/r/AceAttorney

Photograph via snooOG

An unofficial subreddit for Ace Attorney, a murder mystery-solving visual novel/adventure game series from Capcom.

An unofficial subreddit for Ace Attorney, a murder mystery-solving visual novel/adventure game series from Capcom.

Recent releases include Ace Attorney Investigations Collection, a remastered pair of spinoff games taking place after the Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy, Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy, a remastered collection containing mainline games 4 through 6!

Rule #1: Low-effort content

To avoid this subreddit becoming cluttered with low-effort content, please avoid the following post types:

Memes, jokes, unaltered screenshots of typos or funny/strange moments in the games/anime/manga, gimmicky crossposts from other subs, screenshots of random social media posts, comment sections, or Steam reviews, "this character looks like this other character" comparisons, real-world news vaguely similar to events in Ace Attorney games, and "hot take/unpopular opinion" threads.

Additionally, any posts containing content produced by generative AI programs such as ChatGPT, character.ai, and other similar platforms are banned.

Posts falling into the above categories will be removed at the moderators' discretion.

Rule #2: Spoilers and flairs

Information on the post flairs available on this sub can be found here.

Spoilers in posts and comments should be tagged using >! and !<, like so:

>!The "miracle" never happen.!<

Only leave spoilers unmarked in threads specifically dedicated to discussing them.

Posting major spoilers, or a spoilerific image? Don't forget to add a spoiler flair, and please avoid including direct spoilers in the titles of your posts.

Rule #3: No piracy discussion

Discussion of emulators, fanmade games, etc. is allowed, but please don't post links to pirated content or discuss how to obtain such content.

Rule #4: Posting NSFW content

When posting potentially NSFW content, be sure to mark your post with the NSFW flair. Avoid posting outright pornographic content, or any sexual or suggestive content involving underage characters.

Repeat infractions of this rule may result in a ban.

Rule #5: Posting polls

Polls are allowed, but must be made using Strawpoll, rather than Reddit's own built-in poll system. Explanation here.

Additionally, pinned at the top of this sub's front page is the regular Weekly Poll Thread, which rotates through a broad range of frequently-used poll topics. Some user-created polls may be removed for being identical to Weekly Poll topics, as a result.

Rule #6: Investigations spoilers

Because the Ace Attorney Investigations Collection remaster is the newest title released for the series, make absolutely sure to appropriately flair any posts containing spoilers for those games and indicate which games are spoiled in anything you post. Failure to follow this spoiler rule will result in a temporary ban. Repeated infractions will lead to a permanent ban.

Rule #7: Posting fanart

Fanart posts are welcome, but must either be your own work (and include a WIP draft, or any other proof of ownership like partial layers in a drawing app) or properly sourced back to the original posting/artist if not your own original work. Please flair posts of fanart that isn't your own with "Sourced fanart".

Proper sources include: DeviantArt, Newgrounds, Niconico, Pixiv, Tumblr, Twitter

Sites like Pinterest, Zerochan, or 'Booru boards tend to host a lot of reposted art, oftentimes without including proper artist credit, and therefore are not accepted sources. Reverse image search resources like Saucenao can be used to track down original postings of art, if all you can find is a repost.

NOTICE: AI image generator content is banned, and will be summarily removed.

Rule #8: Objection.lol videos

Videos made on the objection.lol site are allowed, but are to be limited to topics actually relevant to Ace Attorney. Recreations of random scenes from other media, memes, Discord arguments, and other general Internet conversations should be posted elsewhere.

Rule #9: Tier lists

Exclusively on Tuesdays (per Eastern Standard Time), tier lists for your personal rankings of characters, episodes, games, and music are allowed.

Gimmicky or shitpost-y tier lists (like 'characters ranked by how hot they are', or 'ranked by who smokes weed') will be removed, as will shipping tier lists, the latter because they near-universally lead to pointless bickering.

Discord server

This community has an official Discord server! Note: the server is an 18+ community, so please observe that rule.

Here's the server link!

Recommended playing order

Thanks to user /u/Gabo2oo, we have a new and revised chart to spell out the best order in which to play the games.

Reddit Content Policy

Remember the human.

Abide by community rules.

Respect the privacy of others

Do not post or encourage the posting of sexual or suggestive content involving minors.

You don’t have to use your real name to use Reddit, but don’t impersonate an individual or an entity in a misleading or deceptive manner.

Ensure people have predictable experiences on Reddit by properly labeling content and communities, particularly content that is graphic, sexually-explicit, or offensive.

