Recently, while speaking to Time Extension for an article on the voice director Susan Hart, Drew Coombs — the original voice actor for Dante in Devil May Cry — revealed the story behind one of the PS2 game's most iconic and memorable line reads.
If you've happened to have played Devil May Cry before, you'll probably already know the particular line that we're referring to. It's the one that follows shortly after Trish sacrifices herself to save Dante, in which the demon slayer dramatically throws his head back and declares "'I SHOULD HAVE BEEN THE ONE TO FILL YOUR DARK SOUL WITH LIGHT!', with a voice crack so pronounced that it's hard to believe it actually made it into the finished game.
Over the years, fans of the series have been fairly divided on what to make of this particular reading, with a lot of people enjoying it for just how melodramatic and over the top it is, while others have questioned in the past why Capcom didn't simply use a better take — especially for a moment that was supposed to elicit sadness, not laughter from the player.
Back in 2019, the game's director Hideki Kamiya, previously revealed in a Resident Evil 2 livestream via an interpreter that there were actually other "better" takes to use, but the decision was made to go with the voice crack as he believed it to be more emotional.
And Dante's voice actor has since elaborated on this further, making it clear that everyone involved was in on how just ridiculous and over top it was, but they were won over by how heartfelt and earnest the take ended up sounding. This includes Coombs and the director of the voiceover session, Susan Hart:
"Everyone, and I mean everyone! The directors, R&D team, myself, whoever else was in the room, AND SUSAN cracked up like crazy and were killing themselves laughing after that take. And it was just so brilliant in the way it grew after many many directed takes and metamorphosized into its final form. An over the top, heartfelt cry. But simultaneously and ultimately, so perfect and hilarious too."
Coombs now describes the line as an "all-time fan favorite (for good and bad reasons)", and says it likely would never occurred without Hart's direction pushing him towards the version that ended up being used.
If you want to read more about the English recording of Capcom's classic games, you can read our profile on Susan Hart here. It includes some great insights into how she accidentally got cast in the role of Cammy in the X-Men vs. Street Fighter, as well as other stories about her collaborations with Capcom on projects like Resident Evil 2.