Djimmi The Great is one of the two flying bosses fought in Inkwell Isle Two, the other being Wally Warbles. He is encountered in the level Pyramid Peril. His battle takes place in the air, so Cuphead and his companions have to fight him with airplanes in their attempts to get his contract.
Boss Theme
Description
Appearance
Djimmi The Great is a muscular red genie wearing a turquoise vest with a yellow inside, and a turban the same color as his vest that has a red gem and a large white feather on it. Djimmi is almost always seen with his cob pipe clenched between his teeth. He also wears black and cream arm bands and light blue pants. In official art for the Switch version of Cuphead, he has a tail that matches his body. His shoes appear to be magic genie lamps.
Personality
Djimmi The Great is said to have vivacious personality.[1] In the game, he seems to treat battling in a playful way like a manipulative trickster, as he has a near-constant grin on his face throughout the fight.
Battle
Intro
Djimmi will form himself from the smoke of his cob pipe, followed by him making a mock bow to his opponent. Djimmi blows out a smoke cloud of a dead Cuphead's face, with crossed-out eyes and a frown. The smoke that Djimmi blows out of his mouth is just an aesthetic effect and does not deal damage to the player(s).
Phase 1
"You look the fool, falling for the first trick I learnt at genie school."
—Djimmi The Great, Phase 1 Death Screen
After his introduction, Djimmi will summon a treasure chest through his carpet and use one of three attacks from the chest to damage the player(s):
- Three blue and one pink parryable scimitars come out of the chest one at a time that line up at the top, bottom, or left side of the screen. Afterward, these scimitars will spin around for a bit before growing sharp teeth and launching at Cuphead/Mugman. In Simple mode, there will be eight swords coming out each time. In Expert mode, there will be seven swords and they can line up at two sides of the screen at the same time.
- The chest spews out jewelry, goblets, and gems at the player(s). One of those gems can be parried. In Expert mode, there will be more projectiles and they will travel faster.
- Two cat sarcophagi are sent out from the chest, which releases four homing cat scarabs each, one of which can be parried. In Simple mode, the cat scarabs travel slower. In Expert mode, three cat sarcophagi will be sent out and each will spawn six cat scarabs.
In earlier versions, if the player(s) attempted to hide behind Djimmi, blue scimitars would continually fall down from the top, preventing the player from using the empty space as a passage as all three attacks have homing properties.
Once in a while, Djimmi shoots his skull in a forward trajectory, but he will only shoot it once. In Simple mode, he will never shoot his skull. In Expert mode, he shoots his skull twice.
Once enough damage is dealt, Djimmi will wait in his idle pose while the chest finishes firing, then start to meditate, closing his eyes and then blurring into nothing. The second phase will then begin. Hitpoints = 440/390/450
Phase 2
"You really didn't stack up."
—Djimmi The Great, Phase 2 Death Screen
In this phase, the player(s) have to traverse through a side-scrolling section with pillars made up of Djimmi's body blocking the way. The pillars are only passable after shooting at a section with Djimmi's face, which creates a small opening for the player(s) to fly through. The health of the face pillars are directly linked to Djimmi's health, so destroying them will count as damaging Djimmi; for example, doing overkill damage with mini bombs will count to the total health Djimmi has. Hitpoints = 20/20/20
Once the player(s) pass through the first pillar, they will be met with saw blades that move diagonally and will damage the player(s) if they touch them. These saw blades will not appear in Simple mode. In Expert mode, the saw blades move faster.
After the player(s) make it to the end, the side-scrolling section disappears and the next phase begins.
Phase 3
"Do you need to borrow my sarcophagus?"
—Djimmi The Great, Phase 3 Death Screen
In this phase, a sarcophagus of Djimmi appears from the top of the screen, opening to reveal stars and nebula before Djimmi appears as a slug-like creature from his sarcophagus and screams at the player(s). He attacks the player(s) mainly by moving up and down and shooting two ringed eyeballs (planets) at the player(s), which move in a wave-like motion, cycling between a wide wave and a narrow wave, after which Djimmi regenerates his eyes. In Simple mode, it will just be a constant narrow wave.
