Cuphead: boss walkthrough (Clip Joint Calamity)

 A detailed guide to the passage of the bosses of the first game world Cuphead: how to kill boxer frogs

Clip Joint Calamity

Clip Joint Calamity is a boss level located on the Inkwell Islands of the first game world. You can launch it by interacting with the boat located down the stairs from Porkrind's Emporium. The steps will appear after you kill the crazy vegetables in the Botanic Panic level.

In this battle, you fight a pair of frogs named Ribby and Croax. The fight will be divided into two or three stages depending on the difficulty.

Phase 1 - Brothers Together

At the beginning of this fight, the main character will be on the left side of the screen, and Ribby and Croax will be on the right. At this stage, they take turns attacking you with their special moves. Each of them can:

• A tall frog, leaning back, will summon several small opponents in the form of fireballs - about five to six pieces. They will hover in the air, and after gradually moving towards your positions, you can shoot them with regular attacks.
• The short frog will twist its fists and release two waves of balls rolling along the ground. You must dodge them to avoid damage.

During the first phase, the frogs will randomly use their attacks, so keep an eye on their animation so you can figure out exactly which attack you should avoid. Luckily, only one of the two bosses will attack at a time (they don't shoot at the same time), so avoiding damage in this part of the fight is fairly easy (unlike the upcoming stages).

Of the two attacks at this stage of the fight, however, the more dangerous are those fireballs that float in the air - they are released by a tall frog. You will have to shoot at them in order to destroy them before they come into contact with you. And they can move randomly! Dodging the balls fired by the underboss is much easier - stand still and crouch. Jump only at the moment when the fireball flies along the very bottom, along the ground. One of the balls, by the way, will be painted pink - this is your chance to stock up on energy for a powerful attack.

Keep shooting at the bosses, dodging projectiles if necessary, and only stop shooting when you need to destroy the fireballs from the tall frog. After you deal enough damage, the attacks of the bosses will change. When you see that the low frog curled up into a ball and rushed in your direction, then jump over it and get ready for the second stage of the battle.

Phase 2 - Brothers face to face

The second stage of the battle will separate the two brothers, who will be located on both sides of the screen. During this phase, you will be able to attack any frog as they share a common health bar. The only truly dangerous attack to dodge is the left frog will shoot balls that bounce up and down, moving from left to right.

You must time your movements properly by jumping back or moving forward towards the low frog. The tricky part of this stage is that the frog on the right periodically turns into a huge fan, creating a powerful airflow that pushes you towards the short frog on the left side of the screen.

The easiest way to complete this stage is to stand up and constantly shoot at the enemy. Run to the right when necessary, and also use the powerful airflow to your advantage to run away from flying balls. In fact, everything is simpler than it seems, and you will be able to constantly fire at the enemy for 90% of the battle.

After the bosses take enough damage, the frog on the right will hide and open its mouth so that its brother on the left side of the screen will twist the ball and fly right into the mouth, rushing through the arena from left to right. Be sure to jump over it. This will begin the third, final stage of the battle.

Phase 3 - Slot Machine

At the final stage of the battle, the frogs will unite and form a slot machine. When you start the third stage, the poker machine will be invincible by throwing some coins at you. Wait for the pink-tipped lever to appear and spin to attack it while jumping. Using this attack, you will not only stock up on energy for a powerful blow but also launch the enemy’s next attack. The slot machine will open its "mouth" and become vulnerable to attacks. It will also launch one of three possible attacks, each with platforms that damage you.

These attacks include:

1. Orange Platforms - If the slot machine spits orange platforms, you will notice that they move in pairs along with the bouncing balls. You must avoid both platforms and balls. You will need to get the timing right to jump over the platform and balloon and land on a small area between adjacent platforms. Keep doing it.
2. Green platforms are the simplest of the three options. A series of platforms with spikes will appear. You should just jump on top of them until they stop appearing. They will move at a higher speed and close to each other depending on how much damage you dealt to the enemy.
3. Red platforms. These platforms fire powerful beams of blue flames. You must either jump on top of them or crouch under each platform. In general, here you need to navigate depending on which direction the platform shoots. The movement speed of the platform and their distance between each other will increase and decrease accordingly with each damage inflicted on the enemy.

At this stage of the battle, the only time you can damage the slot machine is the open "mouth" after you attack the pink lever. Thus, when dodging platforms, you must hold the attack key. When the platforms stop spawning, the mouth will close and you'll have to dodge the flying coins again and attack the pink lever.

As soon as you deal enough damage to the machine, it will be defeated and the fight will end.