ByAnthony MicallefNobody saw this coming.
Studio MDHR, the team behind the critically acclaimed Cuphead and The Delicious Last Course, used Summer Game Fest 2026 to drop a vintage-style “Special Bulletin” announcement that turned out to be not one, but two new Cuphead games. One is a brand-new hand-animated sequel. The other is something genuinely unlike anything a modern studio has done: a real, playable Sega Master System game.
In hindsight, the studio had been dropping hints. A tweet sent out weeks before the reveal showed classic television static and a flickering broadcast signal, the kind of thing you might scroll past thinking it was a joke or a meme. It was neither.
View Studio MDHR’s foreshadowing tweet on X
That post, quiet at the time, was setting the tone for everything that followed. The full “Special Bulletin” reveal video, produced with Toronto’s Stop Motion Department and Continue Agency, leaned fully into the late-80s broadcast aesthetic. When the title Mighty Cuphead Adventure appeared onscreen, with a copyright stamp reading “1988 STUDIO MDHR,” it became clear this was not just a visual style choice.
This is the part that needs a second read.
Mighty Cuphead Adventure is not a demake. It is not a retro-styled indie game with pixel art that evokes the era. It is an actual, authentic Sega Master System game, programmed in Assembly Language, built to the exact hardware specifications of Sega’s 1985 console, and running in 32 colors. Studio MDHR is releasing it on a physical cartridge that plays on original hardware.
View Walmart Canada Gaming’s screenshots on X
Gameplay-wise, it is an 8-bit action platformer with run-and-gun mechanics. From the screenshots already circulating, the game features Cuphead traversing tiled platforming stages and facing off against oversized vegetable bosses, all rendered in that unmistakable chunky Master System palette. It looks like something you would have found at the bottom of a rental store bin in 1989, in the best possible way.
The studio described it as “a brand-new, riveting Cuphead video game that will bring the most advanced 8-bit action platforming to life on your television set in 32 dazzling colors.” Co-founder Chad Moldenhauer put it plainly: “They just don’t make them like they used to… until we decided to!”
Modern console and PC versions are also coming. No release window has been given yet, with the studio promising “more details in the coming months.”
Alongside Mighty Cuphead Adventure, Studio MDHR confirmed that work has begun on “a brand new, hand-animated Cuphead video game.” That is the full extent of what has been shared. No title, no platforms, no release window, no screenshots.
The studio said the team is “pushing themselves to continue improving on their craft in all areas,” which suggests the sequel is still early enough that showing anything would be premature. Whether this ends up being Cuphead 2 in name or something else entirely is unknown for now.
Studio MDHR was founded by brothers Chad and Jared Moldenhauer and is one of Canada’s most celebrated game studios. Both announcements were described as “a true love letter to the era that inspired us to make video games in the first place.”
More details on both games are expected in the coming months. When a physical cartridge for a 40-year-old console is the least surprising part of your announcement, you have had a good day at Summer Game Fest.
Anthony Micallef is the creator of Anton Retro, a platform dedicated to retro gaming enthusiasts. With years of experience in Nintendo homebrew and modding, he creates guides to help gamers get the most out of their consoles.
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