Dante
Dante is a guest character from the Devil May Cry series, who appears in Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne Maniax and Shin Megami Tensei: Liberation Dx2.
Profile
History
Dante is a demon hunter, the son of the Legendary Dark Knight Sparda, and half-demon half-human hybrid. He is the owner of the Devil May Cry agency where he resides.
2000 years ago, Sparda woke up to justice and betrayed the evil demon king Mundus, and singlehandedly defeated him and his demonic army. Sparda sealed away Mundus using the sword bearing his name, which later turns into the Force Edge.
An unknown amout of time later, Sparda would fall in love with a human woman named Eva, and the two had twins: Dante and Vergil. Sparda gave his sons a sword each: Dante gained the Rebellion, while Vergil acquired the Yamato. In addition, the two brothers each gained a half of an amulet which could unlock the seal between the demon and human worlds when brought together. However, when the brothers were young, Mundus' legion attacked and burned down their home, killing Eva and separating the twins.
From this moment on, Dante swore revenge on demonkind, killing any demon he comes across, hoping it would bring him closer to whoever was responsible for the loss of his family. This is why he opened up a devil hunting agency.
Dante's demon heritage give him incredible powers and allow him to achieve many feats, such as stopping Vergil from endangering the human world in his quest for power and sealing Mundus away for a second time.
Later in his life, Dante is accompanied by the young and brash Nero, who has ties to the Yamato, as well as the mysterious man V, who uses familiars to fight for him.
Design
Dante's design in Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne Maniax is ripped straight from his appearence in Devil May Cry 2, the latest entry in the series at the time. Dante has thick white hair, with bangs covering his right eye. He wears high black boots and red jeans, with a belt wrapped around each thigh. Dante has a belt with a skull buckle around his waist, and he wears black gloves with three buckled straps on each. His coat is a dark red, with two coattails, featuring a buckled collar and a black strap going over his right shoulder wrapping around his chest, with two golden studs on the front. The front of the coat also differs from the rest of it, being black with a zipper closed all the way up from the waist to the bottom of Dante's neck, his coat being open at the base of his neck.
In Shin Megami Tensei: Liberation Dx2, Dante's design is taken directly from Devil May Cry 5. His hair is now more greyish, and his outfit is much simple. He wears a dark red coat, open to reveal an ordinary dark blue T-shirt with three buttons. The sleeves themselves reach his elbows, though they are torn up. Dante wears black fingerless gloves and white bandages. For his legs, he wears a black belt with golden accents, black leather pants, and brown boots.
Personality
Dante is a snarky and cocky devil hunter. Due to his demonic powers, there exist few foes who could challenge him. As such, he almost never takes his opponants seriously and loves toying with his enemies, often taunting them in the middle of combat. Dante also has the tendency to banter with his opponents before and during a fight. He likes to use unorthodox and impratical methods which he thinks are cool in order to defeat demons. Even so, he genuinely cares about the safety of humans and will hunt down any demon that endangers people. However, he can be quite lazy, often not taking jobs he doesn't like and as such he's plagued with financial troubles. Though as Dante aged, his overall impulsive behavior was toned down as his patience grew thinner. Nevertheless, he's still arrogant and playful. During his first fight against the Demi-fiend, he rhetorically asks if Demi-fiend is having fun, while Dante claims he's having "the time of his life."
Development
The original idea behind the inclusion of Dante in Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne came from a staff member who was a huge fan of the Devil May Cry series. After some consideration that Dante could fit the setting of the game due to his role as a demon hunter, the idea was developed further. This included the creation of a movie in which Dante jumps off a tall building and confronts the protagonist with his guns drawn which was later used for the first encounter the player has with Dante in-game. The movie was sent to Capcom, who "loved it and the rest is history."[1]
Gameplay
Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne
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In Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne Maniax, Twoseome Time was named Bullet Time, and Son's Oath didn't have the Pierce effect. Raidou's equivalent skill in Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne Maniax Chronicle Raidou The Eternal had Pierce, creating a discrepancy between the two characters who are otherwise functionally identical. This was fixed in Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne HD Remaster.
Compendium
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Game Appearances
Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne Maniax
Dante is one of the few story additions to Nocturne Maniax, released simply as Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne in America and Shin Megami Tensei: Lucifer's Call in Europe. He was replaced by Raidou Kuzunoha the XIV in the Japan-exclusive re-release Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne Maniax Chronicle, and by default in Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne HD Remaster. However, Dante is available as paid DLC for the HD Remaster.
Dante is first mentioned before The Conception in Tokyo, qualified as a "strange foreigner wearing a red cloak and carrying a big sword" by a citizen. Dante survives the Conception, and is shown stalking the Demi-fiend after he gets out of Shinjuku Medical Center, while making a snarky remark about the state of Tokyo.
After the Demi-fiend survives the Mantra's court of strength, the Menorah of Sovereignity starts flickering. As he notices this, the Demi-fiend looks up and sees Dante standing at the highest point of the building, who proceeds to jump off and lands right in front of the Demi-fiend, before attacking him. During the battle, Dante toys with the Demi-fiend and doesn't take the fight seriously, taunting the Demi-fiend multiple times. Though Dante gets bored of the battle, he takes an interest in the Demi-fiend, sensing he's different from the other demons. He introduces himself to the demon hybrid, and he reveals that he was hired by an old man to kill demons, which include the Demi-fiend. However, he thinks there's more to his job than it first appeared, and so he takes off, ordering the Demi-fiend to survive so they can fight another time.
