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A TALE OF TWO GAMES: CUPHEAD AND MONSTER BOY

23/4/2019

25 Comments

 
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I've got a couple of games on the go at the minute, both of them for Nintendo's Switch.

I'm not going to bother reviewing them on here, because one of them - Monster Boy And The Cursed Kingdom - came out last year, and the other - Cuphead - might be new to Switch, but it was released on the Xbox One 18 months ago.

Nevertheless, they share, in ways both superficial and profound, certain similarities. They're both, technically, platform games, and they're both absolutely gorgeous.

And yet one of them makes me want to give my Switch a big lick, and thank it for being there for me, and the other makes me want to hurl it out of the window.

And then jump out of the window, and stamp up and down on it over and over and over.

​And then dissolve the bits in acid, so that I'm never tempted to play it again.
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MONSTER! MONSTER!
Monster Boy starts out quite deceptively simple, as a trad platformer, before you acquire the ability to flick between different monster forms, which their own unique abilities. It's not quite a full (and I shudder and vomit to use this term) "Metroidvania" experience, as there's little backtracking, but as it progresses you'll learn which monster form is the best in any given situation.

As you continue, you can purchase or find new weapons, gear can be upgraded, and the stages are fiendishly designed in such a way that you're required to switch between several different monsters mid-flow.

What I love most about Monster Boy is how it builds. It's a steady learning curve, introducing you gradually to each of your abilities. It starts out easy, but two-thirds of the way through - even as you become ever more powerful - it becomes properly challenging.

There was one moment, quite a way into it, where I spent the best part of a day just trying one particular section over and over and over again, putting down the Switch, picking it up again, until - eventually - I succeeded. 

Normally I'd have given up long before that point, yet at no time did it ever feel unfair. Even when I've had to attempt a stage a dozen or more times, my failure felt like my own. I've rushed, or got flustered, or distracted, or bun-fingered; I'm the stupid one, not the game. 

That, to me, is the mark of perfect design; where you a game encourages the player to keep going, even when they fall repeatedly. 

Cuphead is... well... different.
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NIPPLES
​I wanted to play Cuphead the first time I saw it running. It appeared to be - and indeed, is - a stunning, interactive, recreation of early-20th Century animation, right down to the jazz soundtrack, and the subtle blurring of the colours, which gives it that authentic retro look. Without any degree of doubt, it's an astonishing artistic achievement.

Admittedly, there has been a bit of backlash recently, in relation to said animation's apparently racist origins, but there's no denying that, for better or worse, they've nailed the style. 

Except... I never bothered getting it on the Xbox One. Partly because I hardly ever turn on my Xbox One, and partly because the reviews put me off. Don't get me wrong; the reviews were, by and large, positive, but they all mentioned how difficult Cuphead can be, and I thought "Yeah, might not be for me". 

It is, essentially, the run-and-gun platformer equivalent of Dark Souls; a succession of bosses, where victory requires you to endure repeated failure so that you can learn each level's patterns. And even then, losing a single slice of your health bar means you might as well just quit and start the level again. It's basically like that from the moment you first start playing. 

Some people love that. I mean, the Dark Souls series is really popular. Personally, I don't get it - it just feels like masochism to me - but I appreciate that loads of people get off on it, in the same way that some people like having crocodile clips applied to their nipples, I suppose. 

It's an old-fashioned approach to game design, but one which I thought had died out. It's rooted in the challenge of arcades, where games were deliberately difficult so that players would keep sinking in the coins. And that's probably my issue; that worked out great for arcade owners, but the odds were always stacked unfairly against the player. The house always won. 

It's gaming without a safety net, and while I get that there can be a certain thrill in such endeavours, for me the eventual pay-off is never worth the journey. Even in a game as beautiful as Cuphead.

To my eyes, it demonstrates a lazy approach to game design when difficulty is artificially raised in such a way, by limiting lives or checkpoints, or by throwing so much at a player that they're going to fail more often than they'll succeed.

