A funny thing during the Moonshine Mob fight: The pesticide that the ant cops shoot can actually hurt the Spider in the first phase, though it’s not significant damage. I just thought that was pretty cool. Also, according to the translator’s notes, the Spider and the Light Bug flapper are apparently a *married couple.*
Funny story, during my first fight with Esther I died just when her vacuum phase ended but before the animation of her sausage transformation began. So I suddenly saw the sausage death quote with no context as to how she got to that point. "A hot dog?! Did a talking hot dog just hijack the fight?! How did this happen?!"
23:57-I see what ya mean, @@BenjaMage! It sounds EPICALLY AWESOME! Combining jazz-band with the kind of music you hear in a RPG final boss... They made it work FLAWLESSLY, bro!
The Howling Aces have a secret final phase. Damage all the Yankee Yippers(the four puppies) without killing any as marked by the smoke of their jet packs turning grey, and they all load into the commander’s airship for a relatively simpler phase 3. The airship still grabs the camera but they never flip it. Instead the commander and pups pop out of the hatches on the paws throwing grenades at you while the commander orders homing missiles in.
Fun fact: the struggle I had getting to that secret phase is part of why I have a slight grudge against the Howling Aces. The other part is the normal final phase being even crazier than the first phase of Dr Kahl's Robot. That Saluki in particular is on thin pecking ice.
I like how different this secret phase is from the main game ones. In the others you take a sort of shortcut, making the following phase harder. Here you make the 2nd phase harder, but it results in an easier final phase.
Another detail about the Howling Aces is that they have three distinct knock out animations, the first two are in the regular third phase where it depends on whether the main pilot is exposed or not, if she's not then the mech play would cry in pain, if she is exposed then she'd start to panic, and in the secret third phase, she mourns over the defeat with her pups.
People kept saying that the secret phase was "so much easier" then the normal phase 3 and when I did and beat it I just thought to myself "WHAT THE HELL IS EVERYONE TALKING ABOUT!?!" I had so much more trouble with that version over the normal phase 3, seriously screw those pineapples not to mention the fact of how annoying it is just to get to it I can't be bothered with it in the slightest especially because of the very specific set I had to use just to be able to even fight it (in my case Charger and Crack Shot) which as you might guess wasn't fun to use against them.
@@Bowser6495 It is Cuphead, being easier still means hard as hell. For me personally the extra effort in the 2nd phase was worth not having the screen flipped.
I legitimately had no idea the secret phase of Sally Stageplay existed. I knew about the Root Pack and Djimmi ones, but this is my first time hearing this. Mind = Blown
There are more scrapped things that were reuse for Moonshine Mob. For example, Cagney was originally going to have a blue version of his flying flower that would’ve shot its ammo at the boss. Here, the ant cops shoot at the spider and can damage him if the pesticide hits. It’s also theorized the platforms or setting is slightly based on Pachi Pachi(though probably a stretch) and that Light Bug attacking with music might be based off how Grim’s second phase was supposed to be a music theme with him shooting music notes at you. Along with Demon and Angel(based off the scrapped Devil phase), this boss fight was basically an excuse to use all their scrapped ideas. Afterall, it is called Bootlegger Boogie
Slight correction: The second phase was a recycling of a different boss known as "The Light", whose just a green dude who's standing in the middle shooting lazers that spin around the phase. If we include the scrapped Beta boss octopus being reused in the chest court, they went all out on recycling assets in the DLC (primary in the Moonshine mob). Its basically what happens when they run out of ideas and decided to throw a bunch of old ideas together to see what happens
@@ladylunaginaofgames40 yeah, I forgot to mention that part. I do know of the Light though, it’s just there also we’re theories of the time of possibly referencing the Grim thing as well which caused me to forget to also include the talk on the Light
I feel like the music in Moonshine Mob is heavily underrated. It starts with a fast paces pattern, and instantly goes into a saxophone solo. Then, goes to a scatting solo, with blasting brass, and insane speed, perfectly representing the fight. The fast paced patter representing the feud at the start, the saxophone representing the spider, the scatting solo representing the dancing light bug in the middle, and the low brass solo at the end representing the anteater, and the small band at the end referencing the snail at the end.
Also, I love how during "The King's Leap" the death card phrases are all subtle references to how each respective chess piece moves on a chess board in real life. Not to mention the fact that they RE-recruited the singer for King Dice's theme to also star in "Bootleger Boogie" from "The Moonshine Mob!"