Keep it legal, and avoid posting illegal content or soliciting or facilitating illegal or prohibited transactions.

Refer to Reddit's Content Policy for details.

Related subreddits

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/r/AceAttorney

128,717 Subscribers

3

My Headcanon of Edgeworth

I tend to think he has albinism, I think it fits him well

1 Comment
2024/10/29
08:55 UTC

70

Ace attorney witness irl

1 Comment
2024/10/29
08:47 UTC

5

Behold my Ace Attorney 1-6 OST Tier List!

2 Comments
2024/10/29
07:36 UTC

9

Just finished AJ1

It just ended... suddenly, what was that!!?

I can't pinpoint exactly what because the case designs are still somewhat unique and fun to crack but they are so forgettable, the characters are also not as endearing as PW. PW makes u go "WOW, WOW, WOW, OMG, HOLYSHIT" you know. And AJ1 has a lot to catch up.

It's still good, but that's it. However, Dual Destinies look pretty hype with that banger of an intro, hope it remedies it :)

5 Comments
2024/10/29
06:46 UTC

21

I'm attempting to Turn ace attorney into Miis, I started off with Grossberg, Is it good?

1 Comment
2024/10/29
05:49 UTC

72

Drew something

4 Comments
2024/10/29
05:25 UTC

11

When it comes to the antagonists, do you call them as villains, culprits, or killers?

For me, I prefer the term "villains" because they seem that way but I want to hear what do you all like to refer them as.

7 Comments
2024/10/29
03:00 UTC

18

What Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies means to me

Let’s start with case 1. The start with how the game begins. Having a courtroom being blown up is INCREDIBLY interesting as a starter case, and by far the best opening to any mainline Ace Attorney Game (if you exclude playing as Mia as part of the opening of T&T). The introduction to Athena made me IMMEDIATELY connect with her character. Athena is not only exceedingly caring for her friends, but is also self conscious of herself. By placing the breadcrumbs of her growth in this case, we’ll be able to appreciate how well she grows throughout the entire game. While I was not a fan of the game switching back to Lawyer Phoenix in 5-1, his characterization in 5-2, 5-DLC, and 5-3 were enough of a bridge gap that I could justify the change out of Hobo Phoenix. I also wish that we could play as Athena Cykes, but that’s where the criticisms of case 1 come to an abrupt end. The idea of the mood matrix is pure genius and insanely fun to utilize, and unlike Turnabout Trump we actually get to utilize the gameplay mechanic instead of the game saying “here’s a sneak peak, now wait till the NEXT case to use it!”. The defendant (Juniper Woods) is incredibly likable (Say what you want about her personality being bland, I’d take a bland but lovable personality over the prick whose name is Wocky). Not to mention the hints and breadcrumbs of Athena’s story that we get in 5-1. As a first case, it’s good.

Now, onto case 2. I really love the atmosphere of this place, and, unlike Turnabout Corner with Wesley Stickler, Wocky-The-Prick, and water-downed Dahlia Hawthorne, I thoroughly enjoyed every single character in this case. Even L’Bell, who I thought would get on my nerves (as most characters of his archetype does) surprisingly didn’t. The mystery is also exceedingly complex (I’ll never forget learning that our deduction that the culprit used the vent to escape was actually WRONG), the introduction to Simon Blackquill and Bobby Fulbright was amazing, being able to investigate in a 3d environment was awesome, but what I should note here is that Phoenix finally actively mentors Apollo instead of just giving evidence. His advice that we shouldn’t give up, no matter how difficult the situation is, is exactly what Apollo needed to hear during his trial. Not to mention that Apollo is actually kind towards Trucy now, and he bounces off of Athena quite well during the trial. Not to mention the Tenma’s were both exceedingly entertaining characters, with the usage of the sticky spell slip always making me laugh. 

Then I played the DLC case, and oh BOY, did this case surprise me. The setting of the crime is really awesome, the culprit is surprisingly sympathetic, the case is actively hilarious at multiple points, the twists are amazing as always, and I’d say as far as DLC cases go this one would genuinely be worth paying extra for. I know that's a much briefer synopsis of this case compared to the others, but I'll talk more about 5-DLC in the comments at some point.

