Cuphead has been called the Dark Souls of side-scrollers—it’s pretty hard—and with this fan-made animation, we can actually see those two game combined. This mash-up takes the typically dark, foreboding, and dangerous world of Dark Souls and transforms it to use the zany 1930s cartoon styling of Cuphead.
Weirdly enough, Cuphead’s world was creepy enough that the Dark Souls insertion doesn’t feel out of place at all. In the video, you can see boss fights with Scorpioness Najka, Great Grey Wolf Sif, the Gaping Dragon, and other classic Dark Souls enemies. I have to say I really like this take on the Souls universe. Even though Dark Souls 3 was intended to be the final chapter of the saga, I wouldn’t mind seeing a side-scroller in this style at all.
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Cuphead’s style and high difficulty are captivating and make it unique among its peers. It’s already sold over a million copies and is undoubtedly one of the most successful indies of 2017. The game was delayed several times and was in development from 2010 until 2017. Most of the time, when an indie title is being worked on that long, there’s a significant issue. However, Cuphead proved to be the exception to that rule and premiered to critical acclaim.
The gameplay is reminiscent of games from the NES and Super Nintendo era, albeit more refined. If you liked Donkey Kong Country-style boss battles, in which pattern memorization is essential, you’ll love Cuphead. The game is the ultimate evolution of the run-and-gun platformer and is definitely worth a play for old gamers and new alike.
