You may have seen some whispers online already, but Cuphead is a hard game. Unforgiving and relentless, it asks you to learn each level and master every encounter before you can continue on. Cuphead’s story might begin in a casino, but winning here is no fluke. With that in mind, we’re here to talk you through some tips and tricks so you can go into battle with an optimistic attitude - yes, the cup is half full.

You will die

Cuphead will kill you. That much is certain. The trick is to treat every death here as a less, not a failure. You will die for a reason every time, but you will learn from every failure and get better with each attempt. Keep at it.

Learn to parry

Parrying is a useful defensive maneuver in Cuphead, but successful parries also build up your special power meter. Any attack that glows with a neon pink can be parried. All you need to do is jump into the pink, press jump again, and you have performed a successful parry if you time the second jump correctly.

Think ahead

There are points in a boss’s attack patterns where you can find a safe spot to wait it out. Rather than jumping around and trying to shoot at the same time, consider where you need to be next, get there, and unleash a volley.

Change the controls

Most games have the perfect control scheme for you to play well, designed specifically with that in mind by the developers. Many find Cuphead much easier if they switch things up, so the shoot button is mapped to your controller’s trigger instead of a face button, allowing you to more easily jump and shoot at the same time.

Do Run and Gun levels

These are optional levels, but doing them gives you the chance to earn more coins. More coins means better guns and skills. Just do it, yeah?