Then, Turnabout Academy. I know that multiple people mentioned that the power of friendship was lame, but I can’t see this point. Yes, it’s obvious that Means is the culprit, but it’s also obvious that (1-5) >!Gant is the culprit of 1-5!<, and I don’t see others say “that means the case is weaker”. By focusing on how the body was transported and where it originated, the case doesn’t have to worry about Means being obvious as a culprit. After all, 90% of the time in Ace Attorney, it’s trying to figure out “how”, not “who”. I absolutely adored every character from this case, with Robin being an exceptional witness for me, with the twist that she was a girl actually surprising me. Could it have been handled better? Yes, but it’s not offensive as it is right now. Taking on O’Conner, and learning that not only was his grades being paid for, but he’s also 20+ and also FORKLIFT CERTIFIED AS WELL?!?!? That caught me more off guard than Robin’s reveal. And now for the main event: Professor Means. He is by far one of the most intimidating villains in the franchise. But despite that, despite him literally causing Athena to have a genuine Episode, Athena struck back harder by making one of the most brilliant deductions in the series: proving that Professor Means made the body look like Mr.Wright’s Statue. Even though I found it strange that we never recreated Mr.Wright’s Statue, I would have NEVER guessed that the culprit used it to hide the victim’s body. And how if you look back on the case that he didn’t have the staff in the first section of the case? 

And now we reach the penultimate case. Starting the case to see that we were in the courtroom that has yet to blow up, and see Apollo with an eyepatch heavily confused me, because I had assumed he wore that eyepatch BECAUSE of the explosion. Not to mention that Simon Blackquill is arguably at his smartest here, creating a story worthy of Manfred Von Karma in how airtight it seems at first. Trying to break the case down slowly was a delectably fun process. Not to mention seeing Ted Tonate genuinely sent chills down my spine. The Space Agency is still my favorite investigative area in the franchise, on par with the Aquarium of 5-DLC, Hazakura Temple in 3-5, and 2 areas from the investigation collection that I will not spoil. I adore every character here. Yuri Cosmos is exceptionally hilarious with how over the top he is, Ponco and Clonco were both adorable, Starbuck was surprisingly sympathetic as a defendant, and Aura… I already sent my essay on Aura, and I know that the fanbase genuinely don’t care for her at all, so I won’t talk about her in detail, but she’s in my top 15 favorite Ace Attorney Characters. Anyways, cross examining Yuri Cosmos was amazing, and the twist that the space center actually swapped places was an original trilogy level twist. 

And then the results of the lighter came in.

And thus we look forward to Tomorrow, in Turnabout for Tomorrow.

When I say that this case is my 2nd favorite finale, right behind the genuine perfection of Resolve of Ryunosuke Naruhodo, I MEAN it. 

To start, the stakes have never been higher. Simon Blackquill is to be executed in a single day, meaning that we have to solve UR-1 NOW. If matters weren’t already complicated enough, Aura decides to hold Trucy hostage, and Apollo is on his own searching for his own truth. And Edgeworth’s reappearance. After playing AAi2, I cannot comprehend how ANYONE can consider any of his actions during this case out of character. His closest friend’s daughter is being held hostage, and the only way to release her is to prove that Athena Cykes murdered her own mother. Not only that, but he also has to face the Turnabout Terror: Phoenix Wright. I’d argue that his case here is the most airtight case Edgeworth has had (excluding games where we play as him). As much as Phoenix pushes back against Edgeworth’s claims, Phoenix can’t crack his case. It takes Simon Blackquill to demand that he is the guilty party of it all to actually make progress. And so, Phoenix, with the help of Athena Cykes, puts Simon through the Mood Matrix. And the truth that Simon speaks…

This is the first time I genuinely felt scared in a game through dread. Not scared as in “Resident Evil Monster is trying to kill me”, but as in me wanting this game to be lying. So, I looked through Athena’s confession, and found the contradiction with the knife……

