Stand by the entrance and hold down the triggers
Cuphead is built upon the fun of replaying and mastering boss fights, and that also goes for the new DLC, The Delicious Last Course. With that said, the three mausoleum levels in the original game — and a secret boss in the DLC — are seemingly set up as one-time hurdles. Is there any way to replay this content? Turns out, yes. With a hidden input.
Without spoiling anything, if you ever want to replay the DLC’s secret boss (or just try the ghost-busting mausoleums again for the heck of it), here’s how: stand facing the level entrance on Cuphead‘s overworld and hold the L+R triggers until it opens back up.
I saw the tip on Reddit and tried it on PS4 using L1+R1, and sure enough, it all works. In the case of the secret boss, you’ll see a blue light. For the mausoleums, they’ll still be destroyed, but a button prompt will appear after you hold the triggers long enough.
It’s unclear if there is a way to replay the secret boss or mausoleum levels in Cuphead using only a keyboard, but I’ll update this article if anyone cracks the case.
**Spoilers below**
Here’s a visual aid if you can’t quite remember where you fought the secret boss.
How to unlock the secret fight the first time
If you’re not at that point yet but you’re still reading this article anyway out of curiosity, WELCOME. I’m trying to be vague. To reach this fight the first time, you’ll need to:
- Buy the Broken Relic from Porkrind’s shop for one coin, then equip it.
- Begin the graveyard puzzle by listening to the three competitors at the top of the map; they’ll share clues like “down,” “right,” or “downright.”
- Complete the puzzle by interacting with three headstones in the correct order based on the (randomized) clues the NPCs share.
- If you did it right, you’ll see a glowing blue light — that’s the secret boss entrance.
There’s no other fight like this in Cuphead, and I’m sure players will want to revisit it. The first time through, I was just glad to make it out alive; everything was a blur.
As for replaying the mausoleums, maybe you want to practice your parries? Or maybe you just want to experience them again without doing a new save file. Options are good!
After a long weekend with the game, you might have burned through everything. That’s where I’m at after finally, finally getting through the wonderfully overwhelming final bout, which felt like a perfect note to end on. Cuphead: The Delicious Last Course will go down as one of my favorite gaming experiences of 2022, easily. Top-shelf co-op memories.
