Fans of Cuphead may have noticed that there are no health bars in the game. Some people may have trouble figuring out how close they are to losing a boss battle.
In a recent issue of EDGE, co-director Chad Moldenhauer talked about why Studio MDHR chose this method.
It sounds like the creator of Cuphead thought about adding health bars when making early mockups, but adding them would make the game feel less like a real cartoon from the 1930s. Also, there was some worry that the focus would be on DPS and that key visual clues might be missed.
Moldenhauer explained
“None of our early mockups that used them felt right in the context of what we were trying to do, which was to make Cuphead feel like a real playable cartoon from the 1930s. And from a design point of view, we thought that adding health bars might teach players the wrong thing by making them work hard to get the best DPS or cause them to miss important visual cues for attacks or projectiles as they looked at the boss’s health bar.
About Cuphead
The Magical Wondergame with only cartoons!
Cuphead is a classic run-and-shoot game with a lot of boss fights. Inspired by cartoons from the 1930s, the visuals and sounds are made with the same methods of the time: traditional hand-drawn cel animation, watercolour backgrounds, and original jazz recordings.
Play as Cuphead or Mugman by yourself or with a friend in the same room. Explore strange worlds and get new weapons.
The Delicious Last Course, which is extra content for Cuphead, is available on Nintendo Switch.
