Endings

"Well, Cuphead gambled with the Devil...
Thought he'd win a hefty purse...
Mugman came along to help him...
But things, they just got worse!"

—Credits song

*Cuphead* has at least two endings, depending on whether Cuphead and Mugman agree to hand over the soul contracts to The Devil or not in the final level, *One Hell of a Time*.

## Bad ending

"You're mine now! And we're gonna have a hell of a time down here...!!"

—The Devil

If Yes is chosen, The Devil proclaims that the brothers now belong to him and that they're going to have *"a hell of a time"* in Inkwell Hell. The scene then switches to Cuphead and Mugman being transformed into more demonic beings with evil grins on their faces while The Devil smiles in triumph. Once the scene ends, the credits will roll, but the music will instead play a piano remix of the Inkwell Hell theme. "*Don't Deal With the Devil*" can be heard playing in reverse on the title screen.

The debtors are not seen in this ending, but it is implied that they will be severely punished by The Devil for not giving their souls on time.

If Ms. Chalice is equipped, Ms. Chalice will appear in that ending along with Cuphead, Mugman and the Devil.

## Good ending

"Welching on me just like all the others, eh...
I'll teach you for backing out of a deal -- have at you!!"

—The Devil

If No is chosen, The Devil accuses the brothers of leeching off of him just like the other debtors did, and the boss fight begins.

With the devil defeated, Cuphead and Mugman accept his surrender and return home after destroying all his contracts, liberating the debtors. The residents throw a celebration for Cuphead and Mugman in gratitude, alongside Elder Kettle, who is proud of the two.

The book telling the story of Cuphead will then physically close, thus ending the game and rolling the credits. Shortly before the credits end, an unknown speaker can be heard saying "*That's all there is... There isn't any more... Or is there?*" and then laughing in a sinister manner, possibly hinting the DLC expansion pack, The Delicious Last Course.

The debtors that appear are:

* Hilda Berg (Next to Grim Matchstick and Elder Kettle)
* Grim Matchstick (Next to Hilda Berg and Blind Specter)
* Elder Kettle (Next to Hilda Berg and Djimmi The Great)
* Blind Specter (Next to Grim Matchstick and Cuphead)
* Djimmi The Great (Next to Elder Kettle and Captain Brineybeard)
* Captain Brineybeard (Next to Djimmi The Great and Ribby)
* Werner Werman (Next to Beppi The Clown and Baroness Von Bon Bon)
* Beppi The Clown (Next to Werner Werman, Baroness Von Bon Bon, Cagney Carnation, and Rumor Honeybottoms)
* Baroness Von Bon Bon (Next to Beppi The Clown, Werner Werman, Sally's husband, and Mugman)
* Cala Maria (Next to Sally Stageplay and her husband)

### The Delicious Last Course

After the battle with Chef Saltbaker, the players save the soul of the character that's not being played, and Saltbaker's Bakery begins to collapse. Cuphead, Mugman, The Legendary Chalice, and Saltbaker all escape from the building, and Saltbaker mourns his now destroyed shop. Cuphead tells him that it serves him right for trying to kill all of them, but then sadly mentions to Chalice that she'll never eat the Wondertart to become mortal again. Chalice tells both of the brothers that she doesn't think it's worth being mortal again if someone has to die for the tart to be made, but that she won't stop looking for a way to live again. She then tells both of the boys that if their ever in a rough spot, they can always eat the cookie. She then hugs both Cuphead and Mugman, saying that who needs a Wondertart when she can have two best friends.

## Trivia

* The only debtors who did not appear in the good ending are The Root Pack, Goopy Le Grande, Wally Warbles, and Dr. Kahl's Robot. These missing debtors could have been simply absent for various reasons or blocked by each other.
	+ Before Jake Clarke confirmed their survival, Wally Warbles and Goopy Le Grande were presumed dead, therefore being physically unable to arrive.
	+ Dr. Kahl's Robot may have been too damaged to travel further.
	+ The Root Pack were probably stuck to their roots.
* The backward-played title screen music is a reference to the panic that there were Satanic messages in popular rock songs that could be heard if the record was played backwards.
* If you enter the Konami code in the main menu after getting the bad ending, an alternate version of the reverse title screen music will begin to play, which is slowed down by 83%, has King Dice's laughs starting at 0:29 for 10 seconds before the "dice by" lyric loops as weird sound effects play during this loop.
	+ GioTGM, a Youtuber best known for his Geo Mode Mod, found this secret on November 19, 2023.
	+ When viewing the audio through a spectrogram, sprites of The Devil in his first and second phases, as well as the transition in between, are shown.
	+ Originally, when this was discovered in the game files, it was assumed that it would play on the title screen if you pirated the game. However, this turned out to be false, as Cuphead has no anti-piracy measures.
* The music played during the credits in the good ending is a slower rendition of the music heard in Shootin N' Lootin with added lyrics by King Dice.
* Croaks is not seen in the good ending but Ribby is. It is assumed that Croaks could be off screen.
* None of the minions(I.E Sargent Gumbo Gumbull or Security Bee) that Cuphead fought while fighting the debtors are seen in the good ending. It is possible that either since the Devil only wanted the debtor's souls and did not care about the minion's souls, the minions were at the debtor's homes while the debtors were gone as they were celebrating Cuphead's heroic actions, or the minions have been completely killed by Cuphead and Mugman and the debtors did not care about their deaths as they saw them as nothing but too, which is heavily unlikely.s.
* The words after the credits "That's all there is... There isn't any more," are a reference to the Madeline TV series from Disney. It also doubles as a reference to vaudeville performer/actress Ethel Barrymore, who used the sentence as a catchphrase to end each of her acts.
* It is still unknown how Grim Matchstick became a dragon again after becoming a hydra in his third phase, or how Cala Maria regained her body after her third phase,or how Ribby and Croaks became frogs again after becoming a slot machine in their third phase. For Hilda Berg ,there's at least a explanation, as Hilda Berg transformed into a zeppelin again after transforming in Taurus, Gemini, and Sagittarius. For Beppi The Clown, there's also a explanation, as in his second phase he became a balloon, and in his third phase, he becomes a clown again.
* For some reason, Ms. Chalice doesn’t appear in the good ending, even if one of the players plays as her, implying that the DLC takes place after the events of the main game. She however does appear in the bad ending.