I know one of Cuphead's highlights is the incredible animation of the characters and bosses. But MAN, Salt Baker's fight takes it to a whole other level. They really did save the best for last with this game, didn't they?
You mentioned the plethora of street fighter references, but salt baker has one as well. During the last phase if you die, his quote will be "The mark of my salinity shall scar thy fired glaze!" which is a reference to SF 3rd strike Gill's quote "The mark of my divinity shall scar thy DNA". Hell, the devil quotes M Bison word for word. Anyway, cool reference beside, I loved the saltbaker fight. And I would Agree that he's my favorite boss in cuhead. All the cool animations of him ruthlessly murdering the ingredients, the fact that this is as close to non-plane bullet hell as we got, and "Baking the Wondertart" does one of my favorite things one can do with music, combining different styles of music to make a masterpiece. If you want another example, look at metal, strings & choir. (ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-EtQkH5d1cF0.html A great example) Overall Saltbaker stood out from the DLC and he joins Magalor in the "Well did betrayals with a amazing boss fight" department.
There's also a small detail in the Moonshine mob boss fight where if you play on simple, most of the characters you'd fight in the normal or expert modes are gone and after every call out on normal mode from the snail when you start the fight, he always screams because one of the little flies takes him away but in the simple mode he doesn't do that because he's not there
I'm so glad that the DLC's final boss is number 1. They deserve all of the praise. And I LOVE the Moonshine Mob as much as you--it was my first boss in the DLC.
I have the exact same opinion on the moonshine mob. Except for that it's tied with the howling aces for my #1 bossfight in cuphead. I love how you're caught between a fight with the mob and cops too. Also a neat detail I noticed is that when you get the real knockout, the normal announcer clears his throat before saying knockout. This is easier to hear with music off.
So, if you're lookin' for fun (Cuphead and Mugman: "Yes, we're lookin' for fun!") And a dash of heebie-jeebies (Cuphead and Mugman: "We've got the heebie-jeebies!") Then pack your bags and let's go! Welcome to The Cuphead Show! Welcome to The Cuphead Shooooow!!
I just realised how genius mdhr is They can take as much time as they want to make cuphead because of the timeless art style that is intended to look old. Nothing even looks outdated
While I do love Cuphead quite a bit, it's difficulty makes it a game that I don't return to often. Regardless, it's a great game with a lot of passion.
From my personal experience defeating a boss for the first time is extremely hard, but once you try again it will take you a couple of tries to beat them.
@@frigidwolf yeah. I first played the game in 2020 and even after watching content on the game for years and knowing what all the bosses do it was pretty hard. I recently played it again and every boss only took a couple of tries. Even ones that I was terrified of because of my first time playing (Dr Kahl and King Dice) but even they were not too difficult
i KNEW the chef boss fight would be #1. just how could it NOT such a **FANTASTIC** game, with a *FANTASTIC* expansion and a ******PERFECT******* finale god i love this game
Not sure if before your time or not but King Dice's stage is based off Black's Dice Fortress from Gunstar Heroes and Gunstar Super Heroes. It's the same concept where you throw a die, move the number of spaces and fight a unique boss based on what space you land on. Black's Dice Fortress even has a Back to Start space at the end like in Cuphead. Even more since the 8 Ball boss in Cuphead is a homage to Melon Bread, a boss from Black's Dice Fortress.
I love the Moonshine Mob boss fights too, mostly b/c their song is a bop, and I love their incorporation of scatting! Very appropriate for that era. And just seeing Saltbaker using the ingredients while they were sentient, I can only imagine how terrifying he was, seeing how he mercilessly killed used them as attacks. Also, I like to think the bulldog in Doggone Dogfight was also inspired by big muscle guy in Gunstar Heroes.
great list! I feel like Sally stageplay gets overlooked and is underrated. she is definetly one of my favorite bosses as well. No Beppi or Werman though?! those dudes were so fun!
In regards to that "Realization" moment that you mentioned during #6, that moment for me would have to be the end of chapter 10 during my first few playthroughs of Fire Emblem: Three Houses. Won't spoil it, though. It made me drop my jaw in awe and cry endlessly.
Cuphead is so full of challenge, creativity and visual splendor that it's a miracle of an indie game! Enough to get it a Netflix series as well, which while not as edgy and insane as the game, is still fun as well. The attention to detail with the hand drawn animation (which explains why the game AND its DLC took a while to come out) really shows how much of a labour of love from the old days of animation it truly is! Also, nice video!
