I should have been the one to fill your dark soul with liiiiiiiiiiight!
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Bayonetta is a game series made by PlatinumGames (also called "Team Little Angels") and directed by Hideki Kamiya. It follows the exploits of the eponymous witch, Bayonetta, as she battles against angelic enemies.

The first game was a Multi-Platform title that had released on both the PS3 and 360, and was published by Sega. When development of the second game was in the early stages Sega cut funding due to financial issues. As the project was about to be canceled PlatinumGames was approached by Nintendo who offered to fund the project. The sequel was then announced to be exclusively for the Wii U published by Nintendo, while also including a Wii U port of the original.^[1] A third sequel, Bayonetta 3, was announced during The Game Awards in December 2017 as a Nintendo Switch exclusive title, alongside the announcement of Switch ports for the previous two games.^[2]

Similarities to Devil May Cry

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. Bayonetta is able to double jump, destroy background objects, switch her weapons during play, shape-shift into different and more powerful forms, and slow down time. Gameplay is broken down into multiple chapters. There are also several difficulty modes, ranging from "Very Easy Automatic" to "Non-Stop Climax", and a scoring system that grades the player's stylishness.^[3]

Additionally, both series have separate gauges for player vitality and magic, with magic being required for special techniques and replenished by executing stylish combos and taunting. Health and magic are extended separately by collecting pieces of different items either purchased from stores or found during gameplay. Healing items of both series follow a similar color pattern: Green items heal health and purple items heal magic. Enemies in both games drop items which are used as currency for purchasing items and new techniques. Also, both series feature unlockable alternate costumes.

Devil May Cry references

Being two games developed by the same creator, Bayonetta had several references to the Devil May Cry series. The items linked to the left are various Devil May Cry items referenced or mentioned in Bayonetta:

Characters

• Enzo - the name of Bayonetta's informant.
  • In the Bayonetta Artbook, Enzo is seen playing Poker with a clothes-less Kamiya, who seems to be losing all of Dante's trademark possessions. (See image to the right; it's titled the Reducing the Devil to Tears and the caption says "Director Kamiya's special... cameo? He's probably the only one who would be fooled by Enzo's pathetic cons and bluffs. Director Kamiya's not very good at these kinds of games" [Shimazaki])
• Phantom - Bayonetta can summon Phantasmaraneae, a magma spider.
  • In Bayonetta 3, Bayonetta hits Phantasmaraneae on the head with dialogue referencing Dante's first encounter with the Phantom. Furthermore, the Deadly Sin form of Phantasmaraneae is called "The Phantom".
• Bael & Dagon - Bayonetta can summon Baal, A large toad demon
• Gigapede - Bayonetta can summon Scolopendra, a vile centipede.
• Griffon - Bayonetta can summon Malphas, a black raven. The first time Malphas is summoned, it is in a coliseum while battling against a giant, flying opponent.
• Eva & Sparda - In the Bracelet of Time's description, Eva is a historical witch who entered into a contract with a "Legendary Dark Knight"—the latter description being Sparda's famous moniker.
  • Eva is voiced by Atsuko Tanaka, who also voices the particular protagonist of Bayonetta (and Trish).
• Tony Redgrave - The journalist in the game who discovered Bayonetta is named Antonio Redgrave. Hideki Kamiya claimed that Dante used the name while he was a mercenary due to his respect for Antonio. However, Devil May Cry 5 establishes that Dante took the alias after his hometown of Red Grave City.
  • The character Luka Redgrave is Antonio's son: however, he shares almost exactly the same facial design of Dante in Devil May Cry 4, right down to the stubble on his chin and the same "discolored" eyes.

