1 00:00:01,620 --> 00:00:07,299 If you take one look at Cuphead, it’s pretty obvious where the game’s inspirations lie. 2 00:00:07,299 --> 00:00:12,810 This game pays homage to cartoons from the 1930s, like old Disney films and Betty Boop 3 00:00:12,810 --> 00:00:16,440 cartoons, stuff made by Max Fleischer and Ub Iwerks. 4 00:00:16,440 --> 00:00:20,680 But what you might not realise is that it also pays a huge debt of influence to run 5 00:00:20,680 --> 00:00:25,510 ‘n’ gun video games of the 1990s, like Contra 3, and Gunstar Heroes. 6 00:00:25,510 --> 00:00:28,110 Especially, their boss fights. 7 00:00:28,110 --> 00:00:33,010 These games made use of the Super FX chip on the SNES, and all sorts of technical wizardry 8 00:00:33,010 --> 00:00:37,510 on the Mega Drive, to make mind-blowing bosses that filled every inch of the screen, and 9 00:00:37,510 --> 00:00:41,109 warped and rotated and looked practically 3D at times. 10 00:00:41,109 --> 00:00:45,540 I mean, check out this ridiculous boss battle against the Mad Hatter from The Adventures 11 00:00:45,540 --> 00:00:46,890 of Batman and Robin. 12 00:00:46,890 --> 00:00:50,989 Or this one from Gunstar Heroes where you switch between the floor and the ceiling to 13 00:00:50,989 --> 00:00:56,190 fight a giant robot that will randomly transform into one of seven different designs. 14 00:00:56,190 --> 00:01:00,879 These old boss fights were, essentially, the template, for Cuphead - which has massive 15 00:01:00,879 --> 00:01:04,170 great villains that are, really, the stars of the game. 16 00:01:04,170 --> 00:01:05,239 Look at this guy. 17 00:01:05,239 --> 00:01:06,570 Check out this moon! 18 00:01:06,570 --> 00:01:09,630 That frog just turned into a slot machine. What! 19 00:01:09,630 --> 00:01:11,750 But these bosses don’t just look cool. 20 00:01:11,750 --> 00:01:15,910 Like their 16bit predecessors, they’re also fiercely difficult to overcome, because of 21 00:01:15,910 --> 00:01:17,980 their tricky and varied attacks. 22 00:01:17,980 --> 00:01:20,990 And that’s what I want to explore in this video. 23 00:01:20,990 --> 00:01:26,580 So let’s just ignore everything else, and look at how Cuphead’s bosses try to kill you. 24 00:01:33,180 --> 00:01:37,840 So the boss’s attacks are ultimately, about making you move. 25 00:01:37,850 --> 00:01:41,860 Not just to stop you from standing in one place and infinitely shooting at the boss, 26 00:01:41,860 --> 00:01:46,180 but to test you on your ability to run, jump, dash, and parry. 27 00:01:46,180 --> 00:01:48,560 While simultaneously shooting at the enemy, of course. 28 00:01:48,560 --> 00:01:54,600 And to really test you on this, the game has these attacks follow a huge number of different patterns. 29 00:01:54,600 --> 00:01:56,340 Some fly in a straight line. 30 00:01:56,340 --> 00:01:57,990 Others arc across the screen. 31 00:01:57,990 --> 00:02:01,600 There are attacks that bend back on themselves like a boomerang. 32 00:02:01,600 --> 00:02:03,720 There’s this hateful pattern. 33 00:02:03,720 --> 00:02:07,000 Other projectiles split out in different directions. 34 00:02:07,010 --> 00:02:11,730 You’ve got attacks that move in a zig zag pattern, and ones that follow an annoying 35 00:02:11,730 --> 00:02:13,200 sine wave. 36 00:02:13,200 --> 00:02:17,170 And others that fire directly at the player’s current position, or slowly chase you around 37 00:02:17,170 --> 00:02:18,549 for a bit. 38 00:02:18,549 --> 00:02:21,680 Some of those are naturally more difficult to avoid than others. 39 00:02:21,680 --> 00:02:25,840 And of course, each of these patterns can be made more or less challenging, by altering 40 00:02:25,840 --> 00:02:28,499 the speed and size of the projectile. 41 00:02:28,499 --> 00:02:33,640 But one thing you’ll come to realise is that these attacks are - ultimately - predictable. 