Hey! Just really quick, this guide is to help you feel a little bit better getting a grip on the game and feel like you got your money's worth out of it, because it can be difficult to figure out. Some people are griping on the forums and calling it broken, but most of these people are misinformed!

Devil May Cry 3 is a great game, and yes this port is little more than a basic emulation, but it gets the job done. None of these problems will prevent you from enjoying the game fully with the help of this guide.

Basic Troubleshooting:

The game may run poorly on older machines, or machines using Microsoft Vista or earlier OS systems. If you don't have at least Windows 7, I can't recommend this game for you! I have only ever tested this with Windows 7.

If your game is running poorly, deleting some of the Music files seems to help most people. I haven't had a problem with this, but there are guides out there on the web to help with performance issues, and it's usually the sound files. Look for a performance guide if you have these problems.

If your game doesn't run at all, check your machine. If your machine is in tip-top shape, verify the integrity of the game cache (via Steam Library).
Now, let's get to it.

This section is kind of a guide to navigating the game the first time. The main idea is to tackle the questions you're going to ask, in the order you are going to ask them.

• CONTROLLER:
  Right off the bat, the game will throw you a curveball, by asking you if you want to configure your controllers or not. If you don't have a controller, don't worry about this. If you want to do that, then go ahead. If it's too complicated, see one of the controller guides here on steam.
  
  Using the keyboard might feel awkward if you are a seasoned DMC player, but if you are not, dont worry about this part. You can skip it for now.
  
  
• WINDOWED MODE?:
  Next, upon launching the game you'll notice that it is in windowed mode by default. I know, this is weird. In order to change this to fullscreen mode, just press alt-enter. Also, closing the game while it is fullscreen should also make the game launch in fullscreen in the future. To close the game, press alt-F4, then select 'yes.'
  
  This is not necessary to play the game, it is just usually desirable.
  
  
• CONTROLS:
  By default, the game has a rather unintuitive control scheme set up. The mouse cannot be used to click the buttons on the menu, even though it overlays on top of the game screen.
  
  The mouse will stay there forever, so I recommend moving it to the lower right corner of your screen, where it is invisible and less distracting to the game.
  
  In order to navigate the menu, the following keys are necessary:
  
  -W,A,S,D: These are your directional keys, obviously.
  -J,K: These are less obvious. K is your default 'select' key, and J is your default 'back' key.
  -Space,N: I'm not quite sure about these, but these seem to be R1 and L1. These are used when navigating some of the item menus during the game. Took me forever to figure out.
  -I: Sometimes this button gives extra information about items in the item menu.
  -ESC: This is the START button! This allows you to access the menu while in the game.
  
  These controls are always used to navigate the menu if you are using a keyboard. Controllers, as I understand, grant more intuitive control in the menu, however that doesn't mean much to me. Once you figure it out, you won't have trouble with it, and it won't prevent you from enjoying the game.
  
  Again, these menu controls CANNOT be changed.
  
  Using these controls, you should be able to easily find the options menu, where you can set up your keyboard controls however you wish. I recommend most movement and weapon selection keys on the left hand side (near WASD), and the combat oriented keys (shoot, slash, lockon, etc) on the right hand side (near I,O, and P).

Now that you've familiarized yourself with the basic basic controls for the game, let's talk about what you're about to experience.

DMC veterans need not read this, but anyone else, read on.

When you start your first game, these are some things you might be interested in.

• Easy Mode:
  Yes, you're right. Normal is the only mode available. That's correct. The game does this on purpose to allow you to gauge your potential! If you are actually really good, you don't need easy mode, now do you?
  
  In order to unlock easy mode, you must die a certain number of times. Have fun with this one.
  
  
• GOLD OR YELLOW???
  It's a good question. What these actually do is contribute to the difficulty of the game, in the form of a "continue" system. This is the basic breakdown:
  
  -GOLD: When you die, you can always choose to continue the game from where you left off in the previous area. This will not save your game in the traditional sense. Every time you sit down to play, it has to be at the start of a chapter. This will let you continue from the middle of the chapter if you die.
  
