10 Best New Video Game Characters Of 2017

You're right: there isn't much to Cuphead, save for his design, but sometimes all you need is a simple, unforgettable design to establish a character as a video game classic. And the guys over at StudioMDHR have done exactly that.

There's just something about Cuphead that suggests he's going to go down in game history. It's probably something to do with the painstaking art design that accompanies the game, which sees our main hero - and his many friends and enemies - drawn in the surreal and rather scary style of Fleischer Studios cartoons (and hey, some of the early Disney stuff, too).

Cuphead's design in itself is a homage to iconic characters such as Mickey Mouse and many other black-bodied, white-gloved heroes of a particular time and place (mainly the 1930s). Cuphead himself is supposed to be ridiculous, because he's a guy with a cup as a head, but it's that simplicity which makes it genius.

But you can measure the success of this character, and his game, by the overwhelming amount of people who could take a piece of paper and a pen and draw this guy with a good degree of accuracy. Somehow this playful homage of a character has side-scrolled his way into the pantheon of all-time great platform characters... and deservedly so. Sequel, please!