Piston Hyundai
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UPDATE: A debug menu has been found since this post, featuring much more cut content.
So now that I've cleared Cuphead out, I've been going back and looking at pre-release footage of it, and the differences are pretty significant in spots.
Here's a screen from when the game was first revealed at E3 2014:
Right away, there's some pretty big details. First off (and spoilers, I guess), this fight is nowhere to be seen in the final game. It was ultimately cut for whatever reason (perhaps for quality reasons, its similarity to the Devil character, or maybe because the design is a little, uh, questionable).
That's not all, though. The HUD is almost entirely different and hints at some stuff that was cut from the game. Most prominently, there's a Treasure-style boss health indicator at the top of the screen, and the weapon equipped is something called the "M. Fang," which doesn't sound like anything seen in the full game (my guess is the weapon was called the Mad Fang as a subtle nod to Contra Hard Corps). You also started off with 5 HP instead of having to use a charm to do so.
These shots show that not only were there two different early backgrounds for the Goopy Le Grand fight before the final, but each fight began with a "FIGHT OR FLIGHT" prompt, more readily showing its fighting game influences. What's more, the HUD shows weapons called the "Exploder," the "Wide-Shot," and something called the "Star Gun," which doesn't have a name befitting anything seen in the final release.
The third screen, from the same build as the first, shows that the Super move was much more flashy, sporting a unique background effect and a more colorful beam, similar to Cuphead's straw. It's much closer to a fighting game super move in its presentation than that seen in the final game.
The first and third screenshots also feature a CRT scanline filter that was cut from the final game:
This screen is the earliest version of the world map I can find. The background art is much rougher than what's seen in the final game, and Cuphead's sprite is almost chibi in design. The CRT scanline filter's still present, and the actual bosses appeared on the map instead of the location in which you fought them. This is the first of many different takes on the world map and the one most similar to Super Mario World, a game cited as an influence.
You can see footage from this build of Cuphead, which shows an early tutorial as well as an unused phase in the Goopy Le Grand fight where he seemingly splits in two, here. Note that it calls the game a "Run 'n' Gun & Fighting Game Hybrid."
The same site I pulled the early build shots from also had this, which could be from either an actual screen from the game or just mock-up art. That being said, it shows a spider not seen in the game proper.
The Gamescom 2015 build shows the game progressing from these builds, with a less crude (but still early) world map and a different HUD that resembles a face, which even changes from a smile to a frown as you take damage. Most notable, however, is the coop gameplay. Player deaths still form a ghost during standard fights, but there's no heart to parry (and no ghost at all in plane stages), meaning that there was no revival system at this point in development, making the game considerably more difficult.
The most interesting stuff, though, comes from as late as July of last year. Eurogamer's 11 minute footage from last year's E3 shows off plenty of differences big and small, with implications that there was going to be more of a focus on platforming stages.
There are three different platforming stages in Inkwell Isle 1: Woodland Walk, Tricky Thicket, and Backwoods Crusade. Out of these three, only Backwoods Crusade would make it to the final game, resembling a harder version of Forest Follies' second half. The other two were cut (presumably because they didn't offer a lot of variety) and replaced with Treetop Trouble, lowering the level count to two. Interestingly, the final game has 10 coins (as many as you'd find in two run and gun levels) that you get from various NPCs, the tutorial, and hidden on the world map.
More levels means more coins, and more coins means more stuff to buy at the store. The E3 2016 build not only confirms that there were two weapons cut from the game, but also two different unused charms.
There's plenty of other, smaller differences, but I'll save that for the inevitable TCRF article. A member of the Cuphead team posts on GAF, so maybe they could shed some light on the development of the game and the reasoning behind some of the changes made.
So now that I've cleared Cuphead out, I've been going back and looking at pre-release footage of it, and the differences are pretty significant in spots.
Here's a screen from when the game was first revealed at E3 2014:
Right away, there's some pretty big details. First off (and spoilers, I guess), this fight is nowhere to be seen in the final game. It was ultimately cut for whatever reason (perhaps for quality reasons, its similarity to the Devil character, or maybe because the design is a little, uh, questionable).
That's not all, though. The HUD is almost entirely different and hints at some stuff that was cut from the game. Most prominently, there's a Treasure-style boss health indicator at the top of the screen, and the weapon equipped is something called the "M. Fang," which doesn't sound like anything seen in the full game (my guess is the weapon was called the Mad Fang as a subtle nod to Contra Hard Corps). You also started off with 5 HP instead of having to use a charm to do so.
These shots show that not only were there two different early backgrounds for the Goopy Le Grand fight before the final, but each fight began with a "FIGHT OR FLIGHT" prompt, more readily showing its fighting game influences. What's more, the HUD shows weapons called the "Exploder," the "Wide-Shot," and something called the "Star Gun," which doesn't have a name befitting anything seen in the final release.
The third screen, from the same build as the first, shows that the Super move was much more flashy, sporting a unique background effect and a more colorful beam, similar to Cuphead's straw. It's much closer to a fighting game super move in its presentation than that seen in the final game.
The first and third screenshots also feature a CRT scanline filter that was cut from the final game:
SlashGear.com Interview said:
This screen is the earliest version of the world map I can find. The background art is much rougher than what's seen in the final game, and Cuphead's sprite is almost chibi in design. The CRT scanline filter's still present, and the actual bosses appeared on the map instead of the location in which you fought them. This is the first of many different takes on the world map and the one most similar to Super Mario World, a game cited as an influence.
You can see footage from this build of Cuphead, which shows an early tutorial as well as an unused phase in the Goopy Le Grand fight where he seemingly splits in two, here. Note that it calls the game a "Run 'n' Gun & Fighting Game Hybrid."
The same site I pulled the early build shots from also had this, which could be from either an actual screen from the game or just mock-up art. That being said, it shows a spider not seen in the game proper.
The Gamescom 2015 build shows the game progressing from these builds, with a less crude (but still early) world map and a different HUD that resembles a face, which even changes from a smile to a frown as you take damage. Most notable, however, is the coop gameplay. Player deaths still form a ghost during standard fights, but there's no heart to parry (and no ghost at all in plane stages), meaning that there was no revival system at this point in development, making the game considerably more difficult.
The most interesting stuff, though, comes from as late as July of last year. Eurogamer's 11 minute footage from last year's E3 shows off plenty of differences big and small, with implications that there was going to be more of a focus on platforming stages.
There are three different platforming stages in Inkwell Isle 1: Woodland Walk, Tricky Thicket, and Backwoods Crusade. Out of these three, only Backwoods Crusade would make it to the final game, resembling a harder version of Forest Follies' second half. The other two were cut (presumably because they didn't offer a lot of variety) and replaced with Treetop Trouble, lowering the level count to two. Interestingly, the final game has 10 coins (as many as you'd find in two run and gun levels) that you get from various NPCs, the tutorial, and hidden on the world map.
More levels means more coins, and more coins means more stuff to buy at the store. The E3 2016 build not only confirms that there were two weapons cut from the game, but also two different unused charms.
There's plenty of other, smaller differences, but I'll save that for the inevitable TCRF article. A member of the Cuphead team posts on GAF, so maybe they could shed some light on the development of the game and the reasoning behind some of the changes made.
