Uploaded February 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Cuphead's final boss is by far the most difficult and complex fight in the entire Any% 1.1+ Speedrun. Boasting high RNG and leaving little room for mistakes, it is a pivotal fight for most top-level runs of this game.
But what exactly makes The Devil have this status? In this long video, we will break everything down, from how the fight works at a basic level, how its RNG works, and the numerous strategies that Speedrunners use to adapt to different situations.
Chapters:
0:00 Intro
1:32 Fight Overview
3:12 Basic Speedrunning Strategies, Phase 1
11:01 Basic Speedrunning Strategies, Phases 2, 3, 4
14:08 Ideal Basic Fight & Recap
15:31 Devil Freeze
25:02 Spider
35:46 Spider's Kiss
Some audio taken from Pixabay (freesound_community, DRAGON-STUDIO), Ace Attorney, Undertale.
Some Cuphead data taken from the legendary website that is myekul.com
Music used:
Cuphead - Inkwell Isle 3
Cuphead - One Hell of a Time
Cuphead - Pyramid Peril
Cuphead - Shootin n' Lootin
Cuphead - Snow Cult Scuffle
Cuphead - Honeycomb Herald
Cuphead - Treetop Trouble
Cuphead - Clip Joint Calamity
Cuphead - High Sea Hi-Jinx
Cuphead - Junkyard Jive
Cuphead - The Airship
Hollow Knight - Nightmare King
Cuphead - Botanic Panic
Super Mario 64 - Ending Demo
Cuphead - Elder Kettle
Hollow Knight - Sealed Vessel
Cuphead - Inkwell Hell
Speedruns Channel: youtube.com/@SBDWolfSpeedruns
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/sbdwolf.bsky.social
Twitch channel: twitch.tv/sbdwolf
Cuphead's final boss is by far the most difficult and complex fight in the entire Any% 1.1+ Speedrun. Boasting high RNG and leaving little room for mistakes, it is a pivotal fight for most top-level runs of this game.
But what exactly makes The Devil have this status? In this long video, we will break everything down, from how the fight works at a basic level, how its RNG works, and the numerous strategies that Speedrunners use to adapt to different situations.
Chapters:
0:00 Intro
1:32 Fight Overview
3:12 Basic Speedrunning Strategies, Phase 1
11:01 Basic Speedrunning Strategies, Phases 2, 3, 4
14:08 Ideal Basic Fight & Recap
15:31 Devil Freeze
25:02 Spider
35:46 Spider's Kiss
Some audio taken from Pixabay (freesound_community, DRAGON-STUDIO), Ace Attorney, Undertale.
Some Cuphead data taken from the legendary website that is myekul.com
Music used:
Cuphead - Inkwell Isle 3
Cuphead - One Hell of a Time
Cuphead - Pyramid Peril
Cuphead - Shootin n' Lootin
Cuphead - Snow Cult Scuffle
Cuphead - Honeycomb Herald
Cuphead - Treetop Trouble
Cuphead - Clip Joint Calamity
Cuphead - High Sea Hi-Jinx
Cuphead - Junkyard Jive
Cuphead - The Airship
Hollow Knight - Nightmare King
Cuphead - Botanic Panic
Super Mario 64 - Ending Demo
Cuphead - Elder Kettle
Hollow Knight - Sealed Vessel
Cuphead - Inkwell Hell
Speedruns Channel: youtube.com/@SBDWolfSpeedruns
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/sbdwolf.bsky.social
Twitch channel: twitch.tv/sbdwolf
![[Current World Record] Low% Co-op Speedrun - 33:52 - Current Patch, Regular - Cuphead](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/sRYRnc9DWoM/mqdefault.jpg "[Current World Record] Low% Co-op Speedrun - 33:52 - Current Patch, Regular - Cuphead
Co-op speedrun with XunningX. 2-player Low% is so fun.
Xunning is Cuphead, Im Mugman.
Played over the internet with parsec.
Watch live at https://www.twitch.tv/sbdwolf
My controls:
Jump: Right Bumper
Shoot: Left Trigger
Ex Shoot: A
Switch Weapon: X
Lock: Left Bumper
Dash: Y")
![[TAS] Gimmick Any% Theory TAS in 4:47.69](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/sofHz4z0L7Q/mqdefault.jpg "[TAS] Gimmick Any% Theory TAS in 4:47.69
This a Human Theory TAS, which is what I call a TAS that tries to do everything optimally while sticking to RTA viable strategies. I made this TAS primarily as a study, but also to have an idea of what the limits of this category are with current strategies.
Input file: https://github.com/SBDWolf/TAS-input-files/blob/main/Gimmick!%20any%25%20theory%20tas%202025-01-15.bk2
Twitch channel: https://www.twitch.tv/sbdwolf")
![[Former World Record] Low% - 18:32 - Current Patch, Simple, Solo - Cuphead](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/tF1HzuN6BEg/mqdefault.jpg "[Former World Record] Low% - 18:32 - Current Patch, Simple, Solo - Cuphead
The simple subcategory for Low% was added very recently, so I decided to take the free World Record :3
For those that dont know, doing a Low% speedrun means beating the game with as little completion as possible. Thus, anything thats not mandatory to reach the end is not allowed. For Cuphead this means no coins, no weapon upgrades and no unnecessary levels.
On Simple mode in specific, the game is considered beaten upon entering King Dices contract cutscene, which means that most Isle 3 bosses can be skipped as theyre not required to access Inkwell Hell.
My controls:
Jump: Right Bumper
Shoot: X
Ex Shoot: Left Trigger
Switch Weapon: A
Lock: Left Bumper
Dash: Y")
![(Former WR) Castlevania Any% Speedrun in 11:05.717 (New Scroll Glitch) [Live Recording]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/tF6YHbnOzCE/mqdefault.jpg "(Former WR) Castlevania Any% Speedrun in 11:05.717 (New Scroll Glitch) [Live Recording]
This is, at the time of upload, a bit of an old run, set on May 5th 2021. As it often happens in Speedrunning, I intended to beat this run, and sort of expected to do it relatively soon, but I couldnt manage to come up with an improvement after a few weeks of attempts, and decided to let this run stand as the Current World Record for now.
This run makes use of a newly found Scroll Glitch, which manipulates the games loading mechanism for off-screen tileset, essentially allowing Real Time runners to manipulate the level layout in their favor. The way it works is pretty complex, but to simplify, by turning around on certain frames right before a certain set of blocks attempts to load, the game misses loading that tileset for a while, and by doing enough of those turnarounds its possible to permanently get a glitched tileset, which can lead to skips. In this run, I went for this glitch in two instances, both in Level 5 (Stages 13 & 14).
Run FAQ: https://pastebin.com/xMvXvqpd
For a gameplay only version click here: https://youtu.be/VP8SV9WRdac
Twitch channel: https://www.twitch.tv/sbdwolf")