• Trish - The character Luka lists his "girlfriends" - Claire, Trish, Ammy, and Sylvia. The other three names are references to female characters from other Capcom games directed by Hideki Kamiya: Claire Redfield of Resident Evil, Amaterasu (Ammy) from Ōkami, and Sylvia from Viewtiful Joe. In a piece of concept art, Luka is depicted with 3 cats and 1 dog, all of whom share the color schemes of the characters they are named after. Trish is a black cat wearing a yellow bow; Clair is a brown cat with a red bow; Sylvia is a silver, long-haired cat with a purple bow; and Ammy is a white dog with a red collar.
• Rodin is named after Auguste Rodin, a French sculptor who worked on a sculpture called the Gates of Hell, inspired by Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy. Nero was also called "Rodin" in development, after this same artist, before his name was changed to Nero.
• The character Jeanne has the same color scheme as Dante. Having bright platinum blond hair, which is portrayed as silvery white in promotional art works and CG cut-scenes, while also sporting bright red clothes to help contrast the white hair
• The new character in Bayonetta 3 - Viola shares a similar role with Nero from Devil May Cry, particularly in its fifth installment. Both are related to the main characters of each franchise. Viola - who is the daughter of Bayonetta and Luka from another multi-verse while Nero is the nephew of Dante and the son of Vergil, Dante’s brother. Both become entangled with a wide-scale invasion of their home world, and their lineage allows them to unlock a form that is unique to them. They also take the mantle of the main characters of both series. Viola took her mother’s nickname "Bayonetta", while Nero took over his uncle’s job as both demon hunter & mankind's protector. In addition, both Nero and Viola lost parental figures that is dragged to Hell (Bayonetta’s inferno and DMC’s demon world).
• The Umbra Witches and the Lumen Sages share a title theme to 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.
• In Bayonetta 3, Bayonetta has a new ability called Demon Masquerade, where she channels the demons linked to her weapons, she takes on their forms which is very similar to Dante’s Devil Trigger from the first and third Devil May Cry games, the form's design being influenced by the current demon that empowers her equipped weapon.

Enemies

• Echidna the She-Viper - The Inspired enemies look and attack similarly to Echidna's dragon form. In addition, countering Inspired's rush attack results in Bayonetta piloting the winged serpent head-first into the ground, not unlike Nero's Buster technique for Echidna.

Moves & Weapons

• The weapons in Bayonetta are very similar to the Devil Arms in Devil May Cry. Both have the souls of demons within the weapons and were made by demon weaponsmiths: Rodin and Machiavelli. Also the weapons can disappear and reappear out of thin air.
• The weapon Durga are similar to Agni & Rudra from Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening, in terms of their colors and elemental abilities. Although Rudra is wind elemental while Durga is lightning, they are both elements closely associated with storms and draw their names from Hindu myth.
• Rusalka - Jeanne's equivalent weapon to Bayonetta’s weapon Undine have a similar name to Bael and Dagon's glowing feelers also known as Rusalka.
• Bangle of Time - Bayonetta has an item named "Bracelet of Time" (in the concept art it is explicitly referred to as the "Bangle of Time").
• In the prologue mission of Bayonetta, the character wields a set of handguns which look much like Ebony & Ivory from Devil May Cry.
• Stinger - Bayonetta's move "Stiletto" with shuraba resembles Stinger.
• Doppelganger Style - is mimicked by Bayonetta's accessory "Sergey's Lover", which creates shadow clones of Bayonetta to assist her in battle.
• Royalguard Style - The Accessory in Bayonetta known as "Moon of Mahaa-Kalaa" can block enemies attacks similar to Dante’s Royal Guard Style.
• Gunslinger style - BAYONETTA can Shoot her gun in different directions including behind her back and shooting multiple enemies at once similar to Dante’s gunslinger style.
• 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.
• Sai Fung in Bayonetta shares traits with the Nightmare -β (Beta) from Devil May Cry, Cerberus from Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening & King Cerberus from Devil May Cry 5. Like Nightmare-β (Beta) the shots that will ricochet off of nearby surfaces upwards of six times before finally vanishing and due to it being a nunchaku it shares a few moves and traits with the Cerberus, which is a tripartite nunchaku, that also provides a speed boost in Devil Trigger. The Bullet Climax for Sai Fung is similar to 'Round Trip'; a move used by Dante when wielding several different swords, and Fireworks; a shotgun move that flips the gun around Dante's body, from the Devil May Cry game series.
• In Bayonetta 3, Dead End Express weapon Is very similar to the motorcycle/weapon Cavaliere from Devil May Cry 5. They are both chainsaw like weapons that both protagonists can use as a vehicle to travel around and to tear their enemies into pieces but the difference is Dead End Express is a train while Cavaliere is a motorcycle
• Witch Time is very similar to slowing down time mechanics in the Devil May Cry franchise

Quotes

• Bayonetta quotes Let's rock baby! - which was actually spoken by Dante in the first game.
• Another quote Flock off, feather-face said by her to a flying boss, was also said by Dante to Griffon.
• Rodin indirectly alludes to Dante when he says, Some people may have a thing for the 45s, but to me, these are the real works of art, since Dante's signature handguns are .45s.