And Edgeworth shot that down. The moment I saw Phoenix’s despair sprite…. I stopped progressing through the dialogue. I was going to find out who killed Métis Cykes if it was the last thing I did.  And I just stopped playing, and went full detective mode. Because I was scared out of my MIND that Athena could be the culprit. So I looked for any possible excuse. And then I recalled that the robot mentioned that when the hug happened, Métis's heart rate spiked up.  But that contradicted the autopsy report. This meant that that couldn't be the moment of the murder. But given that Athena was yelling at someone, I figured she had to have stabbed something with the utility knife/ Then I looked at the crime scene photo and saw the cloth on the ground. I realized that somehow, Métis had her face covered. Then I recalled how Apollo was mistaken for Clay by the robot.  This made me realize that Métis Cykes was already dead at that time that Blackquill witnessed the crime. Given that only 2 people were in that room, I concluded that Athena didn't kill her mother, but I didn't know who did. So I thought, and recalled that Yuri mentioned how the Spy was the culprit of both incidents. So whoever killed Clay was the culprit. So I looked back at my playthrough of 5-4, and recalled the escape experience. The culprit had to have fled through the boarding lounge to escape. But then, I recalled some leaves.  Now I was confused by the leaves because they were uncrumpled. This meant that someone either deliberately brought them there, or it flew from the outside. I decided to assume it flew from the outside, which meant that while the space station was rotating, the door was open. So I thought "oh yeah! The culprit could've just jumped to the ladder brought down by Aura!" But I realized that would be impossible given the distance, unless they knew about the ladder beforehand. And then it clicked. Aura was ordered by the detective to lower the ladder. 

Pure Genius Mystery Writing. This revelation is the 2nd best twist the Ace Attorney Series has to offer.

While this meant the case was going downhill from there, given I made 2-3 hours worth of deductions much earlier than intended, it didn’t mean the case became worse. No, finally breaking the Black Psyche Locks on Athena Cykes felt more satisfying than any other moment in the Ace Attorney Series, seeing Apollo doubt Athena because of his ability to perceive her tells is MAJOR characterization for him, and is the arc I was PRAYING he would have since the start of the game. Finally having Phoenix realize the truth, setting Simon free, confronting Bobby, learning of his death, and the Triple Objection Pose. What a satisfying ending to a game. And if that wasn’t enough… We got to see Athena finally break down and cry as she realized that she had finally achieved the mission she set her entire life on: Setting Simon Free, and she succeeded, even if she was one day away from losing everything. 

Out of all the Ace Attorney Games, the moment where Athena breaks down and cry is my 2nd favorite moment in the entire series, on par with a moment from my favorite case of all time. 

So… yeah. That’s why I absolutely adore Dual Destinies. Sorry for the long post but the game has been getting a LOT of hate recently and I feel like it doesn't really deserve it.

6 Comments
2024/10/29
02:11 UTC

34

Does my bird look like Machi or am I going insane???

Am I crazy??? I got him a while ago and already named him after him. Am I beyond saving?

https://preview.redd.it/e33oyq2rclxd1.jpg?width=3464&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=dfe4a1357fcf3bfe4c69dc792644483b469f3021

6 Comments
2024/10/29
00:39 UTC

1

Podcast review of Ace Attorney Investigations Collection

Hi guys. We are Living La Vita Loca podcast. We're a retro gaming podcast for SOME of your retro gaming needs...

Specialists in PSP and PS Vita reviews, generalists in gaming, lethargists in life.

https://linktr.ee/livinglavitalocapodcast

Our latest episode is...

Episode 84: Ace Attorney Investigations (PS4), Legend Of Zelda: Majora's Mask (N64), Prof Layton & the Curious Village (NDS)

https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/living-la-vita-loca/episodes/84-Ace-Attorney-Investigations-PS4--LOZ-Majoras-Mask-N64--Prof-Layton--Curious-Village-NDS-e2q8i9g

Welcome to another edition of 'Freeplay Fortnightly' where we all pick a video game that we want to play and keep it secret from our co-host (and special guest this week!). We then review said game on the podcast and ask our other pod pals to score the game out of 10 based on our review. Simple? You bet we are!

This week, we invited Fiona back on the pod to defend the honour of the Ace Attorney series after Fazz registered his inconclusive review of Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney last year. The evidence presented by the defence? Ace Attorney Investigations Collection (2024), a remaster of Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgworth (Nintendo DS, 2009) and Ace Attorney Investigations 2: Prosecutors Gambit (Nintendo DS, 2011). This is the first time the sequel has been released outside Japan so how will it be judged on the pod?

In response, Fazz decides he will try out another Phoenix Wright-inspired video game series, Professor Layton and the Curious Village (Nintendo DS, 2007). Does the puzzling protege provide a more positive affair than it's forerunner? This is the real Professor Layton vs Phoenix Wright showdown you never knew you needed.

Finally, Halloween lands in the LLVL house in the form of Rich's review of Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (N64, 2000). Impending doom, scary moon, world go boom?!? This is Link's most horrifying adventure to date... tune in to find out why!

Enjoy the pod.

0 Comments
2024/10/28
23:44 UTC

246

WHAT?!?!?!

