80 Fun Facts About Cuphead

What is the name of Cuphead's brother?

Mugman is the second player's character in co-op and the cautious one of the pair: in the opening story he shouts for his brother to stop just before the fateful bet is lost.

Which company developed and published Cuphead?

Studio MDHR is short for Moldenhauer, the surname of brothers Chad and Jared, who began Cuphead as a side project and only later quit their day jobs to finish it.

What game were the brothers playing at the Devil's Casino when they lost their souls?

Craps was going their way until the Devil raised the stakes to all or nothing: Cuphead took the roll, threw snake eyes and lost both brothers' souls.

What does the Devil demand the brothers collect from his runaway debtors by midnight?

Soul contracts are the Devil's proof that he owns each debtor; none of them hands one over willingly, which is why every debtor has to be beaten in a boss fight.

Whose potion lets Cuphead and his brother fire energy from their fingers?

Elder Kettle, the brothers' guardian, had warned them to stay away from the Devil's casino; once they are in debt, it is his potion that gives them their finger-gun shots.

Who is the Devil's right-hand man, who fights the brothers in a casino-themed battle?

King Dice manages the Devil's casino and bars the door because the brothers' success has cost him a bet, making them beat a board of his henchmen before he fights.

What is the name of the island where Cuphead is set?

Inkwell Isle is split into three sectors on the overworld map, and a fourth area, the Devil's casino, opens only once every debtor in them has been beaten.

What is the in-game shop where players buy weapons and Charms called?

Porkrind's Emporium is the only place to spend coins, and most of those are tucked away in the handful of platforming levels, which gives players a reason not to skip them.

Objects that can be parried in Cuphead are marked in what colour?

Pink marks anything that can be slapped in mid-air: a parry charges the super meter, and in co-op slapping a fallen partner's rising spirit brings them back.

Cuphead's super meter fills up as a row of what?

Playing cards flip over as you land shots and parries: spend one for a stronger EX attack, or save all five for a Super Art that empties the meter.

How do players earn each of Cuphead's three Super Arts?

Parrying ghosts in a mausoleum keeps them away from an urn in the centre of the screen; survive every wave and the spirit freed from it hands over a Super Art.

What are the three difficulty modes for most Cuphead boss fights?

Simple, regular and expert are not equal: simple cuts whole phases out of a fight and doesn't count towards the finale, which opens only when every boss falls on regular.

Some Cuphead boss battles put the brothers at the controls of what?

Aeroplanes switch those fights from platforming to a side-scrolling shoot 'em up: the brothers fly freely around the screen instead of running and jumping.

Which cartooning style from the golden age of American cartoons inspired Cuphead's look?

Rubber hose cartoons gave characters bendy limbs with no elbows or knees; Cuphead revived the look so successfully that later games such as Mouse: P.I. for Hire borrowed it too.

Cuphead's design descends from a teacup-headed character in a 1930s propaganda cartoon from which country?

Japan's cartoon has an army of evil Mickey Mouses fended off by defenders who include a teacup-headed man turning into a tank; the Moldenhauers tried drawing him and he stuck.

Which 2010 indie hit convinced the Moldenhauer brothers to try making Cuphead again?

Super Meat Boy, built by a two-man team, showed that tiny studios could sell on consoles; the brothers' own attempt around 2000 had stalled for lack of tools.

What did the Moldenhauers do to finance Cuphead's completion?

They remortgaged their house, or rather each brother's: both quit their jobs in 2015 and borrowed against their homes to expand the team and turn a small boss-only game into a full one.

Cuphead's animation runs at what frame rate, beneath 60-fps gameplay?

24 frames per second was the film standard the 1930s animators drew to, so the team hand-drew at that rate while letting the game itself respond at 60 for tight controls.

Who composed Cuphead's big-band soundtrack?

Kristofer Maddigan, a childhood friend of the Moldenhauers, had never scored a game and at first said no; the 'very small' job he finally took grew into nearly three hours of music.

Selected Tunes from Cuphead made history in 2019 by topping which Billboard chart?

Jazz Albums was the chart: the record knocked Michael Bublé's Love off number one, and Guinness lists it as the first video game soundtrack to top any US Billboard chart.

Cuphead launched in 2017 as a timed exclusive on which console?

Xbox One was its only console until 2019, when Nintendo unveiled a Switch version of the prized exclusive and publicly thanked 'our friends at Microsoft'.