42 00:02:33,640 --> 00:02:38,769 The dragon’s fireball, for example, can go up, or down, or both ways at the same time. 43 00:02:38,769 --> 00:02:39,930 And that’s it. 44 00:02:39,930 --> 00:02:44,760 These cats always split into four mice - never three, never five. 45 00:02:44,760 --> 00:02:45,970 Always four. 46 00:02:45,970 --> 00:02:50,959 And this means that a big part of a boss battle is just learning about the boss. 47 00:02:50,959 --> 00:02:53,799 Figuring out, and then memorising its patterns. 48 00:02:53,799 --> 00:02:58,400 And these mini self-taught epiphanies stack up, to the point where you can now predict 49 00:02:58,400 --> 00:03:03,000 and outsmart the boss at every turn - which feels pretty good after having taken quite 50 00:03:03,000 --> 00:03:04,060 a beating. 51 00:03:05,520 --> 00:03:08,480 Of course, it’s not actually that easy. 52 00:03:08,489 --> 00:03:12,579 You know that the cat will split into four mice, but you don’t know exactly when or 53 00:03:12,579 --> 00:03:13,870 where it will do so. 54 00:03:13,870 --> 00:03:18,049 And you don’t know if the dragon will do a fireball next, or a psychic ray attack. 55 00:03:18,049 --> 00:03:22,269 So you also have to be able to react to the more unpredictable elements. 56 00:03:22,269 --> 00:03:27,189 Luckily, the enemy will often announce what attack it’s going to do next - either through 57 00:03:27,189 --> 00:03:31,620 animation: this is the dragon gearing up to do a psychic attack, and this is when it’s 58 00:03:31,620 --> 00:03:32,959 about to do a fireball. 59 00:03:32,959 --> 00:03:34,069 Or through sound. 60 00:03:34,069 --> 00:03:37,930 Like, these walking flames, who yell out before they jump at you. 61 00:03:37,930 --> 00:03:41,120 Sometimes, it’s even done through text. 62 00:03:41,120 --> 00:03:45,340 This is called telegraphing, and the duration of an enemy’s telegraphing will affect the 63 00:03:45,340 --> 00:03:46,909 difficulty of the fight. 64 00:03:46,909 --> 00:03:53,150 You’ll generally notice that massive, difficult to avoid attacks will have big, obvious build ups. 65 00:03:53,150 --> 00:03:55,540 While easier attacks don’t need to be announced for as long. 66 00:03:55,540 --> 00:03:59,579 Unfortunately, not every attack in Cuphead is telegraphed in such a fashion where you 67 00:03:59,579 --> 00:04:01,819 can react to it on your first go. 68 00:04:01,819 --> 00:04:06,010 This screen-sized laser is announced via this animation, but pretty much every player 69 00:04:06,010 --> 00:04:08,670 is gonna get hit the first time they see it. 70 00:04:08,670 --> 00:04:13,069 This is one part of why Cuphead feels so difficult, especially because you have a tiny number 71 00:04:13,069 --> 00:04:16,459 of hit points and can’t recover any of them during the fight. 72 00:04:16,459 --> 00:04:19,940 So in Cuphead, death is made part of the learning process. 73 00:04:19,940 --> 00:04:23,830 Hey, at least you’ll know what that animation means next time you play! 74 00:04:23,830 --> 00:04:24,830 Anyway. 75 00:04:24,830 --> 00:04:30,440 One big way that the game ramps up the difficulty in later chapters, is to layer on multiple patterns. 76 00:04:30,440 --> 00:04:34,900 When fighting this puppet, you’ll need to avoid these bullets, and these bullets, at 77 00:04:34,900 --> 00:04:36,110 the same time. 78 00:04:36,110 --> 00:04:39,810 And when fighting the mermaid, you might have to dodge an electric eel and a column of sea 79 00:04:39,810 --> 00:04:41,320 urchins at once. 80 00:04:41,320 --> 00:04:45,840 It’s all about taking an otherwise simple attack pattern, and just giving you other 81 00:04:45,840 --> 00:04:47,050 things to think about. 82 00:04:47,050 --> 00:04:51,430 A fan that pushes Cuphead left or a water jet that pushes Cuphead up. 83 00:04:51,430 --> 00:04:53,490 Moving platforms and falling treasure chests. 84 00:04:53,490 --> 00:04:58,180 So, fighting this clown is pretty easy - just look at the colour of its horse to know what’s coming. 85 00:04:58,180 --> 00:05:02,260 But you also have to deal with this rollercoaster that moves along the screen every few seconds. 86 00:05:02,260 --> 00:05:04,789 Thankfully, that’s also telegraphed. 