Mission 1

Curse of the Bloody Puppets

Goals -
1. Gather forty-five red orbs to open the first door.
2. Retrieve the Rusty Key to open the next door.
3. Defeat all of the marionettes to unlock the final door for the mission.

This is where we are introduced to many of the elements of the game, the red orb, which is the form of currency for purchasing new, more kickass moves and health items, fragments of blue orbs, four of which extends your lifebar, the yellow orb, which will bring you back from the dead, and on occasion, the green orb, which restores your health.

Our story begins with Trish's arrival on the street leading up to Devil May Cry, the place of business for our hero, Dante. She propositions him for work, catching his interest by making reference to his past (i.e. the death of his mother and purported death of his twin, Vergil some twenty years ago). After arriving on Mallet Island, Trish leaps straight up into the air, leaving Dante to run up the stone stairway. Midway up and on your left is your very first yellow orb. Grab that and hurry up to the end of the path and through a hole in the stone wall. After you enter the main hall, the wall repairs itself, one of your first clues that this island isn't as straightforward as it seems.

The large marble statue in the back of the room is Mundus. Wave to him now because you'll be seeing him later down the road. Points of interest in this room include two doors, one that requires a Rusty Key to open, the other forty-five red orbs, and a God of Time statue, which will allow you to purchase items with your hard-earned red orbs. You can practice your jumping skills while gathering the red orbs. Once you have forty-five, approach the door opposite the statue of the knight and horse and go through into a courtyard. See that row of suits of armor? You can destroy them to gain extra red orbs. In fact, if you see other such objects in a room, try slashing at them. Sometimes they carry more than just red orbs.

Through the set of doors to your left, run up the stairwell to the top, and enter the room. You'll see a cut-scene pointing your attention to a marionette dangling from the ceiling, holding the glowing Rusty Key in its hand. Once you take the key and attempt to leave, the marionette comes to life and attacks you, joined by reinforcements. Once you're done with them, run back down the stairs and back into the main hall. Use the Rusty Key to open the door, and enter a room containing an old biplane and racks of weapons. In the rear corner are two suits of armor, and behind them is a circle of runes. Slash at the circle, lighting up all of the runes. The platform will drop down with you on it, depositing you in an arena.

You'll fight through two rounds of attack by numerous marionettes before you can return to the platform that brought you down to this place and get out of the arena. Once back up in the room with the biplane, more marionettes attack. Fight them off and search the top of the biplane's wings for a fragment of a blue orb. Once you're done with the carnage, the red doors nearby unlock. Head through them to end the mission.

Judge of Death

Goals -
1. Retrieve Alastor from the door.
2. Retrieve the Staff of Judgement and place it in the hands of the Judge of Death

You've arrived in one end of a long narrow hallway decorated with lush paintings with violent themes. Directly across from you is a door leading to a room containing a God of Time, and this is your first opportunity to actually use it. After you're done with your shopping expedition (if you choose to purchase anything), head on down the hallway to the very end where it opens up to a room with two doors. One set of doors has a sword stuck through it.

Meet Alastor. It really likes you.

Examine the door, and Alastor will introduce itself with a special flair—stabbing you through the chest. After much writhing of hips (and distraction of perverted player), Dante frees himself from the sword and tests it out. You will now equip it instead of Force Edge. Now you can purchase new moves to use against your enemies. I suggest picking up Stinger for 350 red orbs. It comes in real handy later on in Mission 3. Your Devil Trigger is also now available to you.

Take another look at the door that formerly held Alastor. Instead of a woman with a sorrowful expression, it's now the Judge of Death (who looks like he should be holding something). That'd be a hint. File this away for later as you enter the set of double doors on the north wall. Welcome to the library. Several tables against the walls await destruction, and one of them on the second floor yields the Shotgun. Equip this instead of your handguns. There's a painting of a Grim Reaper-like figure holding yet another glowing Rusty Key. Leave the room and head back down the hallway to the set of double doors. Unlock the doors and enter a circular courtyard containing a fountain. Dispose of all of the marionettes before exploring the room to find a door on the perimeter. The one above the statue of a Lion will have to wait for later.

You've now entered a hall containing a number of paintings and a tomb. You'll have to exterminate the marionettes before examining the tomb. Slash at it with Alastor until the tomb falls back to reveal a trapdoor. You drop down into a jungle area where the Staff of Judgement awaits you. Pick it up, and a bookcase will turn, allowing you to pass back through into the library. Once done with the Sin Scissors, your newest friends, you can exit the library and end up back in the hallway, in front of the Judge of Death. Place the Staff of Judgement in the grasp of the Judge, and end the mission by going through the door.

Mission 3

Destroyer of Ardor

Goals -
1. Cross the bridge.
2. Defeat the Phantom.
3. Obtain Pride of Lion.

