Cuphead’s greatest strength is clearly its style. The visuals are a painstaking tribute to 1930s animation, particularly that of Fleischer Studios. Every frame of the animation is hand-drawn, and beautiful 3D stop-motion is deployed occasionally too. True to its ancestors, it brims with playful details, though these are much easier to notice when watching gameplay than in the heat of the moment. Plenty of unobtrusive references are made to cartoons of the time period, as well as the games that inspired the gameplay. The soundtrack similarly goes above and beyond, almost entirely performed by period-accurate ensembles and composed by a single genius. The default is vibrant jazz and big band, with forays into other genres, and cameos from unconventional instruments. Even the old-timey NPC dialogue (and taunts from the bosses when you lose) is just right.

Thankfully, all of Cuphead’s style is backed up by excellent gameplay. To start, I want to confirm that the game is difficult! I racked up 400 deaths in my first playthrough. In a couple of minutes per level, you'll need to juggle aiming well, dodging, parrying pink stuff, managing smaller threats, and timing stronger moves. The default gamepad configuration makes this unnecessarily difficult. I recommend assigning shoot to a trigger you can hold down, so you can shoot continuously while doing everything else, and assigning jump and dash to adjacent buttons for quick dodging. There is a great variety of options for your loadout. The Peashooter and Spread guns are cheap and reliable and I often returned to them throughout. Some guns I found too fiddly to use, and the homing guns seem too powerful, but they can at least dial your personal difficulty level up or down. There are three Super Arts (strong powers which can be activated when you fill your Super Meter) and several charms (special passives like extra health or a supremely helpful invincible dash) to choose from depending on what aspect of a fight you're struggling with, or just how you like to play.

Including DLC Cuphead contains over 30 wildly imaginative boss fights. In Simple mode, you can play a truncated version of the fight, at a difficulty which new players will soon outgrow. An example is Clip Joint Calamity, featuring two pugilistic frogs; one boxes you with large projectiles while the other complicates things by spitting flies at you, or transforming into a fan to blow you around. If you defeat them like this, you don't collect the contract required to progress. You need to switch to Regular mode for that, which means adjusting to their modified attack patterns and then contending with their true final phase, in which one frog swallows the other and, naturally, they morph into a giant slot machine that spits coins and platform-hazards at you. After beating the final boss you unlock Expert mode, which is unchanged apart from faster and trickier attacks.

Studio MDHR never seem to run out of ideas; every boss has an extremely distinct visual and gameplay identity and is at least as surprising, memorable and fun as the boss described above. The only exception is Goopy Le Grande, a bouncy blue slime with very simple attack patterns. Positioned as the third boss you are likely to play, you’ve already seen so much better, but at least you can get past him quickly. A few boss fights let you fly freely in a plane. These are a grand old time apart from a few phases going on too long, and foreground objects randomly passing by and obscuring hazards, which feels unfair. One boss occasionally freezes your controls, which REALLY feels unfair. The six “Run ‘n’ Gun” sidescrolling levels are slightly controversial but I came to enjoy them; they show a lot of love and creativity while presenting a decent challenge. However, the game is mainly about the bosses, and players may resent needing to do those levels to afford items for boss fights.

If you want a break from your current target, there are challenges in the Achievements, but in-game you can discover hidden treasure, parry challenges, four secret boss phases and some puzzles. You can also try S-ranking bosses; I’m not so obsessed as to do that but thankfully I’m only missing out on some Achievements. Some “sidequests” unlock colour filters; it's a treat playing a fight in black-and-white - if you remember which attacks are usually pink, so you can parry them.

Cuphead is topped off by its single DLC which increases the game’s size by about a third, adding a character, more items and seven bosses. While they dial up the small, easy-to-miss projectiles a bit, most of these became favourites of mine. If you love Cuphead, the DLC is a must-play. Studio MDHR won't be returning to the game but they absolutely ended on a high note.

I can easily recommend Cuphead to fans of shoot-em-ups and other arcade games. It's one of gaming’s greatest aesthetic achievements... but you'll have to be prepared for a serious challenge to enjoy it.

