::UPDATE:: The submission window for Round 1 has come to a close! We have some incredible submissions–look forward to the community vote just a tad later this week!

It’s been just about a month since Devil May Cry 4 Special Edition launched on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. How go your stylish escapades? We’ve already seen a wealth of fascinating style and tutorial videos crop up on YouTube, as eagerly anticipated. But today comes a new opportunity for all of you to seed the ether with red hot video content. Yes, so begins the Devil May Cry 4 Special Edition Style Tournament. If you didn’t tune in for our DmC Style Tournament some weeks back, hit the jump for a run-down of how this works. 

Game: Devil May Cry 4 Special Edition (PS4/Xbox One/PC)

Concept: This tournament will consist of five standard rounds (one for each playable character) plus one decisive Final Round, for a total of six rounds—one each week. 

Each round will begin on Friday, with the rules for that round–including character, difficulty, gameplay modifiers, Mission, and “fight”–announced via a Capcom Unity blog post. Players will have the weekend to play and record a stylish combo video, to be submitted to us by noon (Pacific Time) the following Monday.

Video submissions will be pared down to a Top Five* by a team of judges here at the Capcom office. These Top Five videos will then be presented on the blog Wednesday morning (Pacific Time), and put to a community vote. The creator of the video with the most votes will become a Finalist and receive an awesome prize. 

*In the event that there are fewer than five submissions, all submissions will be put to community vote. I will also get really mopey. 

In Round 6, the five Finalists will compete against each other in one final, freestyle round. The recipient of the most votes will win the Grand Prize. 

General Rules: 

-You MUST be 18 or older to enter.

-Tournament is open to residents of North America, Central America, South America, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. Apologies to those not eligible. 

-Videos must be sixty seconds or shorter in length. 

-Videos may be captured however you like, as long as you are able to upload them to YouTube. Please also ensure that you are capturing at a resolution of 720p or greater.  

-Videos should be a single take with no cuts. They may, of course, be trimmed on the beginning or end for length. But please, no other video edits (e.g., transitions, text overlays). 

-No voiceover in your videos, please.  

-Videos must meet the criteria specified for each round. This includes character, difficulty, gameplay modifiers (e.g., Turbo Mode), Mission, and the enemy wave(s) you will be fighting. The idea is that every entrant is tackling the same fight in the same conditions. 

-Videos must be submitted by the deadline! Don’t be late! 

How to Submit: 

1. Record a video clip in line with the regulations for the current round. PS4 and Xbox One both have easy ways of doing this. For PC, you’ll have to have a way of capturing video. 

2. Upload the video to YouTube. You may upload to either Public or Unlisted, but not Private. 

3. Send your YouTube video link to contest@capcom.com OR tweet it with #DMCStyle. If you submit via Twitter, make sure you are also following the Twitter account @DevilMayCry. 

4. Feel free to include any information you think is important to highlight in the video description on YouTube. 

5. Each person may submit only one clip per round. So be sure you submit the take you think is best! 

Winning and Prizing:  

-Finalists for each round will be contacted within seven days of their victory, via the contest@capcom.com email account. Please respond with your name, mailing address, and SKU of choice (PS4, Xbox One) by the date noted in the email. If we don’t receive a response by the designated date, we’ll have no choice but to give your prize and Finalist position to the runner-up for the round you won! 

-Those who make the Top Five will be put to a community vote each round, to be held on the Capcom Unity blog. For convenience and exposure, each poll will be advertised on Twitter (@DevilMayCry) and Facebook (/devilmaycry). However, you must have a Capcom Unity login in order to vote. 

-Whoever gets the most votes in a round is the winner of that round and becomes a “Finalist.” Finalists for each of the first five rounds will receive the highly collectible Japanese retail copy of Devil May Cry 4 Special Edition (Xbox One or PS4), signed by director and series godfather Hideaki Itsuno. Winners will be able to choose the PlayStation 4 or Xbox One version.  

-No person may be selected as a Finalist twice. If you have already become a Finalist, you must sit out until the Final Round. 

-In the unlikely event of a tie vote, the Finalist for that round will be determined via a random name drawing.

-In the final (sixth) round, the Finalists from the preceding five rounds will compete in a freestyle round. These submissions will be put to another community vote, which will determine the ultimate winner.

-The ultimate winner will receive a signed copy of the Japanese “pizza box”-themed Devil May Cry 4 Special Edition Limited Edition (PS4 only, sorry). It’s awesome and I’m already jealous of whoever wins it.

At this juncture I would like to note that you are welcome to ask questions in the comments section below (or via a private message here on Unity). 

FULL CONTEST RULES

Now then! Onto the rules for Round 1!

Round 1 Rules: 

Character: Nero

Difficulty: Legendary Dark Knight

Modifiers: Turbo Mode is optional! No Super Nero allowed. You may choose the costume of your preference. 

Mission: 2

Fight: First wave, by the fountain. You do not have to perform the entire fight in 60 seconds, but the clip itself must be limited to a 60-second (or shorter) piece of the fight.

Deadline: Monday, July 20th @12:00pm (noon) PT

Tips:

-Be creative! We’re judging style here, not efficiency. So think outside the box and don’t be afraid to get weird. 

-As with all Devil May Cry games, it is possible to be stylish in a way that does not get picked up by the in-game style meter. We’re human beings, and we’re complex emotional creatures! Don’t get too stuck on getting a triple-S. 

-That goes for voters, too! Don’t just look for the “S”! Try and actually analyze what the player is doing and how. 

-Try recording multiple takes before submitting the one you think is the most stylish. Just remember to keep it under 60 seconds!

-A well-timed Taunt can be the difference between a good run and a Smokin’ Sick one. 

-I highly recommend experimenting with custom control layouts. Different layouts open up different possibilities. DMC4SE lets you save different control schemes for each character, so mess around and see what works for you.

-Be sure to check out ChaserTech’s awesome Advanced Combat Tutorial for Nero from the “vanilla” DMC4 days.

And that’s it! You’ve got the weekend to do something cool. Good luck, and may the most  stylish person win!