With such epic showings from some of the biggest names in gaming at E3 this year, it was only natural that some of the smaller companies or titles would fly under the radar. One of those instances was an indy-developed side-scroller named Cuphead. The game, created and developed by Studio MDHR, is a fast-paced, run-and-gun, 2D side-scroller that takes a lot of its inspiration from the animated shorts of the 1930s.

As anyone can see from the trailer, the game does an amazing job of capturing the look and feel of cartoons in that era. This is because the game was built in almost the exact same fashion as those cartoons; water color background and hand-drawn/inked cel animation has been used to recreate that iconic aesthetic. MDHR also recorded all original jazz compositions for the game in order to maintain the authenticity of the animation style. Basically, a crap-load of time and work has been put into making this game what it is.

Cuphead has been in development for a few years now, as indy games tend to be. MDHR has, for most of it’s existence, consisted of two brothers, Chad and Jared Moldenhauer. With limited time, people, and resources available an indy game is truly a labor of love, and therefore takes as long as it needs to in order to be finished. Thankfully, for the MDHR, they caught the attention of Microsoft, and have been given a little boost in order to get the game where it needs to be in order to release on PC and X-Box One in 2016.

What do you think of Cuphead? Let us know in the comments below.