Which platform got Cuphead in July 2020, nearly three years after its launch?

PlayStation 4 was the version the studio had flatly ruled out in 2017; three years later it went on sale the same day it was announced, during a Summer Game Fest stream.

Which car company added a cut-down version of Cuphead to its dashboard screens in 2019?

Tesla's version runs only while the car is parked and needs a USB controller, and the cars' limited storage meant just the opening section of the game was included.

Roughly how many copies had the indie hit Cuphead sold by mid-2020?

6 million copies by July 2020, the first million inside two weeks: a success that, in Chad Moldenhauer's words, meant the family could 'keep making games for the rest of our lives'.

What is the title of Cuphead's 2022 DLC expansion?

The Delicious Last Course was announced in 2018 for the following year, then slipped repeatedly, first to spare the team another crunch and later because of the pandemic, arriving on June 30, 2022.

Which third playable character does Cuphead's 2022 expansion add?

Ms. Chalice appeared in the main game only as the spirit who grants Super Arts; the expansion's whole plot is the brothers' attempt to bring her back to life for good.

In Cuphead's expansion, what item lets the ghostly heroine trade places with one of the brothers?

The Astral Cookie is a Charm, so wearing it means giving up the others; in exchange the heroine brings a double jump, a dash that parries and one more hit point than the brothers.

Which seemingly kindly character turns out to be the villain of Cuphead's expansion?

Chef Saltbaker's miracle dessert secretly needs a living soul, so he kidnaps one of the heroes; once beaten he is sentenced to community service and reopens his bakery a reformed man.

What is the name of the special dessert at the centre of the Cuphead expansion's plot?

The Wondertart is never actually baked: its secret ingredient is a living soul, so the heroine chooses to stay a spirit rather than let anyone be sacrificed for her.

At which trade show did Cuphead win over the crowd with a few seconds of footage in 2014?

E3 gave it only moments in a montage of indie games, with nothing playable on the show floor, yet Polygon picked it among the five most interesting reveals of that conference.

Cuphead, for all its hand-drawn 1930s look, is built on which modern game engine?

Unity runs the game, but none of the art began there: every frame was pencilled and inked on paper, then scanned and coloured digitally before the engine took over.

The developers aimed to beat which game's Guinness record for run-and-gun boss battles?

Treasure's Alien Soldier had 25 bosses; Cuphead planned more than 30.

At The Game Awards 2017, Cuphead won Best Independent Game, Best Debut Indie Game and which other award?

Best Art Direction went to a game drawn and inked by hand; with its two indie prizes, Cuphead matched the three wins of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Hellblade, the night's joint best.

Cuphead's hand-drawn character animation won which animation-industry award in 2018?

An Annie Award for video game character animation went to lead animator Hanna Abi-Hanna, who beat a second Cuphead animator nominated in the same category.

On which streaming service did The Cuphead Show! premiere in February 2022?

Netflix's series doesn't retell the game: most episodes stand alone, and Jared Moldenhauer compared it to Mickey Mouse cartoons, where Mickey could be a pilot in one and sell hot dogs in the next.

In Cuphead, what happens if players accept the Devil's offer just before the final fight?

A bad ending follows: the brothers are turned into the Devil's demonic lackeys and the game simply stops, so the only way to fight him is to refuse.

Which Whose Line Is It Anyway? star voices the Devil's smooth-talking right-hand man in The Cuphead Show!?

Wayne Brady was casting the Moldenhauers never expected: a 'huge surprise', they said, to hear a professional of his standing voice a character from their game.

In The Cuphead Show!, the Devil hunts Cuphead after Cuphead loses which carnival game?

Soul Ball sucks the soul out of anyone who loses; Cuphead's brother snatches his back, so the Devil spends the series trying to collect what he believes he is owed.

In what form did Cuphead join the Super Smash Bros. series in 2020?

A Mii Gunner costume arrived as downloadable content in January 2020 and brought the boss theme Floral Fury with it; four Cuphead spirits followed in a special event weeks later.

Mighty Cuphead Adventure, the 8-bit spin-off revealed in 2026, is designed to the specifications of which console?

The Sega Master System of the 1980s is the target: the studio said the game is written in Assembly language and will come on a real cartridge as well as for modern consoles and PC.

What genre is Cuphead?

