Every Cuphead Boss Ranked Worst To Best

Don't let Cuphead's cutesy, old-timey aesthetic fool you: it's a tough-as-nails boss rush shooter, combining platforming, bullet hell awareness, pattern recognition, and twitch timing. Luckily, Cuphead isn't just a pretty face. The game's substance matches its style: it has received almost universally favorable reviews since its release in September 2017.

In Cuphead, the player takes on the role of the title character (or his pal Mugman). The two have gone into debt gambling at the Devil's casino, and are hoping to keep their souls by hunting down others who have managed to escape the Devil's clutches. Those escapees make up the majority of the bosses in Cuphead, each offering a unique challenge to the player.

Most of the game's success comes from these foes; there's a lot riding on their pixelated shoulders. Here's our definitive ranking of every Cuphead boss from worst to best.

The Root Pack is likely the boss fight that most players start with in Cuphead. It is also generally regarded as one of the easiest fights in the game, and it suffers from similar drawbacks as Goopy Le Grande: it is a bit of a tutorial, rather than a full on fight.

However, there is a bit more personality to the Root Pack. Each "form" of the boss is an entirely different character, each working to take the player down. These giant, anthropomorphic vegetables are also more interesting than a blue blob that hops around and punches you. You can even tell a bit of each character's personality as you work through the fight; for example, take the apologetic Weepy (a giant onion, natch), who feels absolutely terrible that a fight is occurring. This type of subtle storytelling is seen throughout Cuphead, and is introduced in one of its very first fights.

Most of the bosses from the opening section of Cuphead feature similar ideas. They are great introductions to what you'll expect to see throughout the game's runtime, but they just can't hold up when you've finally put everything together and bested all that Cuphead has to offer. Hilda Berg, who serves as the tutorial to the game's airplane mechanic, falls squarely into that boat.

Hilda has a bit more substance to her than some of the other early bosses, however. She has some fun transformations, and there is plenty to see in her battle as she shifts between different zodiac symbols. However, it is doubtful that she is a boss players will return to once they've gotten further in the game. Every other plane level is more interesting than this one.

Beppi the Clown is one of the first bosses that truly shows just how crazy the bosses in Cuphead can get. He's got a ton of personality, and his transformation into different carnival rides makes him a lot of fun to battle against. Each form requires a wildly different style and a quick adaptation, and blasting the cackling clown off of his horse (who he refers to as Charlie, of course) never gets old.

Unfortunately, Beppi — like Rumor Honeybottoms, who is encountered later in the game — can also seem unfair on occasion. There are times when the screen will set the player up to take a seemingly unavoidable hit, and it can be absolutely infuriating when it does. When Cuphead's bosses laugh at you, it hits home because you generally know that you made a mistake: you got greedy, you didn't think ahead, you didn't stay focused, etc. When Beppi laughs, sometimes it just makes you want to smash the screen because that stupid clown cheated.

This is more like it as far as airplane levels go. There are definitely better flying fights in the game, but this one takes all the elements Cuphead taught you in the battle against Hilda Berg and allows you to play with them a bit.

Djimmi is a big challenge, but never feels cheap or unfair. There are wild transformations, forcing the player to rapidly adapt and recognize what is coming next. There is also a ton of personality in the battle with Djimmi: the spinning background helps showcase the game's level design, the section where the players have to battle a marionette version of themselves is a blast, and the final transformation is a perfect conclusion to the fight. He's great.

The battle with the Baroness is a fairly unique one in the world of Cuphead, as there are a variety of ways it can go. This occurs because a substantial part of the fight with Baroness Von Bon Bon is against her subjects, and the game randomizes which ones you will fight. There are five different minions the player can battle against, each candy-themed, and they will only ever face three in a single battle. In addition, the final form of the baroness is frenetic and action packed. It feels satisfying when you finally take her down.

But the randomization aspect of the first phase of the battle is also its biggest weakness: some of the minions are definitely more difficult than others, which can occasionally disrupt achievement or speed runs.

Honestly, Sally Stageplay herself is not the most exciting character in the world. Her personality — an overbearing, angry diva of a stage actress — is not as clever as some of Cuphead's takes on other classic tropes. Her attacks are not terribly difficult to fight back against, and none of her transformations are overly elaborate.

So what keeps Sally from the bottom of the list? Just take a look at everything else going on in her stage.

The battle with Sally takes place over a four act play, with each phase of the fight telling part of the story. Through the battle, Sally gets married, has kids, dies, and goes to heaven. Throughout the entire fight, a raucous audience cheers and jeers as Sally battles the heroes. They even throw roses (which, of course, damage the player) onto the stage while Sally is in her final, angelic form. All the details in the background make it a bit difficult to focus on Sally, but in all the right ways; it's one of Cuphead's most interesting stages.

Not only does Captain Brineybeard bear a striking resemblance to Popeye's antagonist, Bluto, but he also has two peglegs. Two peglegs! No wonder he's so angry!

The captain also introduces one of the most interesting risk-reward concepts in all of Cuphead: the player has to stand in the center of the screen and aim diagonally to hit him. However, when you're aiming like this, you can't move. It leads to some intense moments of "Just a few more shots ..." as the boss throws everything at you all at once. As the screen fills with danger, you wonder if you can hold onto that button for just a little longer to get a few more hits in. It's brilliant.

Angry sea creatures, a terrifying ship, and a sentient treasure chest are all part of the fun. Captain Brineybeard is one of the best in the game.

The battle with the Phantom Express would be a blast without it, but the addition of a totally unique wrinkle makes this one of the most interesting fights in the game. The player is trapped on a moving train car with handles on both ends of it. Not only can the player adjust how the car is positioned throughout the fight by using a parry attack on these handles, but the boss will try to steer the player into danger by attacking the handles as well.

This tricky dynamic makes the fight with the Phantom Express one of the most unique in the game, as the battle to position yourself requires constant attention and can quickly end the round if the player doesn't focus their attention right. It's expertly done, and keeps every round with the Phantom Express intense throughout. It also helps make it feel great when the player figures out a working strategy for each of the boss' forms.

The whole plot of Cuphead revolves around trying to thwart the Devil, so it needs to be satisfying when you finally go toe to toe with Old Scratch. The game's final boss does not disappoint. His variety of transformations are fascinating, difficult to fight, and require precise timing and strategy. Even better, the order of his transformations help to keep the battle intense throughout.

Every time the Devil moves to a new form, his arena gives the player less and less area to maneuver in. A wide open space becomes just a few platforms, which become even fewer. By the time you reach the Devil's final form, the player is left standing on a platform not much bigger than their character, desperately dodging the Devil's attacks and trying to get those last few shots in. It makes every jump meaningful and every dodge potentially catastrophic, which also makes the Devil a fitting final boss for the game. However, he is shown up by just one other ...