Re-imaging of Dante, and the New Devil May Cry

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“I remember calling it Developers May Cry, it looked that good.” God of War III’s game director Stig Asmussen confesses in the upcoming God of War Directors Live event, when asked about his art direction days on the original God of War. Devil May Cry; its headliner, Dante; and the entire DMC mythology have sprung installments on multiple consoles, comic books and an anime series. Dante is an iconic figure in the video game world, so imagine the reaction when Lead Producer Alex Jones and Chief Creative Director Tameem Antoniades were tapped to change everything we know about Devil May Cry and start from scratch. The result? DmC.


Clearly, Ninja Theory and Capcom were anticipating a strong reaction and fan skepticism, but after my conversation with the new DmC team, I grew more confident that Dante and the cast of DmC are in good hands. It’s daring, crazy and extremely challenging to change an 11-year-old franchise. But, if Christopher Nolan can do it with Batman Begins, maybe Ninja Theory can do the same for Devil May Cry. I’m sure you’ll agree when I say that I feverishly await more details behind the new DmC. Expect both Jones and Antoniades to visit the PlayStation.Blog in the future.

I like the new hair. There, I said it.

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291 Comments

11 Author Replies

  • wow you serious? tell me your joking? recreating the whole game so Dante can come out all emo looking wanabe badass who smokes? OMG Capcom made the most stupidest move ever in game history. You just let ninja theory destroy Dante’s badassness with this thing? Unlike Suckerpunch, they do listen to us and change Cole back to character which we love just for us. So please, tell the capcom to tell them to scrap the emo looking wanabe badass poser and bring back the old icon Dante which we all know.

  • Should have called this game as something else and not label it as DMC. Would have gotten a better response. Also, the lead producer is contradicting himself. “…less over the top fasiony(sp?) stuff and more harder edge.” If anything he’s even more stylize with his new hair do. I’m pretty sure you would have to go to a salon to get that cut. And for the record I think this new main character of this game is a cross between a zombie,druggie,emo teen. Other than that, everything else looks ok.

  • I’m just going to pass on this until a real DMC game comes out. I do not like the direction this one is going.

  • @Kchow23
    Well I don’t think he changed -that- much. Personally, I would have known it was DMC even if it wasn’t written. He looks like a younger Dante. What I don’t like is the new attitude and that was what made the original character what we know.

  • @ShadowRain19
    Well, inFamous is a sequel, this game is not, so they wanted to have a different Dante.

    Let’s just wait for gameplay. That’s why I buy a game. DMC2 and DMC4 both had Dante in them, but they were nothing more than a rent for me. A character doesn’t make a game fun. If I hate the character but love the gameplay, I’ll just skip the cutscenes. I wouldn’t even play if it was the opposite.

  • myself being a fan of the devil may cry series, i am fine with the update. not to mention that the original trailer for DmC was SOOOOO BadA$$~ cannot wait to see how this turns out.

  • I like the new DANTE look. Going have to give this game a try. Played all of DMC, except the one for PS3. I’m kind of person that don’t mind changes amonge games. Like COLE for inFamous, I really like the new COLE. Didn’t like the game because of how COLE was in the first, but when they introduce the new look of COLE I was ALRIGHT!!! I might like inFamous now. Then all the freaking crybabies made a big deal about it and they redesign him again and went back to the NEW OLD COLE. Because of this I will not buy inFamous 2. I hope CAPCOM / Ninja Theory don’t give in to all the crybabies and change DANTE back.

    I think company like SUCKER PUNCH and CAPCOM / NINJA THEORY should have both the NEW and OLD in the game to choose before the start of the game. This way everyone wins. I personally like the NEW DANTE for DEVIL MAY CRY and the NEW COLE for INFAMOUS.

  • I’m actually posting on here for the first time. I don’t expect a response, since it seems most of the negative feedback on here is being combed through in favor of the one or two positive posts.