MIA FRICKIN DIES?!?! I THIUGHT SHE WOULD HAVE PLOT ARMOR AND BARELY SURVIVE BUT SHES DEAD?!?! AND IN THE SECOND CASE TOO?!?! I THIUGHT SHE WAS HONNA STAY?!?!

44 Comments
2024/10/28
23:28 UTC

9

r/AceAttorney Community Rate That Deceased Character (RTDC):Final Results

https://preview.redd.it/f4pyas7vkkxd1.png?width=1140&format=png&auto=webp&s=8017be2cc9bd09ea182619cd8b67c62a46a56e10

Welcome back everyone to the final results of the 2024 Rate that Deceased Character thread series. To briefly summarize Ami Fey, she wasn't really treated as a real person but rather a mythical being (since she is dead before the series even began) but that lack of connection puts her in the F zone. There were various other grades so she was certainly divisive. Now I just realized I forgot about Lang's dad, but I am not going to bother because he lacked anything memorable besides being described as a good person who was close to Di-Jun Wang and a good police officer who saved a piece of evidence from SS-5. So sorry old man, you gotta stay in that same pile as Amelie and Manuel lol.

Anyway, It all started with one person: Cindy Stone. Then the victims got bigger and bigger up to a CEO of a security company to a president of a foreign country. I made this topic to not only focus on the more well known dead characters like Gregory and Mia, but to also highlight some one case ones who are often overshadowed by the culprit and defendant like Constance Courte and Doug Swallow. We had some expected results, but also some unexpected ones as well and seeing the days where everyone was unified for a grade was always nice. I will certainly miss doing these topics since it was fun reading everyone's reasoning for said grades (especially the long essays). Now I understand some people didn't like how too many characters were in S tier when it was supposed to be saved for the best, but I like to look at this like Ace Attorney having so many good characters that some dead characters they made us connect with them despite their little screen time while other characters you basically forget they exist or just downright crappy.

Now I will link to every topic with the winning comment just to see what was the comment that impacted the character position.