Once inside the cathedral, you are prevented from going back the way you came. Approach the altar to examine the Pride of Lion. It then unlocks the door at the opposite end of the chamber from it, and you are now outside the castle. Cross the bridge to the very end. You can examine the Staff of Hermes and then the plaque that tells you that you will have proof of your valor once you cross the bridge again. This time, however, lightning strikes you halfway to the other side, and you plummet beneath the water. Hurry back into the circular chamber, defeat the Sargassos, another new friend. Once done with them, stand on the glowing circle in the middle of the chamber which takes you back to the top of the bridge. (Note - if you cross back to the side with the Staff of Hermes, there's a fragment of blue orb in it for you.) Make sure your health is maxed out because you get to fight a boss once you pick up the Pride of Lion.

Ah, Phantom, how we love thee.

No, seriously, Phantom is one of the highlights of the game, especially with the banter that he and Dante throw back and forth. After taunting each other (while I sorely wanted Dante to just pipe down due to fear of getting squished), our favorite lava scorpion aims a fireball at Dante, who leaps out of the way, and the battle begins.

If you purchased Stinger, you can be a little cheap here and repeatedly use it against Phantom and incur minimal damage. If you hit your Devil Trigger and use Stinger, the damage is multiplied. Once defeated, Phantom crawls down through a hole he makes in the floor. You're not finished yet, however. (See the Secrets section - Secret 1 for details on that.) Leave the cathedral and complete the mission.

Mission 4

Black Knight

Goals -
1. Present the Pride of Lion to the Lion statue.
2. Defeat the Shadow.
3. Retrieve the Death Sentence and get the Melancholic Soul.
4. Defeat Nelo Angelo.

Once you leave the cathedral, you have the option of going back inside (Secrets section - Secret 2) and going down to the end of the hall into the room with the God of Time statue (Secrets section - Secret 3) and possibly pick up a Holy Water item. Once you make your way down the hall, you discover that Phantom didn't really take his defeat all that well. You have a choice of running down the hallway and hoping for the best, fighting Phantom again as he charges towards you, or as I do, just head into the courtyard room which you are standing next to when Phantom appears. If you decide to hit the God of Time, return afterwards to the courtyard with the fountain inside of it. Present the Pride of Lion to the statue, and slash at the statue with your sword until it breaks. You now get to fight a Shadow. Joy.

Use the Holy Water if you purchased it, and that should take a large chunk out of the Shadow's life points and expose its core to your tender mercies, and by tender, I mean painful. The goal here with the Shadow is to attack it and dodge its attacks until it exposes the glowing core . Eventually, it dies, I swear, and you can now enter the door above the alcove where the Lion statue was.

You are now inside a hollow tower. Head upstairs to a set of double doors, and you enter the castellan's bedroom. There's a large mirror (which will come into play a little later), a bust of a woman with a melancholic expression. Apparently you need to insert something in order to get the glowing object the bust holds. Exit the bedroom, and head up to the top of the stairs where you can find a clue about a sword that will let you get the Melancholic Soul item. The sword, according to the clue, is at the highest point in the room. First, you must head to the very bottom in order to find a way to get to the top.

There's a circle of runes here, similar to the one in the first mission, and to activate it, you must slash at it with your sword. Once it's fully lit, stand on the circle in the center of the floor, and it will rise, bringing you up to the highest point in the room. Just a quick hop away is the Death Sentence. Take the sword back to the castellan's bedroom. Examine the bust of the woman, and get the Melancholic Soul.

But wait, there's more.

See the mirror there? Well, your reflection sees you too.

And it decides to get to know you a little better.

After your own reflection steps out of the mirror and reforms into Nelo Angelo, he calls you out, so to speak, and jumps through the open window/doors, and you will follow. Now your task is to defeat Nelo Angelo. Battle him from the courtyard to the bridge to the top of the wall. He slams you against the wall, intent on throttling the life out of you until the pendant Dante's mother gave him falls out of his shirt into plain view. Apparently, this little trinket has some meaning for Nelo Angelo, and he leaves you be and flies off. Mission complete, and if that isn't a huge hint that Nelo Angelo and Dante go back further than this game, then I don't know what is and should have my fandom privileges yanked.

Mission 5

Guiding of the Soul

Goals-
1. Defeat the Sin Scythes in the courtyard.
2. Get the Melancholy Soul to the alcove with the lion's head at the bottom of the stairwell and place it inside.

This is one of the simplest missions in the entire game, quite frankly. Deal with the Sin Scythes quickly, and go back through the door you used to come into the courtyard in Mission 4. From here, leap down over the rail, which is the fastest way to the ground, head to the alcove with the lion's head, place the Melancholy Soul in the niche, and you are done! (It's pretty much a guaranteed S rank for this mission.)