Cuphead was a pretty popular game when it first came out,
so popular that it got a cartoon on Netflix very recently. Being based on a game means that
a lot of things tend to get lost in translation between the game and the show and while some of
the changes are quite good, some we despise to no end, so when it comes down to it, which are which?
I’m Kyle with WickedBinge and this The Cuphead Show!: Changes From The Game We Love and Hate.
Oh, and this should be obvious, but we’ll be going into spoiler territory for both the game Cuphead,
and The Cuphead Show, so you’ve been warned about what we are about to go into.
The first change on this list we wanted to discuss was The Animation. Yes, both the game and the show
are based on old-school rubber hose animation. However, if you compare the game to the show
you can see a major difference in the way certain things are animated. This comes down to the fact
that while the game utilizes hand-drawn animations and is designed to be more fluid with gameplay,
and does look quite nice, the show utilizes computer animation and is designed for the
more comedic, slapstick style comedy the show has decided to use. Because of this,
the Animation in the show feels very different even though most of the character designs are
pretty accurate to the game. The mix of both fluid and choppy animation in the show to make
it feel like an early 30s cartoon is fun, but it is uniquely different from the game’s animation.
However, overall we did enjoy this change because it made a lot of the comedy hit home harder.
Speaking of, The Comedy is another change we wanted to talk about on this list. The game
honestly held very little comedy beyond funny character designs and some cute or
laughable dialogue outside of battle. Not to say that Cuphead was a serious game with cute
aesthetics or a dark and brooding game like Dark Souls or Metal Gear Solid. Its comedic
moments were just few and far between unless you were interacting with each of the NPCs
or dying enough to see the occasionally funny boss quotes. Now, The Cuphead Show focuses
mostly on comedy and the comedy is mostly based on rubber hose jokes, most of which are
slapstick in nature. Now, of course, all comedy is subjective, but the jokes within The Cuphead Show
are mostly funny, there are a few duds here and there, but we can’t really blame them.
Yes, they sometimes fall into tropes as most shows do, but overall we do quite like this
change from the game because the comedy is truly not that bad most of the time.
The next change we wanted to talk about is The Returning Roster of Characters.
Cuphead has a large roster of characters, ranging from the titular Cuphead and his brother Mugman
to the many bosses like King Dice, Grim Matchstick, or Sally Stageplay to fan-favorite
NPCs like Porkrind or Elder Kettle. Now the thing about this roster of characters is,
very few cross over, especially when it comes to the bosses from the original game,
only Ribby, Croaks, and The Root Pack cross over from the original game to the show
when it comes to non-devil bosses. While some characters like Cuphead and Mugman gain
actual personalities instead of being relatively bland player characters, and characters like Elder
Kettle gain a lot more to their original personalities, some characters are reduced
relatively heavily, who we’ll talk about later, but In the end, certain characters are really
helped by this change and some are dragged down, so we have mixed feelings on these changes.
On the other side of the spectrum, New Characters are the next change we want to speak about.
Like any major adaptation of a video game, new characters are introduced to pad out the roster,
some don’t get very much screen time like Jerry the black market swindler
while others like Baby Bottle or the Ghosts have entire episodes dedicated to them.
Now, the worst part about this change is the fact that iconic bosses like Cagney Carnation
or Beppi the Clown are not in the show and are instead replaced by much less likable
characters like Baby Bottle or Stickler. Now, while most of the new characters are despicable
at worst and tricky to like at best, there is one exception that proves the rule. Henchman,
who is a demon from the game who now has a personality, is a fun character we quite enjoy.
But even his dumb lovable face isn’t enough to save the fact that we kind of hate this change.
