Devil May Cry

Lore & Background

In the world of Devil May Cry, demons are not myth but a persistent, grinding menace. Cities exist in uneasy truce with the infernal, and a handful of demon-hunters keep the peace with steel, gunpowder, and inherited blood. Dante, son of the legendary demon Sparda, runs a modest demon-hunting shop called Devil May Cry, charging clients by the hour and treating the apocalypse as another Tuesday. His twin brother Vergil, equally powerful but far less amused, has his own agenda that has torn the two apart across generations of conflict.

The franchise's tone is a deliberate collision of the epic and the absurd. Dante cracks jokes mid-battle, critiques his own combos, and treats divine-scale threats with the casual irritation of a man dealing with a rude customer. Beneath that levity, however, the series carries genuine emotional weight: themes of identity, the burden of half-demon heritage, and the question of whether someone born to destruction can choose to protect instead. The supporting cast—Trish, Lucia, Nero, V, and others—each carry their own complicated relationships to the demonic lineage that defines them.

The visual language of Devil May Cry is unmistakable: baroque cathedrals crumbling under siege, rain-slicked cityscapes lit by hellfire, and characters whose design mixes high fashion with gothic armor. It is a world where a rock-star swordsman in a long red coat is as natural as a knight in plate mail, and where the line between hero and monster is a matter of who is holding the sword.

In Their Own Story

The bell above the shop door jingled, which Dante noted with the weary precision of a man who had been interrupted mid-snack. Rain hammered the single pane of glass, and beyond it the city groaned under a sky the color of a bruise. He set down his half-eaten pizza, wiped a smear of sauce from his thumb, and leaned back in the creaking office chair.

"You rang?" he called, not looking up. "And before you ask—yes, I'm open. No, I don't do exorcisms on weekends. And no, I will not be calling you 'my dear' unless you want me to."

The figure that stepped through the door was tall, draped in a long black coat, and carried a sword whose blade seemed to drink the dim light. Dante's grin sharpened. He set the pizza down. Picked up Rebellion from the rack behind the desk. The chain clinked softly against the pommel.

"Vergil," he said, as though greeting a mildly inconvenient relative. "You're early. I had the good table reserved for a poltergeist."

The rain kept falling. Neither of them moved. The pizza went cold.

Reader's Guide

Devil May Cry enters the Super Smash Bros. crossover through a single but iconic representative: Dante, who joins the roster in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. His moveset is a love letter to the franchise's combat identity. His neutral attack is a rapid sword slash with Rebellion, his aerials incorporate his twin pistols Ebony and Ivory, and his special moves include a devilish charge attack and the franchise's signature Devil Trigger transformation, in which his eyes glow, his hair ignites, and his entire attack pattern shifts into a faster, more aggressive demonic style. His down special summons a demonic arm that punches upward, echoing the series' Devil Breaker and demon-summoning mechanics.

Dante's taunts and victory poses are packed with franchise flavor: he cracks knuckles, flips his sword, and delivers his trademark smirk. His entrance animation has him dropping into the stage with a confident landing, and his KO screen features a stylized pose that mirrors the series' dramatic character presentations.

In Ultimate's World of Light story mode, Dante is available as a playable character for the player to recruit, slotting into the narrative as a powerful ally rather than a story-specific NPC. This keeps his role flexible and lets players experience his full moveset in both the story and free-play contexts.

The crossover appeal of Dante in Smash is partly mechanical—his mix of sword, gun, and transformation gives him a versatile kit that rewards creative play—but also thematic. He is the archetype of the "cool, overpowered, slightly unhinged swordsman" that Smash has always loved to include, and his presence reminds players that the greatest crossovers are the ones where the character feels like they belong in the arena even though their home world is a rain-soaked gothic city full of demons. His interactions with other sword-wielding fighters, his Devil Trigger clashing with other transformation-based movesets, and his sheer visual flair make him a fan favorite in both online and local play.

Did You Know?

• Dante's sword Rebellion is named after the idea that it was forged to rebel against its demonic nature, a detail that ties directly into the franchise's themes of choosing one's own path over inherited destiny.
• Devil May Cry's first game was directed by Hideki Kamiya, who later went on to direct the original Bayonetta and was a key creative force behind the early Super Smash Bros. titles, making the franchise's presence in Smas
• Dante's Devil Trigger transformation in Smash changes his entire moveset, giving him different animations and a faster attack speed, mirroring how the mechanic fundamentally shifts combat in the original games.
• The Devil May Cry series has a long history of musical identity, with rock and metal soundtracks that have become as iconic as the combat itself, and Dante's in-game presentation in Smash carries that same high-energy, p