Devil May Cry

Devil May Cry consists of levels called "missions", where players must fight numerous enemies, perform platforming tasks, and occasionally solve puzzles to progress through the story. The player's performance in each mission is given a letter grade, starting with D, increasing to C, B, and A, with an additional top grade of S. Grades are based on the time taken to complete the mission, the amount of "red orbs" gathered (the in-game currency obtained from defeated enemies, destroyed objects, and exploration), how "stylish" their combat was, item usage, and damage taken.

"Stylish" combat is defined as performing an unbroken series of varied attacks while avoiding damage, with player performance tracked by an on-screen gauge. The more hits the player makes, the higher the gauge rises. The gauge starts at "Dull"; progresses through "Cool", "Bravo", and "Absolute"; and peaks at "Stylish". Repeatedly using the same moves causes the gauge to stop rising, encouraging the player to use every move in their arsenal.

Devil May Cry begins with Dante (Drew Coombs) being attacked in his office by a mysterious woman named Trish (Sara Lafleur). He impresses her by easily brushing off her assault, and explains that for years, he has hunted demons in pursuit of the ones who killed his mother and brother. Trish explains that her attack was a test, and that the demon emperor Mundus (Tony Daniels), whom Dante holds responsible for the deaths of his family, is planning to cross over into the human world after centuries of imprisonment. The scene jumps to their arrival at an immense castle on the mysterious Mallet Island, where Mundus has steadily grown his power and influence over the years in preparation for his ascension. Trish quickly abandons Dante, who is forced to continue on his own.

Dante explores the castle, fighting off demons summoned by Mundus to attack him and overcoming all sorts of devious puzzles, traps, and tricks. He also obtains two magical weapons, a sword called Alastor and a pair of gauntlets known as Ifrit, and encounters the first of Mundus' servants, a giant spider/scorpion demon known as Phantom. Dante wins their battle, but Phantom escapes and swears revenge before Dante eventually impales and kills him. Dante goes on to defeat the other servants: a giant demon bird known as Griffon (Howard Jerome), a living bioweapon referred to as Nightmare, and a masked "dark knight" known as Nelo Angelo (David Keeley) who impresses Dante with his confidence.

First hinted at in early December 1999, Devil May Cry started out as the earliest incarnation of Resident Evil 4. Initially developed for the PlayStation 2, it was directed by Hideki Kamiya after producer Shinji Mikami put him in charge of crafting a fourth entry in the Resident Evil series. Around the turn of the millennium, regular series writer Noboru Sugimura created a scenario for the title, based on Kamiya's idea to make a stylized action-adventure game that would break from the usual slow-paced action of Resident Evil. The story was based on unraveling the mystery surrounding the body of protagonist "Tony", an invincible man with skills and an intellect exceeding that of normal people, his superhuman abilities explained with biotechnology.

As Kamiya felt the playable character did not look brave and heroic enough in battles from a fixed angle, he decided to drop the prerendered backgrounds from previous Resident Evil installments and instead opted for a dynamic camera system. This new direction required the team to make a trip to Europe where they spent eleven days in the United Kingdom and Spain photographing things like Gothic statues, bricks, and stone pavements for use in textures.

Devil May Cry received a "Gold" sales award from the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA), indicating sales of at least 200,000 copies in the United Kingdom. By July 2006, Devil May Cry had sold 1.1 million copies and earned $38 million in the United States alone. Next Generation ranked it as the 48th highest-selling game launched for the PlayStation 2, Xbox or GameCube between January 2000 and July 2006 in that country. Combined sales of the Devil May Cry series reached 2 million units in the United States by July 2006.

Devil May Cry received critical acclaim, with reviews typically praising its gameplay innovations, action, visuals, camera control, and gothic ambience. Andrew Reiner at Game Informer summarized their review by saying the game "makes Resident Evil look like a slow zombie". It was nominated for GameSpot's annual "Best Action/Adventure Game" prize among console games, which went to Grand Theft Auto III. Devil May Cry also frequents several Top Video Games of All Time lists.

Devil May Cry spawned a sequel, Devil May Cry 2 and a prequel, Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening; both of which have sold more than two million copies. Devil May Cry 4 was released on February 5, 2008, in the United States for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC. Total sales for all versions as of February 10, 2016 is well over 3 million copies. It has likewise resulted in the release of two novels by Shinya Goikeda, and an anime series.

On October 15, 2004, three years after its release, a soundtrack containing its music was released alongside the soundtrack to Devil May Cry 2. Plans for a PlayStation Portable installment, tentatively titled Devil May Cry Series, and a live action film adaptation have been announced, although it was later confirmed in 2009 that the PSP adaptation of Devil May Cry was officially cancelled. A reboot titled DmC: Devil May Cry was released in 2013 by Ninja Theory and Capcom. Kamiya considers his 2009 video game Bayonetta to have evolved from Devil May Cry although he played the sequel Devil May Cry 4 when developing it.