Cuphead / Tropes F To M

Cuphead Trope Examples
A - E | F - M | N - Z

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F

• Faustian Rebellion: Refusing to hand over the contracts the Devil sent you out to get has you fighting him.
• Feathered Fiend: One of the bosses, Wally Warbles, is a giant bird in a birdhouse that uses Feather Flechettes as an attack.
• Fight Bell Hijinks: A bell sounds at the start and end of a boss battle, with the latter being accompanied by an exuberant cry of "KNOCKOUT!".
• Final-Exam Boss: The King Dice boss fight in general is not only a glorified version of the fight with The Root Pack (one of the first bosses in the game), but also makes use of every skill and gameplay style you've learned to that point.
• Finger Gun:
  • Cuphead and Mugman fire bullets by putting their fingers in a gun shape and "firing". Wally Warbles also does this by morphing his face into a white glove.
  • Djimmi the Great also does a literal example when transforming into a puppet of Cuphead, with the tip of the finger opening up to reveal a cannon.
• Fire Purifies: In the good ending, Cuphead and Mugman toss the Soul Contracts into the fiery furnace to incinerate them (since the Soul Contracts indicate that the inhabitants of the Inkwell Isles lost their casino games against the Devil who until now owned their souls, though they skipped out on paying their deals to him and were deep in debt). In destroying the contracts in this way, the boys deliver the grateful inhabitants from eternal servitude to the Devil.
• Flash of Pain: Bosses briefly flash white when hit.
• Flunky Boss: A few of the bosses summon waves of minions, including Cagney Carnation, Hilda Berg, and Baroness von Bon Bon.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Mugman was the one who tried to discourage Cuphead from gambling their souls for the Devil's loot, but Cuphead was so blinded by greed that he took the bet and lost.
• Foreshadowing: Billboards for the Devil's Casino can be seen in the "Perilous Piers" Run-N-Gun stage.
• Foul Flower: One boss, Cagney Carnation, is an enormous flower. When Cuphead first encounters him, he gives him an innocent smile, but quickly switches to a wicked Slasher Smile just before the battle begins. Also, his stem has thorns, oddly enough. He looks absolutely demonic in his final phase. Also, the accompanying platforming section has sunflower-like monsters that parachute from the sky.
• Four-Fingered Hands: Most characters with hands have four fingers. The exceptions are Captain Brineybeard and Glumstone The Giant.
• Four Is Death: Fittingly enough, there are four worlds in Inkwell Isles, and the last one is Inkwell Hell, where The Devil is fought.
  • The DLC introduces Inkwell Isle Four, which is overall more of a challenge than the prior three.
• Fun with Acronyms:
  • The DLC expansion is called "The Delicious Last Course".
  • The Nintendo Switch reveal trailer begins as a PSA from the Ministry of Drink and Health Regulation.
• Funny Background Event:
  • If you take damage, use an EX move, or activate a Super Art in Werner Werman's boss fight, the ground shakes and everything jumps in the background, including the trophies and the thimble seats.
  • Every time you hit Sally Stageplay in her fight, her husband in the background tugs on his hat in horror. If you take a hit, he'll briefly start cheering.
  • The last part of Captain Brineybeard's fight involves his ship going One-Winged Angel... which causes the Captain to be amusingly flung upwards. A second or so after that, you can see him landing in the sea in the background.
• Fusion Dance: Used by Ribby and Croaks during the final phase of their fight, where one swallows the other and they turn into a huge slot machine.

