Cuphead: The Delicious Last Course will feature more detailed animations, "closer to Fantasia"
Miss Chalice makes her stunning debut
We’re rapidly approaching the release date for Cuphead: The Delicious Last Course, and more info is being gleaned from interviews as we wait. Studio director Maja Moldenhauer has shed some more light on the various features of the DLC, including Cuphead’s famous animation style. The animation is apparently being ramped up to even more impressive levels in this new adventure. While the game will retain its old school charm, it sounds like more time and effort was put into each of these individual bosses than any that came before.
Is Studio MDHR using new rendering effects to enhance the gameplay and visuals in The Delicious Last Course?
No, we did it the exact same way as the core game. We added a significant amount of more detail, and I think Cuphead fans will notice the difference. That also contributes to the development timeline a little bit. We wanted to hone in on the craft, push the boundaries, test out new things and new features. We love 2D animation; we think there’s a magic when you put pencil to paper. We just wanted to push the boundaries again. Because of Cuphead’s success, we had the opportunity to do that this time. Aside from Boss transformations, I think there are quite a few location transformations as well. Instead of a single arena, between the phases, there are more backgrounds with a lot more color and more effects. It’s almost like taking Cuphead from early Disney days to closer to Fantasia.
Is there anything else about The Delicious Last Course that you’d like to share?
One singular phase of a boss in The Delicious Last Course has more animation than a full boss of the core game. We haven’t done an official frame count yet, but I believe it’s definitely not one-to-one. It will probably stack up to be the same amount of animation as the core game in this one island.
In addition to promising more detailed and impressive visuals, Moldenhauer also discusses the new playable character Miss Chalice, how she comes into play, and how she differs from Cuphead and Mugman.
To equip her, you eat this magical cookie and swap places with one of the other characters. In this demo, for example, Mugman eats the cookie, becomes a ghost in the astral plane, and Miss Chalice becomes real. So you’re always just switching with one.
Does the cookie charm you’re talking about take up one of your inventory slots?
It does, and this is why. Miss Chalice does come with a couple of things. She has her dash parry. So if somebody doesn’t like timing the double jump, she can dash into objects to parry. She has an automatic parry, she has an invincible roll, and she comes with an extra HP. She comes with all these things but she is a charm itself, so you don’t get to put another charm on, which is why she’s an amalgamation of all these different charms in one because you don’t get to pick another one.
It sounds like a lot of work went into making this DLC as good as it could possibly be. While it might not be as lengthy as the main game, it should hopefully provide a more than satisfying experience for seasoned Cuphead fans. Cuphead: The Delicious Last Course goes on sale June 30th for $8.99. There will also be a bundle available of the original game with the DLC for a 99 cent saving for anyone who doesn’t have the first game already.
For more details and insight into the game’s development progress, click here to read the interview in full.
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