Two Great Parties, One Great Package

Capcom
finally confirmed one of the worst kept secrets in gaming this year: Devil May Cry HD Collection for
Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. This was first hinted (heavily) when Capcom started a
contest for DMC fan art, the winner of which would have their art on the
cover of a then unannounced game. Considering the heavily contested Ninja
Theory-developed reboot, DmC: Devil May
Cry, was nowhere near finished, it couldn’t have been for that —
especially since the design would’ve had an interesting (and probably unwanted,
from Capcom’s perspective) contrast with that one’s. Then the
ESRB rated them individually shortly before Tokyo Game Show, so it was just
a matter of them announcing it.

 

And they
did! The collection was announced for America and Europe, and is due for
release in “early 2012” and February 10th, 2012, respectively. Who knows why
Capcom USA didn’t include a definitive release date in their PR, but Amazon.com
has it down for a seemingly-accurate February 7th date. This collection
includes the first three games remastered in HD — including the “Special
Edition” of Devil May Cry 3 — but
the important question pertains to what that “remastering” entails. The first Devil May Cry might receive the same
treatment Resident Evil: Code Veronica X
HD had, meaning the textures might be redone (it’s nearly as old as that
game). That would be fantastic, because its medieval, gothic environments made
it by far the most aesthetically pleasing game of the first three.

 

The collection
is unfortunately coming a little late since the franchise’s 10th Anniversary
was this year, but Capcom didn’t
completely forget. This package was announced yesterday; guess which day the
original Devil May Cry released in North America? There’s no word on how many
discs the 360 version will require, but it will be more than one since Devil May Cry 2 originally came on two
discs for PS2 — one for Dante’s quest, and the other for new (and completely
forgotten) character Lucia.

 

It would
also be nice if Capcom could shift the controls around for the first game, or
at least gave us the option to change them. The original had its controls
illogically shifted for the western release; jumping was done with the triangle
button instead of the X button for the rest of the games, for instance. That’s
probably expecting too much from Capcom (they sure couldn’t be bothered to
implement any additional control options in the Mega Man Zero Collection for DS), though it’s not on par with
expecting them to fix DMC2. In fact, that game is precisely why this trilogy is being released on disc, unlike Resident Evil 4 HD and the
aforementioned RECVX HD. No one in their right mind would buy DMC2 by itself,
unless they’re curious about why so many fans of 1 and 3 agree that it doesn’t
measure up.

 

Having DMC2
right next to 1 and 3 certainly won’t do it any favors, but you’ll be able to
compare and contrast them when the collection releases. The wish of many fans
of the franchise was to play the first and third games with a version that
didn’t look completely hideous on an HDTV, and that wish will be granted. Heck,
some of them might be able to
completely ignore DmC now! Or they’ll compare it with DMC2 when it eventually
releases. The PR said the package will include additional extras, so expect
them to elaborate on precisely what they are in the future.