In my opinion I thought Devil May Cry 3 was the best, it just seemed to carry the most action and cocky attitude that I expect from Dante.

I've only played Devil May Cry 3 (SE) and Devil May Cry 4 and of the two I loved the third one. Overly cheesy, outlandish, and loved every second of it.

Devil May Cry 3 felt like it was the best of series, with the first Devil May Cry coming in second.

Devil May Cry 3: SE is my favourite, with DMC4 coming in second. I played the first after I completed the third, and found it did not hold up very well at all. And the second was just sort of awful, so that's at the bottom of the barrel.

This is seriously a no-brainer.  While DMC1 is a PS2 classic, and DMC2 wasn't nearly as awful as people make it out to be, DMC3 (SE) is by far the best in the series.  The combat was incredibly deep, and the difficulty is thumb-numbingly ball-busting at times.

DMC 2 is the best!!! fail.

I never even played a game, but DMC4 is the reason why I still hate most Japanese games... 
 
 
Metal Gear Solid being an exception.

I have played every DMC game and DMC 3 is the best one so far. Played through it 2-3 times and I still go back for some more action. The game needs to be played on hard!