If you’re unfamiliar with the retro run-and-gun video game Cuphead, the trailer below might seem like some fresh Netflix revival of a cartoon from the 30s and 40s: maybe some mate of Popeye or Felix the Cat who just happens to have a mug instead of a head.
But no! It’s a series inspired by an infuriatingly difficult video game, which was itself inspired by those lanky ‘rubber hose’ cartoons of yesteryear. The Cuphead Show! arrives on Netflix this February 18, bringing 10 episodes of old-school animated hijinks.
The series’ first trailer seems to loosely follow the structure of the original game, with gregarious Cuphead (voiced by Tru Valentino) and his anxious cousin Mugman (Frank T Todaro) on the run from all kinds of themed ‘bosses’ led by the Devil himself.
There’s some soul-stealing, dice-rolling, and many old-timey New Yawk accents to be heard below.
Whose Line Is It Anyway star Wayne Brady voices evil’s right-hand-man King Dice, and Mr Krabs himself Clancy Brown plays a character named Porkrind.
But to fans of the game, the most important names involved will be Chad and Jared Moldenhauer: the brothers who painstakingly created the whole world and the gangly characters within it. Stay tuned/tooned for our upcoming review of The Cuphead Show!, to see whether it’s as hard to deal with as that pesky game is.
