The Curse of Imagination (English Version)

Nice to Meet Ya

It was a Saturday morning and I went to the kitchen to prepare a good cup of espresso coffee. I've always been an espresso lover, and I can't work without it, especially when I need to concentrate.

While I was making the coffee, I felt a noise in my bedroom.

I went out of the kitchen and upstairs to my room, the computer was turned on. Absurd. Had I turned it on without noticing, I thought? Probably.

I returned to the kitchen, the carafe was gurgling. I turned off the gas and pouring in a cup my morning coffee.

Suddenly, I felt a sound coming again from my room.

I returned again in front of the computer, with the coffee cup in my hand.

I noticed with astonishment that my computer had started Cuphead, without my intervention.

I approached the screen: Cuphead and his brother Mugman were swaying on the right and on the left as usual... but the screen was grey.

Have I left the black and white mode activated? Weird.

One another thing that caught me, was the audio. Was not the opening theme, seemed more like a distorted old tune as if it had been recorded in a broken vinyl.

I pressed enter, the screen fades off.

A title appeared.

"The Curse of Imagination"

What was that mean? Was it a new level? I don't remember to have done a test from this kind of level. In any case, my job was testing the betas, then I had to begin.

I'm started in a kind of landscape that looked like the first level Run n'gun, but an unusual detail worried me. It was... empty. Nobody else to be seen an not even the music playing. The colors of the background were darker, dull. Besides, I noticed that Cuphead was shivering.

I found myself in front of a signal with a little black interrogative point on it. Whatever had been beyond the sign, was a mystery. I passed the signal. The screen darkened.

Over there, waiting on the side of the screen, there was a character that I had never seen in Cuphead and not even in beta levels... but In that instant, I had the uncomfortable feeling of already knowing him. He was the typical 30s cartoon character, like Flip the frog, Bosko or the most well-known Mickey Mouse

in fact, except for the blue shoes and the grey shirt and pants he was wearing, it was practically identical to them... as opposite to the head.

He didn't had ears... but a mass of dark tentacles that was rippling around. Besides, I noticed on the shirt a black interrogative point, just like the sign that leads me there.

The new character didn't make a move, neither for attacking me, he was just standing... there. . . and moving up and down with his creepy smile.

The chat I had the day before came to my mind when they talked about a new boss for Cuphead.

Did they mean him? The new boss was him? Meh...

As a first impression not only it didn't seem a boss to me, but not even a serious threat.

Suddenly, he turned... and stared at me.

I couldn't believe my eyes. That thing transformed into a giant black tentacled mass with two scary black eyes, that watching Cuphead.

So in the end, it was a boss. Whatever boss was, I would had to defeat it. I rolled up my sleeves, gulped down the coffee and preparing for the battle.

I started to hitting him, but all my attacks were absorbed by the tentacled mass. It was practically invincible.

Suddenly, the tentacled mass closed to itself.

After turning into a question mark, it transformed into Goopy le Grande. But his eyes were black ... and empty. Was it his ability? Turn into whatever he wants?

He began to jump and hit me at an impressive speed. He doesn't follow logic, but it deflected its jump in mid-air just when I had to jump to evade him. After losing the last life, I lost the game.

The ghost of Cuphead flew away and the boss's dialogue appeared showing you what point have you reached and whether you wanted to continue or leave.

He was watching me while smiling. It was written .. "you're the right one".

I was the right one? For what?

I tried again, as soon as I approached the boss he turned into the monstrous creature.

He stood there, his tentacles waving and his eyes staring at Cuphead.

This time he transformed itself into the boss Moe Tato.

Even this boss didn't have the eyes ... just like he were dead.

He began to attack me, spitting dirt balls that I could never avoid... and died immediately.

He said, "I'm an outer god". An outer god? What's an outer god?

This time he turned into Cagney carnation, the boss from "Floral fury".

The eyes... why were they so empty? What did it mean? He immediately transformed into its final form and filled the ground with spiny roots.

I managed to make some leaps and inflict some damage... but it was impossible to defeat him. I died within a matter of seconds.

He said, "I'm as ancient as the cosmos itself".

Strange... however, I had not yet figured out what kind of enemy he was and what character he was referring to.

I tried again, one last time. I was used to the difficulty of Cuphead, but this was really too much. It was probably a part of a DLC and they had not set the difficulty well.

I approached him, he was there, in his primary form, intent on swaying up and down.

This time, he turned into Wally Warbles. It was unusual, as he was the boss of a scrolling shooter level, so it was unusual to find him here.

He started spitting out the eggs in a burst and tried to avoid them. I've shooted him as fast as I could. I would have liked to equip the roundabout, which is one of the strongest weapons, but for some reason, the game did not allowed me.

The only weapon I could use was the peashooter, the first one.

I resisted twenty seconds, then died. It was frustrating, and at that rate, it would have been impossible to beat him.

One thing was for sure: he would have been a good boss for Cuphead... as difficult it was.

He said again: "You're the right one".

What did it mean? I decided to leave the game, but I realized that I could not return to the main map or end the game itself. I pressed the ESC key several times, useless.

I was forced to turn off the computer by pressing and holding the start button.

The monitor turned off. Absurd. Not only was it difficult, but it also had this bug. I should have asked the other beta testers if they had the same problem... and above all, if they had already used this beta.

I restarted the computer. I was tempted to search the beta, but I did not know how it was called or where it was installed. Besides, it was absurd that it had started automatically, without my intervention.

I logged in the private chat and posted a message about it. Nobody answered me.

After about ten minutes, someone answered me but said he did not know anything about it. Probably I had to deal with a hacked version of the game and nothing more. Weird...

Yes, I had heard stories of kids who found themselves unwittingly to use old games modified by supposedly mysterious Hackers... but those were just stories from the internet.

What I was dealing with was a real boss with animations, sounds and all.

Who could have ever made such a version?

...and, if it was really the boss that MDHR studios talked about? What a mystery.

I turned off the computer and got ready to go out.