    I’m new to the Devil May Cry franchise, but I’ve known of Dante and the games for about ten years now. I’ve never seen any unhappiness with Dante’s design in the fan base, nor have I seen complaints about his character. So why change him? The original Dante was iconic not just because of the games themselves, but because his design was simple and stood out: White hair, red jacket, enormous sword, two guns. This new character doesn’t have any of that. Giving Dante black hair, changing up his attire, and deciding to make him look dusky and gaunt does not make him edgy or iconic. If anything, this just shoves him into an easily recognizable and very disliked category of currently existing characters. Want to upgrade a character and make him appealing to fans? Do exactly what the Santa Monico did with Kratos: Have the character evolve into their new appearance over time. Design for the sake of reason is good. Design for the sake of design is not.

  • @FawkePhenix
    New Cole was just way too generic. Sure, he went from Nathan Hale to Nathan Drake, but at least he was a little more original. Nathan Drake looks like 60% of the guys in the streets and that’s exactly why Naughty Dog made him look like that. I didn’t want to have another game with a casual hero.

  • @ShaowofEdan
    This is why I think they should have both the NEW and OLD in the game to choose from. This way / will make everyone happy. Nobody will cry about it. I hope they do this for both INFAMOUS 2 and the new DMC.

  • also devil may cry came out 9 years ago hahahahaha

  • Yea the new Dante look completely annihilates the old Dante look, sorry to say it in such a severe set of words, but how else can I say it, I don’t know why but he kinda’ reminds me of a badass version of John Connor in terminator 2(anyone else feeling me here?) I’m not emo, nor do I listen to emo, or affiliate myself with emo in any way, as far as calling him ’emo’ goes, I just don’t see it, but then again I’m 30 I’ve been playing games since emo’s were called something else.

    Oh my…, I just had an awesome idea, Capcom should proceed down this path and outsource Resident Evil to Visceral Games (Dead Space developers) while they’re at it. Any thoughts on this?

  • @111 TwigTechnology

    I think we’re only seeing a small section of the game in those cutscenes, If you ask me, he’s a normal man, locked in an insane asylum or something, and something is scratching at him from within’ to get out, this inner calling that keeps asking himself who he is… or something to that effect, perhaps he’s transitioning and becoming Dante, and maybe by the end of the game he’ll look/act a lot different than at the start, idunno’ that’s just my creativity taking over after what I seen in the trailer that released prior to this developer interview.

  • Sorry for multi-post… what can I say… I missed the PSblog.

  • Although the new Dante doesn’t look the same as the old one, I’ still gonna be open minded. Now, moving away from the whole “HE LOOKS SO DIFFERENT!!” complaints, the enemies look freakishly cool, and the environment is a great new change from the old DMC’s. I wonder if it’ll be open-world….

  • Wow what a drastic contrast to Dante. I know it’s a remake of the series but your screwing up. You guys at Ninja Theory just took one of the most influential and well know characters, through an emo bath. Take a look at Sucker Punch, in inFAMOUS 2 they changed their character back because they tried to “mainstream” their character look and people hated it. They listen to the community and did the right thing. I will buy inFAMOUS 2 on day one because of this and will not purchase the new DMC.

  • Nice interview Rey.

    I can understand where the fans’ disappointment is coming from to an extent, but I think people should wait until some actual gameplay is shown before they decide to completely reject the game.

    Personally, I’m looking forward to this game because I like everything Ninja Theory has made (can’t wait for Enslaved), and I can accept Dante’s new look if the game plays well.

  • Everyone is crying over nothing.
    I’ve been a LONG time DMC fan, and I’ve loved Dante’s attitude, but his “I’m too cool for enemies or trouble” attitude started to get stale in DMC4. He was one badass mo-fo.

    But it was oddly refreshing to see Dante in the way he was portrayed in the new DmC.

    It’s almost like most of the backlash is caused because people don’t like seeing their super hero beat up. Well that’s life folks, even the most cocky mo-fo’s get beaten around at one point. And all the Previous DmC’s (besides 3, slightly) failed to give me that sense.

  • THIS IS AN INSULT to Dante fans. I thought Nero was as bad as it could ever get, but even Nero is better than this!

    This is a huge slap in the face to Dante fans, so to return the favor I’ll make it my mission to discourage as many people as I can to boycott this game.

