Uploaded April 2020 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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I'll be honest, I don't think this is a great tutorial in the sense that it's a bit poorly paced and poorly structured. But, at the very least it should be up to date (for now) and it should contain all the information needed both for beginners to get their first speedrun done and for the players with already some experience to polish up their play. I hope one day there will be a better resource to learn, perhaps in an entirely different format. But I also hope this can help a few people out there in the meantime.


Here's a few timestamps:

0:00 - Run introduction
2:53 - Forest Follies
4:32 - Forest Follies Advanced
12:17 - Shop
14:25 - The Root Pack & Weapon Swap Glitch explanation
16:48 - The Root Pack Advanced & Lobber Glitch explanation
24:06 - Ribby and Croaks & Hitbox/Health explanation
30:47 - Ribby and Croaks Advanced
37:43 - Goopy Le Grande
38:41 - Goopy Le Grande Advanced
41:57 - Hilda Berg
45:37 - Hilda Berg Intermediate
48:00 - Hilda Berg Advanced, Hilda Glitch
55:39 - Cagney Carnation
1:00:38 - Baroness Von Bon Bon
1:09:56 - Wally Warbles & Weapon Swap Glitch explanation for plane stages
1:17:59 - Wally Warbles Advanced & Luigi Swaps explanation
1:23:02 - Djimmi The Great
1:28:28 - Djimmi The Great Phases 2 & 3 advanced (Djimmi Glitch)
1:33:47 - Beppi The Clown
1:45:04 - Grim Matchstick
1:50:52 - Grim Matchstick final phase explanation
1:53:31 - Rumor Honeybottoms
2:02:57 - Dr. Kahl's Robot, Robot Glitch explanation and safest (slow) method
2:08:02 - Dr. Kahl''s Robot, Fast Glitch (two methods)
2:12:22 - Dr. Kahl's Robot, Fastest Glitch
2:14:24 - Sally Stageplay
2:17:46 - Sally Stageplay Advanced
2:19:47 - Werner Werman
2:25:11 - Werner Werman Advanced & Lobber manipulations on the fly
2:29:14 - Captain Brineybeard
2:38:52 - Captain Brineybeard Advanced, Parry method
2:46:10 - Captain Brineybeard Advanced, Tank method
2:50:52 - Cala Maria
2:57:58 - Cala Maria Advanced
3:06:40 - Cala Maria "Softlock" and Backup
3:09:59 - Phantom Express
3:15:43 - Phantom Express Advanced
3:20:55 - King Dice
3:27:36 - King Dice Advanced
3:35:28 - The Devil
3:44:18 - The Devil Advanced
3:51:06 - Conclusion


My controller layout:

Jump: Right Bumper
Shoot: Left Trigger
Ex Shoot: A
Switch Weapon: X
Lock: Left Bumper
Dash: Y


As for the Ribby and Croaks one-cycle Super Skip on the punches pattern:
pastebin.com/aHqfY1rn


Here's some useful links/resources:

-- Cuphead Leaderboards - speedrun.com/cuphead
-- Cuphead Discord - discordapp.com/invite/2BcMwEd
-- Debug/Health bar mod - speedrun.com/cuphead/resources
-- Old Hilda Glitch tutorial: youtu.be/5qnNrukv4OE
-- Old Beppi Glitch tutorial: youtu.be/3IFe-aUpUA0
-- Beginners guide to setting up a run: give this a read if you're completely lost in terms of rules, how to setup the game, how to time the run etc - docs.google.com/document/d/1ucyANIrtNijyi0NJc0foCTJ8V16hefsZORM4Nin2oIA/edit
-- Go to the above document if you also want to know how to revert back to Legacy v1.0 (section 5.2)
-- Best achieved times for individual stages with full-run strats and equipment - docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1xHwgDSSaUlgRLiEDr-aCo5Hmmy3OWyL70qGQfOGWW0g/edit?usp=sharing
-- luigi100's PB of 23:51, the first sub 24 run of Cuphead: luigi uses completely default controls, and his run was achieved without any Lobber Glitches and without any Luigi Swaps. You should use this run as a reference if you can't or don't want to do any of the difficult techniques, but still want to get a great time - youtu.be/uahkw51s36s