Kickstarter For Cuphead-Style Enchanted Portals Is Delayed Following Publisher Interest

Cuphead didn't invent the art style. Anyone is allowed to use it lol. I hope that game ends up good as there's some promise there.

@Spoony_Tech It's not just the art-style. It's the art, and the sort of jazzy music, and the gameplay, and even the look of the bullets. It's CLEARLY a clone, if a rather competent looking one.

The similarities weren't just the art style, it was the physics, the structure, even the bosses were copied wholesale. (There was an excellent side-by-side comparison that I wish I had to hand!) Shameless clone, and I certainly won't miss it if it never gets off the ground.

Yeah, I like Cuphead, but so many people nowadays think that every classic drawn cartoon is just like Cuphead, although Cuphead took inspiration from many older cartoons.

Like for example, Steven Universe had this new villain introduced in the TV movie, and the whole internet calls her a Cuphead-inspired villain instead of a classic cartoon-inspired villain.

@Ralizah Oh I agree with all that. We've had to deal with these types of things throughout gaming history. Everything that came after Mario 64 was labeled a clone for a while but there is a ton of similarities in this one. They at least better make the story vastly different.

Sure Cuphead didn't invent the art style, but I don't think this game would've existed without Cuphead, so I guess I could understand people feeling like this is a rip-off.

But whatever, the Cuphead devs probably feel flattered more than concerned.

Anyone can see that this is a total ripoff. The only difference is that this is done with flash-animation instead of being handdrawn. Cuphead took an insane amount of time and work to have it look and play the way it does and these guys eventually release this half-assed version and capitalise on it. Honestly, they should be sued.

Is this going to be one of those curio games that everyone ends up buying because it disgusts them but they had to buy it.

My problem with this game is that you can just switch out the main character designs with Cuphead and Mugman, and it will look just like a direct sequel to Cupheads.... It's not just a rip-off, it screams of plagiarism, and that's just disgusting!

Hey gamers every games is a copy of another game there isn't nothing original other then when the games first started back in the 70's and 80's coming to the public scene.

The devs are now known as "Two dudes and one cuphead"

@SwitchForce There's a big difference between getting ideas from other games (that's legal). What's problematic is that you can have tributes, getting inspired, and have references as much as you want to, but when you start copying a big chunk of what defines the source, it's illegal if you're not authorized to do it... that's just flipping the bird to the original source.
If I suddenly saw some guy copying pages of one of my science reports and claiming it his own work, I would get pretty miffed, especially if gets undeserved fame

@matdub seriously, that was locked away in the archives of my brain until you made this joke. Haha, good one but... Ew.

I'm not overly upset about this game looking "heavily inspired" by Cuphead because I've seen it done so many times with games. Like a previous post says about Mario 64, or a ton of FPS games, puzzle games... When something's successful, devs will look at it to get a piece of the pie. Look at all the Minecraft clones!!! Hehe.

In the end, don't support it if you don't agree...

Don't get why people got upset. Nobody owns an artstyle ,and from what I see it just looks like an fun game

@danemord as much as I'd love to agree, art is far more subjective than science. As an artist myself, I've seen plenty in the history books of renowned artists who copied from sources and made millions... Go have a few bowls of soup and figure out person I may mean! Hehe. I've also seen court cases about design where you'd think "that company totally ripped off that work" only to hear they didn't... They used it as a jumping off point but they created their own assets, code, etc. Those characters aren't Cuphead and Mugman... Clearly. It's insanely close... But it's art. Unless you can prove they lifted assets or code or whatever... They can keep doing their thing.

@Duffman92 They won't be sued because they aren't harming anyone, Cuphead has already enjoyed millions in sales, lots of licensed merch and a new Netflix series.

Awesome. This is good news for people that like these sorts of games. Cuphead style games aren't for me though.

I hope they don't copy the Cuphead difficulty level as well!

Personally, I don't exactly see what's wrong with this game. Sure, it's pretty much Cuphead, but with a different look and what they're doing looks interesting.

There has been a lot of work put into this game and it really does show, but I do have an issue with the gameplay, that it's just way to much like Cuphead. They need to do more with it to make it stand out other than just a different artstyle, different bosses, and different setting.

To many people, more Cuphead isn't a bad thing, but to others, it's not exactly a good thing either. Me? I think they could've done more with it, gameplay wise. There's potential here.

@boywundr
Sorry if I expressed it as if it was the same as science. What I meant is that I can relate to if some developers wouldn't be so chuffed if they saw a shameless copy.
On the other hand, you don't need it to be the same coding, even though that it would make the case easier. what it needed is to prove that it breaks the copyright infringement for protection of expressions of ideas. This can be quite subjective and therefore difficult in some cases, but I would give an (unqualified) guess that this would be one of the easier cases. A negotiation between the parts though could be a benefit if it leads to a high enough percent of the profits compared to a potential loss from "Cuphead"

There’s effort put into this but the jumps, dash, walk and everything is waaaaaaaay too similar. I don’t think there’s anything wrong if you’re not stealing any assets but it’s just too bad that they made a project that have little to no creative input at all. With talents such as this, I’m sure they could’ve introduced something innovative to the run N gun genre.