G

• The Gambling Addict: Cuphead has a gambling problem, the Devil offering all the treasure in Hell if he wins was too tempting to pass up, and having lost ends up getting the protagonists into quite a mess.
• Gambling Ruins Lives: The entire plot of the game could have been avoided if Cuphead and Mugman stayed away from the Devil's casino.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation:
  • In most, if not all, cases, any transformations the bosses go through are entirely contained in their boss battle. This includes size changes like the bosses being ginormous, or the cups themselves being tiny. This also leads to Unexplained Recoveries for some bosses, notably with characters such as Cala Maria and Esther Winchester.
  • Even if you kill Sally Stageplay's husband in her fight and get her soul contract following the secret phase, the husband will still show up in the ending with Sally. Because of that, it could be assumed that he was injured instead of killed.
• Game-Over Man: If you lose to a boss, you get a card with the image of said boss mocking you with a pun related to your defeat. To add insult to injury, it also shows how far along you were to defeating them as well. So if you were right on the verge of getting that last hit before you were taken out, well...
• Genre Throwback: Visually, to rubber-hose cartoons from the first half of the 20th century. Playwise, to Nintendo Hard Run-and-Gun/Shoot 'Em Up games like Contra, Parodius and Gunstar Heroes.
• Giant Foot of Stomping: When you beat Mr. Wheezy, the giant cigar, King Dice, who had lit Mr. Wheezy with a lighter, will now bring his foot down on him and stamp him out.
• Good Smoking, Evil Smoking: A few of the bosses and background characters. One of the numerous bosses that you fight before taking on King Dice himself is a giant cigar. All of King Dice's bosses represent a different form of vice.
• Gorgeous Gorgon: During the second phase against Cala Maria, her eels suddenly shock her and turn her into a gorgon where her octopus hair eventually turns into a nest of snakes, and she starts using a petrifying gaze attack.
• Gravity Screw: You can reverse your gravity by parrying cards with two arrows pointing up and down in Funhouse Frazzle.
• Guide Dang It!: Unlocking the Divine Relic in The Delicious Last Course requires one hell of a walkthrough.^{Explanation (spoilers ahead!)}First, you have to buy the seemingly useless Broken Relic from Porkrind. Then, you must complete a rather obtuse puzzle to unlock "One Hell of a Dream" and defeat the Angel and Demon with the Broken Relic equipped. This will transform the relic into the Cursed Relic. You must then fight enough bosses with that charm equipped to unlock the Divine Relic. The game tracks your progress through a hidden points system, with 16 points needed to unlock the Divine Relic: beating "All Bets Are Off" is worth 1 point, beating a boss on Inkwell Isle 1, 2, and 3/4 are worth 2, 2.5, and 3 points respectively, and finally, beating the final bosses the Devil and Chef Saltbaker are worth 4 points each.

H

• Happy Circus Music:
  • Inkwell Isle Two, which is an Amusement Park, has some jaunty orchestral music.
  • The music for the circus level "Funfair Fever" is a light ragtime-esque tune on piano and flute.
  • "Coin-Op Bop" was written for a minigame in the amusement park area. It sounds like it was played on a fairground organ, and it starts out quite upbeat. However, as the song goes on, it does get faster and eventually switches to a minor key, turning it into Creepy Circus Music.
• Have a Nice Death: Whenever you die, the bosses and enemies will give you a taunt that varies depending on what phase they're in.
• Head Swap: To keep gameplay balanced, Cuphead and Mugman are identical in terms of gameplay, having the same attacks and hitboxes; the only differences are the designs of their heads and color schemes. Miss Chalice is also functionally a head swap of the other two, though her animations are a bit more unique due to her more distinct appearance.
• He Knows About Timed Hits: After you complete the first Mausoleum, or buy something from the Emporium for the first time, Porkrind or the Legendary Chalice will explain that you need to equip your new items in the menu.
• A Hell of a Time: Hell's Casino looks like a classy joint full of wealthy supernatural entities. The ostentatious luxury and glamour is evident as you battle King Dice. Of course, then you consider that all the spirits here gambled their money and lives away. Lampshaded in the bad ending, where the Devil tells the player they will have one hell of a time. The final battle with the Devil is in fact "One Hell of a Time".
• Helpful Mook:
  • One of the few mooks that won't hurt you is a trampoline in the Run'n Gun level Funfair Fever; it'll follow you around and let you bounce over obstacles.
  • The octopus on Perilous Piers is this, helping you to get to the end of the stage by breaking rocks that are in the way as long as you keep parrying his head.
  • During the Phantom Express fight, some of the winged jack-o-lanterns will move you out of harm's way if you let them. They also continuously drop Candy you can Parry, allowing you to gain your supers quickly.
• Hidden Track: On the soundtrack, there's a hidden song two minutes after the Closing Credits theme ends: a very unpleasant-sounding warm-up for every instrument in the band. In-game, this track plays if Cuphead and Mugman choose to become the Devil's servants.
• Holy Pipe Organ: "Joyous Promenade" is a beautiful, reverent tune that starts out on a church organ, then switches to brass, and eventually brings the organ and brass together. The tune plays when you equip the Divine Relic, which you get by beating enough bosses with the Cursed Relic, purging the relic of its evil.
• Horizontal Scrolling Shooter: There are a few stages where you're on a plane or a rail platform.
• Hornet Hole: "Honeycomb Herald" takes place in a giant beehive, where mindless worker bees attack as they hover by and a pool of bubbling honey is constantly rising. A bomb-planting bee cop and Rumor Honeybottoms, the queen bee intent on eating Cuphead, are the bosses.
• Hypnotic Eyes: All examples (so far) also fall under Eye Beams above.