  However, in this mode, a special item called a Gold Orb will allow you to immediately revive with full health, even during a fight. These are very expensive, so think before using them, if you happen to find one! The Gold Orb will prompt you to use it when you die, no need to use it beforehand. This consumes the Gold Orb.
  
  -YELLOW: When you die, you have to start the whole chapter all over again. Yep, that's right. This is obviously the more difficult mode, but it can be fun when GOLD stops being challenging, but you aren't quite ready for ultra-hardcore masochist difficulty yet.
  
  Similarly to the Gold Orb, this mode has a Yellow Orb. While they are much cheaper than Gold Orbs, the Yellow Orbs have an equally meh-worthy effect. They allow you to continue from the previous area, as if you were playing Gold version, but consuming the Yellow Orb. Virtually worthless for boss fights, if you ask me, and that is the only real reason to need a gold/yellow orb in the first place. But that's beside the point.
  
  
• Save Data?
  This game uses an odd type of save feature. The "save data" selection in the menu accesible in the game (ESC) allows you to save your data! Make sure you do this, or else your progress will be lost.
  
  However, only a few things are saved inside the data file. I'll list them below:
  -Items (health/magic items, max health increases, etc.)
  -Weapons (guns, swords)
  -Style Experience & Level (explained later)
  -Red Orbs (basic currency used to buy stuff)
  -Weapon Upgrades ('level' for guns, 'actions' for melee weapons)
  -Current Level (as in, level in the game)
  -Costume (this hardly deserves mentioning, but it is also saved)
  
  So pretty much, these are all the basic things you'd be pissed off about if you lost them.
  
  Specifically, things that are not saved:
  -Location (or any progress within a level)
  -Current Health (max health is saved)
  -Current Magic (max magic is saved)
  -Quest Items (things that open doors basically. These are specific to each level)
  
  Another important note about "Save Data":
  If you do not "Save Data" before you restart a mission, you will lose everything you earned or purchased during that mission. This includes the mandatory "restart" when you die in Yellow Mode. If you are about to die, or start a dangerous fight, Save Data.
  
  Fortunately, you can Save Data at any time, even during Boss Fights, or while you are dying. Just make sure you do it before the game realizes you're dead.

Now that you're in the game, you might wonder what's going on.
It's not usually that hard to figure out, but this is here just to remove any doubt.

The fundamental gameplay is hack 'n' slash, with you (hopefully) doing the hacking and slashing. If you are being hacked and slashed, don't worry, you'll get the hang of it. Since the gameplay is relatively simple, there's only a few catagories of game elements to talk about:
-The Player (you)
-Enemies
-Items
-Objects

This is you! You are the center of the universe in the game, and coincidentally, also the focus of pretty much every camera angle, so get really used to looking and Dante's beautiful face, because that's all you'll see. You can move yourself around and interact with the environment using the controls.

You have health, which drains when you're hit, and magic (later on) which you can use to heal and increase your power. Basic basic stuff here.

These are the bad guys! Pretty much anything that moves is an enemy in the game, so don't worry about hurting any friendlies! There is only one time in the game where there is an ally, and even then you cannot hurt him, and you will probably be preocuppied with killing the giant demon blob thing in the depths of hell, knee high in extraterrestrial goo.

Enemies come in very basic varieties:
-Reaper demons that can be chopped and shot
-Statue demons that can be chopped and shot
-Fallen angel demons(?) that can be chopped and shot
-Fire bird things that must first be shot, then chopped. (tricky tricky!)
-And more! Part of the fun is learning these things on your own.

Also in this catagory are the Bosses! (Basically super-enemies).
Some levels have a "Boss" at the end of the level, with a Health bar at the bottom of the screen. These are generally much tougher to kill than normal enemies, and each one is different.
Some "Boss" creatures are actually generic, and will later return as normal enemies. You will recognize these when you see them. They have a health bar when they serve as level bosses, but will not have one each time they are seen afterwards.
You'll learn to recognize all of these as you play.