All the while, ghostly mummies of Djimmi are launched out of the sarcophagus, damaging the player(s) if they run into them. The fastest ones put their hands behind, the average ones does a swimming motion and the slowest ones put their hands out like a zombie. In Simple mode, the ghosts have a lower spawn rate and travel slower. In Expert mode, they have a higher spawn rate and travel faster. Hitpoints = 16/16/16
After taking enough damage, Djimmi appears to be scared and closes his sarcophagus. The sarcophagus gives the player(s) a sad look as it bounces off-screen on its single "leg". Hitpoints = 880/650/750
There is a strategy to avoid taking any damage in Djimmi's phase 3. If you stay close to the top of the screen and close to Djimmi, you can mini-bomb him until he transforms into Cuppet. This strategy will kill the mummies and Djimmi himself.
Phase 4
- Main article: Cuppet
"That beating was for free -- no strings attached!"
—Cuppet, Phase 4 Death Screen
In this phase, Djimmi briefly reappears, scanning Cuphead and/or Mugman. He then turns to the screen (performing an aside glance) and begins laughing, his turban transforming into a light bulb as he thinks of an idea with which to kill the brothers. Djimmi then transforms into a giant hand and lifts up Cuppet, and his turban appears on the left side of the screen.
Cuppet moves around horizontally, walking in the air, before releasing his finger and proceeding to shoot two (almost vertical) lines of bullets to deter player(s) not to go behind Cuppet firing finger so he can still effectively use his Peashooter-esque weapon. While Cuppet shoots, Djimmi can be heard laughing. In Simple mode, there is a chance that it shoots a line of bigger bullets alternating between up and down. In the middle of these two lines, Cuppet will shoot two waves of three, four or five blue, glowing oval bullets, one of which can be parried. In Simple mode, the rate of shooting is slower, the bullets travel slower, they come in one wave of two, three or four bullets. In Expert mode, both firing rate and their speed are faster, they come in three waves of four, five or six bullets.
All the while, Djimmi's turban follows the player(s) and periodically stops, changes the hole at the bottom into a mouth and fires four bullets three times which slowly turns counter-clockwise. In Simple mode, the turban only moves around without firing the bullet waves. In Expert mode, it fires four times.
After taking enough damage, Cuppet is defeated, pulled out from the top of the screen while featuring cross-shaped eyes and having its straw take the shape of an angel's halo (similar to what happens when Cuphead and Mugman lose all of their health). In Simple, the battle will end with Cuppet's knockout. Hitpoints = 880/910/1050
Phase 5
"I need a new volunteer... this one collapsed in fear!"
—Djimmi The Great, Phase 5 Death Screen
"You foolish cups could not best me, even with my wishes three!"
—Djimmi The Great, Phase 5 Death Screen using Djimmi's wishes
In the final phase, Djimmi turns into a giant version of himself levitating onscreen while chuckling maniacally, taking up a good portion of the right side of the battle arena. There he summons three golden Eye Pyramids, each with one turquoise eye on each side, flying around the player(s) clockwise or counter-clockwise. Periodically, a pyramid will open its eyes, firing four beams of dark energy in a cross. Djimmi will also occasionally fire a transparent ring-like projectile at the player(s) from the gem on his turban. In Expert mode, both Djimmi and the pyramids attack more often.
