What about Gunstar Heroes?

[Toki Zensekai]

So, a lot of people when reviewing the game or describing it talk about it being in the vein of Contra and sometimes Metal Slug as far as its gameplay goes, however, being someone who grew up with these games, I found that Cuphead's style of platforming, gunplay, and overall crazy boss fight emphasis is more closely related to that of Gunstar Heroes for the Sega Genesis. That game offered more freedom of movement like Cuphead does and the weapon designs are more closely tailored to the way Gunstar Heroes' weapons worked.

If you don't believe me you can pick up Gunstar Heroes for yourself on Steam, I recommend giving it a look.

[Raven]

And Contra Hard Corps, that game's all about the bosses

[TarMan]

Because most of these "journalists" have probably never played Gunstar Heroes (regardless of the fact that it's a 16 bit classic), they're all pretty much just referencing whoever the first reviewer was who made the Contra reference.

Cuphead is without a doubt an homage to Gunstar Heroes, the King Dice boss fight being the most obvious reference, yet even this obvious reference hasn't been recognised by any "game reviewer".