Admittedly, some games go the other way, and throw challenge out of the window altogether. I managed to complete Yoshi's Crafted World without breaking a sweat, but Monster Boy succeeds in bridging the best of both worlds, with one of the most perfectly-pitched levels of challenge I've ever seen in a game. 
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HINGES
I'm not saying it's wrong to make games where success hinges on your ability to dodge enemy attacks at precisely the right moment, but what I can say - with complete confidence - is that they're not for me. How is it enjoyable to put myself through something that, to me anyway, feels like revising for an exam?

I like fairness, I like feeling that the odds are even - not stacked in favour of the game designers. I don't like the difficulty being so high from the off that I'm never going to see all the hard work that has clearly gone into the visuals. 

I find it such a shame; Cuphead is so gorgeous that it deserves to be seen by more people. On purely aesthetic terms, it's the sort of game which demonstrates the potential of games as an art form. 

There's just something unpleasantly elitist about it.

Such games feel like the gaming equivalent of arthouse films; just as a film snob wouldn't consider you a proper film fan if you preferred, say, Avengers over some pretentious, black and white, French language meditation on adultery told through the prism of baguettes and pastries, making games so challenging right off the bat is a barrier for the majority of people who might otherwise enjoy it.

And, of course, you get the usual twats who think there's some degree of pride to be had in being a "proper gamer", as if such a thing wasn't, in fact, slightly sad and tragic.

Unfortunately, the difficulty has coloured the Cuphead experience for me. Yes, there's a ton of artistry on display, but I can't enjoy it because I'm too busy just trying to get through it. It feels like a chore, rather than a piece of entertainment.

Just as with arthouse cinema, getting to the end isn't so much a feeling of elation, as a feeling of self-satisfaction that I'm intellectual - or "gud" - enough to get it. It's snobbery... and sorry, the artists of StudioMDHR, but because of that I'm never going to see the vast majority of what your game has to offer. 
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25 Comments
pezholio
23/4/2019 09:58:43 am

Sums up exactly how I feel about Cuphead. On average I get about 30 minutes a day to game (usually while lying on the floor waiting for my daughter to get to sleep - which is why the Switch is such a boon to me), so I doubt I'll get to see much of the full gamr, which is a real shame. I appreciate the fact that it's a love letter to the run and gun platformers of yore, but it'd be nice to see something that just makes it a smidge easier for less time-rich sorts such as myself to experience as much of the game as possible.

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Mark
23/4/2019 10:38:42 am

Dark Souls doesn't appeal to me at all, but so far enjoying Cuphead. I was shocked by how hard it started but it is doable. When you manage a difficult level you feel like a gaming god, which I guess is the appeal. Plus the levels only last 2 minutes each, so it's a good one to dip in and out of. It's one of the most beautiful games I've ever seen so I'm going to keep going, theres always the easy mode if it gets too much.
You mentioned the music on Monster Boy the other day. It is next on my list but I ended up turning the demo off cos it was grating on me, does it get any better?

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Mark
23/4/2019 12:04:00 pm

The music, that is.

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MENTALIST
23/4/2019 11:57:24 am

My children insisted that I buy them Cuphead, because they'd seen it in videos on Youtube and such. They paid no heed to my warnings about how difficult it was, and as expected, it's largely unplayable for them.

"Cuphead is so gorgeous that it deserves to be seen by more people", is definitely how I feel about it. I think it's a real shame that the developers are being dicks about not providing an accessible difficulty level for it.

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David
24/4/2019 10:55:34 am

Seems like a good opportunity to teach your kids some life lessons

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Antony Adler
23/4/2019 12:14:33 pm

Excellent piece as always, I couldn't agree more, I've spent many months not playing cuphead but wishing I could. What really pisses me off, as Mentalist wrote above, is that the developers can't provide an accessible difficulty level (well they did but it's not the full game on easier setting apparently). You get people saying that it's not the same game if it's not played as the developer intended. That may be so, but talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face. Such elitist bs.