Run and gun is the genre of Contra and Gunstar Heroes, but Cuphead flips the usual balance: its makers built it around boss fights and treated the running levels as filler between them.

What was announced in June 2026 alongside a spin-off called Mighty Cuphead Adventure?

An untitled sequel, hand-animated like the original and still in early development, was confirmed during a puppet-show reveal at Summer Game Fest.

Which framework was Cuphead first built in before the project moved to a modern engine?

Microsoft XNA was where the brothers began, but Microsoft retired the toolkit while Cuphead was still being made, so they moved the game to a commercial engine.

Whose cartoons did Chad Moldenhauer single out as the 'magnetic north' of Cuphead's art style?

Fleischer Studios, the home of Betty Boop, appealed for its surreal, subversive streak: its early-1930s shorts were made before censorship tamed Hollywood's cartoons.

What medium was used for Cuphead's hand-painted backgrounds?

Watercolours on paper, one painting per boss backdrop; only the colouring of the animated characters was done on a computer, the team's single concession to modern tools.

Which national leader tweeted congratulations to Cuphead's makers after The Game Awards 2017?

Justin Trudeau hailed a 'big night for the Canadians' behind the game: the Moldenhauer brothers grew up in Regina, Saskatchewan, and their studio is based in Oakville, Ontario.

Which fast-food chain released limited-edition Cuphead toys and papercrafts in 2020?

Arby's put them in its kids' meals: four launcher tokens of the heroes to fire at four papercraft bosses that children built themselves.

Which famed Final Fantasy artist drew Cuphead's heroes for the game's 2023 Japanese physical edition?

Yoshitaka Amano reimagined the cast as fantasy-RPG heroes, turning the liquid in the brothers' heads into hair; the art wraps the soundtrack disc bundled with first-run copies.

Which publisher's Cuphead graphic novels began with Comic Capers & Curios?

Dark Horse Comics, the publisher of Hellboy, didn't tell one long story: the book is a collection of short misadventures for the two brothers, drawn in the game's 1930s style.

Which Mickey Mouse shorts veteran developed The Cuphead Show! for television?

Dave Wasson, an Emmy-winning veteran of Disney's Mickey Mouse shorts, also voiced a few of the show's bit parts, among them a henchman and a talking telephone.

Which Cuphead boss swallows a pill to double in size, then fights on as a tombstone?

Goopy Le Grande opens the fight politely by tipping the top of his head like a hat, and his final headstone form is carved with RIP.

Hilda Berg, the zeppelin boss of Cuphead's first flying level, ends her fight as which shape?

A crescent moon with Hilda's own face fills nearly half the screen, leaving little room to dodge the UFOs she sends out.

The boxing frogs Ribby and Croaks merge into what for the last phase of their Cuphead fight?

A slot machine is what Croaks becomes after swallowing Ribby whole, though the two frogs share one health pool for the entire fight.

Which giant mermaid boss in Cuphead becomes a gorgon and turns players to stone with her gaze?

Cala Maria only turns into a gorgon after electric eels bite and shock her, which changes the octopus tentacles on her head into snakes.

What kind of being is Djimmi The Great, the muscular red boss of Cuphead's Pyramid Peril level?

A genie in a turquoise vest and feathered turban, Djimmi The Great attacks with cat-shaped sarcophagi that release homing scarabs.

Beppi The Clown, boss of Cuphead's Carnival Kerfuffle, returns for his third phase riding what?

A carousel horse, which the game calls a Charlie Horse, carries him back for phase three, and its colour decides which horseshoe attack he throws.

Which vegetable is the psychic third boss of Cuphead's Root Pack?

A carrot with a hidden third eye, Chauncey Chantenay fires psychic beams once a potato and a tearful onion have been beaten.

Which Cuphead boss grows two extra heads for the final phase of the fight?

Grim Matchstick is a dragon named after Grim Natwick, the animator who designed Betty Boop, one of the 1930s cartoonists the game salutes.

What happens to Cuphead and his brother if the player accepts the Devil's final offer?

They become his demons and the game simply ends; refusing instead makes the Devil furious and starts the real final battle.

In Cuphead's Shootin N' Lootin, what throws Captain Brineybeard overboard and takes over the fight?

His own ship groans, hurls the captain overboard and fights on alone, sprouting teeth, angry eyes and a uvula with a face of its own.

