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Inaba On Devil May Cry's Survival Horror Past
simoniker writes "Gamasutra has put up an in-depth interview with former Clover head and Okami co-creator Atsushi Inaba, conducted before the Capcom division was dissolved. Inaba explains exactly how Capcom's Devil May Cry franchise came about: 'I actually did get on the Resident Evil 3 team, but when I joined there was a Resident Evil 1.5 project, which actually became Resident Evil 3. When the PS2 came out, the Resident Evil 3 team's name was changed to the Resident Evil 4 team. That didn't go so well, so we thought — 'what can we do with this,' and Devil May Cry was the result.'" Relatedly, eToyChest has up a great post-mortem of Clover Studios, giving their own reasons why they think the little studio that could was shut down.
Gather around, children, and listen to the words passed down since time immemorial.
In the beginning, there was no Devil May Cry and no Onimusha, for you see, they were originally crafted together as one game. That game, whose name has long been lost in the fog of history, was a true masterpiece, worthy of being played by the gods themselves. It had everything that a gamer could want from an action brawler. The graphics were colorful and creative, with models so detailed that even the 3D sculptor, Dreams About Wacom, would weep to see them. The play control was intuitive and powerful - even a beginner needed mere seconds to understand how all of the buttons worked, and the number of options available to the player was staggering; attack animations linked smoothly together, and combo options branched and merged so seamlessly that even Salmon, who is so in tune with water that he can swim up a waterfall, was impressed by its fluidity. And the game's cinematography was designed with great care and nuance; all the gameplay always took place in-frame, and the dialogue of the cutscenes possessed a truly moving poetic quality.
But, like so many great things, the game was prideful. It boasted to all the other games of its amazing user experience and high replayability, and, for a time, all the other game were so cowed by the one True Game - for that's what it was, children, even if we no longer know what it was called in the days when it was young - that they offered no rebuttals, even games from other genres entirely. Until one day, Capcom, Creator of All Megamans, He Who Brings The Super Fireball, Bitches, heard the wailing of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles For Xbox.
"Why do you weep?" asked Capcom, Who Put Evil In Residence. And TMNT:Xbox cried, "Because no one will play me! Once the Consumers hear of its virtues, they will run to EB Games and pre-order, and my launch date will be forgotten! How can I compete against it?"
And Capcom, Who shall Fight the Final battle, took pity upon TMNT. And so he found the True Game, and charged it with hubris. Such was his anger that he drove into the heart of the one True Game with a Psycho Crusher, thinking to kill it. The force of the impact split the game in twain, and Capcom departed to face a New Challenger.
But he had underestimated the might for the one True Game, for it did not die, but rather each of the halves took on a life of its own. Some time later, Onimusha and Devil May Cry awoke and dusted themselves off and discovered what had happened to them. After the surprise wore off, they took stock of their bodies, to see how many points of damage had been dealt to them by the Lord of Action. "My cameras!" exclaimed Devil May Cry, "They have been damaged beyond all repair! Now, when someone tries to play me, most of the time they will be staring at a wall or pillar while they must do battle offscreen, guided only by sound effects and the combo meter!" "Cameras? You complain to me about cameras?" thundered Onimusha, "My control scheme has been ruined! When my players are beset with foes, they will have to deal with threats from multiple sides by slowly, slowly turning in place, while they are unable to protect themselves from threats outside their immediate facing!"
When Capcom heard that the True Game had survived, he was wroth, until he returned and examined them in person. Then he began to roar with laughter. "Fine!" he said to Onimusha and Devil May Cry, "If your wish to live is so great, then live! But remember what happens to those who build themselves up beyond the level of mortals - I will cut them back down to size!"
And that, children, is how Onimusha and Devil May Cry were created, in the first days.