F E AT U R E
TR ANSFORMING THE CUPHEAD VIDEO
GAME INTO A TV SERIES PROVED
BOTH CHALLENGING AND FUN AS THE
PRODUCTION TEAM TOOK A DEEP DIVE
INTO CHAR ACTER DEVELOPMENT, OLD -
TIME JA ZZ, AND VINTAGE ANIMATION.
By Alex andr a Drosu
When Cuphead came out in 2017, it
wasn't your typical run-and-gun video
game. The style was inspired by rubber
hose animation and surrealist storylines
from the Golden Age of Walt Disney and
Fleischer Studios cartoons. The effect
created by Chad and Jared Moldenhauer
looked so authentic to the time period
that when they initially showed footage
of the game, people asked where they
licensed the characters from. So it didn't
come as a complete surprise when
Netflix commissioned an animated TV
series based on the award-winning game
called The Cuphead Show!, which
premiered last month.
Impulsive Cuphead and cautious
Mugman are partners in comedy.
opposite: The iconic villain the Devil
proved to be one of the more
complex characters in the TV series.
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