After he takes enough damage, Djimmi is defeated, and he coughs on his pipe. Hitpoints = 650/750
Secret Phase
As Djimmi is scanning the player prior to phase 4, if the players shrink into the mini-plane form, Djimmi will pull out a mobile with a dinosaur, a mini Dr. Kahl's Robot and a stone statue, and then another tug of the extra long string brings out a mini Cuppet. This effectively skips the fourth phase, but will make the final phase more difficult with his addition. He will dance around as Djimmi's last phase comes in, stopping in the middle of the three golden pyramids. Then he will shoot two empty shots upward or downward, determining where it will start. He sits in meditation stance and start turning his head clockwise or counter-clockwise, firing an energy orb in the cardinal and diagonal directions. Every other shot is pink and can be parried. He can be defeated separately from Djimmi in this phase. In Expert Mode, the mini Cuppet has increased fire rate and the bullets travels faster. Hitpoints = 505/605
Sound Effects
| Description | Audio |
| Overworld | |
| Djimmi's introduction. | |
| Djimmi launches his skull. | |
| Djimmi meditating. | |
| Djimmi laughing. | |
| Djimmi enters in his sarcophagus. | |
| The sarcophagus exits, now emotional. | |
| Djimmi hatches a plan. |
Gallery
Unused Content
There is an unused behavior for the second phase where the pillars will shoot to the right and damage the players. It is possible that this would have been rendered moot upon having their face sections destroyed, or it would have made the second phase harder.
 |
Within the art assets and the game code, there exists a string and assets that would have included/supported a parryable version of the rings Djimmi shoots in his final phase, it can be parried as much as you want but it will not disappear.
Walkthrough
| Regular Mode | Expert Mode |
|---|---|
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Trivia
- The pipe in Djimmi's mouth is a mixture of the Calabash pipe (used by Sherlock Holmes portrayed by Basil Rathbone) and the Corncob pipe (commonly used by Popeye the Sailor in all of his cartoons).
- According to his death quote in phase one of his battle, Djimmi went to Genie School, and the first trick he learned there were seemingly the attacks he used in phase 1.
- Djimmi The Great has the second most phases out of all the bosses in Cuphead, with five in total. Hilda Berg has the most with 6 phases.
- However, if the sub-bosses are counted as different phases, then King Dice has the most with 10 phases.
- Djimmi can seemingly rapidly change the pitch of his voice. In the second phase, he laughs using his "normal" voice, but in the third phase, when his sarcophagus opens up, he lets out a much higher-pitched cry. In the same stage, he can be heard making various high-pitched noises. Then, in the fourth phase, his voice returns to "normal" when he laughs while summoning Cuppet and while Cuppet attacks. And finally, at the start of the final phase, he lets out a much lower-pitched, monstrous-like laugh.
- His lower pitch in his giant form may be caused by his vocal chords increasing in size.
- Also according to Jake Clark, Djimmi used to be a female character.
- That said, the female prototype would have been inspired by Eden the female genie from Disney's animated Aladdin series or the Half-Genie Hero Shantae from the Shantae series
- In legacy version, it is possible to skip Djimmi's entire phase three by using bombs to hit an off-screen hitbox. When the phase commences, the sarcophagus will open, only to reveal slug Djimmi scared, the sarcophagus will then close while Djimmi clips through it and yells. If more damage is dealt Djimmi will be stuck in phase 3, as the phase transition has already triggered and the animation could not catch up.
- In Patch 1.1.3, Djimmi's third phase now has the knockout smoke cloud effect.
- In Patch 1.2, the mummies explode into confetti for a bit more visual flare.
- The music incorporates traditional Arabian-style musical elements, befitting the level setting.
- It was speculated that the treasure projectiles were originally to be used in one of the ill-fated Airship levels. In the game's code, for the Airship Crab's fight, it would either toss treasure or spit bubbles at the player. This is not the case, evident by the unused data for the Crab which reveals it would have only tossed four moderately sized gems, which would stay on screen and act as the only way the player could damage the boss.
- The laughs that Djimmi emits when he launches his skull are the same laughs emitted by Cala Maria's petrifying poltergeists in her third phase.
- The eyes of the pyramids are the same as Broken Relic, hinting at the source of powers coming from the astral plane.[2]
- In The Cuphead Show episode Roll the Dice, Cuphead blows a raspberry to someone named "Jimmy". However, this is unlikely to be Djimmi, as the subtitles specifically say "Jimmy" instead of "Djimmi".