Cindy Stone: MonitoliMal

Mia Fey: MysteriousAuthor4104

Jack Hammer: Able-Connection9445

Robert Hammond: YosephineMahma

Gregory Edgeworth: CetaphilOverflow

Manfred von Karma: TeslaMania91

Bruce Goodman: Able-Connection9445

Neil Marshall: peonur

Joe Darke: YosephineMahma

Dustin Prince: CetaphilOverflow

Turner Grey: YakatsuFi

Ini Miney: CetaphilOverflow

Ami Fey: TeslaMania91

Russel Berry: YosephineMahma

Leon the Lion: Iris_Keyblade

Juan Corrida: YosephineMahma

Celeste Inpax: Ninji08

Doug Swallow: Iris_Keyblade

Kane Bullard: RabidTurtl

Glen Elg: CetaphilOverflow

Valerie Hawthorne: CetaphilOverflow

Terry Fawles: CetaphilOverflow

Misty Fey: MysteriousAuthor4104

Dahlia Hawthorne: milksword

Zak Gramaryre: CetaphilOverflow

Pal Meraktis: milksword

Romein LeTouse: CetaphilOverflow

Drew Misham: milksword

Magnifi Gramarye: Bruhmangoddman

Candice Arme: CetaphilOverflow

Rex Kyubi: grreggggg

Constance Courte: grreggggg

Clay Terran: TeslaMania91

Metis Cykes: Goldberry15

Bobby Fulbright: TeslaMania91, Appropriate-Ruin9973

Jack Shipley: Able-Connection9445

Azura Summers: milksword

Newton Belduke: Able-Connection9445

Paht Rohl: milksword

Manov Mistree: milksword

Tahrust Inmee: madsbjoern

Puray Zeh'lot: Bruhmangoddman

Taifu Toneido: FarOffGrace1

Archie Buff: milksword

Inga Khura'in: milksword

Dhurke Sahdmadhi: TeslaMania91

Jove Justice: milksword

Dumas Gloomsbury: Bruhmangoddman

Selena Sprocket: milksword

John Wilson: Goldberry15

Mason Milverton: milksword

Magnus McGilded: milksword

Pops Windibank: TeslaMania91

Jezaille Brett: milksword

Duncan Ross: milksword

Selden: madsbjoern

Odie Asman: milksword

Tobias Gregson: Able-Connection9445

Genshin Asogi: AuthorTheGenius

Klint van Zieks: Goldberry15

Buddy Faith: milksword

Akbey Hicks: SodaGalaxy

Colin Devorae: SodaGalaxy

Deid Mann: Appropriate-Ruin9973

Cece Yew: milksword

Mack Rell: Appropriate-Ruin9973

Bryne Faraday: Appropriate-Ruin9973

Ka-Shi Nou: SodaGalaxy

Manny Coachen: HuggingPlant

Bastian Rook: TeslaMania91

Bronco Knight: HeyImMarlo

Artie Frost: HeyImMarlo

Rosie Ringer: Goldberry15

Fake Di-Jun Wang: SodaGalaxy

Alf Aldown: Max_The_Maxim

Real Di-Jun Wang: milksword

That took a long time to do, but I want to give u/milksword a shoutout for being there on 4 occasions when no one else commented. So thank you so much

And of course thank you everyone for participating in this series. It was fun, but now I feel free and can make other topics lol.

16 Comments
2024/10/28
23:06 UTC

10

Fortunately, our candidate did not have a seizure upon seeing his placement. r/AceAttorney Rates That Culprit! #2 - New entries at 6:30 PM daily!

https://preview.redd.it/zj4w6lashkxd1.png?width=1140&format=png&auto=webp&s=f592b2cf4e3e4d631c8efd2a11c745d8ab3344cb

It's been almost a week, but RTDC has finally concluded, leading me to carry the torch and shift the focus to the culprits of the Ace Attorney series. The time has been shifted to 6:30 PM to align with the previous series.

Last week's winner was Appropriate-Ruin9973 with 15 upvotes! Everyone agreed that Frank Sahwit deserved a perfectly average rating, as he set the bare minimum of expectations for every other culprit to attempt to surpass, and he remained memorable to people for his appearance in prison.

https://preview.redd.it/b6b4tmnajkxd1.png?width=1000&format=png&auto=webp&s=b06f74955c433e036ccc6a9def51148bd772db9a

https://preview.redd.it/5xlh3ci6jkxd1.png?width=1000&format=png&auto=webp&s=ae38691cd3f8ac7d3b537861271bda47ff0ffce4

Onwards! Today's candidate is the gilded pretty boy, Redd White. With a whole corporation and the court under his hand, he leaked the news of Misty's involvement with DL-6 to the press, and spied on Mia for attempting to expose his blackmail, ultimately killing her with his own hands. How will our splendiferous candidate be judged by the public in response?

14 Comments
2024/10/28
22:32 UTC

14

THE 5TH CASE WITNESSES CONTEST HAS BEGUN! Vote for you least favorite character in the 4th Case Witnesses Contest! 1 Comment = 1 Vote

35 Comments
2024/10/28
20:00 UTC

102

I was worried about the financial viability of a seventh mainline Ace Attorney game, so I did some digging.

Some context: I've been writing about games for over a decade now, and have been in game dev for the past 4 or so years. While I've mostly worked on AAA games as a programmer, I've seen a bit about the costs of game dev and wanted to look into how viable another Ace Attorney game could be. I also contributed to the fan translation of AAI2 (I did localization work)

BACKGROUND

Capcom has re-released every single mainline and spin-off Ace Attorney game in some way, shape, or form, save for the Professor Layton / Phoenix Wright crossover. Given how much they've promoted the series this year, and how much money they poured into promoting Ace Attorney Investigations Collection, it seems likely that they aren't done with the franchise. Capcom has more or less confirmed that to be true, though the company hasn't gone so far as to confirm a seventh mainline entry.

WHAT'S UNLIKELY

  • A re-release of Professor Layton vs. Ace Attorney: don't get me wrong; I would love for this game to be ported to modern consoles and PCs, since it's the last Ace Attorney game that is stuck on the original platform it released for. That being said, there are a few reasons as to why I'm not getting my hopes up. First off, it looks like development was mostly handled by Level-5, and from what I can tell, they used their own proprietary engine (as opposed to Capcom's mobile version of MT Framework). This doesn't mean it's impossible to port the game to modern consoles, but seeing as how Level-5 is not doing great financially, and they are working on a few games that are set to release next year, I imagine this won't take high priority for them. To top it all off, they have yet to re-release any of the Professor Layton games for consoles/PCs, with the sole exception being the Switch port of Layton's Mystery Journey: Katrielle and the Millionaires' Conspiracy. If they were going to focus on porting any of their back catalog, several other games would likely take precedence
  • A remake of older, 2D Ace Attorney games: while Capcom has done an amazing job at remaining afloat in the current gaming landscape by giving equal weight to remaking old games and releasing new ones, a full-on remake of older 2D Ace Attorney games would probably not go down well with the community, seeing as how they've already gone through the effort of re-releasing the entire franchise across the four collections/trilogies. It seems unlikely they would do full-on remakes of the older titles.

