We last left off in the previous blog with the original True Style Tournament ending in a 3-way tie at the very end of 2005. We pick up in the beginning of 2006, with the dawn of DMC3:Special Edition.
It Begins...
Devil May Cry 3: Special Edition came out on January 24, 2006. I remember that day like it was yesterday. I had told my mom I needed the car to go look for jobs but instead, I went to pick up the game as soon as the store opened and then rushed back home.
I'm sort of weary about this particular blog and I'm going to try to be careful because I want to avoid any semblance of arrogance. It is history and its truth, but I don't want to come off sideways. Anyway, I was the first of the trio to get the game and start playing around with Vergil and turbo mode.
I was the first to release recorded day 1 footage of the game, and Vergil, and for weeks released footage of my progress via Yousendit and shared it with the community.
Vergil staples nowadays such as blistering swords > roundtrip > judgment cut, using moves such as lunar phase to buffer roundtrip, double launchers with Yamato and Beowulf, various ways of utilizing summoned swords to cover Vergil, and more were explored by me in that time period. It was my mission to become the best player.
As I explained in the previous blog, jump canceling on turbo was different than doing it on normal. One of my goals was to take the technique to the next level. Previously, high-speed jump canceling any and everything wasn't a common thing. Extended gameplay where Dante / Vergil didn't touch the ground for a good bit was not common.
Other important players started to surface around this time as well, Xarugas03 and Integsta. They hadn't begun recording footage yet, but like I had with Dantelink and Pokey, they desired to communicate with players. So we began conversing and I passed on any tips and ideas.
All while I was experimenting with the game further, the community was waiting on the Prince of Devil to return and show us the ways of Vergil in an epic orgasm-inducing combo video. To be honest, I was expecting him to do so as well. A bit of time went by, but unfortunately, he never returned. So once it was realized that he likely wasn't going to drop a megaton bomb (a popular phrase in those days), Dahbomb talked to Dantelink and I about creating a combo vid.
It makes sense for the players of the time to do a video, but I kinda didn't want to do it as I preferred making gameplay videos (plus my video quality was turd). To me then, and even now to a degree, gameplay shows a rawer level of skill than combos. Combos are great and show the player's mastery of techniques as well as creativity, but I was more interested in what I could pull off on the fly.
Unfortunately, Dantelink didn't end up getting Special Edition until later, and Pokey being in the UK got screwed with a later release as well (Plus no turbo). So it came down to me. (great..)
In between working at my job, I would come up with combo material for Vergil to use in this collaboration with Dahbomb. To define this collab specifically, it's my footage and ideas and he originally was supposed to edit the video. Most of those combos were me playing the game, doing something I thought was cool, and then piecing it together like a puzzle. A small bit of it was inspired by the Hell Sloth is Dead formula. If you aren't familiar, I'll simplify the basic method for you.
Essentially, most of HSID boils down to ground chain > launcher > jump canceled aerial moves until Dante reaches ground > ground chain > finisher. For example, lets say you have Rebellion and Cerberus in Swordmaster. A basic HSID-type combo is as follows:
{ground chain}Reb (combo 2) > Cerberus (combo 2) > {launcher} Reb (hightime) {jump canceled aerial moves} Cerberus (air swing) - JC - Reb ( 3 hit Aerial Rave) - Cerberus (air swing) - JC - Reb (3 hit Aerial Rave) - JC slightly towards enemy as they hit the floor - Reb (Helmbreaker) - JC - Cerb (air swing close to the ground > {ground chain} Cerberus (flicker) > Cerberus (Windmill) > {finisher} Cerberus (Crystal into Million Carats)
Of course, there are variations to this and other things to consider like the style being used, but, as I said this is simplified. Vergil is different from Dante, but he still has enough to align it to this basic formula. His main ground chains with Force Edge > Yamato > Beowulf, launchers with all three of them, Aerial Rave jump canceling, and I wanted to make his main finisher judgment-cut - since the move is iconic.
Anyway, I asked Dahbomb what was going to be his music choice and he said a song from the anime, Naruto. I liked Naruto but was unsure about using it. I asked him to tell me the song and once he did, I listened and disagreed with the choice because it didn't scream Vergil to me. I knew then and there that I wanted to do my own version and relayed that to Dahbomb.
For those who've never created a combo video, I'll give a bit of insight into how I created my first combo video. And for those who have, perhaps this will be an intriguing read.
The best combo videos have a theme.
I wanted to tell Vergil's story through combos, music, and cutscenes. From the beginning of Special Edition to the end, and incorporate a bit of his Nelo Angelo experience. An experience. That was what I wanted to make this video. Almost like seeing a movie. Too many videos nowadays are haphazardly thrown together without considering the meaning. Many of them are edited extremely well - far better than any of the old videos, but fail to bring forth true feelings.