    If DmC releases, Ninja Theory will be stained forever.

    and comparing this to Nolan’s Batman is a JOKE! He returned it to the original Batman, Ninja Theory is doing the opposite, they’re degrading Dante. I’ve lost all respect.

  • I don’t care for the new look, but it doesn’t matter as much as the game play. If the game funs at ~50-60fps and has a fairly deep combat system, that’s enough for me. If runs like Heavenly Sword or Enslaved, I’ll pass.

  • @FawkePhenix
    Problem is the attitude. Fans love Dante for his attitude more than his look. Sure they could add Dante as a different costume like the old DMCs had, but without the attitude, the old look won’t change anything.

  • Wow. That’s a lot of closed-minded ‘individuals.’

    “Everyone just creates and copies the same old things! Stop giving us cookie-cutter sequels… so long as everything stays the same.”

    Because DMC was a top innovator before… -_-

  • I’m pretty sure I saw someone put Dante’s new look next to Hilary Swank and they looked like twins. To be honest I didn’t even know DmC needed a reboot. Did DmC4 have bad sales or something? And even then when Batman was rebooted they didn’t give Batman a complete redesign in costume. It’s like if you take Kratos, give him hair, make up, and more feminine features. I’m pretty sure all hell would break lose if that happened.

  • I definitely like the darker tone to the game. It feels more realistic and relatable. I can’t wait to see actual gameplay though. I’m curious to see if they can pull off a fresh combat system.

    As far as the character design goes, I’m neutral. To all the haters: A character doesn’t have to be the same all the time. They can change, grow as a person, and shift attitudes. Connections between the player and the character are made this way. An the origin, he may not always have been the cocky devil he grew to be. Give them a chance to tell the story.

  • Don’t make Devil May Cry easier like most western developers make their games. Don’t make Dante sensitive at all. Keep him as the cold hearted, killer who doesn’t care so much about anything but himself. Don’t make the action as slow as it was in that video. Keep the action as fast paced as it was in the previous games. Give Dante his strength back. Throw away this drug addict, twilight, emo garbage. Make sure there’s a new game plus. Don’t tone down the ladies in the game. Make them as buxom and girating as they were in DMC4. If you can do this there’s a chance this won’t be a failure. If you westernize it and make it too easy and sensitive, this will be another in the string of western developed Capcom collaboration failures.

  • DMC is out 9 years ago!! LOL

    the action in the trailer is SLOW and isn’t even 1/4 great as DMC3 Teaser, where is the sword whre is the amulet that he has (the same one with the vergil)

    I’m not gonna buy this abomination i hate this smoker drug addict powerless dante,real dante eat pizza and strawbery sunday and not smoking, real dante is nearly invicible so impossible for him to be a test lab subject, DMC 3 already has young dante so if this younger dante than all of attitude showed

    Dante has white hair since he born if you fans of DMC you should atleast already know that there is picture of dante mother and his two child that has white hair in DMC 3.

    beside i can’t trust Ninja Theory to make HARD STYLISH ACTION GAME their game has sluggish not to responsive clunky combat and even hard to maintain at 30 fps (DMC must run SMOOTH at 60fpss)

    if they ditch smoke make dante more healty and changing their face become more clean and handsome and white fix his attitud and maybe i give some chance, if not i better wait for bayonetta 2:p

  • wow, I guess I missed the culture where a smoking, druggie, thin emo kid was “cool” and Dante is no longer cool. I’ve said before, I loved Heavenly Sword and can’t wait for Ninja Theories new game but the new DmC looks horrible. I don’t care how good the gameplay is because if I cannot like the main character, I cannot care about the game.

  • Great now dmc gets to die like prince of persia.

  • NO
    NO
    Just NO

    Make another game, make a sidestory Devil May Cry with a new lead and have him look however you want. Don’t mess with what we, the fans of the series, do love: Dante.

  • Ugh… what’s with the Nolan references? IF NINJA THEORY COMPARES THEMSELVES TO NOLAN AGAIN I THINK I MAY PUKE!!!

    You can’t even fathom the genius behind such a name.

  • hey rey just an advice,we don’t like the new emo dante…STOP SHOVING HIM DOWN OUR THROATS !

