After the success of the original three Ace Attorney games, series creator Shu Takumi was ready to end Phoenix Wright's story. But the world wasn't done with these surprisingly intriguing lawyer games, and so he had to figure out how to make a new game without re-treading old ground. Thus, Apollo Justice, pointy-haired greenhorn lawyer, was born – and Phoenix was unceremoniously disbarred. The following three games, now serialised as the Apollo Justice Trilogy, serve as Apollo's version of Phoenix's story – but because of that tension between Takumi's wants and the players' needs, Apollo never quite gets the spotlight all to himself.
We begin with Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney, set seven years after Trials and Tribulations. In that time, a lot has happened, and the familiar angles of Wright's face are buried behind stubble, grime, and a deep sense of ennui after having lost his attorney's badge. But Apollo Justice, our new main character, isn't going to give up that easily, and joins the Wright Anything Agency (formerly known as the Wright & Co. Law Offices) hoping to make a real difference to the legal profession. Unfortunately for him, he's entered his career during the Dark Age Of The Law, where cowboy prosecutors and manipulative murderers will stop at nothing to get the results they want.
Like Phoenix's Magatama, Apollo has his own secret power, and it's much more closely tied to his backstory: a magic bracelet that allows you to slow time and catch people's 'tells' – the subconscious muscle twitches and movements that highlight their lies. Unlike the Magatama, this is almost entirely used in court to trip people up during their testimonies, adding a new element to a well-trod feature of the Ace Attorney games.
Our first case sees Phoenix himself getting accused of murder, and sets up this new game's intentions as a darker, sadder version of what came before, as well as our old friend's slightly jarring heel-turn into Bad Boy Phoenix. A slow-ish second case, Turnabout Corner, deftly combines three separate mysteries – a theft, a hit-and-run, and a murder. But Turnabout Serenade and Turnabout Succession, our third and final cases, are expertly crafted tales with strong gimmicks – reviewing concert footage, and time-travel (of a sort) – while turning the tone into something much more sinister.
But with only four cases and no DLC, Apollo Justice is over pretty quickly, and then we're on to Dual Destinies, our second game. The biggest and most welcome change here is the art, transitioning from the 2D sprites of the last four games to detailed 3D characters and backgrounds, with some genuinely impressive animations accompanying fantastic writing and localisation, as well as fully-animated and voiced cutscenes for each case. The cases themselves are more bombastic than ever, including multiple actual bombings, defending a killer whale, and a two-part murder case that will genuinely blow your mind.
However, Dual Destinies' story suffers from a fairly severe identity crisis, as it flounders to find as compelling a main character as Phoenix and his sidekick, Maya. The result is that Apollo and Trucy largely get sidelined and left in plot stasis, but Phoenix never quite feels like the main character, either – more like a substitute teacher filling in.
New sidekick Athena Cykes is a spunky youngster, but that's hardly a unique quality in a world where passing the bar is something that most people do before they can drive. She's likeable enough, but she's unfortunately also the source of most of Dual Destinies' over-tutorialisation, making you feel a little less warm towards her as she re-explains how to be a lawyer to you for the eighth time. Yes, thank you, Athena, but we were winning cases while you were still eating paste.
Athena's gimmick – for every lawyer must have one – is psychological analysis by way of a talking robot necklace. It's shaky at best, and confusing at worst, asking you to find emotional inconsistencies in witness testimony by pointing out the feeling they shouldn't have, or should have, or have too much or too little of. It's never as simple to understand or quite as hard-hitting as Psyche-Locks and Apollo's magic bracelet, although it's still fun to have the court cases broken up by a minigame.
After blazing through Dual Destinies' five cases and its meaty DLC, we have Spirit of Justice. After Dual Destinies raised the stakes to the ceiling, it was hard to see where Ace Attorney would go next, so it made sense that Spirit of Justice took place in a totally new (and totally made-up) country called Khura'in, where the legal system is in shambles and lawyers are put to death if they lose their case. Phoenix's simple holiday to support Maya on her latest spiritual journey – for Khura'in is the home of spirit channelling – quickly devolves into a nightmare of murder, revolution, and more murder. And just like that, the stakes have once again been raised, tackling deeper and darker themes like religion, politics, and foreign diplomacy.