Cuphead’s greatest strength is clearly its style. The visuals are a painstaking tribute to 1930s animation, particularly that of Fleischer Studios. Every frame of the animation is hand-drawn, and beautiful 3D stop-motion is deployed occasionally too. True to its ancestors, it brims with playful details, though these are much easier to notice when watching gameplay than in the heat of the moment. Plenty of unobtrusive references are made to cartoons of the time period, as well as the games that inspired the gameplay. The soundtrack similarly goes above and beyond, almost entirely performed by period-accurate ensembles and composed by a single genius. The default is vibrant jazz and big band, with forays into other genres, and cameos from unconventional instruments. Even the old-timey NPC dialogue (and taunts from the bosses when you lose) is just right. Thankfully, all of Cuphead’s style is backed up by excellent gameplay. To start, I want to confirm that the game is difficult! I racked up 400 deaths in my first playthrough. In a couple of minutes per level, you'll need to juggle aiming well, dodging, parrying pink stuff, managing smaller threats, and timing stronger moves. The default gamepad configuration makes this unnecessarily difficult. I recommend assigning shoot to a trigger you can hold down, so you can shoot continuously while doing everything else, and assigning jump and dash to adjacent buttons for quick dodging. There is a great variety of options for your loadout. The Peashooter and Spread guns are cheap and reliable and I often returned to them throughout. Some guns I found too fiddly to use, and the homing guns seem too powerful, but they can at least dial your personal difficulty level up or down. There are three Super Arts (strong powers which can be activated when you fill your Super Meter) and several charms (special passives like extra health or a supremely helpful invincible dash) to choose from depending on what aspect of a fight you're struggling with, or just how you like to play. Including DLC Cuphead contains over 30 wildly imaginative boss fights. In Simple mode, you can play a truncated version of the fight, at a difficulty which new players will soon outgrow. An example is Clip Joint Calamity, featuring two pugilistic frogs; one boxes you with large projectiles while the other complicates things by spitting flies at you, or transforming into a fan to blow you around. If you defeat them like this, you don't collect the contract required to progress. You need to switch to Regular mode for that, which means adjusting to their modified attack patterns and then contending with their true final phase, in which one frog swallows the other and, naturally, they morph into a giant slot machine that spits coins and platform-hazards at you. After beating the final boss you unlock Expert mode, which is unchanged apart from faster and trickier attacks. Studio MDHR never seem to run out of ideas; every boss has an extremely distinct visual and gameplay identity and is at least as surprising, memorable and fun as the boss described above. The only exception is Goopy Le Grande, a bouncy blue slime with very simple attack patterns. Positioned as the third boss you are likely to play, you’ve already seen so much better, but at least you can get past him quickly. A few boss fights let you fly freely in a plane. These are a grand old time apart from a few phases going on too long, and foreground objects randomly passing by and obscuring hazards, which feels unfair. One boss occasionally freezes your controls, which REALLY feels unfair. The six “Run ‘n’ Gun” sidescrolling levels are slightly controversial but I came to enjoy them; they show a lot of love and creativity while presenting a decent challenge. However, the game is mainly about the bosses, and players may resent needing to do those levels to afford items for boss fights. If you want a break from your current target, there are challenges in the Achievements, but in-game you can discover hidden treasure, parry challenges, four secret boss phases and some puzzles. You can also try S-ranking bosses; I’m not so obsessed as to do that but thankfully I’m only missing out on some Achievements. Some “sidequests” unlock colour filters; it's a treat playing a fight in black-and-white - if you remember which attacks are usually pink, so you can parry them. Cuphead is topped off by its single DLC which increases the game’s size by about a third, adding a character, more items and seven bosses. While they dial up the small, easy-to-miss projectiles a bit, most of these became favourites of mine. If you love Cuphead, the DLC is a must-play. Studio MDHR won't be returning to the game but they absolutely ended on a high note. I can easily recommend Cuphead to fans of shoot-em-ups and other arcade games. It's one of gaming’s greatest aesthetic achievements... but you'll have to be prepared for a serious challenge to enjoy it.