How did Devil May Cry 3 save the series?

Before Devil May Cry 2 had even wrapped, Itsuno asked his superiors for a third game with himself as director from day one, because he did not want the rescued sequel to be his legacy in the series. Capcom agreed, and pointed the design back at the first game: a prequel, with a young Dante just opening his shop, his brother alive, and a tower, the Temen-ni-gru, rising out of the city as a challenge. Its combat multiplied everything: four selectable styles, Trickster, Swordmaster, Gunslinger and Royalguard, each gaining experience and techniques, plus two more styles earned in the story, and weapons swapped live in pairs.

Then the West got a different game than Japan did. The North American and European release shifted every difficulty up one level, so its Normal was Japan's Hard, and swapped the forgiving Gold Orb continues for the first game's Yellow Orbs. Itsuno later explained the reasoning he was given: American players could return games within thirty days, so Capcom USA wanted the game harder to finish. Reviewers praised the game and criticized the decision in the same breath. Devil May Cry 3 sits at Metacritic 87, is routinely cited among the greatest games ever made, and spent years described as one of the hardest.