  • HOLY CRAP! New Dante IS R3Y!

  • I have news for the devs on this one, all 50 of my fellow DMC fans wont be buying this, thats not Dante, the char looks NOTHING like the Dantes in the other games, u dont change ur main char that much and expect us to accept it, we will NOT be buying this game. EVER. PERIOD.

  • i still have a copy of devil may cry for the ps2 in shrink wrap! great game! hated dmc2, didn’t finish dmc3. dmc4, i couldn’t get past the first chapter – i got bored quick.

    i can’t wait for this new take! i like the makeover on cole for infamous 2, and i like this makeover on dante just the same! keep the fresh stuff coming!

  • How can u like a char that they changed so much? his hair has been white from his day of birth, to change it is to say the other 3 games, anime and comic books all lied to us, they should shut there doors for what they r doing to him, they are taking a game we all love and killing what made Dante Dante. Make over the enimimes, put him in a whole new city, dont frickin mess with the main char!

  • Someone correct me please if wrong, but how can you reboot a series when the past two games were prequels :S ?
    Last time I checked, there was no game to continue where Devil May Cry 2 left off.

  • Really, the character design is just the topping on the disappointment cake to me. Instead of embodying Dante, this new guy feels like a fan character trying his hardest to pretend to be him.

    I’m more concerned with what seems to be a total shift from what DMC is about. It doesn’t look like a re-imagining at all; more like an original IP with known character names slapped on by a different dev team wanting to cash in on a known franchise’s popularity. And I think most people are getting that vibe.

    Don’t get me wrong. I like Ninja Theory. But Batman Begins, this is not. Christopher Nolan didn’t suddenly turn Batman into an ex-Arkhum Asylum inmate who decided to fight crime because they put him in a cave with bats all the time. Dante, too, should remain similar, even within re-imagined circumstances.

  • i’m impressed. i really am. at the ppl that keep trying to defend this game.

    1. you can’t compare it to batman. batman NEEDED a makeover. the 3rd and 4th moves were just plain stupid. there was nothing wrong with DMC other than they tried to introduce a new character and complicate the story instead of moving on with Dante’s story

    2. Ninja Theroy has yet to make a good game. Hevenly Sword? crap. ending didn’t make a bit of sense and the gameply was horrible. not to mention the game lasted what? 6 hours? at least GoW3 lasted almost 10.

    3. wth would you redesign a iconic character after yourself? the hair being black isn’t the problem… it’s the stupid hair style. and i’m sorry. they say they tried to design him to be cool? not even smokers think smoking is cool. most wish they had never started… wtf man.

  • Funny that they would use the DMC2 picture to mesh together with the new model. DMC2 was considered the worst out of the four by the game’s fanbase.

    Personally, as a DC comic fangirl, I hated Nolan’s films. So bad comparison there for some people (not all, since I’m clearly not in the majority – OPINIONS, YAY).

    BUT THIS GAME IS THE FOCUS. And this, this looks okay (despite Dante now looking like Hilary Swank in Boys Don’t Cry) – but as something entirely different, not DMC at all. What makes DMC what it is is because of the characters and what made Dante endearing as a character was that ‘over the top’ nonsense. He was fun, he had light-hearted comments that kept the game balanced. Proof? They took that out in DMC2, made him the silent ‘badass’, and everyone hated that game despite the gameplay being better than the original.

    I can’t exactly say that will happen here since there’s a long way to go but… overall, they’re treading a thin line. From the trailer we’re shown, I’m not getting much of anything on his personality other than the fact that… well, he seems like a snot. And not an endearing snot like the original. ;)

  • Sorry, but this isn’t what the fans wanted. As someone from the blog said in a reply, this isn’t like the Snake vs. Raiden situation. Where in MGS2 we had a horrible character that was later vindicated with his awesome appearance in MGS4, we go from an awesome character from DMC1-4 to essentially Raiden of MGS2. No. No. No. HELL No.

  • The interviewer and creative designer are biased because the new “Dante” looks like them. Last time I checked, the “emo punk” look was never cool — not in the 70s, 80s, 90s, and definitely not now. Maybe it’s big in Europe, but not in the US.

