Aviary Action!
Aviary Action! is a Boss level in Cuphead. It is the level that Wally Warbles is fought in. It is a airplane level.
This fight has a total of three phases. Wally Warbles himself serves as the first until knocked out, and his son Willy Warbles takes over in the second, with Wally returning in the third.
Location
After you defeat Baroness Von Bon Bon, it opens up a path upwards, unlocking Funfair Fever and Aviary Action!. Aviary Action! is the birdhouse above Funfair Fever.
Strategy
Phase 1
When the stage begins, the player is met with a floating cuckoo-clock. Wally Warbles will then suddenly burst from the head of the clock and commence the battle. During this phase of the fight, Wally will use two attacks.
- Wally will cough up an egg that will travel horizontally across the screen. Once it reaches the left side of the screen, it will break into 3 pieces, 5 pieces on expert, and 2 pieces on simple.
- Wally's head will turn into a glove and shoot three bullets at the player.
It is recommended that player stay on the left side of the screen and move up and down to avoid these attacks. However, on expert, when the eggs break, two of the five pieces will move straight up and down respectively, making it much trickier to dodge. In this case, the player should turn into a small plane and try to weave between the broken egg shells.
Once, Wally has taken enough damage, lines of birds with nails on their heads will begin to travel from right to left, with the last one in line being parryable. On expert, these birds appear much sooner.
After a few more bullets, Wally's head will turn into a steam whistle and blow out some steam. Afterwards, he will then fill up the screen with feathers. During this attack, the birds from the previous mini-phase will continue their assault. The player should try to stay on the same altitude as Wally and weave in and out of the feathers by making tiny movements. After a few seconds of assaulting the player with feathers, Wally will get tired and take a short break before resuming this attack.
It should be noted that throughout this whole entire phase, the only spot that can be damaged is Wally's head.
After a few more hits, Wally will lose all his feathers, and drop to the bottom of the screen. His birdhouse will then break apart, revealing Willy Warbles, and the battle will move on to phase 2.
Phase 2
Willy Warbles is fought throughout the second phase of the fight. He has 4/5/6 Spiked eggs surrounding him that will damage the player when touched. The eggs move inwards and outwards from Willy, making it harder to navigate through him. The birds carrying nails are still present during this phase, so watch out for them.
Willy will follow the player wherever they go, so when the eggs are outwards from him, you should take this as an opportunity to shrink and speed through the eggs and Willy before the eggs go inwards again. All the while, he will shoot pink electricity balls using a gun-like device he pulls from behind the seed, all the electricity balls can be parried, however.
The player should note that the spiked eggs will block the bullets from hitting Willy, so using mini-bombs when they close in is key if you want to deal a lot of damage to him. It is also not recommended to use a super attack on this phase as it will mostly miss since he follows the player and moves a lot. When trying to use a maxed super, be precise with your navigation in order to not hit any of the birds, electricity balls and eggs. This phase is generally very easy for regular and skilled players. After enough hits, Willy will cry for help and his spiked eggs will crack and break, revealing the yolk. After hearing his son's calls, Wally himself returns in a stretcher, carried by two paramedics, in order to continue the battle which commences the final phase.
This is the knockout in simple mode.
Phase 3
Wally Warbles is on a stretcher, being carried by 2 paramedic birds. This is where you switch to your plane bombs, so you can hit him. The doctors randomly shoot pills above that splits in 2 once they are above, and the pills can randomly be pink, so you can parry them. Wally Warbles, on the other hand, has 2 different attacks.
One is where his head turns into a trash can, and he spits out these projectiles: A shoe (can be pink) fish skeleton, one of your bombs, a chewed up apple and a magnet. His other attack is when he kicks himself in the stomach and his heart comes out, goes up, shoots 3 bullets that go horizontal up, horizontal and horizontal down. They are largely sized. While this is happening, his paramedics can move him from left to right.
Since Wally is always lying downwards, It is nearly required to use your mini bombs for this phase.
After enough hits, Wally will pass out, lying dazed on the stretcher while the paramedics sprinkle salt and pepper on him, intending to eat him.
Walkthrough
| Regular Mode | Expert Mode |
|---|---|
Soundtrack
| Version | Soundtrack |
| In-game soundtrack | File:Cuphead OST - Aviary Action In-Game Version |
| Original soundtrack | File:Aviary Action |
| Beta Soundtrack | File:Cuphead Beta Music - Old Aviary Action Music |
| Game Over Soundtrack | File:Cuphead - "Aviary Action" Game Over Screen Version |
Gallery
Overworld Sprite
Overworld Sprite in 2015 Demo
Trivia
- Early builds name this level "A Foul Afoul"
- A small portion of the music briefly transitions to Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries".
- There is a glitch where - if two players are playing - Willy Warbles can choose to fire his weapon at a player that has already died. While the dead player's ghost is floating away, Willy may pointlessly fire at the ghost.