The next time Dante appears is in the third Kalpa. He figured out that the old man plans to have the Fiends kill each other, and gives the Demi-fiend the opportunity to turn back. Should the Demi-fiend continue further into the Kalpa, Dante will pursue him in a game of cat and mouse. If Dante catches up to the Demi-fiend, he will attack his party before fleeing the battle, putting the Demi-fiend at the start of the room and taunting him. When the Demi-fiend makes his way deep enough into the third Kalpa, Dante catches up to him and engages in a second battle, this time being much tougher and taking the fight more seriously. After the fight, Dante launches a final stinger, but intentionally avoids stabbing the Demi-fiend, the attack landing on the wall right behind him. He compliments the Demi-fiend, before clarifying that if he killed him, he's just playing into the old man's plan, which he refuses to do, and so he plans to leave the demon hybrid alone while investigating on his own. Before parting ways, Dante gives the Demi-fiend the Menorah of Knowledge since it's useless to him.
When the Demi-fiend reaches the fifth Kalpa, Dante will be waiting for him at the entrance, surprised he made it this far. Stepping out of the shadows, Dante explains that his and the Demi-fiend's goals align, and so will offer to join his party, realizing the irony of a Devil Hunter being hired by a demon. If the Demi-fiend refuses his offer, he will stay at the entrance of the Kalpa, waiting for the Demi-fiend to change his mind. Should he accept, Dante will flip a double-headed coin[a] and ask the Demi-fiend to call the result: if he calls heads, and he'll take 1 Macca, but if he calls tails then Dante will take half of his Macca. Dante will then permanently join the party and be summonable as a demon.
Dante's story relevance ends after he joins the Demi-fiend's party, and he has no more dialogue or cutscenes. His fate is left unknown in every ending.
Shin Megami Tensei: Liberation Dx2
Dante is part of a collaboration with Devil May Cry 5 and was available from March 4th 2019 to March 13th 11:59 PM JST[2] alongside Nero and V, the two other playable characters in Devil May Cry 5.[3] A 4★ Dante was available if the designated Facebook post on the official Liberation Dx2 account reached 1000 likes.[4] There was a storyline where he was a boss fight, and where he could be recruited. Voicelines, grunts, render during cutscenes and his soundtrack Subhuman were reused from Devil May Cry 5.
The event returned from October 1st 2020 to October 14th 18:59 PST.[5]
Nomenclature
| Language | Name | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
 Japanese |
ダンテ | Dante |
Gallery
Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne Maniax/HD Remaster
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Dante on the European box art.
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Dante is a selling point on the back of the European box.
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Dante's model from Nocturne Maniax.
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Dante menacing Demi-fiend.
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Dante encountering Demi-fiend in the fifth kalpa.
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"Featuring Dante from the Devil May Cry series" sticker.
Shin Megami Tensei: Liberation Dx2
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Promotional render.
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Dante's stats.
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Dante using Rapid Shot.
Trivia
- In Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne, when Dante uses his Showtime attack, Style meter rankings from B to S from Devil May Cry 2 (Bingo, Are You Ready? and Showtime!) appear on the screen.
- After the inclusion of Dante in Nocturne, as part of Atlus's collaboration with Capcom Kazuma Kaneko would design the Devil Trigger forms of Dante and Vergil in Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening.[6] These designs would be later included in both the original and Ultimate versions of Marvel vs. Capcom 3, and the Special Edition of Devil May Cry 4, all of which credit Kaneko.
- If Demi-fiend jumps off the 60/F of the Mantra headquarters while Dante is in the party, he will be unharmed while Demi-fiend and the other demons will be at 1 HP. This is a nod to Dante's first boss fight introduction cutscene where he leaps off the same spot and lands unscathed.
- In his original series, Dante can tap into his demonic powers and activate Devil Trigger, making him faster and more powerful, and in Devil May Cry 2 he also has access to Ultimate Devil Mode, an even more powerful demon form only accessible when Dante is at critical health. However, Dante never uses either form in Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne for unknown reasons.
- The "Featuring Dante from the Devil May Cry series" sticker was exclusive to the European release Shin Megami Tensei: Lucifer's Call. For the release of the HD Remaster, PlayStation released a new high quality version of the image that can be printed out.[7]
Notes
- ↑ As seen in Devil May Cry 2.
References
- ↑ "The movie is the scene where Dante jumps off of a building and lands behind the main character with guns drawn. We used strategy guides and other reference materials to create the movie. It turned out great and we were confident that Capcom would like it. Just as we thought, they loved it and the rest is history.”" [1]. Published July 29, 2004. Retrieved August 3, 2008. GameZone.
- ↑ https://twitter.com/d2megaten/status/1102497159046262785
- ↑ https://d2-megaten-l.sega.com/en/news/detail/065257.html
- ↑ https://d2-megaten-l.sega.com/en/news/detail/065257.html
- ↑ https://d2-megaten-l.sega.com/en/news/detail/081962.html
- ↑ "この後、コラボ企画の一環として『デビルメイクライ3』でダンテの悪魔化デザインを金子一馬が提供しています。" Translation: "Later, as part of the collaboration project, Kazuma Kaneko provided the design for Dante's demonization in 'Devil May Cry 3'." Shin Megami Tensei Series 25th Anniversary Memorial Book Megaten Maniacs (2017), Nobuyuki Shioda. JP. 111.
- ↑ https://blog.playstation.com/2021/04/20/how-featuring-dante-happened-in-shin-megami-tensei-iii-nocturne-hd-remaster/