Dante's Contest History

Who is Dante?
Dante is the demon-slaying badass from the Devil May Cry series on the Playstation 2, and he has the added benefit of his series having one of the highest sales-per-release ratios of any gaming series ever made. Devil May Cry was a huge success, but Devil May Cry 2 was arguably one of the worst games ever made, and it helped to tarnish Dante's infallable image a bit; however, Devil May Cry 3 brought redemption to the series and then some, as many gamers and game reviewers consider it to be the best in the series. Devil May Cry 4 managed to be a few pegs down from the first and third titles, but was still leagues above the second.

"Looks like I'm getting closer..." - Dante Sparda

Dante's Contest History
Win-Loss Record: 10-6

Summer 2002 Contest - East Division - 4 Seed
 * Eastern Round 1 --- Defeated (13) Q*Bert, 40745 [70.01%] - 17453 [29.99%]
 * Eastern Quarterfinal --- Lost to (5) Crono, 22055 [33.42%] - 43939 [66.58%]
 * Extrapolated Strength --- 18th Place [25.02%]

Summer 2003 Contest - West Division - 4 Seed
 * Western Round 1 --- Defeated (13) Ryo Hazuki, 74068 [77.65%] - 21316 [22.35%]
 * Western Quarterfinal --- Lost to (5) Ryu, 43649 [45.99%] - 51258 [54.01%]
 * Extrapolated Strength --- 21st Place [27.32%]

Summer 2004 Contest - Chaos Division - 4 Seed
 * Chaos Round 1 --- Defeated (13) Ratchet, 59437 [80.28%] - 14602 [19.72%]
 * Chaos Quarterfinal --- Defeated (12) Miles "Tails" Prower, 45109 [57.40%] - 33472 [42.60%]
 * Chaos Semifinal --- Lost to (1) Sonic the Hedgehog, 30033 [37.97%] - 49057 [62.03%]
 * Extrapolated Strength --- 23rd Place [25.49%]

Dante has been a 4th seeded character in all of his Summer Contest appearances. He has the strength to eliminate fodder with ease, however has not reached that stride to take down, let alone compete, with the famed "Noble Nine". Barring a smashing success for DMC3, Dante will always be good enough to win a match or two, but the Sweet 16 will always be his downfall.

Summer 2005 Contest - Devil Division - 1 Seed
 * Devil Round 1 --- Defeated (8) Terra, 69379 [71.5%] - 27652 [28.5%]
 * Devil Semifinal --- Lost to (5) Vincent Valentine, 45893 [46.00%] - 53882 [54.00%]
 * Extrapolated Strength --- 17th Place [29.99%]

While it's easy to look at how Dante did in this contest and chalk it up to another of his typical second round choke jobs, it was a bit different this time around. Damn near everyone expected Dante to go out and get absolutely killed by Vincent, but Dante turned around and put his 1 seed and possibly DMC3 boost to good use in taking the early lead in the match. Dante would go on to lose, but in his entire contest career his most impressive match is arguably his second round loss against Vincent. People figured that Vincent would easily break 60% or more on him, but Dante held tough in proving that he was no fluke.

The issue of course is whether or not Dante can keep this up. Devil May Cry 4 is in the works, but the PS3 is still a ways away.

Summer 2006 Contest - Patriot Division - 2 Seed
 * Patriot Round 1 --- Defeated (2) Ryu Hayabusa, 77894 [65.20%] - 41576 [34.80%]
 * Patriot Semifinal --- Lost to (6) Yoshi, 64072 [49.45%] - 65497 [50.55%]
 * Extrapolated Strength --- 11th Place [39.73%]

DMC3 or no, not even Dante can escape thousands of kids on GoombaFAQs.com =p. Before 2005, no way in hell does Dante blow that match. And note that Yoshi is my preferred character of the two, so don't call me biased.

Summer 2007 Contest - Division 6 - First Group
 * Division 6 Round 1 --- 1st place, 67963 [49.19%] - Amaterasu, 31431 [22.75%] - Little Mac, 22851 [16.54%] - Matt, 15910 [11.52%]
 * Division 6 Round 2 --- 1st place, 53240 [43.41%] - Amaterasu, 25540 [20.83%] - Ada Wong, 23800 [19.41%] - Balthier Bunansa, 20051 [16.35%]
 * Division 6 Finals --- 2nd place, 39904 [30.43%] - Pikachu, 44304 [33.79%] - Leon Kennedy, 31279 [23.85%] - Amaterasu, 15644 [11.93%]
 * Contest Quarterfinals --- 2nd place, 37086 [26.59%] - Master Chief, 44799 [32.12%] - Luigi, 32179 [23.07%] - Pikachu, 25420 [18.22%]
 * Contest Semifinals --- 4th place, 24880 [15.13%] - L-Block, 56925 [34.63%] - Solid Snake, 43081 [26.20%] - Master Chief, 39515 [24.04%]

This was easily Dante's most successful contest to date, in part because he was placed in a very easy division. He scored the best percentage by a non-Noble Niner in the contest with his first round performance. Sure, his competition was laughable at best, but the point stands. He won his second round match without breaking a sweat as well before running into a bit of a snag in the Division 6 finals. Apparently, there was a measure of Capcom LFF with Leon Kennedy that held Dante back a bit, which ended up putting him second to Pikachu, an unexpected turn of events. He rebounded in the quarterfinals to oust the rat and make the semifinals. Don't hold that last performance against him. He was up against the L-Block rampage, a Noble Niner, and a Master Chief who was at his best in this format. You couldn't expect that much from him there.