87 00:05:04,789 --> 00:05:07,590 Finally, the boss battles go through different phases. 88 00:05:07,590 --> 00:05:11,819 So, when fighting the frog brothers, Ribby and Croak, you start by shooting flies and 89 00:05:11,819 --> 00:05:13,130 dodging punches. 90 00:05:13,130 --> 00:05:16,629 After you deal enough damage, the set-up changes and now it’s all about bouncing balls and 91 00:05:16,629 --> 00:05:17,629 a desk fan. 92 00:05:17,629 --> 00:05:21,229 And after that, the frogs transform into a slot machine with three different dodging 93 00:05:21,229 --> 00:05:22,509 mini games. 94 00:05:22,509 --> 00:05:26,669 This keeps the boss going longer, without it just being tedious or repetitive. 95 00:05:26,669 --> 00:05:29,620 Just giving the boss a million health points is rarely that fun. 96 00:05:29,620 --> 00:05:33,190 It also means that you can learn which phases use which patterns. 97 00:05:33,190 --> 00:05:37,900 And that you feel small moments of satisfaction throughout the battle, and not just at the end. 98 00:05:37,900 --> 00:05:40,979 It also adds an element of surprise that keeps you guessing. 99 00:05:40,979 --> 00:05:44,599 And it dramatically ups the stakes - you don’t want to lose, because you’ll have to start 100 00:05:44,600 --> 00:05:47,199 right back from the very first phase. 101 00:05:48,860 --> 00:05:52,539 So, let’s see all of this put together in one boss battle. 102 00:05:52,539 --> 00:05:56,830 This is Baroness Von Bon Bon, and she’s the boss of the stage Sugarland Shimmy. 103 00:05:56,830 --> 00:06:01,550 Now, you don’t actually fight her until the very end because the first three phases 104 00:06:01,550 --> 00:06:05,160 see you going up against three different sub bosses. 105 00:06:05,160 --> 00:06:09,300 These are randomly picked from a pool of five baddies each time you attempt this battle 106 00:06:09,300 --> 00:06:13,080 - so, that means there’s more to learn, and you have to react each time a new sub 107 00:06:13,080 --> 00:06:14,289 boss appears. 108 00:06:14,289 --> 00:06:17,220 Now each of these guys has their own patterns. 109 00:06:17,220 --> 00:06:21,530 Candy Corn moves around in straight lines, and heads up and down at the edges or in the 110 00:06:21,530 --> 00:06:22,530 middle. 111 00:06:22,530 --> 00:06:24,440 Gobstopper follows you around the screen. 112 00:06:24,440 --> 00:06:27,680 Cupcake jumps up diagonally and then slams down. 113 00:06:27,680 --> 00:06:30,660 Chocolate moves around and then splits out in eight directions. 114 00:06:30,669 --> 00:06:35,360 And Gumball Machine moves back and forth in a small area, while spilling sweets on you. 115 00:06:35,360 --> 00:06:39,539 They all cover the screen in a different way, and require different types of dodging. 116 00:06:39,539 --> 00:06:43,310 Gumball Machine has you moving left and right to avoid the sweets, while Gobstopper keeps 117 00:06:43,310 --> 00:06:46,889 you on the move because your current position is about to become deadly. 118 00:06:46,889 --> 00:06:50,550 So there’s lots for the player to learn, but you also need to react. 119 00:06:50,550 --> 00:06:54,409 Because even after you figure out that chocolate will always split in eight directions - you 120 00:06:54,409 --> 00:06:56,789 don’t know when and where it will split. 121 00:06:56,789 --> 00:06:59,349 A little telegraphing helps you out, though. 122 00:06:59,349 --> 00:07:02,610 The battle also adds extra layers in each phase. 123 00:07:02,610 --> 00:07:07,069 The first fight is a straight up battle against the sub boss, but the second fight will add 124 00:07:07,069 --> 00:07:11,560 these tiny jelly bean soldiers who walk across the bottom of the screen. 125 00:07:11,560 --> 00:07:16,189 And the third fight has a sub boss, and those soldiers, and Von Bon Bon will pop out and 126 00:07:16,189 --> 00:07:18,389 shoot a shotgun full of candy floss. 127 00:07:18,389 --> 00:07:22,289 What you learned was a safe zone is now right in the firing line, so you’ll have to make 128 00:07:22,289 --> 00:07:26,979 new plans quickly, and skilfully dodge through this combination of patterns. 