Studio MDHR’s cartoon-inspired Cuphead launches today on the PS4, a day after a thumbnail for the game appeared on the Playstation Store.
Studio MDHR’s brutally difficult Cuphead surprise launched on PS4 today. The game liberally lifts visual iconography from old-school rubber-hose cartoons, transposing the goofy antics of Mickey Mouse and Betty Boop over to a series of challenging 2D boss encounters.
Cuphead launched on the Xbox One and PC in 2017 and came to the Nintendo Switch last year. Players control the titular Cuphead and his best friend Mugman as they travel the Inkwell Isles doing the Devil’s dirty work to win back their souls. The dish-duo face off against menacing root vegetables, martial arts adept frogs, and the devil himself, occasionally piloting old-school fighter planes to take on airborne foes. The game received critical acclaim for its tough combat and visual flair, though some players found the game too punishing, setting off a fresh wave of discourse around video game difficulty.
The studio announced the game’s PS4 release with a stop-motion trailer during an interview with Geoff Keighley. Studio MDHR Co-Director Chad Moldenhauer expressed his excitement in a concurrently published company press release. “Many of us on the team grew up exploring the worlds of classic PlayStation titles, from Resident Evil to Vandal Hearts. It’s surreal to think about players adventuring through the Inkwell Isles with a PlayStation controller in hand.” The reveal came at the end of a 15-minute video update about Studio MDHR’s forthcoming Cuphead DLC and Netflix cartoon.
The studio’s announcement won’t come as a shock – a thumbnail for Cuphead appeared on the Playstation Store yesterday. Sony took the image down shortly after Twitter users spotted it. Keighley stoked the mounting anticipation with a series of tweets teasing his Indie Studio Update video, a part of the ongoing Summer Game Fest series. Before its release on Nintendo Switch last year, it seemed unlikely that the Microsoft-boosted game would make it to other consoles, but as Xbox games begin appearing on other platforms, new possibilities have opened up.
Cuphead‘s semi-surprise release illustrates the diminishing importance of console exclusives. After three years of partial exclusivity, one of Xbox’s biggest indie hits is now accessible on every major platform. The more options players have to purchase a game, the better, especially for an indie title like Cuphead. Access to games benefits players, especially those who don’t have access to every available console.
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JAKE LEARY
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, Wire, United States, English
Contact Information:
JAKE LEARY
