DMC4: Dante takes a back seat

Friday 7 September 2006
Devil May Cry 4 will not feature Dante, the star of the three previous games in the series, as the main playable character and will take place between the original Devil May Cry and Devil May Cry 2. The new lead character is called Nero, he has a demonic arm that draws enemies toward him and his swordplay will add a brand new element to the game.

All of these revelations come direct from Japanese gaming bible, Famitsu. The article reveals that DMC4's combo system will build on the one used in DMC3, with Capcom altering the gameplay in response to comments and input from fans.

Above: Dante's such a strong character that we're expecting to see him turn up to fight alongside Nero, like Solid Snake with Raiden in Metal Gear Solid 2

However, this morning Capcom launched the official Devil May Cry 4 website, which features artwork of Nero shoulder-to-shoulder with Dante. There's even a page dedicated to Dante - so he'll certainly feature in the game to some degree. Famitsu's guess is that the Tokyo Games Show in late September will reveal all, which is strengthened by the abbreviation TGS appearing on the site's diary page.

And, in other news, Devil May Cry will be appearing on Sony's PSP, according to a note on Capcom's Japanese website. Listed as a 'stylish action' game, we're hoping that it spells a brand new adventure for the series, rather than a rerun of Dante's previous PS2 heroics.

We'll be waiting with baited breath to see what else is new for the awesome blast-'n'-slash action series, with TGS kicking off on the 22 September the most likely source of fresh info.

Ben Richardson is a former Staff Writer for Official PlayStation 2 magazine and a former Content Editor of GamesRadar+. In the years since Ben left GR, he has worked as a columnist, communications officer, charity coach, and podcast host – but we still look back to his news stories from time to time, they are a window into a different era of video games.