I

• "I Am" Song: "Die House" is one for King Dice.
• Idiosyncratic Difficulty Levels: Simple fills in for Easy, shortening the battles but not yielding access to the last two bosses. Regular is the normal difficulty, granting access to all the levels and the ending. Expert Mode unlocks after completing the game, which serves as an equivalent to Turbo Mode from Devil May Cry, while also giving bosses a little more health and in some cases altering their attacks slightly.
• I Lied: You didn't actually think the Devil would keep his word, did you?
• Inconsistent Coloring: Some coloration is deliberately inconsistent, as part of the Inkblot Cartoon Style, as promotional material for black-and-white cartoon were often colored several different ways. Cuphead's and Mugman's gloves are white in most of the game, but yellow on the Results screens. The same applies to Ms. Chalice — her gloves are usually white, but her skirt is colored turquoise on the Results screen rather than its usual light blue. And the brothers' shoes are brown in-game, but match their shorts (red or blue) on the covers and promotional art.
• Infinity +1 Sword: The Divine Relic, which can only be purchased at Porkrind's if you have the DLC installed. What you have to do is probably, by far, the most challenging task that you've ever done in the game: First, you have to purchase it as the Broken Relic. Then, you have to defeat the secret boss, the Dream Devil, which turns it into the Cursed Relic. Equipping the Cursed Relic makes you a One-Hit-Point Wonder, along with your equipment randomly switching whenever you stop firing (though, to compensate for that, you receive charm buffs that cycle on a timer, which includes getting additional health from successful parries). Finally, you need to score 16 points by defeating bosses with the Cursed Relic equipped, which can either come from the DLC or the base game (Not counting the King's Leap bosses). Once you've done all of that hard work, the Cursed Relic finally turns into the Divine Relic, which allows you to freely switch between every weapon you have and activates the positive effect of every charm you have at the same time. Needless to say, every boss that you've fought before then will be a walk in the park with that Relic.
• Inkblot Cartoon Style: Its visuals and overall art style are a homage to old cartoons by Fleischer Studios and its contemporaries, and features characters drawn with wide eyes and mouths, round features, simple outfits, and white gloves. In motion, they all have Rubber-Hose Limbs and uses Briffits and Squeans. Several characters visually evoke characters from that era, such as Werner Werman looking very similar to Mortimer Mouse; some reference animation figures from that era, like Kahl being named for Milt Kahl. The animation was even all hand-drawn on cels!
• Instant Bandages: Some bosses receive bandages when they (or their phase) gets defeated. Examples include Werner Wermann.
• Instant Gravestone: After Goopy Le Grande's second phase is beaten, he gets crushed dead by his own tombstone. Said tombstone is his final form.
• Interface Spoiler: If you die on the attack that immediately precedes a boss turning into its next phase, the death screen picture will show the boss as they appear on the next phase, even if you haven't seen it in battle.

J

• Jungle Jazz: "Floral Fury" is a Latin jazz-themed piece that serves as the battle theme for Cagney Carnation.

