Cuphead
| Cuphead | |
|---|---|
  Official artwork of Cuphead fromCuphead. | |
| Universe | Cuphead |
| Debut | Cuphead (2017) |
| Smash Bros. appearances | Ultimate |
| Most recent non-Smash appearance | Cuphead (2017) |
| Console/platform of origin | Microsoft Windows, Xbox One |
| Species | Cup |
| Gender | Male |
| Place of origin | Inkwell Isle |
| Created by | Chad Moldenhauer Jared Moldenhauer |
| Article on Wikipedia | Cuphead |
Cuphead (カップヘッド,Cuphead) is the titular protagonist of the indie-developed run-and-gun platformer,Cuphead. He is an teacup-headed being whose design pays homage to vintage cartoon characters from theGolden age of American animation, such asFelix the Cat andMickey Mouse.
Origin[edit]
Cuphead lives on Inkwell Isle with his brother, Mugman, and their guardian, the Elder Kettle. One day, despite the Elder Kettle's many warnings, the brothers wandered far away from their home and found themselves at the Devil's Casino. Their winning streak atCraps impressed the casino's owner and namesake, the Devil, who tempted them by betting all of the casino's riches, promising to take away the brothers' souls should they lose. Blinded by greed and ignorant of his brother's warning, Cuphead rolled the dice, but ultimately lost the gamble. With the brothers pleading for their lives spared, the Devil cut a deal with them, letting them live should they retrieve the Soul Contracts of the debtors who previously gambled with him. After receiving a potion from the Elder Kettle that allows them to fire bullets from their index fingers, the brothers set off to collect the Soul Contracts.
Along their journey, Cuphead and Mugman are helped by friendly residents of the island and challenged by the runaway debtors, who put up a fight to prevent their contracts from being taken. In the island's mysterious Mausoleums, they encounter the spirit of the Legendary Chalice, who provides the brothers with powerful Super Arts but often finds herself captured by other ghosts. Once Cuphead and Mugman return all of the contracts, the Devil offers them the choice of handing the contracts to him and having them join his team. When they refuse, the Devil is enraged and challenges them himself. The brothers finally defeat the Devil and dispose of the Soul Contracts, releasing the debtors from his grasp.
InThe Delicious Last Course, a downloadable campaign, Cuphead and Mugman travel to the previously-unseen DLC Island at the behest of the Legendary Chalice. She gives the brothers a mysterious Astral Cookie that, when eaten, causes her to temporarily swap places with one of them — she comes back to life as Ms. Chalice, while the brother she swaps places with becomes a ghost himself. The cookie was created by Chef Saltbaker, a beloved cook across the lands, whose treats contain mysterious powers. Saltbaker asks the trio to retrieve ingredients for his latest recipe, the Wondertart, which will give Chalice total control over the Astral Plane, allowing her to be revived permanently. To do so, the cups must fight the residents of DLC Island for the ingredients they each harbor.
When Cuphead, Mugman and Chalice retrieve all the ingredients and return to Saltbaker's bakery, he reveals that the recipe requires one more ingredient – a literal soul, which he intends to accomplish by incorporating one of the three. Now mad with power as he prepares to conclude his plot of conquering the Astral Plane, he challenges the remaining two to a battle over their souls. The heroes ultimately triumph as Saltbaker's bakery is destroyed in the ensuing scuffle. Chalice decides that coming back to life is not worth sacrificing one's soul, but embraces her new friendship with Cuphead and Mugman. In an epilogue, Saltbaker is arrested for his crimes and sentenced to a form of community service that mostly involves assisting the keepers of the Wondertart's ingredients, eventually learning his lesson and reforming for the better.
InSuper Smash Bros. Ultimate[edit]
As aMii Costume[edit]
Cuphead serves as the basis of the Cuphead Hat and Outfit DLC Mii Costume for theMii Gunner. He is the second independent game character to appear as a Mii costume, followingSans. Upon downloading the costume, the songFloral Fury is unlocked as an additional music track in the "Other" category. Like Sans, Cuphead appears as a fully modeled character; his "mask" is just his head, instead of a mask with the Mii's face visible like other character-based costumes. Much like in his game, his "gun" is simply his hand in reference to the myriad of attacks that Cuphead performs by making a gun formation with his fingers. He was revealed during theMr. Sakurai Presents "Byleth" presentation on January 14, 2020.