Items are the rewards you get for killing enemies and making progress. Items are always good, and can be found pretty much anywhere in the game in some form or another. Items come in a few catagories:
-Orbs
-Weapons
-"Items" (basically power-ups)
-Quest Items

Orbs are found pretty much anywhere, and come in red, green, white, blue, purple, and yellow/gold. Red orbs are used to buy other colors of orbs, or to buy other items/upgrades for your character. Red Orbs are dropped by almost every enemy in the game.

Orbs always appear as colorful round objects in the game, and are automatically collected when you walk near them.

Weapons: include guns and melee weapons. These are not usually found around the game world, but can be sometimes. Usually they appear as little stars of light on the groud, and can be picked up by pressing your Style button (you set in options). They twinkle, but you can miss them if you aren't paying attention.

Most weapons are obtained in cutscenes, but two weapons can be obtained outside of cutscenes.

"Items", as the game calls them, are one-use trinkets that give you a health or magic boost, or sometimes damage enemies. They can be purchased or found on the ground.

These types of items also look like the little twinkling star on the ground. It's impossible to tell what it is until it is picked up! There's not much else to say about these. They are useful, HOWEVER, the game will essentially call you a wimp at the end of the level by giving you lower ranks whenever you use these items. Still, if an item means the difference between beating a boss and not, you should go for it.

Quest Items: These items also look like the twinkling star, usually. Walk up to them and grab them with your Style key.

These items usually allow you to progress the plot, by opening a door, starting a fight, or ending the chapter. They have all kinds of different names, but they are all essentially the same thing as the small keys from Zelda; they only serve to open new paths.

Objects are things around the map that you can't pick up, but yet can still interact with! Most objects are things you can smash with your weapons. Yep, just go ahead and whack the stuff in your way and you can get Red Orbs (sometimes green orbs!).

Some objects require you to smash, hack, and slash them in a special way, and yield special rewards, such as alot of red orbs, a blue orb, or opening a door. These are all visually distiguished, and you'll recognize them.

Lastly, there are golden statues holding giant hourglasses. These are the "stores" in the game, which allow you to purchase things inside of a level.

After you finish the game, there will be many extras available to you.
These include an extra game-mode, a bonus character to play as, costumes for Dante, extra difficulties, and also all of the cutscenes can be reviewed.

I hope you stay determined enough to beat the game and get all of these cool extra features!

Style is essentially a class for your character. It has a level, and grants you special abilities. Each Style uses the Style button in a different way. Some of them help your defensive abilities, some of them help you offensively. Styles gain experience by killing things. You can change your style in the golden statue shops or at the start of each level.

This happens sometimes, although I am not certain as to why. It seems to have to do with the extra playable character (Vergil), and the fact that he uses his own save files seperate from Dante.

You will know if your save file is corrupted if you try to load the game with the file, and the missions will seem to "reset" to a previous mission, or your weapons will look very weird in the customization screen. The game will crash if you attempt to use the save file, but it can be restarted, and this won't damage any of the other save files.

I don't know of a way to reverse this corruption, but it can be very frustrating if you worked hard on that particular file. Try saving each game across multiple slots so that a backup copy exists in case it becomes corrupted.

Extras:

Some extras are only unlocked for playing harder difficulties, or playing the bonus game-mode (after finishing the campaign). That's all I'll say.

This is about all you need to know to get your bearings on the game.
The in-game tutorial available periodically throughout the game will help you learn about each enemy/item in detail.

Devil May Cry 3 is a great game. This port works, it just requires some figuring out.
Don't be discouraged by nay-sayers if you really want to enjoy this game.

You should be ready to rock and roll once you've got everything set up!
Hope you have a good time. Happy demon hunting!