@danemord no need to apologize. This is a great conversation!

I agree with your last post fully... Except the part about copyright infringement. I'm not sure this would be easy, but, like you, I am completely unqualified. Hehe. And that might be the issue proving it. I see it as a non-issue, you see it as one and depending on their day in court (assuming this would even get that far), it could boil down to opinion as well... Very interesting since "expression of ideas" is vague.

@danemord "If I suddenly saw some guy copying pages of one of my science reports and claiming it his own work, I would get pretty miffed, especially if gets undeserved fame"
Your comparing something of plagiarizing is total opposite of comparing apples to oranges. If they had a Patent on this that would be different but games take example RPG they are similar story line and characters so does one company go after another for doing RPG games?

Good for them! I hope everything works out well for them and i hope the game becomes a success despite all the childish bickering all the ignoramuses haters keep spouting about throughout the internet.

@Spoony_Tech Oh, sure. Riffing on the ideas of others is an important thing in all artforms. Nothing ever progresses if everyone just does their own thing.

With that said, I think the devs need to try to put a little more of their own spin on the concept so it looks less like bootleg Cuphead.

Yeah I know cuphead did not invent 1920's drawings and everything...BUT LOOK AT IT! The characters are carbon copies! You know its true

Did everyone lose it on Bendy too when that came out? If this game can actually earn its place in the world with a great game, it deserves to live. Giana Sisters totally cloned Super Mario Bros, but they earned their place. Whiners stuck on the art style really don't understand just how often their favorite forms of media are blatant ripoffs of something better. (Most popular music hits employ the Millennial Whoop for that very reason.) But in this case Cuphead is more popular than its imitation.

@NImH Bendy and the Ink Machine is NOTHING like Cuphead in terms of gameplay and atmosphere. This game walks the exact same walk as Cuphead, even lifting some animation frames wholesale.

And Giana Sisters being a shameless ripoff/clone got Nintendo involved via suing them. Not the best comparison!

Cool, hope it gets canceled

@SwitchForce Look at my reply to him

But you don't need to patent it since there's copyright for expression of ideas The rule of thumb for media and art is that an idea by itself is not protected by the copyright law as it is intangible. However, as soon as you have expressed an idea in a tangeable form, you have copyright on it. That can be quite a subjective matter, but the more something resembles another something else in media and art, the more likely it will break the copyright infringement.
For example, a black mouse with red shorts on will certainly get unnoticed, but if you call it mikee moose, you will likely get an angry call from Disney if it gets too popular

@Arnold-Kage As folks have said, it's not just the art style, but a combination of everything. For many creatives and consumers, it just doesnt sit well if two creations are too similar to one another.

This is definitely more of an ethical/moral debate than a legal one (not even a criticism on its quality). No one's really "wrong" for not being bothered by it, but it shouldnt be too hard to understand while also disagreeing.

@NImH You can't really compare Bendy since they (as far as I know) only have a similar 1930's artstyle, which would be considered "scenes a faire" which is not copyrighted

@DTFaux

I get it but then more games should get the same backlash

Not gonna lie, I really didn't see this coming.

@RareFan because kids nowadays don't know what a classic cartoon is. They should see some classic cartoons and realize where the style came from.

I said this in my thread, but it's fine if you use the same art style and all that. But aside from characters, the game was ripping EVERYTHING off of Cuphead. I'm fine with another game being a 1930's cartoon theme, or being hand-drawn, but they could've done something else with the gameplay...

@PBandSmelly Just like how Giana Sisters is just a copy of Mario Bros. But is fondly remembered. Or Bubsy is just a copy of Sonic and sadly is still around. Even Cuphead was copying the mechanics of Contra and Mega man. Buy this logic, Games like Youka-Laylee shouldn't have been made since it was inspired by Banjo-Kazooie. Those "copycats" still got published and whether we want them or not, they'll still be made and will still have their fans.

@Dakotastomp Disagree. The physics, music and style of the games you compared all vary. In this instance, all game play elements are basically carbon-copied.

@arekdougy we only saw a couple clips of game footage that don't even make up the entirety of the game. Physics and some boss designs aside, there's still so much more that we don't know yet about the game that could give it its own twist from Cuphead.

I'm not saying it will be good, but it deserves a fair shot to show its work before we condemn it to VG Hell. We still don't know yet if there will be different weapon shots or not, just that it moves and plays like cuphead. Let's wait for more info.

