Video game adaptations can take a number of interesting forms. Now thatCastlevaniaandThe Witcherhave blazed a trail for both animation and live-action, anything is possible. That’s one of the reasonsThe Cuphead Showexists on Netflix, as an adaptation of the popular and critically acclaimedCuphead: Don’t Deal with the Devilrun-and-gun video game.
The show has received mixed reviews so far, with fans of the game taking a critical note of the missing original soundtrack and the generic animation, as opposed to the original jazz score and a hand-painted drawing style that made the game such a hit. Despite the naysayers, and some of the changes that are inevitable with a serial adaptation of a video game, there’s still a lot to love about the cartoon.
7The Vintage Style
Plenty of critics will point out that the more generic animation from Lighthouse Studios isn’t as good as the hand-drawn animation in the game, and they’re right. However, that doesn’t mean the style doesn’t have a lot of charm. It’s colorful, mostly cheerful, even if it is an ironic kind of humor, and overall it’s fun to watch.
The peripheral details might be matter of opinion, with some viewers concluding the frames are too busy,but viewers who like the stylewill appreciate the creativity that goes into every frame.
6The One-And-Done Episodes
There are some plot points in the show that are lifted right from the game, but that’s not enough to fill out a whole season. The result is that there are some stand-alone episodes included along with others that follow a linear storyline.
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Not everyone is keen on stand-alone episodes, but these stories lampoon and reference a lot of vintage cartoons for the older viewers. Younger fans will also like the slapstick humor, which is ubiquitous throughout the season and never seems to get old.
In the game, Mugman existsto give the game a co-op mode, so it’s nice to see him with his own character and one that clashes in an entertaining way with the main character, Cuphead. While Cuphead is often compulsive, Mugman is the more practical one.
In the game, Cuphead loses his soul when he loses a craps game at the Devil’s Casino. This is changed on the show to Cuphead losing his soul at a skee-ball game at a carnival, which the Devil has set up to secretly take away the souls of oblivious guests. It’s Mugman that saves him by retrieving his soul, and later, it’s his idea to get the mage Quadratus to make Cuphead an invisible Devil-resistant sweater.
Some aspects of the game were sanitized to make it more palatable for younger audiences, the many gambling references being the most obvious example. The casino no longer exists, but the villain who runs it, the Devil, is still there.
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King Dice is another antagonist from the game that makes an appearance in the series, but he’s gone through some changes and isn’t as intimidating. The Devil, though, is just as evil as ever — even more so, since he sets up a fairground to trick people out of their souls instead of building a casino where they are at least aware of their fate.
3The Literal Puns
Love them or hate them, the game is filled with these kinds of jokes, and it’s not just because the main characters are literally their names. Alongside the music and the animation style, this is a callback to the vintage cartoons and vaudeville humor that inspired the original game.
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The examples are pretty funny when the viewer first sees them, and once they start to notice, it never stops. Baby Bottle from the second episode, for example, actually is a Baby Bottle. Any guesses as to what happens in the episode when they visit Mount Eruptus?
2The Old-Timey Humor
There’s some of this in the games, but it’s ramped up a lot in the series, and that’s part of the fun. It’s mostly the filler or stand-alone episodesthat have these kinds of references, which makes sense because that’s where the extra space is.
“Ghosts Ain’t Real” is the sixth episode, and older viewers will remember the classic Skeleton Dance cartoon that was part of the Merry Melodies library when the heroes are taking a shortcut through a graveyard. The following episode, “Root Packed,” recalls a variety of old-time mob movies with a gang of surly gangsters with Brooklyn accents.
1One Kind Of Successful Video Game Adaptation
It’s not serialized, and it’s harder to pin down when it comes to the target audience, so the creators ofThe Cuphead Showhad some unique challenges to face when adapting the video game into a cartoon. The game had a solid storyline, and the producers of the Netflix show have relied on it to some extent, but there’s still a whole season of adventures to get through along the way.
The character dynamic works, and the show is fun to watch. The question is, how good is it as a show inspired by a video game. Its success is a matter of opinion, and ultimate judgment should be reserved until after the next season. So far, though, it’s certainly not the worst adaptation ever.