During the reveal trailer, the Mii Gunner representing Cuphead is first seen in the opening with an imitation of the storybook-style opening ofCuphead, with the screenshot closely matching to its first "page". The screenshot features aVillager using a bug net on theTortimer Island stage with Grams in the background, with Villager representing Mugman, the stage referencing Cuphead and Mugman's home on Inkwell Isle One, and Grams representing their caretaker, Elder Kettle. The Mii Gunner is next seen shooting his finger gun on theDream Land stage, with the stage referencing the forest levels on Inkwell Isle One. The Mii Gunner is next seen battlingPiranha Plant, a blueKirby, a greenCharizard, andFalco on theMushroomy Kingdom stage, with the first three fighters each representing Cagney Carnation (whose theme song, "Floral Fury", is the track included with the costume), Goopy Le Grande, Grim Matchstick, and Wally Warbles, while the stage references the sepia colour palette and grained filter ofCuphead. The ending image features the Mii Gunner on theNew Pork City stage, referencing the Devil's Casino, which is used in his spirit battle.
The Mii Gunner's moveset in the reveal trailer is similar to the weapons from the game:Bomb Drop mirrors the Lobber, and forward smash and forward aerial both mirror the Peashooter. Additionally, the screen's scrolling, the Mii Gunner's usage of projectiles, and the usage of Stamina mode all reference the "Run-and-Gun" minigames that appear in the game.
Cuphead was released alongside the other Round 5 Mii Fighter costumes on January 16th, 2020.
Spirit[edit]
Cuphead appears as an Ace-classprimary spirit, released via theSpirit Board eventReady? Wallop! on February 14, 2020.
Cuphead uses aMega Man puppet fighter if the player has not purchased the Cuphead DLC costume; if the player has already purchased said costume, Cuphead will use aMii Gunner puppet fighter in the costume instead. Cuphead is fought on theNew Pork City stage'sΩ form. He is fought alongside aGiantPeach Team, representing the Root Pack trio, the first boss(es) inCuphead. During the battle, the player's fighter must defeat the puppet fighter in order to win. Additionally, the Giant Peach Team each uses one attack, referencing the Root Pack's simple attack pattern.
| No. | Image | Name | Type | Class | Slots | Base | Max | Base | Max | Base | Max | Ability | Series |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1,398 | | Cuphead |  | ★★★ | 1 | 3222 | 9715 | 1641 | 4948 | 1343 | 4048 | Shooting Items Power ↑ | Cuphead |
Names in other languages[edit]
| Language | Name |
|---|---|
 Japanese | カップヘッド,Cuphead |
 English | Cuphead |
 French | Cuphead |
 German | Tassilo |
 Spanish | Cuphead |
 Italian | Cuphead |
 Chinese (Simplified) | 茶杯头 |
 Chinese (Traditional) | Cuphead |
 Korean | 컵헤드,Cuphead |
 Dutch | Cuphead |
 Russian | Чашек |
Trivia[edit]
- Cuphead is the firstMii Costume to have a pre-rendered segment in his trailer.
- Cuphead is also the first Mii costume implied to have received aninvitation.
- Cuphead is also the first DLC Mii Costume to appear in a Spirit Battle: specifically, those of Cuphead himself and his brother Mugman. If the costume is not purchased, the Mii Gunner is replaced with a redMega Man.
- Sans and Cuphead, as Mii Costumes, share several distinctions between them:
- Like Sans,Super Smash Bros. Ultimate marks Cuphead's first video game appearance in 3D.
- As both of their games' logos are white, their reveal trailers contrast them against a black background, with the black color ofUltimate's logo being inverted accordingly.
- Cuphead is the second Mii costume to come with a song. Unlike Sans, however,Floral Fury is directly ripped from an existing source, rather than being a remix.
- As a reference to inconsistencies seen in posters for cartoons from the 1930s and 1940s, Cuphead has different colorations seen across his home game, with the in-game appearance using white gloves and brown shoes, the results screen appearance using yellow gloves and brown shoes, and the overworld map appearance using white gloves and yellow shoes. However, Cuphead's spirit inUltimate is edited from its basis (being that of the results screen), changing his yellow gloves to white. This was likely done to have it match with the in-game appearance of Cuphead (both in his home game andUltimate), which uses the white gloves. Mugman's spirit received a similar change as well.
- Cuphead's gun hand is noticeably larger than his other hand, most likely due to the size of Mii Gunner's gun by comparision.
External links[edit]
Articles onWikia andGamepedia.