BALLOONING TEAM SIZES AND COSTS

One thing that's often bandied about is that Ace Attorney has traditionally been a fairly lean franchise in terms of its development costs. That's certainly true for the older titles, but it's worth taking a look at the franchise as a whole.

I decided to dig through each of the game's staff credits to get a sense of how big each team is. For the time being, I won't count localization staff, QA, developers who worked on re-releases, and external contractors (since it's hard to figure out what the cost was for said external contract work), but I'll note the use of 3rd party devs as I come across them.

GameStaff Size (focusing on writing, programming, graphics, music/sound, and production)Rough breakdown/other notes
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (Nintendo DS)~8There are other staff members who handled PR, the game's manual, localization/translation, and the content specific to Case 5, but I have not counted them as they likely worked on multiple projects at a time, as opposed to dedicating their work weeks entirely to this specific game.
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Justice for All (Nintendo DS)~16There are certainly more people working on this one, but the game was also made in less than one year, so it's likely that Capcom brought on more staff to help. Also, some assets from the first game were reused.
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Trials and Tribulations (Nintendo DS)~16Essentially, the same deal as before. The game was made in the span of about one year. Some assets were reused from the previous two games.
Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney~30We see a noticeable step up in terms of staff size, but Apollo Justice was the first game in the series designed for the Nintendo DS, so there's more 3D artwork, pre-rendered videos, and the like.
Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth (Nintendo DS)~35Fairly similar to the team size for Apollo Justice. It's worth noting that Capcom did employ some co-dev partners, including Arc System Works
Ace Attorney Investigations 2 (Nintendo DS)~45I didn't notice any co-dev studios on this one, so Capcom may have supplemented with internal staff
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Dual Destinies (Nintendo 3DS)~45 (slightly misleading)The staff count hasn't risen much, but that's because we haven't accounted for all the external studios Capcom relied on. There are well over 50 people from BONES (handling cutscenes, from what I can tell), and Capcom also hired several other studios to help with music/sound, graphics, mo-cap, and more. I won't count the work done to develop the MT Framework engine since it was used across dozens of games.
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Spirit of Justice (Nintendo 3DS)~55 (slightly misleading)Much like Dual Destinies, dozens and dozens of external contractors were hired to work on animation, cutscenes, motion capture, and more.
Dai Gyakuten Saiban/Great Ace Attorney~45 (slightly misleading)Much like the other 3DS titles, the actual number of people who contributed to the game's development is well over 100 once you take into account external contractors and co-dev partners
Dai Gyakuten Saiban 2/Great Ace Attorney 2(could not find staff credits list)I couldn't find a list of staff credits for this one, but it's highly likely the numbers are similar to the first Dai Gyakuten Saiban game.

OTHER CONSIDERATIONS

  • Especially for the 3DS games, the development costs for support staff (PR, localization, QA) likely ballooned seeing as how the series shifted to 3D and supported more languages. Also, the marketing costs probably saw a massive increase, as there was an increased focus on showcasing one's game at conventions, on websites, in print media, TV, etc.
  • It's minor, but the 3DS games also had more voice acting and mo-cap work, which does increase costs
  • It's worth mentioning that the expectation for higher fidelity graphics is a constant problem developers face, so it's likely that any future Ace Attorney game will have to ratchet up the level of detail (on-screen objects/density of scenes, character model fidelity, etc.)
  • Capcom will need to justify the resources put into a seventh Ace Attorney game against how much revenue and attention for the series it will generate
  • I can't say for certain if this applies to Japanese developers, but Western developers have seen an overall increase in pay/compensation over the past decade, and it's likely that game dev salaries have increased in Japan as well.

ALL HOPE IS NOT LOST

While Ace Attorney 7 won't be a cheap game to make, there are some options Capcom could explore!

  • AAA pricing — at this point, I think it's safe to say that Ace Attorney 7 will need to cost $60 out of the gate. This is not a huge issue though, since a majority of AAA titles are priced at $60-70 now, and since dedicated handhelds (like the DS and 3DS) seem to be extinct now, it's easier to justify a higher asking price.
  • Digital deluxe/premium editions — this seems all but a guarantee, seeing as how Capcom has done pre-order bonuses for a few of the re-release trilogies/collections
  • Paid DLC/season pass — I really do think Capcom should lean into offering 2-3 cases as DLC if possible, and could potentially go the season's pass route. If they really wanted to entice players to pony up for more content, they could have cases that bring back fan favorites that we haven't seen for a long time. Could you imagine a DLC case where Gumshoe is the accused?

