Devil May Cry - A Complete History

It’s been over five years since we’ve seen a new game in the Devil May Cry series, so it should come as no surprise that fans are clamoring for the upcoming fifth title set to release in March of next year. So, in anticipation for the series’ long-awaited return, let’s take a look at how it got its start in the first place. Welcome to MojoPlays, and this is the History of Devil May Cry. It might be hard to believe, but the first “DMC” game actually started out as the fourth entry in the “Resident Evil” series back in 1999. With “RE2” released the previous year, and “RE3” enjoying critical success, Capcom was hard at work on the fourth game but were hitting some snags in the road because it was being developed for new hardware in the PS2. The difficulties for “RE4” would continue for some time, with multiple versions being scrapped before arriving at the final product; but, thankfully, the story of “Devil May Cry” had a much smoother process. It started when long-time “Resident Evil” producer/director Shinji Mikami tasked Hideki Kamiya with taking the survival horror series in a different direction from the first three games. As director, Kamiya then tasked “RE2” writer Noboru Sugimura with creating a storyline that was much cooler and stylish than previous “Resident Evil” games. This lead to the creation of a protagonist named Tony who had biotechnological, superhuman abilities and a great sense of mystery surrounding him as well. However, Tony’s character didn’t stand out enough from the pre-rendered backgrounds employed by Capcom in those days, and so a new dynamic camera system was created to capture all the flash and style of this new game. But, with more flash and style came less survival and even less horror, and as the game continued to evolve, Kamiya was able to convince his team that the game needed to be its own independent title. So, Kamiya re-wrote the story of Tony and the Umbrella Corporation into the tale of Dante, devils, and demons we know today and removed all mentions of anything “Resident Evil” related. He also played up the cool factor that was so desperately sought by Capcom early in development, envisioning Dante as the type of person you’d love to go drinking with on weekends – mixed with a little of the epic poem “The Divine Comedy” for good measure! With a team now in place developing the game by the name of “Team Little Devils,” the game was redesigned from the ground up around Dante’s speed and abilities with one of the key gameplay elements coming from a bug in “Onimusha: Warlords” where devs were able to keep enemies juggled mid-air by constantly slashing upward. This bug was removed from “Onimusha” but added as a feature to “Devil May Cry” and the rest is history. In November of 2000, the “Devil May Cry” title was released to the public for the first time and its “Resident Evil” roots were a distant memory by this point. The game was designed to be challenging, and it was given a mission-based structure to allow for rankings and grading based on performance. It also took on the role of part fighter/part puzzle solver/part platformer and added a Devil Trigger to make Dante more fearsome and destructive on his quest to hunt down demons and stopping Mundus from returning to Earth. Upon release on the PS2 in 2001, the first game was a critical and commercial success, selling two million copies in the U.S. alone, and was praised for its innovate gameplay, visuals, sense of style and camera control. In fact, these elements (and the original “Devil May Cry” particularly) are often cited as the start of the “Extreme Combat” genre of games often labeled “Hack n’ Slash.” The production of the second game began almost immediately after the success of the first, but Team Little Devils was nowhere to be found for some reason, nor was director Hideki Kamiya. With a new team in place, Capcom didn’t like the direction the second title was taking and so, with only four months left in the development cycle, they replaced the original director with long-time employee Hideaki Itsuno and somehow still managed to finish the game on time. Basically, “Devil May Cry 2’s” sole mission was to be bigger and better than the first, and physically it was with its environments being nine-times bigger than the original, but Dante’s character, as well as some of the puzzle and platformer elements (along with the difficulty), were greatly scaled back, leaving fans of the original disappointed and leading Gamespot to named it the most disappointing game of 2003. Other critics were mixed on the game as well, saying it sacrificed style for size, and largely neutered Dante as a character. Also, the addition of a second disc featuring the playable character of Lucia was largely panned as a gimmick to make the game feel even bigger than it actually was. Despite the sometimes-harsh criticism, the game still sold just under two million copies, so it was still a financial success for Capcom. “Devil May Cry 3” also sold well in 2005 – and moved an additional million copies with its Special Edition the following year – but this time around critics were kinder to the game seeing as it was a return to form. It was also a prequel, with a younger and cockier Dante discovering the tower of Temen-ni-gru. After the critical failure of “DMC2,” Capcom re-examined the series and focused on innovation and style adding a Battle System that allowed weapons to be used in new ways like switching between weapons mid-combo. Also added were gameplay styles, dramatically changing how Dante attacked foes, including Trickster, Swordmaster, Gunslinger and Royal Guard. This would be the final “DMC” game released on the PS2 as well as the first game of the series ported to PC. Once again, the development for the next title began as soon as the previous game was a success. “Devil May Cry 4” was designed exclusively for next-gen systems at the time and was the first game in the series to be released on both PS3 and Xbox 360 as well as PC. Hideaki Itsonu was back as director and wanted the game to have a very different feel to the previous three, but didn’t know how to go about that without either dramatically changing Dante or adding a new main character. Thus, he and Capcom decided to add the new character of Nero not only to revamp gameplay but also to try and attract new followers and fans to the series. But, the team behind the fourth game knew better than to leave Dante out of the mix, as fans would surely revolt, and so they made him a playable character as well; and, thus “DMC4” featured two characters with different mechanics. The change-up went over well with critics who liked the addition of Nero as well as the game’s stand-out visuals and challenging difficulty. It was also a financial success selling over three million copies, becoming the best selling entry in the series to date. A Special Edition of the game was released for PS4 and Xbox One in 2015 that further helped bolster sales as well. On a side note, original “DMC” director Hideki Kamiya used this game for research and inspiration when creating the first “Bayonetta” title in 2009, further linking the two hack n’ slash titles together in gaming history. Wanting more change in the series still, however, and wanting a more Westernized feel for its next game in the franchise, Capcom rebooted the series and outsourced development to the U.S. games developer Ninja Theory. Though “Devil May Cry 4” was the best-selling title in the series thus far, Capcom wanted sales numbers more in line with other Triple-A action games like “Assassin’s Creed.” They also didn’t want to fall behind direct competitors like “Bayonetta” either, which is why we got the reboot from a different developer using the Unreal Engine and aimed at a younger audience. The hope was to attract new fans but also satisfy old fans, except that (largely) only the critics accepted the rebooted version of “Devil May Cry,” praising Ninja Theory for its handling of gameplay, story, and design, while long-time fans of the series didn’t gel well with Dante’s more Emo, Westernized personality. Gameplay changes saw the addition of an Angel and Devil Mode that altered Dante’s fighting style, but by and large it still played like a “Devil May Cry” game. It went on to sell well but didn’t hit Capcom’s financial targets until it was re-released in 2015 as a Definitive Edition for PS4 and Xbox One. After fans balked at the rebooted version of “DMC” in 2013, they feared that the franchise may never see another release, but E3 2018 changed all that, when Capcom announced that its studios along with long-time director Hideaki Itsuno were back developing “Devil May Cry 5” and it would run on “Resident Evil 7’s” engine. The game takes place after the events of “DMC 4, thus continuing the storyline, and sees the return of both Dante and Nero as well as a new character named “V,” leaving long-time fans of the series dying to get their hands on the title and jump back into the demon-filled world. With the release of “Devil May Cry 5” due next year, Capcom aims to bring back disgruntled fans and move on from the reboot attempt of 2013. With nostalgia selling very well at the moment, there’s no better time for a return of Dante, Nero and the Gang, and we’re praying it’s a return to form for the series after many years of silence.