Devil May Cry's hardest of hardcore fans would like to tell you that Ninja Theory is throwing up a middle finger at Capcom (and fellow fans) with the radically different look of Dante in the Devil May Cry reboot. But it turns out that the original creators are the ones urging Ninja Theory to push the creative bar.
In an interview with Develop, Ninja Theory's Nina Kristensen says Capcom Japan gave the studio full artistic freedom with the redesign. It even had to, at one point, tell the studio to "go crazy" with the character, after Ninja Theory submitted concepts that were deemed too conservative.
"The concepts for Dante went through a lot of different iterations," Kristensen said in the interview. "They went all over the place. We went really far out with some. The first time we sent our initial concepts to Capcom Japan, they said 'no, no you need to push it way further.'
"Because, obviously, Dante is a big character for Capcom, we stuck fairly close to the original design template. But Japan said we needed to go much further, go crazy with it, and so we did."
== TEASER ==The new-look Dante hasn't thrilled fans of the iconic character. A glance at the threads about the redesign in Ninja Theory's official DMC message board reveals the fervor of DMC fans and the disgust for the new slimmer, younger, and more industrial Dante. Some members are even offering to redesign the character themselves, as if Ninja Theory needs the help. Also, there's a lot of talk of a Twilight connection, but I haven't seen any new DMC videos with the werewolves and teenagers yet.
In the Develop interview, Kristensen added that Ninja Theory hopes that, with time, people will begin to like the redesign, as the game is to remain respectful of the franchise and its hack-and-slash mechanics. But I think fans need to be willing to show some respect in the first place for this to happen.
By the way, here's a look at the old Dante in Devil May Cry 3 for comparison (and ridicule) purposes:
