Nero is someone Capcom shoves down us throats. Nero can't be Dante's son since Dante is in his mid-30ies in that game.
He posesses sort of telekinesis with his right demonic arm (Devil Bringer) which is going to develop into more demonic povers during the game (new powers will be added in DMC3 style- by killing the bosses, Dante will get new Devil Arms in that way).
While Nero's not Dante son, he's connected to Sparda family in some way. There are two main theories about who's Nero:
1. Nero is the incarnation of Sparda Sr. (and ironically, he's adopted by members of order who worship Sparda as a god (and that cult is irritates Dante, Lady and Trish big time so they're going to end that "crazy spectacle" once and forever)).
2-more playsible. Nero is posessed by spirit of Vergil, who was disembodied after Dante "freed" Nero Angelo in DMC1 (cronologically DMC4 is after DMC1 but before DMC2). That explains why Nero behaves much like Vergil (though he still has his own will, for example, he uses revolver named Blue Rose while Vergil hates to use guns).
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Nero gets much "talking up" by Capcom, but there's also sad rumours that DMC4 is the last game where we're going to see Dante.
Is Nero a Raiden of DMCverse?
As I've mentioned before, DMC4 is going to feature Lady& Trish. (please log in to view the image) (please log in to view the image)
Notice that in the trailer Dante gets eaten by that dragon-like liana/liana-like dragon and kills him from inside (another proff that Dante can survive well in hostile/airless environments. Probably he gets "living" Gilgamesh weapon after defeating that boss.
It gives a power in exchange to one's soul, so even with "unlimited devil energies" (which Dante canonically gets in the end of DMC1, in DMC3 his DT is limited even storylinewise since he's still young&unexperienced; in canon storyline high demonic aura (the one that comes with costumes with unlimited DT) appears in the end of DMC1 when Dante discovers power of high demonic lord inside himself and becomes legitimate heir of his father's true power) it's a feat. Powered up young Dante is comparable to Dante at his prime (end of DMC1-DMC2), so no matter how you cut it, resistance is still resistance. Soul sucking weapons don't kill him instantly, neither they one-shot him (though the resistance is pretty much limited).
his never shown "unlimited" DT, both in gameplay and in the cutscene hes shown to lose his DT, like when mundus launches the 3 shards into him at the end of flight combat (immunity to dark magic? ) he falls and loses his DT powers in the cutscene itself, not to menstion he doesnt have it in the scenes afterwards when hes escaping, meaning either his power is infnite in the hells OR he just had an enormous boost of power when he first did it, and then slowly loses it after he leaves the mundus battle (and please dont say he come out of DT himself for fun because he enjoys it more, he was deadly serious and no jokes guy at the end )
but still as it shows, he may have resistence to the orb, but it gave him power and weakened him greatly to succumbing to the floor, so id give him resitence, but not to any great deal, especially with the orb giving him his power. but anyway no worries
Immunity to dark magic appears in official stats of DMC2 Dante (Super Sparda form, though it's gameplay) and is carried to official stats of Dante in SMT:Nocturne (where the designers used DMC2 version of Dante and consulted with Capcom on stats and stuff). The scan of stats are in page six of that thread.
In first fight with Mundus Dante suffers from what can be called "too much power"- he uses his power of high demonic lord for the first time. When he was properly stimulated(i.e. when Trish got wounded by Mundus), deflection of spells worked just well, but in actual combat for the first time he managed to use that power well, but not well enough.
In the first DMC you can get time manipulation powers by defeating a dragon in mission 21 (the description is here. So Dante has time manipulation in all three games of the series (Bangle of Time, Chronoheart, Quicksilver).
Nero Angelo and Mundus are immune to Bangle of Time power (Nero Angelo is immune only in his ultimate form, though, and it works on regular enemies/ subbosses just fine). That's omnidirectional time anomaly (like DMC3), not directed like in DMC2.
Another proof that Dante can survive without air just well (there's nothing like air meter there; other proofs were being swallowed by Leviathan and killing him from inside, as well as fighting Mundus in space-like area in Hell dimension), though he has to use nailguns instead of his regular firearms in the underwater fights.
Provided gameplay fight is SSed on DMD difficulty level.
gdgd, time bangle, never did that mission so ive never tried it out i still dont think that was space at all, it was just yet another of mundus' illusions of landscape in his hell for them to fight in, but yes no need for breath (although hes never stated to have unlimited breath AFAIK so it could be just gameplay)
Not just gameplay, since he survived inside Levialthan (where it wasn't habitable atmosphere, and he has to travel through the whole body of the beast). So he can survive without air just well.
Also now you saw what I meant by Nero Angelo being immune to time manipulation at his prime.
hmm yes, its gameplay but i dont mind letting that pass for this
i suppose your right, living inside another being would be unlikely if he had to breathe..although ime still not 100% sure, there may be an attribute about that environment that allows him to *shrug* but its a fair enough feet
What's more, he travelling inside creature's body from its stomach to the heart and then to the brain, since he came out from its eye. He was travelling via creature's veins which would be unlikely if he needed air to survive.
Dante appears in PS2 version of Viewtiful Joe as unlockable character (you can unlock him by beating the game at any difficulty; also unlockable in the PSP version of Viewtiful Joe: Red Hot Rumble). In addition to close range punches, kicks, and sword attacks, Dante can use his two handguns to attack faraway enemies. However, if the guns are used while in Slow, the bullets will be slowed down just like when enemies fire their guns. The finishing sword thrust of his ground attack combo (similar to his "Stinger" special move from Devil May Cry) does extreme damage when combined with VFX powers Slow and Zoom, actually enabling a one-hit kill on Fire Leo on Adults difficulty, making him arguably a contender for the strongest character in the game.
Other characterd from DMC series used in the game are Alastor& Trish.
There are parts of the game where Dante appears in his underwear, at which point Trish asks if a girl stole his clothes and Dante explains that he lost them in a bet with Enzo. That line spawned hopeful rumors that the Dante in Devil May Cry 2 is an imposter, fueled by further "evidence" that the DMC2 handbook refers to Ebony & Ivory as revolvers when they are clearly described as semi-automatic handguns in the first game (*though both versions are playsible since those guns are heavily modified Colts so technically they're still revolvers but with many properties of senmi-automatic handguns) and the fact that Dante did not have Alastor in DMC2. Fun thought, but highly unlikely, as I don't think any amount of exercise can make Enzo look and fight like DMC2 Dante.
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Dante's intro in PS2 version of Viewtiful Joe
Dante vs Alastor- no sword spirit shall ever rebel against its legitimate master
Arkham imitates his death in hands of Vergil but Lady thinks that it's Dante who killed her father and not Vergil.
Another cool gunfighting scene. Dante demonstrates cool gun katas as well as easily parrying Lady's bullets with his own shots.
The famous "disfunctional family" dialogue is included.