They use the term "combo mad" because it gives them a greater shot at views, but don't usually think past that. I named it Legendary Dark Slayer because it was a spin on the Legendary Dark Knight, Vergil's father Sparda. Sparda is who Vergil admires and wants to be like. DMC1 starts with a telling of Sparda's legend, so this was my telling of Vergil's.
I started out with a song that I had heard in an epic Marvel vs. Capcom 2 reset/combo video. Sometimes your inspiration for videos can come from a completely unrelated source. There was an incredible section of the song that I knew would fit perfectly with what I wanted to do. That song was The Great Empress (Millia's Theme) from Guilty Gear XX Reload: Korean Version.
The best combo videos let the music dictate where to place your footage.
Allow the most epic portions of your footage to coincide with the most poignant portions of the music. This elicits a feeling or vibe that elevates the moment and your video.
In this particular section, there had to be something jaw-dropping in it, because of the way the music flowed. For players who have beaten DMC3, you are familiar with boss Vergil 3's helmbreaker > trickup > helmbreaker spam. You're also probably well versed in this move enhanced by summoned swords especially on Dante Must Die.
When I heard the music, I knew I wanted to attempt to do this sequence but jump-cancel it while summoning swords. It was a feat that had never been done until then, and though it may be basic now - as always, an idea is forever. Taking my time to match this footage to the music enhanced the first half.
For the second half of the video, I knew I wanted to play around with the mirrored aspect of Dante and Vergil. How they are the same, but opposites. Final Fantasy 7: Advent Children had just released and I was a fan of the game and the movie. The dynamic of Cloud and Sephiroth mirrors Dante and Vergil in many ways. They even carry similar weapon types, with Cloud having a broadsword-like weapon similar to Rebellion with the buster sword and Sephiroth having the Masamune, a katana similar to Vergil's Yamato.
Advent Children's rendition of One Winged Angel moved me with its guitar riffs and opera orchestra. I thought it would fit perfectly with what I wanted to do with this portion of Vergil's story - leading to his downfall into Nelo Angelo aka the Dark Angel. How fitting.
I also threw in a bit of Royal Guard in this section because I wanted to transition smoothly to the last part of the video where Dante and Vergil face off for the last time and Vergil falls.
Theme.
I released Legendary Dark Slayer, the first Vergil combo video in late February 2006 via YouSendIt.com/MegaUpload/FileFront, and TheHandvsEye.com. It was received very well by the community. It was the start of me beginning to realize my desire to be seen as a great all-around player, instead of just the "RG player".
Legendary Dark Slayer
If you weren't around during those times, it's understandable that you may question whether LDS is the first Vergil combo video. I would ask you to consider the fact that I was one of the original three who made the first Style tournament that was held in 2005 before Vergil even came out in Special Edition in 2006. I would ask that you consider there is nobody who predates me or was active when I was currently in this community. I mention this not to say I'm above anybody, but to certify my credibility.
I love this series and have no need to embellish or lie about what I've done for it. So, let's take a small logical look. I joined YouTube in March of 2006 and the first video I ever uploaded was LDS that same day. I did that because around that time Gemasis's TheHandvsEye.com was irregular. Sometimes it was up and sometimes it was down. Also, the file sites only allowed you to keep uploads for a limited amount of time. So, people suggested I use YouTube instead.
As much as Hell Sloth is Dead was the foundation for Dante's combos, LDS is the foundation for Vergil. Not only did it build a base for Vergil, it also defined how to switch between Nelo and Vergil. I understand that for players who weren't there, it's hard to grasp the impact that some of the older videos had. But these old videos are still the standard and the foundation for everything that came after. Most of your favorite players learned from the old-school players.
Dahbomb released his version shortly thereafter.
Legendary Dark Slayer (Dahbomb version)
As you can see, Dahbomb's version came out a day before I put mine on YouTube because Dahbomb joined before I did. But I released mine to the public before he did via upload sites. That's also why he called it Legendary Dark Slayer 2.0 (check the credits). It's still my footage being used in his version of the video. You have to keep in mind the period all this happened in.
I'm not really a fan of this version of the video. Not just because of the music choice, but because he used some clips that were not as refined. He also kept very close to the HSID format with some of his editing choices, which I deviated from. But history is history.
After completing LDS, I wanted to do a video that had both Dante and Vergil in it. I won't go into as much detail as I did with the previous, but, how I looked at the theme for the video was Dante being one-upped in Legendary Dark Slayer and seeking his revenge. This is how I arrived at the title, Sword of Vengeance.
I was pleased with how The Great Empress from Guilty Gear gelled with DMC play and decided to use Awe of She, another Guilty Gear track. This creates a bit of cohesiveness when going from watching LDS to SoV. I almost view them as a pair or a dilogy.