Meanwhile, back home, Apollo and Athena are dealing with their own separate, but related, problems – namely a new prosecutor who just happens to be from Khura'in. And here, finally, is where we get some back story for Apollo, which was first teased in Apollo Justice and then largely discarded for Dual Destinies. By setting the story in two places at the same time, finally Apollo and Phoenix both feel like they're in the spotlight, and it's delightful to see the grown-up versions of Trucy and Pearl Fey get screen time, too.
Just like Dual Destinies before it, Spirit of Justice also amps up the visual quality, with even more detailed animations and anime cutscenes. The character designs are as varied and creative as their pun names are groan-worthy. "Pees'lubn Andistan'dhin"? Really? It's a good thing you're beautiful, because otherwise we'd be very angry at you, Spirit of Justice.
Put all together, this trilogy is a worthy follow-up to the Ace Attorney originals. There is a slight dip in the middle, and your mileage may vary on whether or not you enjoy the more gimmicky cases, but the wealth of gorgeous art, unparalleled writing, and sheer volume of story makes this well worth the price of admission. Throw in the DLC cases (but be prepared for the most gimmicky murders of all) and the small but mighty upgrades to the remaster – the "notes" system that lets you keep track of your movements so far, the "consult" and "story mode" options that let you cheese the more difficult parts, plus the extra art and achievements – and you'll see that this remaster has done these excellent games justice.
Conclusion
We genuinely can't believe how lucky we are that these games exist, let alone that they've been lovingly polished up for the Switch. This is some of the best writing you'll find on the console, and it's a steal for all three games plus extras. A couple of bumps here and there are to be expected with such a wealth of content (three games, DLC, and extras), but they barely leave a dent on the brilliance of this well-written and beautifully illustrated trilogy.
Comments 50
Not a huge fan of this trilogy, but Spirit of Justice made it worth muscling through.
They still need to do something with the series that feels more like a game as opposed to a glorfied VN. It teeters on that line blatantly.
But for writing, probably go with the first Apollo Justice. It's campy enough to enjoy casually, and sort of set the stage that Ace Attorney will not be Phoenix forever.
Is this a digital only release?
Love having these on a TV playable system.
@NintendoKnower
No, luckily this one is getting Japanese, Asia, and US releases!
Sadly, skipping over a European release as per usual.
Great review as always, will eventually get this collection (since I'm from Europe most likely digitally and so on sale) for whenever I feel like replaying these overall fantastic games!
I'll get the physical and probably not unwrap it. Sounds like me.
@NintendoKnower : Like @RupeeClock said, there are multiple physical releases. All of them support English and should be identical in terms of what is on the cartridge.
You just won't let it go that the start of SoJ makes you 'uncomfortable' will you?
Amazing Trilogy of games, I do not agree on Dual Destinies being the lesser game here (to me Spirit of justice is the one lacking a great story and prosecutor) nevertheless all 3 are amazing and gripping visual novels.
I must say I don’t like 5 and 6 nearly as much as Apollo Justice’s game, but I also didn’t like Turnabout Serenade and loved the silly noodle stand case, so I guess tastes are a question here.
This is a great collection of games at the end of the day. It is distinctly less emotionally affecting than the original trilogy, largely because the creative spark shifted from deep character relationships that are felt and subtextual to overly-explained ones. (In other words, show, don’t tell.) This is the reason Phoenix, Maya, and Edgeworth are fan-favorites and no one really cares too much for Athena—I genuinely believe it’s not just that the former are the original characters.
I will say though, Apollo Justice is my favorite protagonist. He’s very well-defined in AA4 and he has very fun and welcome differences from Phoenix Wright. It’s frustrating to see him pushed to the side in Dual Destinies (that’s where the “explained relationships” I referenced above seem to begin in earnest) but he does have a good through line to AA6. And the sting of those two games’ shift in direction is lessened a little bit now that we have Takumi’s take on the continuation of the series with Great Ace Attorney. It makes it easier to enjoy how fun Dual Destinies is in the moment to moment — the models are expressive as hell, and if silly anime shenanigans are your thing, it’s actually one of the best kind of games for that.
