Ace Attorney was a franchise that I had little experience with in the past. I, of course, knew of the character Phoenix Wright and his trademark yell of “Objection!” but, beyond seeing a brief bit of gameplay at a friend’s house, I had never had the opportunity to play an Ace Attorney game. It was about a year ago when I first began playing the Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy, a compilation of the first three games in the series, and my experience with it led to an intense admiration for Ace Attorney as a whole. Therefore, I thought it worth doing an overview of the Ace Attorney franchise and why I’m excited to play more of the games in the future.
The very first Ace Attorney game, “Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney”, came out for the Game Boy Advance in 2001 and was made with a small team of seven people over a period of ten months. Taking the role of Phoenix Wright, Ryuichi Naruhodo in the original Japanese, you must solve cases by collecting evidence before cross-examining witnesses in court and pointing out contradictions. Two sequels, “Justice for All” and “Trials and Tribulations”, were also released for the GBA in 2002 and 2004 respectively but it’s worth noting that these games were only released in Japan at the time. It wasn’t until 2005 when the first game saw an international release as a port to the Nintendo DS with added functionality and a brand new fifth case. The American release proved to be a surprising success, especially strange since visual novels were considered unpopular at the time, and eventually saw the other two games released internationally as well.
The gap between the Japanese and the international release was dramatically shortened for the next game in the franchise, “Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney”, which was released in Japan in 2007 and internationally in 2008. Rather than continuing to play Phoenix Wright, we now took on the role of Apollo Justice, a new defense lawyer who serves as an apprentice to Phoenix Wright. The game was successful but it wasn’t long after this that the franchise began to run into trouble. The release of a spin-off game, “Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth” saw a mixed commercial reception with strong sales in Japan but “poor at best” sales in the West. This resulted in its sequel, “Ace Attorney Investigations 2”, skipping a Western release, the first game in the franchise to do so. Another spin-off, a crossover between Ace Attorney and Professor Layton called “Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney” did eventually seen an international release but with a noticeable gap between its 2012 Japanese release and its 2014 Western release.
The main series returned with “Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies” in 2013, which notably had the quickest international release with a delay of only a few months, and now featured three protagonists in the form of Phoenix Wright, Apollo Justice and the brand new Athena Cykes. This structure was kept in the final game in the main series, “Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of Justice”, which was released in 2016 and, despite these games apparently meeting Capcom’s sales expectations, it seems unclear whether we’ll see another game in the future.
It’s worth noting that another spin-off series of Ace Attorney also initially saw no international release. “The Great Ace Attorney: Adventures” was released in 2015 and saw the player following Ryunosuke Naruhodo, an ancestor of Phoenix Wright, during the early 20th century as a defense attorney alongside judicial assistant Susato Mikotoba and the famous detective Herlock Sholmes. This was followed up in 2017 with “The Great Ace Attorney 2: Resolve” but these games didn’t see a Western release until 2021 with “The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles” collection.
Before we finish, I don’t think an overview of the Ace Attorney franchise would be complete without noting some of the non-video game entries in the franchise as well. In 2011, a live-action film adaptation of the first game was released in cinema and was notably directed by the renowned Japanese director Takashi Miike. I actually saw this film many years ago at a Japanese film festival and I remember enjoying it quite a bit although I would love to rewatch it now that I’ve played the games and see if I still like it. Additionally, a 49 episode anime series adapting the first three games aired from 2016 to 2019 although it was noted that the animation was surprisingly poor compared to other shows.
The Ace Attorney franchise is one that I’ve come to deeply respect and admire and it’s my hope that I’ll get a chance to play through all of the games someday. Let me know your thoughts on this overview of the Ace Attorney franchise, which games you’ve played and what you thought about them, whether you’ve seen the live-action film or the anime adaptation and whether you liked them or disliked them, whether you think we’ll see a new game in the future and any additional information you might have on the topic.
Thanks for reading and if you wish to seek any of the titles I mentioned, don’t hesitate to use amazon.co.uk or amazon.com for all of your needs! Also feel free to follow my curator page on Steam “JRPG Reviews” for thoughts and opinions on any JRPGs that I play and my YouTube channel “Victory Achieved Gaming” where I guide my friend through challenging games.