I could've simply had Dante combos and let that be it, but I wanted to create the feeling of a tug-of-war between the brothers. Of them trying to get ahead and establish the aura of rivalry. So I used Vergil clips from LDS and contrasted them against all-new Dante footage. Another reason why I named this entry "Sword of Vengeance" is because it is a Swordmaster-focused video.
This was done for two reasons. One, to be fair to Vergil, since showing all of Dante's styles would take away from the back and forth. Two, I was building towards my magnum opus - my "Infinite War", if you will. So SoV is a tease into the future, partly why "Mini" is included in the title.
SoV is special because it is the first of its kind, a Vergil and Dante combo video. It gives a base for Dante combos in Special Edition and provides a preview into high-speed jump-canceling for both sons of Sparda.
Sword of Vengeance
It was released shortly after LDS, around early to mid-March. This is why there's such a short time between LDS and SoV's upload to YouTube. The video was already done. Like LDS, I originally uploaded it to file upload sites and after seeing the reaction to LDS on YouTube, uploaded it there. It was received very well by the community.
The next video released would continue my streak of churning out ground-breaking DMC3:SE material. Previously up to this point, I had worked on a Royal Guard video, a Dark Slayer video, and then a Swordmaster-focused video. The next style I wanted to have as a centerpiece was Trickster. With the True Style Tournament and even in my Art of Combat video, I had given short glimpses into what would be.
The aim of this video was to show how far I had evolved since those glimpses, thus "Trickster Evolution". During the 1990s, a little game called Tony Hawk's Pro Skater came out. This game was one of the first outside of a fighting game that I became heavily addicted to and competitive with. Besides getting me into skateboarding, it also fed an itch to connect moves continuously without messing up. "Combos" to a degree.
Going from an ollie, kickflip into a grind, into a manual, into a 360 Christ Air, and so on and so forth. As soon as I saw in the original DMC3 trailers and gameplay that Dante was capable of wall running, pole play, and riding on an enemy like a skateboard - I knew. These ideas were present since day one of playing the game, but it took a year of truly mastering the game's mechanics and this box the developers had built before I could go outside of it.
Trickster Evolution was recorded and edited in a day. This is partly because I was in a zone, and partly because editing-wise - I did very little. There isn't too much deep thought into this video, just raw gameplay. I went with a different type of track. Tekken 5 released on consoles the same year as DMC3. It was something that I played a good bit with Spyda12 in college and got thoroughly destroyed.
There were a couple of tracks I loved off of the OST that I would end up using later. Using these Tekken tracks was an ode to my friends. The track I chose for TrickEvo was called "Massive Stunner".
It's appropriate, in many ways. The track brings a feeling of high-speed movement, which is what I wanted to display.
Trickster Evolution
Once again, the original version of this video was released via file upload sites and HVE. Later in 2007, I uploaded it to YouTube and extended it with extra footage. It was received very well. Some people think this is my best / most impactful but I disagree, that came later.
There's a difference between having a favorite video and a video being impactful. As stated before, it's hard for a modern player or even somebody who started playing 3-4 years after the original release of these videos to truly grasp the impact. But, if Trickster Evolution is your favorite, there's nothing wrong with that.
True Style Tournament Dark Slayer Edition
Shortly after the release of Trickster Evo, DanteLink finally got Special Edition and started dropping gameplay footage of Vergil. Of course, being DanteLinkX, he wanted to break the 3-way tie of True Style Tournament 1. Unfortunately, the true tiebreaker would never happen since Pokey didn't have a copy of Special Edition and I was preparing to go back to school.
So instead of it being DanteLink, Pokey, and I...True Style Tournament: Dark Slayer Edition ended up featuring DanteLink, Xarugas, and Integsta. Xarugas and Integsta had also started to drop Vergil gameplay footage on the boards, showing extraordinary skill.
From what I remember, I believe I liked Xarugas's entry the most but DanteLink ended up taking it due to his ferociousness. So you could consider DanteLink to be the winner of the first TST because he won the most styles out of us all when you include the Darkslayer edition.
Unlike the rest of TST1, DanteLink's entry isn't lost as he uploaded it to YouTube. Check it below!
DanteLinkX TST Dark Slayer Edition Entry
Dark Slayer Results
1) DanteLinkX
2) Xarugas
3) Integsta
A Legend Rises
I was back in school. Playing the game, but not as often for several reasons. Mostly because I had started to become fatigued from putting so much time into it and I wanted to focus more on schoolwork. Also around this time I started playing Ninja Gaiden and Ninja Gaiden Black seriously, for style and for Karma using my best friend's Xbox (RIP BigBadWolf).
