Cuphead Gameplay Impressions
(threaded x-post from birdsite)
Wrote this up after getting my first A+, gosh bless.
The default controls are quite bad. I recommend putting shoot on RT and dash on LT. It misses a good "fire even without me holding a button" option so something's gonna cramp no matter what. https://awoo.space/media/VTo_Xwfn17_8gak6Y5M
Cuphead Gameplay Impressions
The game has more randomness than it appears. For example, if one phase of a boss has attacks A, B, and C, it'll shuffle a deck of AABBC and do those attacks in random order, and sometimes with timing or velocity changes. Makes it feel pretty different from its NES inspirations.
Cuphead Gameplay Impressions
There's a reason mobile games give you stars instead of an American letter grade. You have no expectation for what adequacy is, and there's not a clear ceiling, so it's always a reward instead of a judgment. Even DmC 2013 had its grades cap out not at A but at SSS.
Anywho! I do like the game! The visuals, music, and encounter designs are rad. I feel myself getting better. Just throwing my two cents in for why it shows up at, like, #20 on GOTY lists instead of #6.
Cuphead Gameplay Impressions
The grading system could be more encouraging. It does a Devil May Cry thing where you retry a boss over and over, finally prevail, and get a C letter grade. Like "you won but you didn't really win". Not to mention: it feels bad to get an A MINUS. This grade shaming worked in DMC because you *want* to feel like the world is out to get you (because you are a demon who slashes the monsters of hell into a bloody pulp). It clashes with the fun cartoon aesthetic of Cuphead.