The Devil May Cry Gallery
Three red boxes built a genre.
This is the paper and plastic shelf: the North American boxes of Devil May Cry, Devil May Cry 2 and Devil May Cry 3, the three covers that taught a generation of players what stylish action looked like before they ever pressed start, with the series' later faces and its print spin-offs beside them.
One honest note, in the Library's standing pattern: the Japanese boxes could not be verified from an open source in this pass, so they are documented in text on the covers page rather than pictured from an unverifiable scan. Everything pictured here was opened and checked.
THE TRILOGY
PlayStation 2, North America
Devil May Cry · 2001
Dante aims one pistol at the buyer and rests the other hand on his sword, over red smoke. The tagline at the top reads: Embrace the Darkness.
Devil May Cry 2 · 2003
The sequel sells a stare: Dante's face fills the box, one eye lit red, the logo set in flame across his collar.
Devil May Cry 3 · 2005
A younger Dante, coat open, sword over his shoulder, the tower Temen-ni-gru behind him under a full moon. In Japan the game is simply Devil May Cry 3; the subtitle Dante's Awakening is Western.
THE LATER FACES
The series after the trilogy
Devil May Cry 4 Special Edition · 2015
Dante center frame with both pistols lit, Nero below, Trish and Lady at his shoulders: the ensemble the Special Edition made playable.
DmC: Devil May Cry · 2013
Ninja Theory's branch: a dark-haired Dante in a collapsing Limbo city, the logo sprayed like graffiti.
Devil May Cry 5 · 2019
Nero in front with his mechanical Devil Breaker arm, Dante and V behind him in the ruins of Red Grave City.
THE PRINT SHELF
Novel and anime, in English
The first novel · 2006 in English
Shinya Goikeda's prequel novel, drawn by Shirow Miwa, in Tokyopop's English edition. It is where Dante's alias Tony Redgrave does its deepest work.
The anime, volume 1 DVD
The North American first DVD of Madhouse's 2007 series, from ADV Films: Dante mid-leap, guns out, a demon's face in the dark behind him.
READING THE COVERS
What the shelf showsThe red
Every hero on this shelf wears the same coat. Kamiya has said Dante wears red because, in Japan, red is the traditional color for a hero. The boxes turn that into brand: you can spot a Devil May Cry cover across a shop by the coat alone.
The man before the castle
Horror boxes of the era sold the place: a mansion, an island, a castle. Devil May Cry sells the man first and the gothic behind him second. That inversion is the whole series in one design decision.
The logo
The flowing script of the first game's title, with a silhouette of Dante worked into the lettering, set the template. The second game sets it in flame; the third sharpens it; DmC sprays it. The wordmark is a timeline by itself.