K

• Kaiserreich: Werner Werman of Murine Corps, who wears a Pickelhaube and speaks with an overly-exaggerated German accent in his taunts.
• Kaizo Trap:
  • Averted; once you win a boss fight, any leftover projectiles and obstacles won't hurt you. However, this also works against you: if you lose a fight with bullets still airborne and they manage to knock out the boss, you still lose since you're the one who died first.
  • Played with in Goopy's battle. More than one player has started celebrating prematurely when they see the slime's tombstone crush him, only to be smashed in turn: the battle's not over until it says "A knockout!" The tombstone doesn't even show up in Simple Mode.
  • The fight with the Moonshine Mob in the DLC seemingly ends with a custom "Knockout!" end card... Only for the mob's boss to come out from under the anteater's hat and start shooting projectiles at you. Landing a few shots on him ends the fight proper.
• Kill the Creditor:
  • The denizens of Inkwell Isles are none too happy to see Cuphead and Mugman, now under the Devil's employ, arriving to take their contracts (and souls) away, so they initiate an all-out fight.
  • Also subverted in the good ending for the player. The duo whale on the Devil until he breaks down in tears and surrenders. They then destroy all the contracts, freeing the grateful residents of Inkwell Isles, who throw their heroes a celebratory party.
• Killed Off for Real:
  • Explicit for Goopy Le Grande^note He is replaced by a tombstone in the third phase of his fight., heavily suggested for Wally Warbles^note When he's knocked out, he goes limp and his medic birds start sprinkling him with salt and pepper.. Neither appear in the Grand Finale. However, Word of God has since denied this, for Wally at least. In addition, the gruesome fates faced by some bosses in the Delicious Last Course, with them still returning perfectly fine in the epilogue, implies that Death Is Cheap in this universe.
  • Averted with Werner Werman. He's apparently eaten by a cat before his final phase. But when you beat the cat, its face falls off to reveal that it's really a Humongous Mecha with Werner as the pilot.
  • The Root Pack does not appear in the Golden Ending either, but they aren't explicitly or implicitly killed by Cuphead and/or Mugman in their battle, and Ollie Bulb can in fact specifically be spared and not attacked at all. Most likely, they couldn't show up because they're rooted into the ground.
  • Subverted with Sally Stageplay's husband. During the battle, you're given the option of squishing him with a falling light fixture, and the game heavily implies he has died, complete with Sally tearfully mourning him. However, even if you do this, he still shows up in the Golden Ending, apparently unharmed.
• Konami Code: Getting the Bad Ending, then inputting this code on the main menu, plays an otherwise unused and creepier version of that tune that was mistaken as a form of Copy Protection.

L

• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: In Inkwell Isle Two, you find a trio of Barber Poles moping over the loss of their fourth member. Upon finding him, you will be treated to this little number.
• Leitmotif:
  • The "Inkwell Theme", an ascending four note figure, can be found in much of the game's music, particularly the overworld themes. It mostly serves as a motif to represent Cuphead and Mugman themselves, and it's most audible at the start of "Inkwell Isle One".
  • King Dice has "Die House", which is remixed into "The King's Court", and the Devil has "Admission to Perdition", which is remixed into "One Hell of a Time" for his second phase and "One Hell of a Dream" for the DLC's Dream Devil fight.
  • While it's not a musical phrase, most of the game's songs are connected by their use of the minor twelve-bar blues chord progression.
  • The Legendary Chalice, both as herself and Ms. Chalice, is associated heavily with xylophone.
  • Chef Saltbaker has his self-titled theme, which is remixed as "Baking the Wondertart" for his boss theme and "A Chef's Coda" for the epilogue, among other uses.
• Letting the Air out of the Band:
  • The music abruptly stops when you die, accompanied by a Record Needle Scratch, and all that remains is a slow, muffled version of the tune in the background.
  • "Dramatic Fanatic" ends with the music slowing in tempo and pitch until it reaches its conclusion.
  • "Admission to Perdition" ends with the music descending into chaos as all of the instruments lose time and sputter into nothing.
• Level Ate: "Sugarland Shimmy" takes place in a land of sweets. It features a fight against Baroness von Bon Bon, the ruler of a living candy castle, and her many confection/pastry-based minions.
• Limit Break: Filling your energy meter allows you to use a powerful attack. These include a Wave-Motion Gun of moonshine, an Invincibility Power-Up, and a muscular ghost which floats around as he whales on the boss.
• Lonely Piano Piece: "The End" is ironically not happy, but heartwrenching. The piano piece that is accompanied by a snare drum plays over the first part of the end credits of the bad ending, followed by complete silence.
• Long Song, Short Scene:
  • Most of the music tracks last far longer than the battles that accompany them. This is largely by design; as the songs are all live recordings that don't loop, the composer opted to have the music run longer than the gameplay rather than the other way around.
  • The most notable example is King Dice's theme. It's the only track in the game with actual singing in it, it goes on for nearly two minutes, and the game only uses it for the small room in which King Dice speaks to you briefly to either let you pass or remind you of missing contracts, which can easily be over in about 20 seconds.
  • The Elder Kettle's theme is another extreme example; it's one of the longest songs in the game at over five minutes, but only plays in the first room of the game, which you're unlikely to spend more than ten seconds in. It even has an unlockable piano variant alongside the other overworld themes, even though you have no reason to go back there by the time you unlock that option.
• Losing Your Head:
  • Cuphead and Mugman do a special animation that includes removing their heads when getting super attacks.
  • Baroness von Bon Bon removes and regrows her head several times, and in the game over screen, she's holding her severed head.
  • Cala Maria turns to stone and detaches her head in the last phase of her fight.
  • Beppi the Clown turns into a balloon and his head separates from his body in the second phase of his fight.
  • King Dice's head bounces a bit when he hops up.
  • The majority of the King of Games's subjects do this upon defeat. The Bishop even sends his head after you as his main attack.
• The Lost Woods: Forest Follies. Also where you battle Goopy Le Grande.

