Cyclops
"Fee fi fo fum, I'm the guardian of this ruined land."
—Cyclops, Death Screen
The Cyclops is a sub-boss encountered in the Run 'n Gun level Rugged Ridge from Inkwell Isle Three. He makes his lair near the stage's end, and the fight against him is unique due to his invincibility.
Appearance
The Cyclops is an enormous ogre-like behemoth with a slight resemblance of an ape, sporting grey skin, black fur, double pairs of fang-like tusks in his mouth, a large lumpy nose, and elvish ears with both golden rings. Based on the Greek mythological monster of the same name, he has a large single yellow eye with a broader brown eyebrow.
Characteristics
After peeking through the window outside of the castle-like ruins the player is at, the Cyclops will start chasing the player later into the level. As this part of the level is not considered a real boss battle, he can’t take damage and will break platforms as he moves. The player must do some platforming until they reach the end, where the Cyclops seemingly trips and falls over into the pit he was walking in, leading to his defeat.
Gallery
The Cyclops as he begins to chase the player.
The Cyclops tripping after the player reached the level's end.
The Cyclops in the game over screen if the player dies during the chase.
Trivia
- The Cyclops has an unused animation in which he slowly walks, then stops to pick up a certain number of boulders and throw them up in the air, before snickering. Since the filenames for these frames have "Attack" in them, it is likely that originally instead of chasing the players, he would attack by throwing rocks. However, it is possible this could just be a background animation.
- The Cyclops is unique out of sub-bosses for having his own death quote.
- This is the only sub-boss that cannot be outright battled by the player. Instead, the player has no choice but to run away from him during the chase.
- Almost all of his sprites don't have legs.
- Despite a similar character by the name of Miss Cyclops in the second season of The Cuphead Show, this Cyclops is not the same entity, as the art book states this one is a male.
Inspirations and similarities
- The Cyclops' death line says "Fee fi fo fum", like the giant in the famous children's fairytale "Jack and the Beanstalk".
- The Cyclops may have been inspired by the cyclops from The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, which was animated in stop-motion by Ray Harryhausen.
- The Cyclops' chase introduction is similar to the boss Mecha Dragon from the game Mega Man 2.