Previously a console exclusive for Xbox One, Studio MDHR’s Cuphead is now available on Switch and speaking as a big fan of the game, I highly recommend it! In fact, the port to Nintendo’s hybrid is nigh-on flawless – indistinguishable from Xbox on a living room display and with the added bonus of portable play that holds up beautifully for gaming on the go. Put simply, it’s a lovingly crafted, zero compromise port that exceeds expectations.
And it’s worth remembering what makes Cuphead so special in the first place. It combines classic retro-style shooting gameplay with an absolutely unique 30s cartoon aesthetic. Traditionally drawn and animated characters mix it up with water-coloured painted backdrops that scroll independently for a cool parallax look. Studio MDHR adds an extra layer of authenticity to the visuals by using a distinct range of post-processing effects that help to sell the impression of the action taking place on aged film stock, displayed through the lens of an old projector. Taken as a whole, Cuphead is the closest we’ve seen to an interactive cartoon in this generation.
Back in the day, the developers started out by using the now-obsolete XNA framework, before taking the decision to move onto Unity as the engine of choice. It’s a technology that’s delivered uneven results – even in predominantly 2D-based games – but polish and performance on the original Xbox One and PC versions was second to none. We even managed to play the game smoothly on an old Dell XPS 13 with integrated graphics. With that in mind, it should come as no surprise that the Switch conversion is just as good.
The 2D art certainly helps in the sense that Cuphead is essentially ‘resolution proof’. Scale up the Switch’s mobile 720p output to match docked mode’s full HD presentation in a side-by-side comparison and the results are indistinguishable from one another, and in turn, identical to the PC version running at 1440p or Xbox One X outputting in its 4K display mode. The way the artwork was crafted means that there are no harsh pixel edges to give away a ‘native resolution’ as such.
Interestingly, the Switch download weighs in at just 3.3GB – around a quarter of the size of the Xbox version. However, the graphics are identical to the Xbox game and animate in exactly the same way, while audio quality is a complete match. Cuphead is receiving a physical release, so reducing the file size footprint means that Studio MDHR can ship the game on a smaller, cheaper cartridge. Perhaps this explains the game’s radical shrinkage in the move to Switch, but thankfully this does not seem to come with any kind of noticeable compromise.