Other

• When you finish half of the Alfheim arenas you will be awarded with a Trophy/Achievement Angels May Cry - a unique opposite to Devil May Cry. They also reward the player with either a life boost, or a magic boost, as they do in the secret missions.
• When the Lost Chapter is unlocked, Bayonetta makes a pose similar to Trish's in the Devil May Cry logo.
• In a graveyard scene of the game Bayonetta, there is a tombstone with a written inscription in it saying Team Little Angels - the team who developed the first Devil May Cry game was Team Little Devils. Team Little Devils is referenced again by the "Little Devils," a gang of demons Bayonetta can summon with her "Infernal Communicator" accessory.
• The Orbs currency that drops from demons in Bayonetta 2 and Bayonetta 3 resembles the red, blue, and purple orbs used throughout the Devil MayCry series.

• While not called a Devil Trigger out right, the character Rodin from Hideki Kamiya's Bayonetta franchise is capable of performing a skill identical to that of Devil May Cry's Devil Trigger.
  
  Like Sparda being from Inferno, his Demon Form is his true form. It is utilized mainly in the second game, where the secret boss fight against him features him in two phases: his human form first, then his second phase being his Demon Form. When used in the games co-op multiplayer mode, players have access to his transformation as a temporary power up, functioning exactly like the Devil Trigger within the Devil May Cry franchise.
  
  Rodin's Demon Form bears a slight resemblance to Dante's Devil Trigger from Devil May Cry 2.

• One of the features of the Bayonetta series is that players are able to perform Torture Attacks, one of them allowing Bayonetta to summon heavy objects to smash her enemies, from Weights to Tombstones. One of the Tombstones Bayonetta can summon has the letters DMC carved into it with the in-game Enochian Language.
  • Many of these Torture Attacks are similar in spectacle and animation to Nero's Devil Bringer attacks from Devil May Cry 4.
• The accessory "Immortal Marionette" closely resembles the Bloody Mari enemy, and is even nicknamed "Bloody" in its item description.

• The theme of Blue and Red is stretched further in Bayonetta 2 with Bayonetta receiving a re-design, putting her in an outfit that featured more blue. While her friend Jeanne continues sporting bright-red clothing
• Mari Shimazaki, the official character designer for the Bayonetta series, had drawn up concept arts of Bayonetta and Jeanne dressed in alternate costumes based off of Dante and Trish during the development of the series's second entry. They were however never officially pitched to the main staff and were part of a private collection until being revealed after Bayonetta 2's release.
• Ardor - In Devil May Cry Mission 3 is called the Destroyer of Ardor, in reference to the boss: Phantom.

Similarities in DmC: Devil May Cry

Bayonetta was released before DmC: Devil May Cry, so any similarities between the two games can be attributed to DmC being like Bayonetta, rather than the other way around.

• Limbo is almost identical to the concept of Purgatorio in Bayonetta. Both are connected to the human world but separate; humans can be seen as ghostly specters but can't be interacted with; and changes to the environments of both Purgatorio and Limbo affect the associated elements of the human world, although Purgatorio's environmental changes have a direct impact, unlike Limbo's changes, where only certain strong "echos" have real world residual affects.
• The battle with Succubus shares similarities with the battle against Iustitia: both are fought on platforms above a lake of poison; spray the ground with a substance that damages the character upon contact; must be stunned to make reachable a central weak spot, which, when attacked, will sever something connected to the boss and hasten the end of the fight; have red spots on their foreheads, (though Iustitia has mutliple faces, all with this forehead gem); slam and break platforms; and have multiple appendages.
• Devil Trigger in DmC: Devil May Cry functions more like Witch Time in Bayonetta than the Devil Trigger of previous Devil May Cry titles: Both leave enemies helpless and allow the character to rack up combos free of danger.

Trivia

• Both the Bayonetta series and Devil May Cry 5 had a collaboration with the RPG game Shin Megami Tensei: Liberation Dx2, players could obtain Bayonetta and Devil May Cry characters during the collaboration period. This marks the only piece of official media where the two cross-over.
  • In addition, during the Devil May Cry 5 collaboration period, players could use Bayonetta herself to battle Dante in one of the story chapters.

• Devil May Cry content, in the form of Dante as a Mii Fighter costume, also appear in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, in which Bayonetta herself is one of the playable characters.

References

See also

• Bayonetta Wiki

External links

• Bayonetta official site (JP) (2010)
• GamesRadar's article of the hidden references