Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Series
Ace Attorney is one of the more unique video game series that Capcom has ever introduced to the industry, basically combining courtroom drama with weird and wacky characters and storytelling. The first game was released on the Nintendo DS in 2001 as “Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney,” and since then we’ve seen multiple sequels, spin-offs, a manga series, anime series, and even a live-action movie in Japan.
Phoenix Wright focuses on a young defense attorney of the same name in the year 2016, as he’s just been hired on at the firm of Fey and Co., where he takes his first case defending his childhood friend Larry Butz. Through careful examination of the crime scene, and then defending his client in the courtroom, Phoenix proves his client innocent of murder charges. The real draw of the Ace Attorney games has always been its absolutely crazy characters and stories. Each game has five cases that are all self-contained within each entry, while simultaneously building upon the previous titles to create even more backstories for the series’ characters and world. The murders and crimes committed are never what they appear to be at first, and Phoenix has to use all of his skills both in and out of the courtroom to exonerate his client.
The games weave in some supernatural themes of channeling spirits, using techniques to do away with locks on people’s psyches, using therapy sessions to read witnesses’ emotions and more. The sprite art of the original games really stood out, as each character was dynamic with their own animations and quirks. As the series has progressed, it’s started using 3D models for characters, but the same eccentricities and ridiculous animations in court remain.
The first three Ace Attorney games focus completely on Phoenix Wright, along with his assistant Maya Fey, who coincidentally has the power to channel dead spirits. Along the way, they battle multiple prosecutors in court, and you learn more about Phoenix’s past in relation to some of them. The fourth game of the series, titled Apollo Justice, focuses on a new young defense attorney of the same name who arrives on the scene, after Phoenix has been accused of falsifying evidence. Then Phoenix Wright returned along with Apollo Justice in the fifth game, Dual Destinies, which introduced a new assistant named Athena Cykes.
There’s also a spin-off focusing on the most famous prosecutor of the Ace Attorney series, called Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth. On top of all that, there’s another spin-off that sets Phoenix and Maya up in a crossover with the famous Professor Layton, combining both of the series’ gameplay styles.
There’s far too much story to cover for the Ace Attorney series, but it’s generally easy to hop in at any point in the series and not feel totally lost. Each game does have self-contained stories and cases that are resolved. However, character reappear in many of the games and there’s an overall timeline to Phoenix’s career that is much easier to see the full picture of if you play the games in chronological order.
Gameplay
The Ace Attorney games are basically visual novels, with a few added elements thrown in to shake things up. There’s a ton of text you’re going to be reading in each game, and the story and characters are the main draw. Players advance text by either tapping the touch screen or hitting a face button. Each case will generally have a period where players are investigating the crime scene, or crime scenes. During these times you’ll use menus to navigate to different areas, talk to witnesses, and gather information.
Different areas can be examined with a menu prompt, and then you use the touchscreen to click on areas or items of interest to find out more. Oftentimes there might be small minigames like spreading powder on an item and blowing it off to find fingerprints.
After collecting info and preparing, it’s time to hit the main course of the Ace Attorney games – the courtroom. During these sections, players advance through text in the same way, squaring off against the prosecution, and defending their clients. Different witnesses will be called in, and the goal is to find discrepancies in their testimony. You have access to a log of evidence and info that you can bring up by hitting the right shoulder button at any time. After the testimony, you get your chance for cross-examination. Here, you can either press each statement, which can sometimes uncover more information, or you can present evidence that contradicts the witnesses’ testimony and moves the case along.
Finding these discrepancies and holes are the key to moving forward in Ace Attorney. The iconic “Objection” or “Take that” is used when the player stumbles upon a big contradiction or some kind of info that changes the course of the case. Even though you’re mostly just advancing the text, the games do a great job of building intensity and adrenaline in cases through their presentation and music. Character animations really add to the overall eccentricity of the games, as witnesses, the prosecution, and even Phoenix Wright himself react with ridiculous and over the top animations to everything.
The gameplay of the series may be simplistic, but overall the games have fascinating characters backed up by good localization and scripts.
When Is the Next Game Out
The next entry in the Ace Attorney series is Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of Justice. It’s the sixth official title in the series, not including spin-offs of course. Spirit of Justice releases on September 8, exclusively on the Nintendo 3DS. The game can only be purchased via the eShop, as it won’t be getting a physical release in the United States, and there’s currently a demo up that you can download, and an anime prologue detailing the events leading up to the game.
Spirit of Justice takes Phoenix to the Kingdom of Khura’in on a trip to visit his old assistant Maya Fey, it’s a country steeped in religious tradition and ruled by a royal family. Here he’ll have to contend with something called the Defense Culpability Act, as he defends clients from being accused of murder. The DCA is a law in Khura’in that makes it so defense attorneys are convicted of the same crimes as their clients, when the client is proven guilty.
While Phoenix is off in Khura’in the other members of the Wright Anything Agency, Apollo Justice and Athena Cykes, have to hold down the fort back in America. The five cases of the game will flip back and forth between Phoenix and Apollo, tying the events together into an overarching story filled with revolution, conspiracy, spirit channeling, divination and much more. The new Divination Seance mechanic during trials will have you viewing the final moments of victim’s lives, along with testimony from the royal priestess on what they experienced in terms of sight, smell and touch. Your job is to find discrepancies between the scene that plays during the Seance, and the testimony of the priestess, uncovering the truth along the way.
It’s interesting to note that Spirit of Justice is the 8th Ace Attorney game we’ve seen in the west, including Professor Layton vs. Ace Attorney. There are, however, two games in the series that we’ve never seen a localization of. The first is a sequel to Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth, released on the DS in 2011. The second is an interesting title set over 100 years in the past in Japan, called Dai Gyakuten Saiban: Naruhodo Ryunosuke no Boken. This 3DS game starred Phoenix Wright’s ancestor during Japan’s Meiji Period, as the profession of Defense Attorney was just starting to become a thing. The renowned detective Sherlock Holmes even plays a large role in the title, which at the moment has no plans for a western release.
About the author