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Mark
23/4/2019 12:54:40 pm

I love the look of cuphead but I must say I have been put off buying it for the switch I played it on a friends Xbox one and didn’t really enjoy the time I spent with it . I feel though that it one of those games that as soon as an enemy pattern is sussed out it’s pretty straight forward and that’s where the replay ability comes from it feels like a forced difficulty but once sussed out there is nothing left to do and it’s a shame cos it’s stunning looking

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Phil
23/4/2019 01:26:10 pm

Ikagrua on the GC florred me with how hard it was. I struggle to see how people glean any fun from game like that. More recently, I've smashed 2 Wii U control tablets in anger at losing online Splatoon battles. I've now vowed never to play the game again, it's getting too expensive.

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Meatballs-me-branch-me-do
24/4/2019 01:31:51 am

Biffo, didn’t you do a bit for Digi back in the day about “injuries incurred while gaming”? The bit I remember was That Jump in the Sandcrawler level of Super Star Wars, and angrily punching what turned out to be part of your sofa where the fabric was thinnest.

You must have hurt yourself or things more since then!

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Bob Trousers
23/4/2019 01:57:39 pm

I can’t work out if you’re saying that getting to the end of an arthouse film gives YOU a feeling of self-satisfaction that YOU are intellectual, or if you’re saying that other people who watch them get that feeling at the end. If it’s the first, why? If it’s the second, how would you know?

Some people don’t like Marvel films (I do). Are they all snobs?

I like (some) ‘arthouse’ films. Am I a snob?

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RG
23/4/2019 02:09:45 pm

Only if it gives you a feeling of superiority.

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RG
23/4/2019 02:04:29 pm

Metroidvania? What's that?

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Ssslithe
23/4/2019 03:28:41 pm

I think it’s a little unfair to call Cuphead’s difficulty “unpleasantly elitist”. For one thing, they have included an easy mode – from what I’ve read, they didn’t quite get it right, but the fact that they tried is proof that they are thinking of the casual players, which is not elitist. Further, they’ve done quite a lot to make the regular difficulty fairly accessible – you die a lot, yes, but the progress metre combined with the instant retry (no load times, no distant checkpoints, no mean-spirited Souls-esque perishable items or curses) means you can jump back into the fray right away and feel like success is just one more try away. Plus each stage is only like 2 minutes long, so really it’s about getting into the zone and concentrating everything you’ve got into a perfect 2-minute run. If anything it’s similar to a rhythm game, where the patterns you have to memorise can be completely ludicrous at higher difficulty levels.

I can totally see how Cuphead isn’t for everyone, but elitist suggests a malicious nature that I personally just don’t see.

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Elvo
23/4/2019 07:16:27 pm

I read that changing the map of the buttons (shoot to shoulder button) makes for a slightly easier configuration as you can then perform all other moves while constantly shooting. Dunno though.

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Mike
23/4/2019 07:26:15 pm

I like the idea of Cuphead, the animation style is a huge draw. Sadly, as someone who can’t even get past the owl boss in Donky Kong Country Tropical Freeze, it’s probably not for me.

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Nikki
23/4/2019 07:44:56 pm

If you breeze through Cuphead, it can be done in about an hour and a half.

I think the folks who don't want an easy mode in game are secretly scared they'll run up against a really difficult level and use easy mode to beat it, and then be done with their game too quickly.

Make an easy mode, but call it Kids mode and then the Troo Gammers wouldn't be tempted to use it because their super hard game isn't for kids.

Yeah, that'll work.

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Mr.S
24/4/2019 12:30:53 am

Well I didn’t even know the Monster Boy game existed until now, and when I get back to the PS4 on land I will certainly be getting this, loved the Dragons Curse (or whatever it was called) as I loved Wonderboy III back from my Master Systeming days, and just checked out the soundtrack to hear some lovely renditions of the old tunes!

