Ace Attorney Totally Explained

Everything about Ace Attorney totally explained

Ace Attorney, known in Japan as, is a series of adventure/visual novel games in which players assume the role of a defense attorney in a fictional courtroom setting, which is based on the Japanese legal system, to strive to find their clients "not guilty" using investigation, evidence, and cross-examination to prove their case. The first three games in the series, originally released only in Japan and in Japanese between 2001 and 2004 for the Game Boy Advance platform, have been ported to the Nintendo DS as well as localized into English and other languages. The series has been developed for the DS from the ground up starting in the fourth game. The DS remakes and games in the series take advantage of the DS features, including the microphone and touchscreen.
The first three games feature and are sometimes referred to by the eponymous main protagonist, Phoenix Wright. The fourth game, set seven years after the end of the third game, introduces a new protagonist, Apollo Justice, who takes over for Wright.

Setting

The game takes place in an urban city set in 2016 and later; for the Japanese versions, this city is somewhere in Japan, while the English localization places the games in Los Angeles, California. Localization differences will sometimes reflect the differences between these societies, for example the side of a car the driver's wheel is on. Additionally, the names of the major characters have been adapted for localization; for example, the main character of "Ryuichi Naruhodo", whose last name is a pun on the Japanese phrase for "I see", has been renamed in the Western versions as "Phoenix Wright", referencing the phoenix that rises from its own ashes, and a pun on the word "right". It is the first installment to be developed specifically for the Nintendo DS. The title was localized in America and other territories as Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney, reflecting the change of the main character from Phoenix Wright to Apollo Justice (. The game features four cases.

Future games

A project codenamed was announced by Capcom in February 2008. In the April 2008 issue of Famitsu, it was revealed to be, a spinoff Nintendo DS game starring prosecutor Miles Edgeworth and detective Dick Gumshoe. The investigation portions are presented using a third-person camera view. The game takes place before and after the events of Gyakuten Saiban 3. The release date is yet to be determined, but development is 40% completed as of April 2008. Gyakuten Saiban 5, the next installment in the Ace Attorney series, was announced by Capcom's president on May 22, 2007 with no further detail. It isn't known whether Gyakuten Kenji and Gyakuten Saiban 5 are being developed simultaneously. Daletto and Capcom have partnered to bring the three GameBoy Advance games to Microsoft Windows as episodic content in Japan; the first game, for example, is broken into 17 episodes and only includes the original four chapters from the first game. The games will be released between March and May . At the present time, Capcom hasn't announced plans to bring these to other regions.

Reception

Critical reception

Game	Metacritic	Game Rankings
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney	81/100 (53 reviews)	82% (62 reviews)
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Justice for All	76/100 (51 reviews)	79% (55 reviews)
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trials and Tribulations	79/100 (25 reviews)	81% (25 reviews)
Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney	78/100 (16 reviews)	81% (4 reviews)

The Western releases of the games have garnered generally favorable reviews by the gaming press. The series has generally been praised for being a strong adventure game in an otherwise lacking market, having great presentation, music, and dialog, while at the same time being criticized for being too linear and lacking replayability and evolution among the series' installments. The representation of the legal system in the games has been noted to be significantly flawed; GameSpot's review of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney noted that during courtroom sessions, one should "suspend your disbelief about the whole procedure, since, although it feels fairly close to reality, many things go on during the proceedings that would probably horrify actual members of the legal system." Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Justice for All also received negative comments due to the lack of the unique DS features introduced in the first game.
In the United States, the first game became surprisingly successful, forcing Capcom to prepare at least three additional runs of the game to meet the demand. Part of this was due to initially low expectations from retailers such as Wal-Mart and Toys "R" Us who passed on the game; Capcom had produced nine to ten runs of three-to-four thousand units before Toys "R" Us requested 15,000 copies.
In May 2008, Capcom revealed that the series, spanning 11 games, has sold more than 2.8 million units worldwide, its 12th best selling series of all time.

Influence

The characters from the Ace Attorney games have become some of Capcom's more popular characters, and have been included in the game.
   A based on the cartoon series was released by High Voltage Software and is distributed by Capcom in the United States. The game features the characters from the show, using the same game mechanics of the Ace Attorney series, and features cameo appearances of other Capcom characters.
   The anime series The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya contains an episode that concludes with a session of deductive conclusions by Haruhi, where she takes poses identical to those of Phoenix Wright at court. Itsuki also makes two poses that are identical to Edgeworth's hand motions and Mikuru mimics Maya's bowing pose. In conclusion, while Haruhi is yelling, the backrground takes a stylistic form before she points her finger as the picture rapidly flashes white.
   In the anime series Sayonara Zetsubō Sensei there's an episode in which a Psyche Lock appears on Nozumu Itoshiki.
   In the anime series Lucky Star one of the characters who is obsessed with drawing manga shows off some drawings of Apollo Justice and Klavier Gavin.
   In an episode of the anime Pani Poni Dash there's a sequence where one of the characters points at another with the "Objection!" animation appearing in front of them.
   Many costumes modeled on Capcom characters appear in the Wii game We Love Golf!, including both Apollo Justice and Pearl Fey.

Soundtracks

Soundtracks are available for the first three Ace Attorney games in the series. The official soundtrack for Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney was first published by Suleputer on November 30, 2005. The soundtracks of the second and third game have also been released. Capcom has also released an album entitled Gyakuten Saiban Orchestra Album: Gyakuten Meets Orchestra with orchestral arrangements of many of the songs used in the game and its two sequels on September 9, 2006. A second CD with additional Ace Attorney orchestral pieces was released for sale at the Tokyo Game Show 2006, and was sold to the public later that year. On March 31, 2007, another official arrangement album named Gyakuten Saiban Jazz Album: Gyakuten Meets Jazz was released by Capcom. As the name implies, the album consists of jazz arrangements. The CDs were originally scheduled for Japanese release only, but since, it has been announced that that'll be released in North America as well, the release date currently unknown
The video game music arrangement circle Magical Trick Society has released an album with arrangements of songs from Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, called Cadenza: Gyakuten Saiban 1.

Manga

A manga of the video game series is currently being serialized in Japan. U.S manga publisher Del Rey Manga has confirmed that it'll distribute the manga in the U.S. starting in September 2008.

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