People familiar with playing DMC3 know that the game stops recording your playtime when you reach 999 hours. I had done that for both Dante's Awakening and Special Edition in a short amount of time. I had done RG videos, TST, released early Vergil footage, and then 3 videos in the first 3 months of 3SE's release. At one point I was playing DMC3 for almost 8-10 hours a day.
My work days looked like waking up at 11-12pm. Check IGN and Gamefaqs boards. Check MSN Messenger. Cut on PS2 and play DMC3 for 4-5 hours. Sneak in lunch. Get ready for work. Work 5-6 hours. Get back at 10-11pm. Eat dinner. Check boards and Messenger. Cut on DMC3 and play 4-5 hours. Sleep. Wake up and rinse and repeat.
Let's not talk about the days I had off. To be honest, I probably hindered myself career-wise and life-wise because DMC was my primary focus. I was dedicated, and that is an understatement. There was no reward for all of this - no YouTube or social media followers, no monetary gain. Being called "the best" is a momentary thing. It was all for the love of the game.
Anyways, given that, surely it's understandable for fatigue to set in. However, I still wanted to do one more video. Thus, Rising Dragon was born.
I arrived at this name for several reasons. It is a play on words, as Dante has a move with the name. But to add, I'm a huge fan of Bruce Lee "The Dragon", and the movie Enter The Dragon. In this case, I'm the "Rising Dragon" - aka, I've arrived at this particular skill level. It's why I chose the entry cutscene where Dante asks Vergil if he has more fun planned out for him, and then the camera rises to Vergil acknowledging he does without saying a word. There was more for the viewer to see.
The song that I chose for this video is another Tekken 5 track, the Moonlight Wilderness. It is the most epic song on the Tekken 5 OST and the only choice that could've been made for this. Like the LDS video, every time the music builds something epic matches. I make sure to begin this with Dante utilizing the Rising Dragon move when it begins, and liter the following epic notes with its visual match. The combination of Tekken music and DMC makes a fantastic duo. So good, that it is mimicked by other players in future videos.
Rising Dragon
Every style - minus Doppelganger 😅, is displayed at its highest level.
Utilizing Quicksilver in progressive ways, such as implementing Time Lag i-frames to save Dante from danger on the fly, juggling two enemies at once (then jump-canceling on an enemy while it's grounded and air comboing another enemy), and side switching JCs with Cerberus/Beowulf.
Becoming so comfortable with Gunslinger to the point where I'm utilizing it like it is second nature. Using jump-cancels to extend the power of Gunslinger in creative ways on the fly.
Adding to what was displayed in Trick Evo with a more polished and refined play. Connecting the M6 Battle room like it was a Skatepark.
Taking Swordmaster to the next level with high-speed JCs. Connecting the recently found Tempest glitch into 3 free rides on the fly.
Beowulf's Angel Feather superattack hadn't been guarded before at that point. It is done 3 times in this video. Up until LDS, we used DT to cover any mistakes for guarding Vergil + Phantom Swords. I wanted to show it at better quality, so although it's edited to fit between Vergil clips, it's also done without DT here. Nevan's multi-bat attack hadn't been guarded before either.
Dark Slayer had been refined to a further level than it was previously in LDS. Showing smoother JCs and transitioning to a DT'd aerial enemy mid-combo and not dropping. Greater control of Vergil, including using sword formations while jump canceling.
These are just some highlights. This video cemented me as a great player overall and not just one of a particular style which was important to me back then. Today that's not as much of a focus for players because the following games in the series made styles easily accessible, and of course, style switcher (freestyle mode on the Switch) has changed DMC3 itself.
This video was received very well by the community. This is my magnum opus because it was a culmination of all the hard work / training / dedication I had put into the game at that point. It is impactful because it set a new standard for being stylish.
Because of the rivalry I developed with my friend Spyda12, Gemasis, competing and befriending DanteLink and Pokey, and entering the TST, I was able to reach a level I hadn't imagined a year previously.
Although I was the player, it was them that helped hone my skills to that point. You can't make it to the top without help. I released this vid in April, shortly after returning to school. Originally like other videos, it was uploaded to a file upload site and later that year I added it to YouTube after adding some footage. I attempted to enter it in a GameTrailers contest, but unfortunately, I didn't win.
I was still very loyal to HVE (TheHandvsEye.com) at the time, so I gave the more permanent place of my videos a priority to the site instead of YouTube. This is why some of them weren't uploaded until later.
After releasing Rising Dragon, I was pretty much on hiatus and was ready to move on from DMC.
This leads us up to mid-2006. I originally had planned to cover that in this blog, but I forgot how much I actually did in such a short time. I thought it only right to give you a bit of my thoughts regarding these particular vids because they were released during a formative part of the history of DMC. Hope you enjoyed reading and please look forward to part 4.
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