gloves and brown shoes. In the world map, he is seen with white gloves and yellow shoes. In the results screen after defeating a boss, he is seen with yellow gloves and brown shoes.
- This color inconsistency was deliberate by the developers as many cartoons in the 1930's had posters where the coloration of the character's shoes and/or gloves would be slightly different from the original.
- His parents have never been identified or mentioned, implying that he and Mugman are orphans.
- Cuphead's age is unknown, which is also said for Mugman. As explained by the producers of the game, he and Mugman "aren't exactly kids and they aren't exactly adults." According to Evan Skolnick, however, Cuphead is an adolescent.[1] Additionally, in a Twitter response to a fan, Studio MDHR humorously described Cuphead as a "kidult."[2]
- Despite this, Cuphead goes to elementary school, as according to the book, Carnival Chaos, Cuphead goes to Inkwell Elementary.
- Cuphead is based on old cartoon characters, most especially as the humanoid character featuring a cup from the Japanese propaganda Evil Mickeys attacks Japan (1936), as stated by a developer.
- He is potentially likewise have been influenced by the design of various porcelain characters from the 1934 Silly Symphony, The China Shop.
- He is heavily based on Bimbo the Dog, the boyfriend of Betty Boop being influenced by 1930's cartoons most notably from Fleischer Studios.
- Although heavily influenced by Bimbo, his appearance and traits are more similar to that of Mickey Mouse and Felix the Cat, sporting similar attire to Mickey's while sporting the same large, circled eyes as well as tending to get into trouble, like Felix during his earlier years.
- Furthermore, Cuphead's personality was inspired by the "charming, yet trouble-making" characteristic trait, as perceived in several protagonists of early cartoons.
References[]
External Links[]
- Cuphead on the Cuphead Wiki
- Cuphead on the Super Smash Bros. Wiki
- Cuphead on the Near Pure Good Wiki
- Cuphead on the Shonen Heroes Wiki
- Cuphead on the Love Exalted Wiki
[]
 Heroes
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Playable Non-Playable The Cuphead Show! | ||
