he would go uncredited, but ended up the only director listed in the final version of the game. He joined under poor conditions: Itsuno was angered at his assignment and took on the job in a "burning [his] own bridges" way; he originally planned a complete overhaul which would detach the game from the Devil May Cry intellectual property: "part of me was dissatisfied because I hadn't started with the project from day one. As far as I was concerned, that didn't amount to a proper level of involvement with DMC". According to Nara: Morihashi, who handled a multitude of odd jobs, found the toil taxing, to the point of coughing blood: "I was living close to the company, so I'd get home around dawn, bathe, change clothes, and then head right back. I was practically sleeping at work so I wouldn't be late. (laughs) I'd even take naps during lunch breaks". Despite the situation, he was still invested in the series, and asked for Kamiya's advice on how to tackle a sequel featuring Vergil. When he joined Team Devil in February 2002; the story, characters and designs were largely finished; with much to do about gameplay: "The stages were mostly there, but not the missions. [...] It was like we had all the trappings done, but not the filling, which made things very hard". At some point, the game's release date was moved up four months.Devil May Cry 2 was revealed at a quarterly financial presentation on 13 May, to be released on the second half of fiscal year 2002. A trailer was showcased later that month at E3. Tanaka was vague in disclosing many of the game's features; no concrete information could be given about the orb system because Team Devil was still working on it. Enemy voices and sound effects were recorded at Soundelux in July. Capcom pegged its launch window in early September, Devil May Cry 2 was 65% complete around then. It was showcased with a two-mission long playable demo at the end of the month at Tokyo Game Show, where it was the most popular game at the Capcom booth. With a combination of media and visitor votes, it was one of fifteen titles that won the Award for Excellece of the inaugural Game Awards Future category at the CESA Game Awards; Tanaka stated Team Devil were in the final stages of development during