Cuphead: Don't Deal With The Devil

Well that blows. I don't even know how to diagnose this.

I believe there is a known issue about alt tabbing causing major bugs. Should be a patch upcoming.

Looks like I had to (re)-install the Xbox Identity Provider through the Windows 10 Store. That solved my issue, as well as my inability to log in and play Forza Horizon 3. Also, this game is nuts and I love it!

Having played this a fair bit I do not understand* why this isn't available on 3DS. That would be the perfect platform for it.

*yes I understand it is one of them there xbox/win exclusive thingies.

I don't think it would work well at that low resolution. It'd even suffer on Vita. The Switch, on the other hand, would be a perfect place for it. That said, I probably shouldn't play Cuphead on the go if that were ever an option. I wouldn't be able to keep myself from swearing profusely.

DanB wrote:

Cleared out the first world in a couple of hours, with an A+ on maybe half of them.

According to my Steam play time it took me 2 hours to clear the 1st world. So I went back and picked up a couple more A+s. The, figuring 'I got this' I moved on to world two. I have just spent the entire evening having my ass handed to me by the opening 3 levels of world 2. Holy crap.

Ooo - first tough choice. Deciding between spread and smoke bomb for my first purchase. I think I'll go Spread.

robc wrote:

Ooo - first tough choice. Deciding between spread and smoke bomb for my first purchase. I think I'll go Spread.

I went spread, and have barely used it. Too short range to be useful on most of the bosses, though it's good for run'n'gun stages.

I picked homing next, and that's a god-send for bosses. Keeps hitting them when I'm dodging like crazy.

Jonman wrote:
robc wrote:

Ooo - first tough choice. Deciding between spread and smoke bomb for my first purchase. I think I'll go Spread.

I went spread, and have barely used it. Too short range to be useful on most of the bosses, though it's good for run'n'gun stages.

Interesting

I went spread and I use it almost exclusively. The extra damage more than makes up for having to learn the slightly tighter positioning plus you charge the specials faster. And if you're mainly in the centre of the screen the spread has good coverage of where mobs will be.

DanB wrote:
Jonman wrote:
robc wrote:

Ooo - first tough choice. Deciding between spread and smoke bomb for my first purchase. I think I'll go Spread.

I went spread, and have barely used it. Too short range to be useful on most of the bosses, though it's good for run'n'gun stages.

Interesting

I went spread and I use it almost exclusively. The extra damage more than makes up for having to learn the slightly tighter positioning plus you charge the specials faster. And if you're mainly in the centre of the screen the spread has good coverage of where mobs will be.

I hear ya.

My counter-argument is that the constant tick-tick-tick of the homing ammo continuing to hit even when I'm more focussed on staying alive than maintaining DPS keeps the specials charging.

I made use of spread against the Carrot in Botanic Panic and the Forrest Follies run and gun mission. I have been using it against Ribby and Croaks too, but I haven't quite finished that level.

This game is tough, but not frustrating so far. Botanic Panic was fairly easy, but I needed to retry Forrest Follies (Run and Gun) many times - probably around 15-20. I never stopped enjoying trying though. There were just a couple places that really gave me trouble and were the cause of many of my deaths. Made it almost to the end of phase 2 with Ribby and Croaks, but I’m getting hungry.

My grades haven’t been very good though at B- for both.

Wow, it took me many tried to get past that last stage of Ribby and Croaks. Then I made it and wondered why the heck it took me so many tries.

robc wrote:

Wow, it took me many tried to get past that last stage of Ribby and Croaks. Then I made it and wondered why the heck it took me so many tries.

trying to A+ it is driving me a bit mad. I can fairly consistently A it but I nearly always take a hit in the last segment. The bouncing balls, they hate me.

DanB wrote:
robc wrote:

Wow, it took me many tried to get past that last stage of Ribby and Croaks. Then I made it and wondered why the heck it took me so many tries.

trying to A+ it is driving me a bit mad. I can fairly consistently A it but I nearly always take a hit in the last segment. The bouncing balls, they hate me.

The bouncing balls are definitely the worst! A's and A+'s! Now I feel bad about accepting my two B-'s and C+...just kidding

Finally beat that f*cking dragon, Grim Matchstick.
Thank goodness I'm apparently not of the neurological proclivity toward bitter victories, at least with this game. They are always sweet, and they are rewarding.

Getting as many parries and super moves was fairly critical.
It's amazing to feel how one learns the patterns. I kept jumping on clouds I wasn't sure would be there.
The entire fight is sort of a trap. You don't react, except for the parryable moves at the start, you have to be proactive in positioning. You have to let oh so many things come at you until it's the right time to move.
You don't dodge, because by then it's too late.

Spoiler:

trap: Like the jumping flames in the second phase? Yeah, don't dodge those, let them jump to their hearts' content and they will go over you unless they start their jump from right beneath you.