Inspirations and similarities
Djimmi's name is a portmanteau of Chad and Jared Moldenhauer's father's name Jim and the Arabic root word for genie, "djinni".[1] The team studied many classic animated films for genie concepts, such as ComiColor's Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp and Popeye's Ali Baba's Forty Thieves, and general magical beings in other cartoon shorts.[3]
- The fact that Pyramid Peril is an air battle against a genie may be a reference to the fifth level of the game Star Parodier.
- The pyramids Djimmi summons in his last phase may be a reference to the Eye of Providence, and/or, the conspiracy theory, the Illuminati.
- Djimmi's design may be based off Jafar in his Genie form from the 1992 Disney film, Aladdin.
- Many also compare Djimmi to Patrick Star from SpongeBob SquarePants due to his facial expressions and shape.
- The Genie in German is called "Dschinni", sounding and looking very familiar to Djimmi.
- Despite his nature as a genie, Djimmi's speech patterns and gestures make him more akin to a stage magician.
- The use of miniature models in his stage's background may be a reference to the use of physical models as backgrounds in Fleischer shorts such as Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor, Popeye the Sailor Meets Ali Baba's Forty Thieves, Poor Cinderella, and Little Dutch Mill to name a few.
- A similar 3D effect was used in Egyptian Melodies, a Disney Silly Symphony that coincidentally also has an Egyptian theme.
- The corridor that Djimmi summons following the first phase of his battle resembles the corridor with the pillars that Kirby has to destroy during his battle with the Heart of Nova in Kirby Super Star. The pillars also have destructible sections, with their other parts being invincible (These segments can be identified with their faces, which resemble Djimmi's face, in Cuphead.), although while Kirby can pass through the destructible sections of the pillars that surround the Heart of Nova, Cuphead and his team will take damage if they try to pass through the destructible pillar pieces without destroying them beforehand.
Secrets
- In the patch 1.3.2 of Cuphead, Quadratus mentions spinning in place when you are in a rough place, when you spin around in place for 3 times, Game Djimmi appears and says "It is I, Game Djimmi! I grant thee 3 wishes and this is the first. Each wish doubles HP 'til the next win." Doubling the players health going into Run 'n Gun levels and boss levels in Simple and Regular Modes until the player wins a level. This bonus can be triggered three times in a new save file and infinitely in a completed file. However, with the bonus Health the player cannot get P rank in Run 'n Gun levels, nor can they get a Rank higher than B+ on boss levels.
- The second time it is triggered, Game Djimmi says "I grant you second wish of double HP 'til your next victory! Only one more wish left, so use it wisely!"
- The third time it is triggered, Game Djimmi says "You have called and the Game Djimmi has answered! Your final wish is granted!"
- After completing a file, Game Djimmi says "You've freed Game Djimmi! I grant thee infinite wishes on Simple and Regular Modes!"
- The DLC is considered separate from the main file, and as such Game Djimmi can only be used three times on Inkwell Isle Four until Chef Saltbaker is defeated.
- If used in All Bets Are Off!, the bonus HP will persist between all minibosses, and the HP will only return to normal once King Dice is defeated. Formerly, this was not the case.
- If you still died to Djimmi's last phase with the extra health, Djimmi has a unique death quote that replaces his usual final phase quote: "You foolish cups could not best me, even with my wishes three!", implying that he is the Game Djimmi.
- "Game Djimmi" is itself a play on "Game Genie", a series of cartridge add-ons prominent in the 1990s that allowed the players to use cheats in games such as gaining extra hitpoints.
- Using the wishes count toward the "Hearty" achievement. Also, health gained during the boss battle is counted. This was not the case in earlier versions of the Nintendo Switch release.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 The Art of Cuphead, Djimmi the Great, page 102
- ↑ Is there lore behind the Astral Plane?
- ↑ The Art of Cuphead, Djimmi the Great, page 105