Everyone say it together, Cupheadlike.

People have said many times, IT'S NOT JUST THE ART STYLE. It's the fact that many of the animations and gameplay seen so far such as the air dash, walking, and the way the bullets are fired are obviously copied from Cuphead with NOTHING that makes it unique from the game it's inspired from, and while it's fine for them to use the same art style, it honestly doesn't help in that it makes the copied elements more obvious. I don't get why people are not understanding this.

It's fine for a game to be a clone of another. Look at Okami. It's a Zelda clone, but it has UNIQUE elements to it, namely the brush mechanic. Also the Mother series. While the first game was more or less a straight Dragon Quest clone with the setting being the only really unique thing about it, Earthbound and Mother 3 did have original things such as the rolling HP counter, the homesick status, and the rhythm combat in Mother 3.

To be fair, it's still early and they have plenty of time to change it. Hopefully the developers will hear the feedback and this Enchanted Portals game will do something or has something planned to set it apart, but the thing is, we don't now if they are or not. So as it stands NOW, as far as people are concerned, it's just a Cuphead clone, and people are going to criticize it for that as long as this is the only footage we see of this game. Once something more unique is shown, then people will probably change their minds.

@Arnold-Kage Not necessarily. I get the desire to have some kind of standard in regards to what should and shouldnt receive backlash, but it's never that easy with creative works. That, as with previously mentioned ethics/and morals, are subjective.

Also, it's silly to be the one to set a standard after you, yourself, admitted you're not bothered in this case. That's literally a conflict of interest.

It's not just the art style they ripped off... its the gameplay too. its painfully obvious. It basically IS cuphead with a different theme slapped on it. As ive said before, both Cuphead AND Enchanted Portals would be so much better with actual STAGES, instead of mostly back-to-back boss battles with a bunch of well animated bullet sponges.

How can ANYONE defend this game!? its clearly 100% ripped off cuphead!

@Spoony_Tech must of not watched the trailer! the battle style the music all cuphead try again

@NImH the problem is Bendy ink machine WAS A FIRST PERSON GAME GROW UP THIS IS CUPHEAD 100%

This is a poor-man's rip-off of CUPHEAD. Just simple as that.

@GAMER1984dude You must have not read my comment a few down from there.

This whole thing kinda reminds of the '90s when any first-person shooter was called a "Doom clone".

I have the feeling these guys are full of crap. They probably got a 'cease and desist' letter from Microsoft and are trying to make it look like they're being courted by big publishers so they don't have to explain why their Kickstarter is indefinitely postponed. I could be wrong but I wouldn't be surprised if we never see this game again.

If they are ripping of an art style they aren't the first.

Yooka laylee and the impossible lair copies donkey kong country returns/tropical freeze and is praised but this game gets bashed for it. You guys are a joke!

There are a ton of great games inspired by Mario. But there’s games like Dream Master and then there’s Giana Sisters. This is more like the latter.

considering how many indie games are similar, i'm into another style being mixed in even if it's been done before as i'm sure someone will add an interesting twist later or just have great execution.

rip off hollow knight's ability system!

Regardless of the repeated point made about how "this is not just a clone, it's a super, mega, ultra clone!" my point is that if it can make a place for itself, it will surely evolve and become something other than the game it is obviously mimicking... like the Giana Sisters.
And to the person who chimed in and used all caps & no punctuation and told me to "GROW UP," keep on being you. Commenters like you are what makes being online so much fun 👍

@Ralizah But Cuphead got literally everything from somewhere else. The visual style and music are ripped directly from cartoons from the 30’s and 40’s, and the gameplay is basically just Mega Man.

I’ll give them credit for the idea of combining the two, and they did an amazing job in the execution. But once a good idea gets out in the open, it’s going to inspire people to copy it and expound, iterate, and build on it. That’s culture in a nutshell.

@Tokujo Yep, that’s a really good point. That game is a shameless clone of Tropical Freeze in almost every way, but it gets great scores across the board. This thing gets announced and immediately every gaming site around dumps on it for being unoriginal. Extreme hypocrisy.

@danmonse You’re joking, right? On what grounds could Microsoft possibly base a cease and desist? Rhetorical question. They answer is that they have no grounds for that.

@Starcreep83 Uhhh. Have you ever heard of Mega Man? Or Contra? Or any game in the run and gun genre? Cuphead didn’t invent that style of gameplay.

@BAN CONTRA HAD ACTUAL DEPTH . Actual stages you ran though and then you fight a boss. In cuphead..its just boss battle after boss battle? Quit playing dumb and acting like cuphead is like contra. It's not. cuphead had potential but blew it.

@BAN it's a digrace to the genre it tries to be a part of. This game is an obvious rip off of cuphead. If you're blind to that, you're an idiot. End of debate. You don't know what you're talking about.

