Vincent was chosen as the protagonist of "Dirge of Cerberus" due to his strong connections to the setting of "Final Fantasy VII" and the room available for expanding on his background. Due to the staff's desire to make "Dirge" a shooter, Vincent was also chosen because of his weaponry, while his transformations into different type of monsters in the original "Final Fantasy VII" was something the staff wanted to work into the gameplay. For the game, Nomura redesigned Vincent's gun in the same way that Cloud's Buster Sword was redesigned for "Advent Children", so as to demonstrate that Vincent is the protagonist of the game. The gun was named in reference to the multiheaded hound with the same name from Greek and Roman mythology; the gun has three barrels as Cerberus has three heads.