M

• Man-Eating Plant: Cagney Carnation creates these using seeds that he fires like a machine gun, in both ground and flying variations. Several much larger ones appear in Forest Follies, jumping up from bottomless pits to try to chomp on Cuphead.
• Mana Meter: Landing shots and parrying pink attacks allow you to stack up energy cards. ^note The Coffee charm also gradually grants you energy cards over time. You can then either use one card for your bullets' extra ability, or save up five for your Limit Break.
• Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: It's never quite explained if the Devil has some actual magical power to force others into slavery through deals and contracts (given how many debtors were able to run away with little to no consequences, and the fact that the boys can in the end refuse to honor their part of the deal, it seems he does not), or, as it is possibly hinted by the bad ending, it all boils to the Devil sending his goons to beat his debtors into submission (which the boys proved to be more than able to do, hence why the Devil offered for them to join him).
• Medium Blending:
  • An interesting example comes from the fights against Djimmi the Great and Grim Matchstick, where there's constantly rotating models of Egyptian ruins and a medieval tower, respectively, in the background. Though it may seem out of place at first, it's actually a reference to Fleischer Studios' Tabletop process, where cels would be placed in front of a scale model to create elaborate 3D backgrounds. The DLC uses similar stop motion backgrounds for the Ms. Chalice tutorial, the King of Games' Castle, and the backdrop of the Dream Devil fight.
  • As an homage to similar scenes in movies like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the opening and closing storybook cutscenes use a book prop that was created and filmed in real life.
  • Another example occurs for the Switch version's trailer, a black-and-white ad by the Ministry of Drinks and Health Regulation that has Cuphead and Mugman come out of a bowl after the host pours milk in it.
• Mêlée à Trois: "Bootlegger Boogie" is a 3 way battle between the cups, the police, and Moonshine Mob.
• Memory Match Mini-Game: The puzzle miniboss Mr. Chimes starts off invulnerable, and there's a grid of cards in the background. You use your parry move to flip cards. If you flip two cards that don't match, then Mr. Chimes speeds up, but if you flip matching cards then he becomes vulnerable to your attacks. He switches back to invulnerability after you damage him enough, and the fight is designed so you have to match all the cards to do enough damage to beat him.
• Mentor Archetype: Cuphead and Mugman have a mentor in the form of a teapot named Elder Kettle. His relation to the two other than their caretaker is left unclear, but he gives them a magical potion that equips them with the skills they need to take on the Devil's other debtors.
• Mind Screw: the DLC's secret boss, which eerily, nebulously implies that there's Hidden Depths to the one boss you'd never expect to have them: the very Devil himself.
• Monstrous Scenery: The Tipsy Troop are fought on the table of humongous casino restaurant, where many giant demons and ghosts appear on background as "customers", befitting the nature of The Casino located in Hell.
• Multiple Endings: There is a good and bad ending based on whether or not the brothers agree to hand over the soul contracts to the Devil.
  • Good Ending: Cuphead and Mugman beat the Devil and burn all the soul contracts, freeing all the bosses from their debts, and are praised as heroes.
  • Bad Ending: Cuphead and Mugman hand over the contracts and become the Devil's servants.
• Mythology Gag: Beating every boss as Ms. Chalice will earn you a secret skin based on her appearance from the Cuphead novels (e.g., on the cover of Cuphead in Carnival Chaos) — her light yellow accents are changed to white, and her blue skirt is changed to gold.

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