The Delicious Last Course’ was almost a standalone release

StudioMDHR’s executive producer has said that the upcoming Cuphead: The Delicious Last Course downloadable content (DLC) could have been released as a standalone title.

Maja Moldenhauer spoke with Nintendo Everything in an article published today (June 19), and they responded to a question about whether or not The Delicious Last Course was ever going to be a standalone game, instead of a DLC for the original Cuphead.

“Yeah! There was a discussion – it was a brief discussion at the beginning of the development in 2019 when we actually put pencil to paper,” explained Moldenhauer. “But ultimately at the end of the day, it fit this chapter of the Cuphead story. We really always wanted to have Ms. Chalice as a playable character, and so that fit, and storyline-wise it fit as well, so it just made sense for us to include it as a DLC rather than as a standalone game.”

That said, the scope of Cuphead: The Delicious Last Course appears to be rather wide, with new levels, bosses, cutscenes, music and characters being added to the game over a multi-year development cycle.

Since the original game’s 2017 release, StudioMDHR has said that it plans for Cuphead to get a physical release, as it’s only purchasable digitally at present. Moldenhauer reconfirmed this, saying:

“We can confirm we are planning to do a physical release, and keep your ear to the ground in the coming months – we’ll have more to share about that, but there will be a physical.”

This follows another statement from Moldenhauer, when they said that game delays are more important than quick releases, as to support the development team’s health.

“Mental health needed to be at the forefront, taking the space and time that you needed, especially over the last two years. We’re like, ‘If it takes longer for the game to come out, it takes longer. Who cares?”

Cuphead: The Delicious Last Course is set to release on June 30 for Nintendo Switch, PC, Xbox One and PS4.

In other news, Sega has called the upcoming Sonic Frontiers the “next step for the next ten years” of the franchise.