If anything, I think this partly explains why we haven't seen a new Ace Attorney game in a while. Capcom clearly recognizes that there's a passionate fanbase who's willing to pay for more games, but if I were to take an educated guess, they might not have cracked the solution for how to make a profitable Ace Attorney game in today's gaming landscape. Given how sales requirements for games have gone up and up, and there's more competition for people's time and money, it's a tough balancing act to nail.

24 Comments
2024/10/28
19:45 UTC

98

(FINAL) First cases contest !

This final was so far excepted, but the winner ? It's all up to you guys.

  1. 2-1 the lost turnabout

  2. 1-1 the first turnabout

  3. I-1 turnabout visitor

  4. 5-1 turnabout countdown

  5. 6-1 foreign turnabout

  6. DGS-1 the great departure

  7. DGS2-1 the blossoming attorney

  8. 3-1 turnabout memories

Reminder : The comment with the MOST UPVOTE will be the winner, and you'll need to vote for the weakest case in the batch. Like as usual, voting will close within a day of when I make the next post.

The comments may potentially contain spoilers, so you've been warned if you haven't played the entire series. (Except the crossover)

61 Comments
2024/10/28
18:34 UTC

7

Twentieth Case Maker Contest: Results

A fortnight has passed and it's time to learn which case was ranked top of this quarter's theme.

I realize I forgot to say the value of each vote, but it is 3 points for a first-place vote and 1 point for a second. I've used this valuation starting with contest #18.

But this was contest #20, so let's see the score:

Congratulations to all four entrants -- I thought every case this go-round was excellently contrived and written -- and to the three winners. I will message you for prize-getting information.

See you again in a month for contest 21 and an as-yet-undetermined holiday theme word!

3 Comments
2024/10/28
18:33 UTC

6

Question about I2-5 (Spoilers)

Why couldn't Simon have just argued self defense? The only time he directly got his hands dirty was when he killed the body double and given that he fired first he was within his right to kill him to prevent the balloon from getting popped. It doesn't really seem like he can be convicted of anything apart from hiring Shelly De Killer and kidnapping.

11 Comments
2024/10/28
14:28 UTC

49

Random Character Opinions 188: Magnifi Gramarye

The legendary magician, founder of the Troupe Gramarye, and Trucy's grandfather.

He left this world with a great final blow! >!(quite literally, to his head)!<

56 Comments
2024/10/28
11:03 UTC

50

Custom gavel basis

Bought a cheap gavel and its basis on amazon and engraved it with the judge. Turned out pretty good!

2 Comments
2024/10/28
08:33 UTC

102

Does any of the cases in the games involve death by hanging?

Hi, I started playing the Phoenix Wright trilogy on steam recently and I've been having an absolute blast. I just finished Rise of the Ashes yesterday (took me like 9 hours 😭) and I'm about to get into Justice for All. I plan to play almost all the other games after this tho, especially Investigations because Edgeworth is my favourite.

Only problem is I have a severe personal issue with a certain method of killing/suicide, which is hanging. Let's just say I have a very unpleasant memory involved with it and I cannot handle any imagery of it without possibly breaking down. If possible, without spoilers, can I know if there will any cases where I have to look at someone being hanged/hanging themselves? also please don't show me any pictures of it, just tell me what case/game it is in and I'll prepare myself beforehand, thank you so much :)

28 Comments
2024/10/28
08:14 UTC

71

Making of Morgan Fey's KIMONO DIY - ACE ATTORNEY Cosplay

1 Comment
2024/10/28
08:05 UTC

3

Spirit of Justice and the flashbacks

I have been playing SoJ for a while now and am almost finishing case 3. I couldn't help but notice how repetitive the flashbacks are in this game. Sometimes to remember something that happened 5 or 10 minutes ago. Anybody feel the same way?

7 Comments
2024/10/28
05:16 UTC

5

Been having with Attorney Of The Arcane

0 Comments
2024/10/28
04:15 UTC

205

Which Maggey Byrde is your favorite?

32 Comments
2024/10/28
02:22 UTC

445

Trucy Josuke pose

Trucy fanart i made

10 Comments
2024/10/28
01:18 UTC

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