While Devil May Cry 3 didn’t create the iconic action series, in a lot of ways it’s probably the most important entry. After the first game basically invented the genre often called ‘character action,’ it was followed by a stunningly bad sequel, Devil May Cry 2. Many probably considered the series dead after that (yes, it’s that bad), but the third game raised the bar and helped pull the franchise back up. Without it, I imagine the series would be among the many in Capcom’s IP graveyard. And if you doubt it’s that big of a deal, well, the whole development team almost quit over it.
In an interview with Matt Walker at USGamer, he discussed the upcoming port of Devil May Cry 3: Special Edition to the Switch. Here he revealed that the original development team realized this was basically the franchise’s last shot, and they would do anything and everything to follow Director Hideaki Itsuno’s vision in revitalizing the series. And if they couldn’t, they would be gone.
“I think the coolest thing about the development of Devil May Cry 3 is that the team approached it with a go-for-broke attitude, and made it completely according to Itsuno-san’s tastes. Itsuno-san wanted to create the best game he could on his own terms—the action, the characters, the story—so they were all created with Itsuno-san’s sensibilities. The whole team decided that if they couldn’t make DMC 3 a huge success, they would all quit. Luckily, their work seems to have paid off.”
Devil May Cry 3 originally released on PlayStation 2 with a Special Edition release following that had some addition content and game fixes. That version has since been repackaged multiple times in the HD Collection that’s been ported to most major platforms. It will release individually on Nintendo Switch on February 20th, where it will enjoy several new features. The series is now considered a major brand by Capcom, so it’s kind of wild to think the ride very well could have ended here.
