What the New ‘Cuphead’ Patch Gets Right
Cuphead recently released a new patch (1.2.2), which made some subtle touches and included a few more noticeable additions. This patch coincides with the release of the Switch version, so I decided to take a look at the new content while also seeing how the game feels on the new console. It doesn’t disappoint. Aside from using a different controller, the only difference between the Switch version and any other version is the load times. Because the game loads everything within a stage before starting it to preserve smooth gameplay, the weaker hardware (and thus on weaker PCs as well) increases the load times to compensate. No corners have been cut on the Switch version – the gameplay is still the same crisp, smooth run n’ gun that I know and love.
Many small changes have been added across the board, adding little improvements to various areas. Most obvious is the ability to play as Mugman in single player mode rather than Cuphead, even going so far as to make the post-level notification scream out “MUGMAN!” instead of the normal sound. Also easily apparent are the brand new animated cutscenes that play between isles and before the final 2 bosses, adding a lot more charm to the once still images. A few extra animations and sound effects are added to specific bosses, such as Djimmi disappearing after the first phase, adding a mystical reverberation, as well as Salley Stageplay’s final phase now including the rest of the performers taking a bow. Perhaps my favorite understated change is the varying noises that accompany each boss arena as you approach it on the world map. Bees buzz around Cagney Carnation’s flower field, Cala Maria laughs around her shipwreck, Hilda Berg is heard snoring in her observatory. These simple sounds add to the atmosphere and makes the world feel more connected, rather than simply being portals to a new level.
The most notable new additions to Cuphead are the new boss phases. In three specific cases, there are alternate paths able to be taken through the fight, leading to more difficult sections but also skipping other sections entirely. In the “Root Pack,” the first boss in the game, normally there is an onion in the second phase that attacks by crying, raining tears around the map. But now, if the onion isn’t attacked, it has no reason to cry, blushing and disappearing entirely without putting up a fight. Instead, the fight skips to the final phase against the carrot, but adds a new radish enemy that spins along the ground back and forth while simultaneously having to deal with the carrot. That is the crux of these new phases: offering a phase skip of sorts but increasing the difficulty of other phases in response. This is both a creative way of adding replay value, while also presenting a dilemma about how to approach fights on repeated playthroughs. Do I fight the onion and have an extra phase to get through, or do I let it go and have a single, more difficult phase?
The other two cases are also interesting in their own right. “Djimmi the Great,” in his third phase, will normally scan Cuphead and create a puppet version to fight. This patch added in a side effect – if Djimmi scans Cuphead when he is in the plane’s mini form, the puppet is also mini, and thus the 3rd phase is skipped entirely. Similar to the Root Pack, the final phase begins with an additional obstacle – in this case, the mini puppet, who hangs out in the middle of the screen, blocking the normal safe spot while concurrently shooting off more projectiles to dodge. The final new change in “Sally Stageplay” takes this concept even further. In the first phase, there are a couple of hanging decorations strewn across the top of the screen. Rather than fight Sally, Cuphead can use Sally’s pink kisses to reach the decorations and lower them, causing a background object to crush a performer. This sets off a completely alternate path for the rest of the fight, and the play’s ‘plot,’ so to speak. Normally the second phase is showing that Sally got married and had a child, but since the groom was killed off in the first phase, instead the background is a “nunnery,” where a nun throws rulers as opposed to a baby dropping milk bottles. In phase three, instead of fighting a singular demonic Sally, there is also her dead groom who summons some fireballs to be carted along the ground. The final phase is relatively the same, other than the actors bowing in the background.
These bosses have been given new life with the patch. Each alternate route adds replay value and interesting choices mid-fight. Considering only three of them were given new forms, I believe that, in the future, every boss will have new content. Combined with the additional minor changes throughout, this update was very much a success. Cuphead was already among my favorite games of all time, and it only got better with the patch. If all upcoming content is as well made and thought out as this was, I can’t wait for the future of Cuphead.
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