I am kind of shocked. I've liked this game so much it drew me back to even do the pacifist achievement. Now working on S ranks.

Mark Brown (Game Maker's Toolkit) did a video on why the bosses in this game are just so damn fun to play.

I really love, how on that first world boss

Spoiler:

the frogs are in a restaurant/club that's attended by flies.
That is right on with those old toons.

I seem to keep messing up my parries, which is upsetting when there are coins out of reach. Sometimes I do it just fine, but sometimes I take damage instead. So I would guess it is a matter of fixing my timing. I really want more coins.

Songbird wrote:

I seem to keep messing up my parries, which is upsetting when there are coins out of reach. Sometimes I do it just fine, but sometimes I take damage instead. So I would guess it is a matter of fixing my timing. I really want more coins.

The timing is just a shade later than it initially seems. I do wish the timing was just a little more forgiving

DanB wrote:
Songbird wrote:

I seem to keep messing up my parries, which is upsetting when there are coins out of reach. Sometimes I do it just fine, but sometimes I take damage instead. So I would guess it is a matter of fixing my timing. I really want more coins.

The timing is just a shade later than it initially seems. I do wish the timing was just a little more forgiving

That's weird, I always felt as though I needed to be pressing it earlier.

kergguz wrote:
DanB wrote:
Songbird wrote:

I seem to keep messing up my parries, which is upsetting when there are coins out of reach. Sometimes I do it just fine, but sometimes I take damage instead. So I would guess it is a matter of fixing my timing. I really want more coins.

The timing is just a shade later than it initially seems. I do wish the timing was just a little more forgiving

That's weird, I always felt as though I needed to be pressing it earlier.

sorry I was thinking in terms of the parry animation. The parry happens latter in the animation than you think it might requiring you press the button earlier.

The parry frames seem to start only from the middle of the animation rather than including all frames from the start of the animation I assume

DanB wrote:
kergguz wrote:
DanB wrote:
Songbird wrote:

I seem to keep messing up my parries, which is upsetting when there are coins out of reach. Sometimes I do it just fine, but sometimes I take damage instead. So I would guess it is a matter of fixing my timing. I really want more coins.

The timing is just a shade later than it initially seems. I do wish the timing was just a little more forgiving

That's weird, I always felt as though I needed to be pressing it earlier.

sorry I was thinking in terms of the parry animation. The parry happens latter in the animation than you think it might requiring you press the button earlier.

The parry frames seem to start only from the middle of the animation rather than including all frames from the start of the animation I assume

That makes sense. And you know (I'm sure you do) that you can just mash the jump button to make sure you hit the parry? Though this does come with it's own problems, not least of all you aren't really perfecting the skill.

As DanB the timing is a little earlier than expected because it seems to have a wind up. It is 100% something you should work on (not just mashing) early on because later bosses/run and guns it becomes more crucial for completion not just getting all coins.

Still not good at the parries, but will keep trying. I've made to the second world and so far I think I like the boss stages more than the run and gun stages as they call it. Music is pretty fun; such a shame I end up blocking it out most of the time.

Music is great. Really though I am just a huge fan of the game overall visuals/sound/game play.

There are a lot more boss stages then run and guns. I believe there are only 6 total run and guns if i remember correctly. Mainly they are good just to get upgrades.

Isle III obtained~

Spoiler:

Grim was evil for me the same as everyone else. I think I just lucked into beating the last stage of him. I was trying to use charge so I could stop hitting myself in the face with his bubble attack. I was only moderately successful at it. Now I'm trying to beat Rumor Honeybottom. Was using lobshot, but I think I actually like the charge attack. It makes parrying a real pain, though. I'm trying to hold X while double tapping A. I keep expecting a consistent pattern of platforms too, which just doesn't happen

I don't think I'll ever be one of you A+ rank folks, but having fun just plodding along. Hopefully I can beat the game.

I really like the charge shot, but I don't see how I'm supposed to dodge while charging. Usually I'm dodging while jumping, so that means holding X while hitting two other keys that are vertical to one another.

I think somehow in the midst of Grim I got a better sense for the parry timing, which was really nice for Rumor.

Spoiler:

I think the cheapest death I had on Rumor was when I double parried and somehow ended up on a ledge way off the screen. I kept trying to jump down and, when I finally did, I landed on top of Rumor

Songbird wrote:

I really like the charge shot, but I don't see how I'm supposed to dodge while charging. Usually I'm dodging while jumping, so that means holding X while hitting two other keys that are vertical to one another.

remap the controls. The defaults are bad

I finally beat my first 2nd island boss - Baroness Bon Bon. I hadn't played the game in probably a month because I was stuck. I probably tried around a dozen times today to finally make it. I tried the unlocked Run and Gun and failed miserably so I figured beating one Cuphead level in a today was probably OK.