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If you take one look at Cuphead, it’s pretty[br]obvious where the game’s inspirations lie.

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This game pays homage to cartoons from the[br]1930s, like old Disney films and Betty Boop

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cartoons, stuff made by Max Fleischer and[br]Ub Iwerks.

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But what you might not realise is that it[br]also pays a huge debt of influence to run

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‘n’ gun video games of the 1990s, like[br]Contra 3, and Gunstar Heroes.

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Especially, their boss fights.

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These games made use of the Super FX chip[br]on the SNES, and all sorts of technical wizardry

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on the Mega Drive, to make mind-blowing bosses[br]that filled every inch of the screen, and

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warped and rotated and looked practically[br]3D at times.

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I mean, check out this ridiculous boss battle[br]against the Mad Hatter from The Adventures

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of Batman and Robin.

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Or this one from Gunstar Heroes where you[br]switch between the floor and the ceiling to

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fight a giant robot that will randomly transform[br]into one of seven different designs.

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These old boss fights were, essentially, the[br]template, for Cuphead - which has massive

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great villains that are, really, the stars[br]of the game.

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Look at this guy.

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Check out this moon!

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That frog just turned into a slot machine. What!

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But these bosses don’t just look cool.

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Like their 16bit predecessors, they’re also[br]fiercely difficult to overcome, because of

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their tricky and varied attacks.

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And that’s what I want to explore in this[br]video.

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So let’s just ignore everything else, and[br]look at how Cuphead’s bosses try to kill you.

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So the boss’s attacks are ultimately, about[br]making you move.

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Not just to stop you from standing in one[br]place and infinitely shooting at the boss,

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but to test you on your ability to run, jump,[br]dash, and parry.

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While simultaneously shooting at the enemy, of course.

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And to really test you on this, the game has these attacks follow a huge number of different patterns.

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Some fly in a straight line.

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Others arc across the screen.

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There are attacks that bend back on themselves[br]like a boomerang.

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There’s this hateful pattern.

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Other projectiles split out in different directions.

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You’ve got attacks that move in a zig zag[br]pattern, and ones that follow an annoying

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sine wave.

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And others that fire directly at the player’s[br]current position, or slowly chase you around

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for a bit.

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Some of those are naturally more difficult[br]to avoid than others.

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And of course, each of these patterns can[br]be made more or less challenging, by altering

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the speed and size of the projectile.

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But one thing you’ll come to realise is[br]that these attacks are - ultimately - predictable.

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The dragon’s fireball, for example, can[br]go up, or down, or both ways at the same time.

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And that’s it.

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These cats always split into four mice - never[br]three, never five.

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Always four.

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And this means that a big part of a boss battle[br]is just learning about the boss.

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Figuring out, and then memorising its patterns.

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And these mini self-taught epiphanies stack[br]up, to the point where you can now predict

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and outsmart the boss at every turn - which[br]feels pretty good after having taken quite

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a beating.

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Of course, it’s not actually that easy.

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You know that the cat will split into four[br]mice, but you don’t know exactly when or

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where it will do so.

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And you don’t know if the dragon will do[br]a fireball next, or a psychic ray attack.

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So you also have to be able to react to the[br]more unpredictable elements.

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Luckily, the enemy will often announce what[br]attack it’s going to do next - either through

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animation: this is the dragon gearing up to[br]do a psychic attack, and this is when it’s

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about to do a fireball.

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Or through sound.

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Like, these walking flames, who yell out before[br]they jump at you.

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Sometimes, it’s even done through text.

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This is called telegraphing, and the duration[br]of an enemy’s telegraphing will affect the

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difficulty of the fight.

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You’ll generally notice that massive, difficult[br]to avoid attacks will have big, obvious build ups.

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While easier attacks don’t need to be announced[br]for as long.

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Unfortunately, not every attack in Cuphead[br]is telegraphed in such a fashion where you

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can react to it on your first go.

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This screen-sized laser is announced via[br]this animation, but pretty much every player

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is gonna get hit the first time they see it.

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This is one part of why Cuphead feels so difficult,[br]especially because you have a tiny number

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of hit points and can’t recover any of them[br]during the fight.

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So in Cuphead, death is made part of the learning[br]process.

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Hey, at least you’ll know what that animation[br]means next time you play!

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Anyway.

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One big way that the game ramps up the difficulty[br]in later chapters, is to layer on multiple patterns.

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When fighting this puppet, you’ll need to[br]avoid these bullets, and these bullets, at

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the same time.

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And when fighting the mermaid, you might have[br]to dodge an electric eel and a column of sea

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urchins at once.

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It’s all about taking an otherwise simple[br]attack pattern, and just giving you other

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things to think about.

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A fan that pushes Cuphead left or a water[br]jet that pushes Cuphead up.

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Moving platforms and falling treasure chests.

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So, fighting this clown is pretty easy - just[br]look at the colour of its horse to know what’s coming.

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But you also have to deal with this rollercoaster[br]that moves along the screen every few seconds.

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Thankfully, that’s also telegraphed.