The next change we wanted to talk about is King Dice. King Dice is the penultimate boss
and recurring character throughout the events of the original game. He is the one who halts
progress between the islands within Inkwell Isle and is the one who initially lets the
Devil know of Cuphead and Mugman within the casino. He’s a pretty important character
throughout the events of the original game. However, in The Cuphead Show, he is relegated
to only one episode. A character who is the Devil’s right-hand man and a very important
character in the original game is relegated to only one episode of a twelve-episode season
while he is voiced by Wayne Brady an actor who has appeared in shows like Whose Line is it
Anyway and American Dad! Now, yes, maybe this is because of problems regarding voice acting and
the ongoing pandemic, but it doesn’t change the fact that King Dice is knocked down to a
singular appearance. His characterization is relatively the same as the game,
save for the changes to overall themes we’ll talk about later, but that doesn’t change
the fact that we absolutely hate this change, hopefully, he has more appearances in Season 2.
Another character-specific set of changes we wanted to talk about was The Devil. The
Devil in the original game is seen as a formidable threat with no moral compass and a massive threat
to any and everyone who comes across his path. He has very few if any goofy or funny moments
and is played straight as an evil monster who cares for very little outside of his
soul contracts. He’s seen as a trickster who can manipulate anyone into being his minion,
shown in the Bad Ending of the original game where he manipulates Cuphead and Mugman
into becoming his minions after obtaining the Soul Contracts. However, in the show, his
personality is vastly different, while he is still feared and seen as a trickster by the community,
he is shown to be more of a jokester as well and even shown to be quite dull at times,
such as when he repeatedly tried to steal the soul from Cuphead in a variety of places
while he wore the soul-stealing proof invisible sweater. He is also willing to do manual labor
like painting a fence for a chance at Cuphead taking off said sweater and even after he got the
sweater off of him, didn’t jump at the chance to get his soul, but we assume he’ll try to do so in
Season Two. The Devil has been seriously changed to fit the more childish demographic, and while we
don’t hate it, we have severely mixed feelings on this change to the main antagonist of the series.
The next major change we wanted to talk about is the Lack of Gambling and Gambling Memorabilia.
In the original game, there are more than enough references to gambling and gambling Memorabilia
like betting chips, horse races, and slot machines. In the original series, they don’t show
these topics in a positive light throughout the game, and King Dice is a very obvious harbinger of
these ideas. These topics could have been handled a bit better because they are treated as pure evil
and have no redeeming qualities and they don’t go into social issues that cause gambling issues, but
we didn’t expect the silly silverware-based boss rush game to dive into that very heavily. These
themes were very important in the original game and help to move the story forward in the correct
way. However, The Cuphead Show lacks any and all of this content and theming from its runtime at
the moment. Now, because of the younger demographic that the show is centered on,
we didn’t expect these themes to appear, but it significantly changes how both the Devil and
King Dice are portrayed, instead of being a shady casino owner, The Devil instead runs an amusement
park and King Dice is now a game show host. These things aren’t bad in themselves, but this lack of
centered theming makes us say that we hate this change made to the themes and ideas of Cuphead,
however, we may see these kinds of things in Season Two which comes out relatively soon.
In a very similar vein, we also wanted to talk about the Lack of Other Adult Themes like alcohol.
While you can kind of rope this in with the gambling point from before, but unlike gambling
which is a central theme, other adult themes like alcohol and smoking aren’t as central to
the theme and story of Cuphead as the gambling stuff. Now, these themes, much like gambling
are kind of looked on in a negative light by Cuphead but are still tackled to some degree,
mostly during King Dice’s bossfight, where entire minibosses are based on these themes.
In the Cuphead show there are no major if any references to these themes, however,
this can be explained by the Demographic the show is aimed towards, even though modern and
even similar older cartoons tackle these topics well while still being aimed at children. But,
this is honestly not the biggest deal in our eyes, these themes, while prevalent both
in the game and the old rubber hose cartoons the show and game are based on,
weren't really important in the game as it stands. So, we’re confident in saying we don’t mind them
being excluded from the show, and to be completely honest we did love this change for the show.
Kind of wrapping up this theme, we also wanted to talk about how The Demographic for the show
has been changed from the game. The original game was marketed as a run-and-gun boss rush style
game that would appeal to most audiences with its stylized art and very difficult gameplay.