    I’m sick of people comparing this to The Dark Knight. Do you know how inaccurate that analogy is? TDK is the truest adaptation of the Batman series and brought in the element of realism that was never present in movies based on comics before. Dark/edgy/gritty/grungy — all those things are meaningless and overdone if you don’t know how to use those atmospheric elements properly. It’s already become a cliche for everyone and their mother to make everything “like TDK”. Screw that. Iron Man movies did just great without the dark edge/twist that everyone seems to love these days. In fact, the character Tony Stark is way closer to Dante. So, whatever, Ninja Theory and Capcom USA. Not all teens were emo in high school, and practically everyone who was emo back then is STILL EMO AS ADULTS.

  • An even closer analogy would be Cloud from FF7. Fan opinion of him changed since FF7:AC. No one likes the emo AC Cloud, because that isn’t Cloud. Everyone liked FF7’s easy-going, carefree Cloud.

    DmC’s failure is inevitable. If the fans of DMC 1-4 and (white-haired, lighthearted) Dante truly don’t buy this steaming pile of crap, there will be no reason for Capcom to make any more of these attempts to “westernize” their games. Remember Sonic and Sega? Yeah, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

    RIP Dante.

  • The average article rating speaks for itself.

  • Looking forward to this one as well. AND Heavenly Sword 2!! How can you NOT be making it??? Ok rant over, back to playing with my Move!!! Love this lil orb…

  • “Trust me, they’re aware of the both negative and positive reactions their new Dante has received. DmC is back in gamer’s vocabularies, that’s priceless.”

    So I guess there’s no such thing as bad publicity is what your saying… got it. Its all for $… Ok… I fail to see the logic tho cuz its an established franchise so you’d think their target would be the ones who have actually been with DMC since the beginning or so cuz I just don’t see anyone after 4 games all-of-a-sudden jumpin on the bandwagon… and with a huge majority responding negatively to this how can they expect to gain new people if any one whose even remotely interested thus far seems to be “bad-mouthing” it (it deserves it tho) Dante looks waaaaayyy too feminine for me, I don’t care if he is younger last time I checked he was still a guy.

  • when i heard about a new devil may cry i got very excited ive played them all and love them …. then i watched the trailer. Capcom what have u done to an icon.

    Hopefuly what happend to infamouse 2s version of cole happens to dante. Started off too different then the original cole and got enough negative feedback to get a change. If u cant shoot guns like crazy in this game im staying away from it.

  • Thank god for that Video Still xD

    Screen capping that because that’s exactly how the new Dante looks. Like the 2nd design, only without a bath and with black hair.

  • @FawkePhenix
    Its funny how you call everyone complaining about the new look crybabies but you said yourself the reason you didn’t play or even like the first infamous and why your not getting infamous 2 is because you didn’t like the way cole looked so in that regard are the fans of DMC that don’t like this new look for Dante any different from you… I think your being a little hypocritical there dude, just sayin’.

  • Hey Rey Gutierrez…

    I notice that you only responded to the positive comments.

    Can’t take the criticism, eh? Please, read through the reactions to this video and the change as a whole and just TRY, TRY to tell me that the split of people who absolutely HATE, LOATHE, DESPISE the new character design to metrosexual people like yourself that must love My Chemical Romance and Twilight films is 50/50…

    It is NOT.

    Ninja Theory had better think about bulking Dante up quite a bit, losing the effeminate posture, effeminate face and My Chemical Romance/Twilight hairstyle….I could give two craps about what COLOR his hair is. It is the style that is an atrocity.

    Seriously, man. Take a look at yourself, then ask yourself, “Why do I think that I find this to be ok?” “Hm, could it be that it is because it is someone else that is trying to validate my own metrosexual hairstyle?”

  • All I can say is that Dante had better end up looking more like the still image from the above trailer and less like (i.e., NOT AT ALL LIKE) everything else released thus far in terms of trailers, concept art, everything. The way he looks in the still image is ok, so long as he loses the effeminate postures, smoking and girlie-tight clothes (i.e., the same tightness of clothing that women wear to show off their feminine figure, which is how tight the TGS-Dante’s clothing was).

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