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Finally, the boss battles go through different[br]phases.

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So, when fighting the frog brothers, Ribby[br]and Croak, you start by shooting flies and

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dodging punches.

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After you deal enough damage, the set-up changes[br]and now it’s all about bouncing balls and

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a desk fan.

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And after that, the frogs transform into a[br]slot machine with three different dodging

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mini games.

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This keeps the boss going longer, without[br]it just being tedious or repetitive.

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Just giving the boss a million health points[br]is rarely that fun.

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It also means that you can learn which phases[br]use which patterns.

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And that you feel small moments of satisfaction[br]throughout the battle, and not just at the end.

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It also adds an element of surprise that keeps[br]you guessing.

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And it dramatically ups the stakes - you don’t[br]want to lose, because you’ll have to start

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right back from the very first phase.

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So, let’s see all of this put together in[br]one boss battle.

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This is Baroness Von Bon Bon, and she’s[br]the boss of the stage Sugarland Shimmy.

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Now, you don’t actually fight her until[br]the very end because the first three phases

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see you going up against three different sub[br]bosses.

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These are randomly picked from a pool of five[br]baddies each time you attempt this battle

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- so, that means there’s more to learn,[br]and you have to react each time a new sub

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boss appears.

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Now each of these guys has their own patterns.

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Candy Corn moves around in straight lines,[br]and heads up and down at the edges or in the

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middle.

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Gobstopper follows you around the screen.

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Cupcake jumps up diagonally and then slams[br]down.

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Chocolate moves around and then splits out[br]in eight directions.

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And Gumball Machine moves back and forth in[br]a small area, while spilling sweets on you.

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They all cover the screen in a different way,[br]and require different types of dodging.

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Gumball Machine has you moving left and right[br]to avoid the sweets, while Gobstopper keeps

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you on the move because your current position[br]is about to become deadly.

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So there’s lots for the player to learn,[br]but you also need to react.

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Because even after you figure out that chocolate[br]will always split in eight directions - you

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don’t know when and where it will split.

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A little telegraphing helps you out, though.

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The battle also adds extra layers in each[br]phase.

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The first fight is a straight up battle against[br]the sub boss, but the second fight will add

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these tiny jelly bean soldiers who walk across[br]the bottom of the screen.

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And the third fight has a sub boss, and those[br]soldiers, and Von Bon Bon will pop out and

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shoot a shotgun full of candy floss.

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What you learned was a safe zone is now right[br]in the firing line, so you’ll have to make

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new plans quickly, and skilfully dodge through[br]this combination of patterns.

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If you beat all three phases, you’ll then[br]go up against Bon Bon herself, who chases

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you in a giant walking castle, meaning that[br]the ground is no longer that safe.

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She also throws out her head, which moves[br]in a really tricky chasing pattern, while

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giant rock candy wheels bounce along the ground[br]with a steady rhythm.

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ANNOUNCER: Knockout!

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So, this boss is a delicate balance of memory,[br]reaction, and skill.

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There are lots of different things that you[br]can learn, like patterns, phases, and weakspots.

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But unpredictable elements, like the random[br]sub bosses, mean that you’ll also have to

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be able to react to what’s coming next.

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And tricky patterns - like this chasing gobstobber[br]- and layered on elements - like the shotgun

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blast - mean you’ll also just need to be[br]very skilful with the controls to keep out

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of danger.

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Most of the boss battles in Cuphead get this[br]balance right.

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But it’s easy to screw it up.

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I mean, take the much maligned boss Little[br]Horn, from Super Meat Boy, which completely

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tips the scales in favour of memory.

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This guy does the exact same thing every single[br]time, so fighting the boss is just about learning

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the pattern of attacks and then executing[br]the right commands.

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The attacks are too fast to naturally react[br]to on your first go, but they don’t require

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a huge amount of skill to overcome once you’ve[br]learned what to do.

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Now, this video has been all about how the[br]bosses kill you - not, how you kill the bosses.

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And that’s because dodging attacks is - ultimately[br]- the focus of the game.

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It’s not that hard to actually kill a lot[br]of these guys, because you infinitely shoot

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bullets as long as you hold down the button,[br]the targets are absolutely enormous, and you

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don’t need to know any special moves to[br]win.

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Things like parrying and using your EX attacks[br]are optional.

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That means that it’s often more about outlasting[br]the boss, than defeating it.

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And that’s why you sometimes feel like you[br]survived, rather than beat the boss.

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And that’s okay, but some of the best boss[br]battles are those where you know that the

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boss just won’t die unless you get in there[br]and kill it, with your amazing knowledge of

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the game’s mechanics.

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So this won’t be the last word on boss fights.

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We’ll be back in the future, to talk about[br]actually defeating these guys.

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Plus, other things like the build up, the[br]music, the pay off, innovative boss fights,

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and more.

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For now, though, Cuphead is packed full of examples of good boss attacks.

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Just don’t be surprised if you die a few[br]times when you’re looking at them.

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Hey thanks for watching.

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GMTK is funded on Patreon and these are my[br]top tier supporters.