Devil May Cry

Devil May Cry is a series of games published and developed by Capcom, which follows the exploits of the half-demon protagonist, Dante, as he battles against the forces of hell.

The first in the series was created by "Team Little Devils," and was directed by Hideki Kamiya.

The original series had four games (Devil May Cry 1, 2, 3, and 4), the first three were exclusive to PlayStation 2 (but received a PC port later on), and the fourth was a multiplatform title for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Microsoft Windows. The series underwent a reboot in 2013 developed by Ninja Theory, titled "DmC: Devil May Cry". Despite the reboot, the original versions of the characters still appear in many Capcom crossover games, due to the reboot's negative reception. A fifth game was released in March 2019.

Precursor to Bayonetta
Bayonetta plays very similarly to the Devil May Cry games in that the player is asked to string together long and stylish combo attacks to defeat foes. Dante is able to double jump, destroy background objects for items, switch his weapons during play, shape-shift into a more powerful form, and slow downtime. Gameplay is broken down into multiple chapters. There are also several difficulty modes, ranging from "Very Easy Automatic" to "Dante Must Die", and a scoring system that grades the player's stylishness.

Devil May Cry references in Bayonetta
Being two games developed by the same creator, Bayonetta has several references to the Devil May Cry series. The items linked to the left are various Bayonetta items that directly referenced or mention DMC.
 * Enzo Ferino - The name of Dante's informant from the DMC manual.
 * Phantasmaraneae - A reference to Phantom, a magma spider boss that Dante encounters.
 * Scolopendra - A reference to Gigapede, a vile centipede-like boss that Dante encounters.
 * Malphas - A reference to Griffon, a giant avian boss that Dante fights.
 * Bracelet of Time - In the original Devil May Cry, Dante can find an item named the "Bangle of Time", which changes his Devil Trigger ability into the ability to stop time. In the Bayonetta concept art, the Bracelet of Time is explicitly referred to as the "Bangle of Time" and it is visually identical to the DMC1 item.
 * Immortal Marionette - The Marionettes are the basic enemy force encountered by Dante in the original Devil May Cry.
 * Eva - In the Bracelet of Time's description, Eva is a historical witch who entered into a contract with a "Legendary Dark Knight". In the DMC universe, "Legendary Dark Knight" is the famous title of a demon general named Sparda who turned his back on his evil past and fought against Hell for the sake of humanity. Sparda and Eva are the parents of twin sons, Dante and Vergil.
 * Eva is voiced by Atsuko Tanaka, who also voices the particular protagonist of Bayonetta (and Trish).
 * The Handguns are custom M1911 pistols, fundamentally the same weapons as Dante's Ebony & Ivory and Sparda's Luce & Ombra, with 2 of the colors being the same as Dante's guns.
 * The Scarborough Fair guns were created by Rodin for Bayonetta cause any normal gun is broken by her magical power, similar to Ebony & Ivory being created by Neil Goldstein to resist Dante.
 * Father Balder - Attacks in a very similar manner to The Despair Embodied, the final boss of DMC2.
 * Sai Fung - Dante's shotgun has several moves like "Fireworks", which Sai Fung's attacks resemble.
 * Stiletto - Dante's signature move, Stinger, is the basis for this move.
 * Jubileus - Shares many similar characteristics with Mundus and The Savior, two Devil May Cry bosses, who are both giant statue-like figures.
 * Antonio Redgrave - The name inscribed on Dante's Ebony & Ivory is "For Tony Redgrave By .45 Art Warks".
 * Hideki Kamiya claimed that Dante used the name while he was a mercenary due to his respect for Antonio. However, Luka, Antonio's son, has the same facial features and the same silver/discolored eyes as Dante.
 * Bayonetta's development team is referred to as "Team Little Angels" - the team who developed the first Devil May Cry game was Team Little Devils. The Little Devils are also a summomable ally for Bayonetta.
 * Bayonetta's quote "Let's rock baby!" - a signature line of Dante's from the original game.
 * Another quote of Dante's spoken by Bayonetta is "Flock off, feather-face", which was also said in the original game, preceding a battle with the insulted boss. (Fortitudo in Bayonetta, Griffon in Devil May Cry).
 * Trish - The character Luka lists his "girlfriends"; Claire, Trish, Ammy, and Silvia - who may or may not be his pets.
 * The other three names are references to female characters from other Capcom games directed by Hideki Kamiya: Claire Redfield of Resident Evil, Amaterasu from Okami, and Silvia from Viewtiful Joe.
 * On one of the many Tombstone Torture Attacks that Bayonetta can summon has the letters DMC carved into it.
 * When you finish half of the Alfheim arenas, you will be awarded a Trophy/Achievement called Angel May Cry - a unique opposite to Devil May Cry. The Alfheim areas themselves are based on "Secret Missions" from DMC, where completion would reward the player with either a life boost or a Devil Trigger boost (similar to Magic), as they do in the Alfheims.
 * When the Lost Chapter is unlocked, Bayonetta makes a pose similar to Trish's in the Devil May Cry logo.
 * The frog demon Baal that Bayonetta summons in Bayonetta 2 resembles Bael and Dagon from Devil May Cry 4.
 * The Orbs currency that drops from demons in Bayonetta 2 resembles the red, blue, and purple orbs used throughout the series.
 * The Umbra Witches and the Lumen Sages are named after Luce & Ombra (Ita: "Light & Shadow") a pair of personally customized, semi-automatic pistols once wielded by the Dark Knight Sparda Dante’s father from Devil May Cry.