Which Cuphead boss is a rat who pilots a soup-can tank until a mechanical cat eats him?

Werner Werman built the cat himself: Katzenwagen is an automaton of his own making, and the whole battle plays out inside a house.

Cagney Carnation, Cuphead's flower boss, fires seeds by turning his face into which weapon?

A Gatling gun face sprays coloured seeds that sprout into biting plants, after Cagney opens the fight posing as a sweet, smiling flower.

Wally Warbles, the bird boss of Cuphead's Aviary Action, wears which object as armour?

A cuckoo clock hides most of Wally Warbles, and his son lives inside it; Wally ends the fight featherless and carried on a stretcher.

In Cuphead's casino boss rush, how do players roll the die that decides which mini-boss they face?

By parrying it as the casino's dice-headed host claps it out of his hands; landing on one of three safe spaces skips a fight.

Which sheriff boss in Cuphead's expansion is a cow who ends up turned into a string of sausages?

Esther Winchester fights on a desert plain in High-Noon Hoopla, and even as sausage links she keeps her face and horns.

Where is the last phase of Cuphead's fight with Glumstone The Giant, a living mountain, set?

Inside his stomach, players hop across the heads of skeletal long-necked reptiles to stay out of the acid while they fight his ulcer.

Which creature secretly leads the Moonshine Mob, the bootlegging gang of Cuphead's expansion?

A snail named Hardtop Harold runs the gang: hidden under the anteater's hat, he fakes the announcer's knockout call to trick players into stopping.

Mangosteen, a mini-boss in Cuphead's casino boss rush, is a living version of which object?

An eight ball with two rows of teeth and an eyeball at each end of his mouth, Mangosteen waits for players who land on space eight.

Mr. Chimes, a toy monkey in Cuphead's casino, can only be damaged after a round of which card game?

Memory is the only way in: players flip cards by parrying them, and the cymbal-banging monkey stays out of reach until a pair matches.

The Howling Aces' giant machine in Cuphead's Doggone Dogfight disorients players with which trick?

Flipping the screen onto its side, then upside down, is the last trick of the Dachshund Destroyer, a machine run by Sergeant O'Fera.

What red-and-white striped object pokes out of the top of Cuphead's cup-shaped head?

A drinking straw tops his cup, and it snaps whenever he takes a hit before pulling itself back together.

Which colour are the nose and shorts of Cuphead's twin brother, setting him apart from the red hero?

Blue marks out the younger, more cautious twin, who is also drawn with a much bigger nose than his red brother.

The dice-headed casino manager who serves the Devil in Cuphead wears a tuxedo of which colour?

Purple covers him from tailcoat to shoes, set off by white dress gloves, and even the pips on his die-shaped head are painted to match.

Cuphead's zeppelin boss Hilda Berg has a name that puns on which airship destroyed in 1937?

The Hindenburg burned in New Jersey in 1937, a fitting 1930s reference for a boss who turns into a blimp that pedals a unicycle.

The boxing frogs Ribby and Croaks in Cuphead are dressed like two fighters from which game series?

Street Fighter shapes the whole level: Ribby's white trousers and red gloves echo Ryu, Croaks' red trousers echo Ken, and a crowd of flies cheers behind them.

Cuphead's dice-headed casino manager is modelled on which jazz singer seen in Betty Boop cartoons?

Cab Calloway appeared in three Betty Boop cartoons, including Minnie the Moocher and Snow-White, the era Cuphead's art style salutes.

In The Cuphead Show!, the two cup brothers share a cottage shaped like which piece of kitchenware?

A teapot is home to the impulsive Cuphead, his cautious brother and the elderly caretaker who raises them as their grandfather.

Sally Stageplay, the actress boss in Cuphead, opens her fight dressed for which occasion?

A wedding dress and bouquet come first, then she rips the gown away to reveal a turquoise dress, boots and the parasol she fights with.

Mr. Wheezy, the mini-boss on space three of Cuphead's casino board, is a giant talking what?

A cigar who breathes looping fireballs, Mr. Wheezy crumbles to dust and reforms on the far side, forcing players to hop between two ashtrays.

Mortimer Freeze, the ice wizard boss of Cuphead's expansion, takes which shape in his final form?

A snowflake with eight sides and glowing yellow eyes is his last shape, fought high above the ice palace where he leads a snow cult.