Studio MDHR has announced two new Cuphead projects at once: a brand-new hand-animated Cuphead game and Mighty Cuphead Adventure, an 8-bit action platformer. The latter is not merely inspired by the classics of the 1980s, but is actually being built with era-appropriate technology and designed around the specifications of the Sega Master System.

Studio MDHR is expanding the world of Cuphead with not one, but two new games. The first is a brand-new hand-animated Cuphead video game that will take the studio’s beloved characters on a fresh and exciting adventure. That project is still in its earliest stages of development, so the team is not sharing many concrete details yet, but it has officially confirmed that development has begun.

Studio MDHR co-founder Chad Moldenhauer said craftsmanship remains at the center of the studio’s work. “Craftsmanship is at the heart of everything we do here at Studio MDHR,” Moldenhauer said. “When it came time to peel back the curtain and share a little bit about what we’ve been up to, we couldn’t imagine a more fun way to do so than with today’s Special Bulletin. Crafted with the wonderful teams at Toronto’s Stop Motion Department & Continue Agency, we hope the announcement will transport players to the era we’ll be taking them to in our next project, Mighty Cuphead Adventure.”

The Bigger Cuphead Game Is Only Just Getting Started

First, Studio MDHR confirmed that development has indeed begun on a completely new, hand-animated Cuphead game. After the original Cuphead and The Delicious Last Course, the studio is clearly sticking with the visual and technical craft that made the series instantly recognizable. Based on the announcement, this will not be a small side project, but an ambitious new adventure; however, because development is still early, details on characters, platforms, and a release window will be shared later.

Mighty Cuphead Adventure Is Actually Built With 8-Bit Technology

The second project is more specific and more unusual: a small team inside Studio MDHR has secretly been working on Mighty Cuphead Adventure, an 8-bit action platformer. The game does not simply borrow the look and feel of 1980s classics, because it is actually being built with technology from that era in mind. The developers are programming it in classic Assembly Language and designing it around the exacting specifications of the Sega Master System home console. That does not mean modern players will be left out: Mighty Cuphead Adventure will be compatible with modern consoles and PC, but anyone who wants the truest possible throwback will also be able to play it on a physical cartridge for the Sega Master System.

Studio MDHR will share much more about Mighty Cuphead Adventure in the coming months, so the release date, full platform list, and detailed content breakdown are still being held back. For now, the announcement shows the studio moving in two directions at once: one side is the next major hand-animated Cuphead game, while the other is a technically authentic 8-bit side adventure. That combination says a lot about Studio MDHR’s approach: it is still not just selling nostalgia, but obsessively rebuilding the eras that inspire its games.

Source: Gematsu