It wasn’t marketed to any specific demographic, at least not intentionally, of course some people
feel that cartoons and cartoony games are only for children, but with the aforementioned adult themes
being major parts we have to disagree. The Cuphead Show however, is indeed marketed towards children
and that’s not necessarily a bad thing except for the previously mentioned gambling things
not being part of the story. Excluding that, the shift in demographic from broad or unknown
to children and fans of the game shows in it’s comedy, it’s story and its general presentation.
There are a few dark or slightly dirty jokes for the adults in the room,
but in general, the slapstick comedy and general feel of the show is definitely marketed towards
children and young teens. In all honesty, we like this demographic change because it opened
up a few new avenues to take the characters as well as the comedy which we praised earlier on.
The next change we wanted to talk about is actually The Music. In the original game,
a variety of music stylized after music genres from the 30s was the backdrop to every level,
moment and boss fight. Certain music tracks became quite popular on the internet, songs like Cagney
Carnation’s song Floral Fury or the theme song Don’t Deal With The Devil became quite popular
or even memes because of how fun they are, and since every boss had their own theme tune,
each boss fight had their own unique vibe throughout the battle. Of course, King Dice’s
song Die House is probably the most popular and most recognizable song from the original game
due to the vocals of Alana Bridgewater as King Dice. While most of the tracks fall into a few
different genres like barbershop quartet or jazz, this fits the era quite well,
and makes sense not only for the game but for the universe. Now, in the show, while the background
music is nothing to write home about, they do have some fun musical moments throughout the show. The
soundtrack of the Root Pack Botanic Panic makes an appearance in their episode, and Ribby and
Croaks’ theme Clip Joint Calamity also appears and is one of our favorite tunes. However, what really
sticks out are the variety of fully sung songs, usually by the villains like Ribby and Croaks’
ballad for their mother or Ms. Chalice’s show tune esque singles, but one of the ones we really enjoy
is actually in the first episode with The Devil’s song that he sings to introduce us to him,
and it’s a full fledged Disney Villain song. Now, obviously music is the most subjective
thing we talk about here, and not everyone will agree, but we really like this change, because
while a few of Cuphead’s songs are recognizable and fun, most of the soundtrack is just okay.
The final change we wanted to talk about is The Story. We’ve mentioned it before, but the Story
of Cuphead is about the titular Cuphead and his brother Mugman losing a bet with the devil and
now having to go collect the souls of all the creatures who sold their souls to the devil.
This proceeds to become a giant rush of bosses and beasts that the boys have to go through
using magical abilities. Now, it’s not the most amazing or complex plot of all time,
but it is still significantly more plot than what The Cuphead Show brings to the table. Now, the
show is not designed to have a deep lore or be watched in any specific order, although
the final episode of the season does leave off on a cliffhanger. The show is designed as an
episodic experience, meaning that every story can be viewed without the context of the previous one,
however, this can lead to some jarring issues. For example, Episode 10 “Dangerous Mugman” shows
Mugman getting brave after a mission at an active volcano. However, earlier episodes show him being
significantly braver than he was in this episode, in fact, the previous episode shows him bravely
putting the very damaging sweater on to the Devil to severely injure him. Now, some sources claim
this is because “Dangerous Mugman” was supposed to be an earlier episode, but we don’t have complete
confirmation of this. Regardless, Season Two may delve a bit deeper into a serialized story
of some shape or form, considering how Season One ended. In the end, we have to say we
absolutely hate this change, but that’s because, as we said, it was never meant to be a very lore
heavy show like Gravity Falls, Adventure Time or The Owl House, and was designed more episodic
like shows like Spongebob, The Simpsons, or American Dad and we think they do it quite well,
we just prefer the original game’s story. But let us know in the comment section if
you agree with our ranking. And tell us what we should cover next. Remember to
hit that notification bell and binge more of our videos. But most importantly, stay wicked.