I must agree with the moonshine mob after seeing the cut content being used, even though the pachinko boss fight wasn’t brought back I still enjoyed the the DLC
What got me in love with cuphead is how unrealistic some attacks can be and how maybe dark or gruesome it can get, example in the first phase of djimmi the great, he launches his skull at you, I love it and find it dark, it’s that same vibe with Esther
Imagine you died to the pyramid's in the 5th phase of the Djimmi the Great fight, and the Death quote just says: "Now if you excuse me, I have some cup's I need to make into corpse's!" (Gravity falls, season 2, episode 20 Bill Cipher reference)
The moment I suspected Saltbaker was the final boss of the DLC was when he sent us to fight and collect items from the other bosses. That's literally what The Devil did in the main game except this time it's ingredients instead soul contracts. Both of them even have cutscenes before their fights revealing that they tricked us(they're done in different ways, but my point still stands).
Not sure if you knew this, but the game takes a decent bit of inspiration from Gunstar Heroes in some ways (Heck, the homing shot is basically the Gunstar Chaser), and King Dice's Boss Rush kinda shows this! How so? Well, Gunstar Heroes ALSO has a stage (Black's Palace) involving a board game with multiple boss encounters depending on where you land via dice rolls... And one of the bosses in King Dice's Rush, the Eight Ball with a floating mouth and big eyes Mangosteen, actually references one of the Bosses in Black Palace called Melon Bread who is a floating smile with sharp teeth (Who also appears in Alien Soldier. On Megadrive. Also made by Treasure.)!
You know I was just thinking that it reminded me of Gunstar. Good to know that it wasn’t a coincidence. Also worth noting is that quite a few of the bosses in Black’s Palace have some sort of gimmick to them. That also seems to carry over.
My personal top 10 is : No. 10 Wally Warbles. Gosh this fight was a nuisance... Especially that Lil brat! No. 9 Glumstone the Giant. I love his personality so much.. No. 8 Werner Werman. Tom and Jerry was one of my favorite shows as a kid. Now seeing them in Multiversus reminded me of this fight. No. 7 The King's Leap (Bishop). I love the entire setting and the fight is unique, it was so cool and disturbing at once. No. 6 Esther Winchester. Basically my favorite plane level and for GOOD reasons. No. 5 The Moonshine Mob. I love how it's the scrapped bosses but better and I love the idea so much. No. 4 Grim Matchstick. most people think he's annoying but I love him, the field and his stuttering. No. 3 The Phantom Express. I love the idea and how it's done, just awesome. No. 2 Captain BrineyBeard. I mean- ...yeah I love it. No. 1 Doggone Dogfight. AAAAAAAAH ITS JUST SO AMAZING! I'm probably the only person to have the 2nd phase as one of the best in the game-
It's kinda funny that you pointed out that Hilda Berg and the Moonshine Mob where those moments in the base game and the DLC respectively that made you realize you're gonna love the game: both of those bosses were designed and animated by Joseph Coleman! He also designed and animated King Dice (the character) and Chef Saltbaker!
Absolutely awesome video! I love Cuphead with a passion, and it was great hearing about your favorite bosses and why you loved them so much. Also, you blew my mind when I realized that the cops were against the bootleggers (seems obvious in restrospect, but I didn’t notice), so I’d like to return the favor by sharing a couple more details that you may or may not have known about! One being that the clothes of the spider’s fly thugs may bear a resemblance to the Beagle Boys from DuckTales (but maybe that’s just me), and after defeating that imposter boss, the real announcer clears his throat before saying “Knockout!”
I'm honestly surprised Mortimer Freeze wasn't on this list or at the very least given an honorable mention, knowing he's considered one of the more difficult bosses in the Delicious Last Course and often seen as the male and land equivalent of Hilda Berg.
23:57-I see what ya mean, @BenjaMage! It sounds EPICALLY AWESOME! Combining jazz-band with the kind of music you hear in a RPG final boss... They made it work *FLAWLESSLY, bro!*
Man, one of my favorite things in the dlc, is just parrying all of the heads, and trying to stay up in the air as long as I could. Yes, I died way more than I should have, but it was one hell of a time!
I've never played Cuphead myself, but I can tell just from watching that it's a very well crafted game, ESPECIALLY with the Delicious Last Course. On another note, one of my favorite little details with the fake-out at the end of the Moonshine Mob battle is that when you finish the fight for real, you hear the usual announcer clear his throat before announcing the Knockout. It's a simple touch, but it honestly made me laugh when I first heard it. On another another note, I'm honestly surprised you never quite directly made note of just how BEAUTIFULLY animated Chef Saltbaker is in his battle. It does wonders for the presentation of the battle, and is one of my favorite parts of it alongside the PHENOMONAL boss theme that is "Baking the Wondertart".
