Five Years Later, Cuphead's Art and Difficulty Have Cemented its Legacy

gamerant.com:

Studio MDHR's Cuphead celebrates its fifth anniversary today, with the arduous and nostalgic experience still being heavily discussed and expanded upon. Cupheadis fondly known for its reputation of being an incredibly challenging run-and-gun platformer and its gorgeous, hand-drawn environments and creatures in the style of 1930s cartoons. It has seen continued support from Studio MDHR and fans alike since its release with continued updates and announcements from the creators and hundreds of thousands of hours of play time by fans.

Cuphead was originally announced at E3 2014 by the founders of Studio MDHR, brothers Chad and Jared Moldenhauer, to great excitement due to its stunning hand drawn visuals and stiff challenges. However, the game's planned release date of 2015 was delayed a further 2 years while the studio refined its first title. The game's DLC, The Delicious Last Course, consisting of ideas taken from the cutting room floor of the base game, faced a similar delay with the DLC announced in 2018 and released in June 2022. Yet both were well worth the wait, the quality of each blowing fans and critics away.

Games That Are Intense From Start to Finish

Cuphead's art is one of the first things that comes to mind when fans think about it. A heartfelt ode to 1930s and 1940s cartoons, the game uses hand drawn 2D animation while featuring period accurate music and silent film slides. The game's thoughtfully crafted blend of innocence and malevolence is immediately apparent in the opening cutscenes of the game, with King Dice and the Devil akin to antagonists of a Fleischer Studios cartoon.

Speaking of Fleischer Studios, when asked about specific influences on the visual style of Cuphead in a 2015 interview, Chad Moldenhauer