PSA: If you’re starting Cuphead today, you’re gonna want to change the controller bindings

Pro strats

I really really like Cuphead. I think it’s one of the most rewarding action platformers that I’ve ever played. That’s, in part, because it’s so dang tough. Victory tastes so much sweeter when you have to earn it.

But, we don’t need things to be needlessly more difficult. The default controller configuration is far from optimal. For whatever reason, all the main actions are set to face buttons; on an Xbox controller, A jumps, X shoots, Y dashes, and B performs a super attack. It’s nearly impossible to competently and consistently string together quick sequences, especially when you’ll be holding down the shoot button most of the time.

Here’s what I suggest: You feel those triggers on the back? Put them to good use! I assigned dash to the right trigger, so that my right thumb only had to worry about jump and shoot (and, less often, super attack). Chris one-upped me and bound the super attack to the left trigger. Or, if your brain more closely associates triggers with shooting, put that on the right trigger. Experiment, figure it out, see what works for you.

But, whatever you do, please change the default bindings. This game is too good to get weighed down by that nonsensical control scheme.