Legendary Final Fantasy Artist Reveals His Take on Cuphead

Cuphead’s iconic art style takes inspiration from the golden age of cartoons. But thanks to legendary Final Fantasy artist Yoshitaka Amano, we’re now getting a look at a very different take on the Cuphead characters, and it’s pretty awesome.

Revealed on Cuphead developer Studio MDHR’s Twitter, the studio collaborated with Amano to create art for the upcoming Cuphead physical release. Amano created an amazing collage of Cuphead characters in a Final Fantasy-esque style for Cuphead’s Japanese physical edition. Check out the awesome art for yourself below.

We’re elated to reveal our collaboration with the legendary Yoshitaka Amano!

Paying homage to classic fantasy RPGs, Amano-san’s art will adorn the DLC soundtrack included in 1st Run copies of Cuphead’s Japanese Physical Edition.

Global pre-orders here: https://t.co/wMuBoimLeX pic.twitter.com/mz1YolDaq5

— Studio MDHR (@StudioMDHR) February 15, 2023

The art gives a more human-like appearance to Cuphead, Mugman, and Ms. Chalice, with the trio holding weapons that would be right at home in a Final Fantasy game. The liquid that’s usually inside Cuphead and Mugman’s cups has turned into hair, with the straws now resembling horns. We also see a very crazed take on Cuphead’s Devil, which is reminiscent of Final Fantasy’s Behemoth.

Amano is a visual artist and characters designer best known for his work on the Final Fantasy series. He was the character designer for the first six mainline Final Fantasy games, and still works on the series as its title logo designer. The Cuphead art Amano created will be the jacket for the soundtrack that comes with Cuphead’s special edition. So far, this special edition is exclusive to Japan.

For more on Cuphead, check out our interviews with the creators about the game’s undiscovered easter eggs, their comments on long development times, and where the studio is going next.

Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN covering video game and entertainment news. He has over six years of experience in the gaming industry with bylines at IGN, Nintendo Wire, Switch Player Magazine, and Lifewire. Find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.