Cup Head? Gotta say it doesn’t really ring my bell, as the other titles mentioned above reek of nostalgia for me, Cuphead don’t, and I can’t be dealing with investing time in something new that’s allegedly difficult, there were plenty of games like that back in the 8/16-bit era and I had my fill of them back then, admittedly it’s pretty but then again so are actual cartoons and I don’t have to struggle to progress them.

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tom armour
24/4/2019 01:10:38 am

I've been playing games for years (Atari 2600 onward) and they used be fuck hard to play back in the day just look at most of the arcade games in the early eighties they were purposely hard coin munchers. It was only when games became interactive movies or pieces of art that they were made easier for the casual gamer. I like that there are difficult games out there that challenge you immensely and are a tip of the hat to how video games used to be.

p.s. I'm also shite at Cuphead but enjoyed in nonetheless as a piece of art and a game from a bygone era.

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rmk
24/4/2019 08:03:59 am

You had me until the (slightly racist - french is my first language ;) ) comparison with movies genres lovers. There is some kind of snobbism that exists in the community, for sure, but *you* as an individual absolutely don't have to pick a side. You can enjoy cheese AND desert. Allow yourself to be complex, sometimes even contradictory, that's one of the think that makes human beings interesting.

On a side note : I have both games, and agree that Monster Boy difficulty ramp is gentler, and probably better designed in term of gameplay. I take Cuphead more as some kind of exercise in style, that's enjoyed in small bursts... Doesn't mean I cannot enjoy both.

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Jimmy Legs
24/4/2019 09:36:26 am

There's nothing elitist about making a game difficult for people that like difficult games. It's spoilt and entitled to demand it be easier because you think it's pretty

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Paul Gildea
24/4/2019 01:01:41 pm

There is nothing elitist about difficult games. There is also nothing wrong with suggesting a game have an easy/accessible mode. It's not a "demand", it's a piece of criticism.

I'd argue it's only elitist when people suggest games shouldn't have and easy mode.

I've not played Cuphead (yet) but it sounds like something I will very much enjoy when I get round to it. Reading some interviews with the creators though it sometimes seems they don't understand the main appeal of their own game (the stunning graphics). It's almost-but-not quite George Lucas and star wars.

At this point we should mention Celeste and it's various difficulty settings as what really should be an industry standard going forward.

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Jimmy Legs
24/4/2019 03:44:05 pm

Celeste is often brought up in this regard, and I would argue it is important to have those concessions when making a game based around overcoming depression, for obvious reasons. But Cuphead/ Dark Souls without the difficulty isn't a game. I don't see why it's difficult to understand that. Cuphead especially would be about 10 minutes long and offer no sort of satisfaction whatsoever.

Games can have easy modes, but the idea that they will provide the same (if indeed any) satisfaction and enjoyment is immediately and obviously misguided to me. An aside, but I would imagine the people that don't want them to have easy modes can see a very clear 'I played through the whole game (on easy) and it was crap' stance becoming the trend, which of course then dictates how games are made in the future.

So elitism is distasteful, ok. The other way of looking at this is that there is no elitism, just people who can and people who can't be arsed to learn how to play a game. 'What about people with accessibility issues!' it's a shame steps are only recently being taken in this direction, but Cuphead and Souls are far, far from the only games that fail in this regard.

So there are people who, being already catered to with endless easy games, are now they are angrily demanding that the two games they find difficult be changed, because they find them difficult: a core part of the games' design. It seems pretty entitled and detrimental from here, frankly

Jimmy Legs
24/4/2019 03:51:05 pm

also, suggesting a game should have an easy mode is not criticism. What makes you say that?

Geebs
25/4/2019 09:47:28 am

Dark Souls has an easy mode, Biffo, you big silly. It's just that, due to a translation error, the entry on the character select was mislabelled "Pyromancer".

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Truffaut's Sandwich
26/4/2019 10:00:32 am

The whole 'pretentious black and white subtitled film' cliche is so hackneyed i'm surprised to see it on here. Put me right off my croissant.

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