When Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne HD Remaster was announced last month during the Nintendo Mini Direct, it initially seemed that the game will no longer feature Dante from the Devil May Cry series as a cameo and playable character. The first trailer showed glimpses of Raidou Kuzunoha from the Devil Summoner series — a spin-off of the mainline Shin Megami Tensei games — taking the place of Capcom’s iconic demon hunter as he did in the Maniax special edition of the original Playstation 2 release. Atlus has now announced that Dante will instead be available to download as a DLC character and have released a trailer showing his appearance in the HD remaster.
Dante keeps his design from his Devil May Cry 2 appearance instead of an updated design based on his newer game appearances. As Nocturne HD Remaster will feature voice acting, Dante will be voiced by Toshiyuki Morikawa who provided his voice for the Devil May Cry anime and for other game appearances such as the Marvel vs. Capcom series. Also, one major detail that the trailer emphasized is that in-game Dante will now have access to the Pierce ability as part of his “Son’s Oath” skill. Pierce is an ability designed for late-game progression that allowed for attacks to permeate the multiple resistances and immunities many boss battles have towards the end of the game. Originally, Dante was lacking this ability, which limited his effectiveness once players reached the end of the game. This addition will alleviate this issue and allow players to use the demon hunter to his full effectiveness even during the final moments of the game.
The trailer mentions the Dante DLC will cost ¥980 or about $9.00 in US dollars. According to the official Atlus Twitter account, players with the DLC will be able to select whether to encounter either Dante or Raidou when they start a new game. Since plot-wise the encounter for both characters is identical, there is no new story path. Whichever character makes an appearance in the story is purely up to the player’s preference. However, it is currently unknown if at some point, for example during a second playthrough in New Game+, players will be able to recruit the other character and have both on the same team. As both Dante’s and Raidou’s move sets are functionally identical outside of animations, players who buy the DLC will effectively be buying a skin, so more frugal players can pass on it without missing essential content. Nevertheless, thanks to the “featuring Dante from the Devil May Cry series” meme and the general popularity of the Devil May Cry franchise, many players will certainly pay to add Dante to their party.
Due to the depiction of Imperial Japanese Army uniforms being banned in China and Korea, Raidou will not make an appearance in those regions as his character design is too similar looking to the banned uniform. Having Dante as an alternative option allows players in those regions to access the plot points and quests that would have been missing if Raidou was not in the game.
Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne HD Remaster will release on October 29th, 2020 in Japan for Nintendo Switch and Playstation 4. The game will come stateside in Spring 2021.