Xixo talking to the media like.....

“ Look... me and the McDonald's people got this little misunderstanding. See, they're McDonald's... I'm McDowell's. They got the Golden Arches, mine is the Golden Arcs. They got the Big Mac, I got the Big Mick. We both got two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles and onions, but their buns have sesame seeds. My buns have no seeds.”

its 100% a ripoff of Cuphead BUT Cuphead is a mash of definite styles
Cuphead is steamboat willy style animation or betty boop looking stuff in the form of a hard,projectile based,boss heavy platformer/

Enchanted Portals is as close to Cuphead as Giana Sisters was to Mario Bros BUT the Cuphead guys have no leg to stand on legally because they were already using widely used animation styles and game genre

@Starcreep83 So you clearly didn't play Cuphead, since you think there's no non-boss stages. But anyway, it's disturbing that you care so much about a video game that you're willing to call a total strange "dumb" and tell them they're an "idiot" over it. Pretty sad.

@Starcreep83 >Cuphead had potential but blew it
>Goes on to defend Cuphead because EP copies their mechanics
Make up your mind. Do you support it or not?
Also, like many have said before, there have been other games for years that have gotten ripped off of or have clones of. Remember Earthworm Jim? Little known fact: there's a PC game that copied the exact same gameplay of Earthworm Jim and no one ever made a fuss about it. It's Crazy Drake, and that game, even when it took obvious components from Jim, never got canned, sued, or hated on like everybody is doing to Portals. My point, that if you're so upset that one game is copying another game's play style, then we should also get rid of the hundreds of Pac-man, Mario, and Sonic clones that were made over the years and didn't get as much of a backlash. Not gonna happen.

@KingWinning Why did I read that as "Big D***"?

@Dakotastomp Ha!! That’s Nuts

@BAN don't try to educate the shills here they could care less. Innovations scare them and games copy games like I mentioned RPG are copies of other RPG so why don't they get sued or get Cease and Decease orders as well. But you know those shills won't answer that.

@danemord "But you don't need to patent it since there's copyright for expression of ideas"

Your again doing a Apples to Oranges.

@danemord "The rule of thumb for media and art is that an idea by itself is not protected by the copyright law as it is intangible."

This is not art or media and you keep grabbing for Apples to Oranges. Maybe you should change your user name to ApplesToOranges since you seems to grab for everything else besides what being talked.

@danemord "However, as soon as you have expressed an idea in a tangeable form, you have copyright on it. That can be quite a subjective matter, but the more something resembles another something else in media and art, the more likely it will break the copyright infringement."

No you don't take Fornite and the guy talking about his dance moves saying that was copyright and guess what the Courts said "NO". So you again should change you name to ApplesToOrange as that seems to fit your loose talking points.

@danemord "For example, a black mouse with red shorts on will certainly get unnoticed, but if you call it mikee moose, you will likely get an angry call from Disney if it gets too popular"

Actually you forgot Disney has Copyright on Micky Mouse likeness so you clearly don't know this.

@SwitchForce
"Your again doing a Apples to Oranges"

No, you're just making a straw man.

"This is not art or media and you keep grabbing for Apples to Oranges."

False. The code, music, scenes, script, and characters are protected by the copyright law, which under the same law as art and media.

"No you don't take Fornite and the guy talking about his dance moves saying that was copyright and guess what the Courts said "NO"."

No, you're right, I don't take that Fortnite case seriously and have never done it since it goes under scenes a faire. A dance move like in Fortnite is too vague to be copyrightable.

"Actually you forgot Disney has Copyright on Micky Mouse likeness so you clearly don't know this."

Dude... now you're just nitpicking. It was a simple example I made up. I haven't claimed to be a disney law expert, so that's just irrelevant.

I see that I hit a nerve, and that can't really be avoided. I can only say that I never try to provoke other people so I'm sorry if you feel that way.
What I need to say though is that it's not okay to go personal with name calling. I couldn't care less because you're just data on a screen, but verbal abuse, whether it's small or great, is not appropriate on a site where even young ones should be able to feel a community without being afraid of expressing their thoughts, and that's what can happen with such writing. Therefore, please behave yourself from now on. A good etiquette is how we can have a good atmosphere.

@danemord Keep spouting and eventually it will become truth. That's seems to be the path your going down so as all of us we will live free and move on but if you want that path by all means go for it. Love it when they loose the fight they call it nitpicking is that the best one can offer when holes are poked in their narrations. For now I'll put that poster on backburner since it's obvious they are a mole.

Attack of the clones really was an awful movie.

@BAN I think the general public can look at that game and think it’s related to Cuphead, which could give Microsoft grounds to take legal action. I’m totally speculating though, I’m no lawyer and perception is completely subjective.