129 00:07:26,979 --> 00:07:31,099 If you beat all three phases, you’ll then go up against Bon Bon herself, who chases 130 00:07:31,099 --> 00:07:36,039 you in a giant walking castle, meaning that the ground is no longer that safe. 131 00:07:36,039 --> 00:07:40,219 She also throws out her head, which moves in a really tricky chasing pattern, while 132 00:07:40,220 --> 00:07:43,520 giant rock candy wheels bounce along the ground with a steady rhythm. 133 00:07:43,520 --> 00:07:46,080 ANNOUNCER: Knockout! 134 00:07:46,080 --> 00:07:51,300 So, this boss is a delicate balance of memory, reaction, and skill. 135 00:07:51,310 --> 00:07:56,189 There are lots of different things that you can learn, like patterns, phases, and weakspots. 136 00:07:56,189 --> 00:07:59,999 But unpredictable elements, like the random sub bosses, mean that you’ll also have to 137 00:07:59,999 --> 00:08:02,509 be able to react to what’s coming next. 138 00:08:02,509 --> 00:08:07,110 And tricky patterns - like this chasing gobstobber - and layered on elements - like the shotgun 139 00:08:07,110 --> 00:08:11,479 blast - mean you’ll also just need to be very skilful with the controls to keep out 140 00:08:11,479 --> 00:08:13,270 of danger. 141 00:08:13,270 --> 00:08:16,699 Most of the boss battles in Cuphead get this balance right. 142 00:08:16,699 --> 00:08:18,129 But it’s easy to screw it up. 143 00:08:18,129 --> 00:08:22,389 I mean, take the much maligned boss Little Horn, from Super Meat Boy, which completely 144 00:08:22,389 --> 00:08:24,870 tips the scales in favour of memory. 145 00:08:24,870 --> 00:08:29,719 This guy does the exact same thing every single time, so fighting the boss is just about learning 146 00:08:29,719 --> 00:08:32,930 the pattern of attacks and then executing the right commands. 147 00:08:32,930 --> 00:08:36,870 The attacks are too fast to naturally react to on your first go, but they don’t require 148 00:08:36,870 --> 00:08:40,360 a huge amount of skill to overcome once you’ve learned what to do. 149 00:08:41,760 --> 00:08:47,580 Now, this video has been all about how the bosses kill you - not, how you kill the bosses. 150 00:08:47,590 --> 00:08:51,570 And that’s because dodging attacks is - ultimately - the focus of the game. 151 00:08:51,570 --> 00:08:55,441 It’s not that hard to actually kill a lot of these guys, because you infinitely shoot 152 00:08:55,441 --> 00:08:59,690 bullets as long as you hold down the button, the targets are absolutely enormous, and you 153 00:08:59,690 --> 00:09:01,880 don’t need to know any special moves to win. 154 00:09:01,880 --> 00:09:05,139 Things like parrying and using your EX attacks are optional. 155 00:09:05,139 --> 00:09:08,899 That means that it’s often more about outlasting the boss, than defeating it. 156 00:09:08,899 --> 00:09:12,899 And that’s why you sometimes feel like you survived, rather than beat the boss. 157 00:09:12,899 --> 00:09:16,470 And that’s okay, but some of the best boss battles are those where you know that the 158 00:09:16,470 --> 00:09:21,000 boss just won’t die unless you get in there and kill it, with your amazing knowledge of 159 00:09:21,000 --> 00:09:22,430 the game’s mechanics. 160 00:09:22,430 --> 00:09:24,240 So this won’t be the last word on boss fights. 161 00:09:24,240 --> 00:09:27,720 We’ll be back in the future, to talk about actually defeating these guys. 162 00:09:27,720 --> 00:09:32,660 Plus, other things like the build up, the music, the pay off, innovative boss fights, 163 00:09:32,660 --> 00:09:33,660 and more. 164 00:09:33,660 --> 00:09:38,029 For now, though, Cuphead is packed full of examples of good boss attacks. 165 00:09:38,029 --> 00:09:41,980 Just don’t be surprised if you die a few times when you’re looking at them. 166 00:09:47,780 --> 00:09:48,740 Hey thanks for watching. 167 00:09:48,740 --> 00:09:54,000 GMTK is funded on Patreon and these are my top tier supporters.