15:23 there is one little detail you forgot about the dog fight…fight. It is the only one of the DLC with a secret phase. When you get to the stage with the puppies if you only attack until they’re spewing grey smoke and wait they get picked up by the bigger ship. And fight you that way. There’s no screen flipping, but the Mom and puppies are all poking their heads out of the laser gun holes to throw stuff at you.
I just replayed the DLC. Update: Boss Ranked 10)Werner Werman 9)Glumstone The Giant 8)The Devil 7)Cala Maria 6)Cagney Carnation 5)The Howling Aces 4)Phantom Express 3)Chef Saltbaker 2)Esther Winchester 1)Moonshine Mob
If I remember correctly, in your top 20 favourite bosses list, your exact words during the Cuphead segment were: Okay, when I said I wanted to keep this indie game train rolling, I wasn’t meaning literally.
Couple of things mage: 1st: Did you know the Howling Aces actually have a secret phase? Simply DO NOT take out any of the jetpack pups, just damage them until they all start fuming, the leader will then bring the pups in the ship and BOOM now you're fighting the pups chucking pineapple grenades instead of dodging lasers. Also Glumstone is a personal favorite mainly cause at the beginning of the 2nd phase he gets so mad he rips his whole beard off. Missed opportunity to make him scream bloody murder though.
I have to say that I’m GOING to get this game eventually once I get the chance, I know I’m probably going to struggle on some of the bosses, but I have to say that these bosses are so well animated and very well done! They put a lot of effort into this game, and have to say that they have a lot of creativity into this game! I’ll see how I can make the episodes on this game.
I just wanted to say for the moonshine mob that when the gramaphone attacks starts the music distorts also when the real announcer says his knockout he coughs a bit first implying he was held hostage by the mob(according to tv tropes)or pissed off by the snail stealing the spotlight ive also seen videos on yt fighting the moonshine mob and noticed the music quality gets better when the gramaphone appears,also like another comment said the pesticide projectile can hurt the spider and apparently the spider and lightbug are married,and yet another funi thing if you take notice of the ant eaters eyes youll know when he attacksnif both his eyes are open he will do nothing,if onr of his eyes are closed hell fake out, id both his eyes are closed a bit hell attack i learned this thanks to a comment from a dif video
Fun Fact: If you do decide to kill the groom (Like me) He doesn't show up for the final phase. The crew planned ahead in case of that one specific actor dying
How have I not heard of these secret phases; how many have them? Also the secret boss in the DLC I believe is actually a cut phase from the Devil. This DLC is just amazing with all the stuff they added.
Fun fact: in the moonshine mob the fly minions have 3 different animation one smoking cigarettes one looking like his ready to fight and one that looks like he had to many drinks of alcohol
Hey Benjamage, if you like the "baking the wondertart" theme so much you should search up "baking the wondertart with lyrics" by RecD. It's an amazing cover.
Hooray, another person who hares Dr.Kahl's Robot not to even acknowledge The Iron Giant reference and the sheer creative insanity of the first two phases (Yes, the heart phase is a distinct phase and I don't care what the phase markers say).
A detail I noticed with the heads is they look in pain when they are launched but when you parry them back they are smiling like they know they can get there revenge.
Mine was with Yakuza 0 when Kiryu storms Dojima headquarters in the first chapter. That level combined with the incredible music and the amazing boss fight with Kuze made for one hell of a way to end the first chapter of the game.
The Moonshine Mob, Chef Saltbaker, and the Chess horse are my top 3 favorite bosses (not in that order) Reasons why: TMM: Fake announcer, distorted music during the lightbug phase, cool characters, and fake knockout (which fools almost everyone and kills them) Horse- he doesn't fight unless you're close to him, making people think that he's taunting you. Also the defeated quote "a W for me *and an L for you"* Chef Salt- amazing character, murders recipes, phase 3 and 4 looks wonderful, and (now that you mentioned it) amazing music.
Wow, those are solid picks in your roster as glad King Dice is in it and the Chef boss is quite a big clash. :) (Maybe when FP2 comes, I should try my Top 10 fav Bosses from both Freedom Planet games) Curious, have you saw the Cuphead Show on Netflix? Since Season 2 is coming.