But you know, the original Ace Attorney trilogy has a subtext to it that’s more than just “Saturday morning cartoon” or “action anime tropes.” It has those things, but it also has a huge heart and the sense that the creators needed to make the games for personal fulfillment. 5 and 6 in particular, while fun and charming, feel like they were developed largely to keep the popular franchise alive.
I talked way too long here, but I hope that makes sense. I’ll enjoy going back through these games—it’ll be my first time with Dual Destinies in about eight years, and I haven’t replayed Spirit of Justice since my original experience in 2016 (you can’t blame me, it took me about 60-70 hours for that run lol).
Thanks for the review, hope a lot of people pick this up and enjoy Apollo Justice.
So we have confirmation that the two jokey Asinine Attorney episodes are still stuck on 3DS, right?
The original trilogy are the better games IMO but this one is still worth playing. Spirit of Justice is my fave out of these 3.
@RupeeClock thanks. I'm in Europe unfortunately. so it's the eshop for me
@NintendoKnower
You can probably find an importer that'll sell copies.
For UK customers, there's https://www.bazaar-bazaar.com/products/apollo-justice-ace-attorney-trilogy-switch-esrb-usa
For EU customers, there's https://bazaar-bazaar.eu/products/apollo-justice-ace-attorney-trilogy-switch-esrb-usa
They sell stock that's imported, so they ship domestically or within Europe as applicable. This is reflected in the item's price.
I'm pretty sure you can find discount codes for Bazaar-Bazaar online pretty easily.
Of course, there are also the affiliate links for Amazon.com and Play-asia.com at the bottom of the article.
The Amazon.com listing will ship to the UK, I imagine they'll ship to Austria too.
I have my copy preloaded and ready to go on release day on Switch! Very excited after reading this review.
the two jokey Asinine Attorney episodes are still stuck on 3DS
@MirrorFate2 The USA has thoughtfully organized five interrelated and extremely asinine episodes for our viewing pleasure in the last few months. Recent highlights include one lawyer who fails to stand when addressing the judge and another who argues that his client is entitled to arrange assassinations without due fear of being brought before the legal system.
It's the greatest set of shows on Earth! Capcom doesn't stand a chance beside this free entertainment. And that's before you even consider the stakes!
@KateGray I must admit that I'm slightly confused* by this review. I found the criticisms quite useful and detailed, but the tone seemed to shift strongly at the end, leaving a review much more glowing than I would have anticipated from the bulk of the paragraphs. I'm guessing that you've had a long relationship with these games and are thus approaching them with a fresh eye, but I couldn't quite find the progression in your viewpoint here.
*Me being confused could always could be a me thing, of course. I'm not that smrt. Usually, though, when your words leave me slightly dizzy, I know it's because I've been personally targeted by them...
HIS NAME IS APOLLO JUSTICE AND HIS TRILOGY IS DOING FINE
I had a feeling the AJ Trilogy would review well but a 9/10 is a very pleasant surprise (especially given how divisive the entries featured in it are within the AA fanbase XD). I've been looking forward to it ever since it got announced and given how I've been going through a bit of a rough patch in my life at the moment, it's exactly the kind of pick-me-up that I need. January 25th can't come soon enough!
CANOEberry wrote:
This is literally a plotpoint in Justice for All if I'm not mistaken XD
I don’t get why this reviewer has such a huge hang up against the pun names that the series is known for. They’re supposed to be made up foreign names but also have meaning and be memorable to the player.
Ahlbi Ur’Gaid = I’ll be your guide.
Paht Rohl = Patrol
Datz Are’bal = That’s a rebel
Pees'lubn Andistan'dhin = Peace, Love and Understanding
It would be worse if the names were incomprehensible words that have no meaning or relevance to the player. Nahyuta isn’t a pun name though and his name comes from Sanskrit. I found it interesting years ago to look up all the characters names and see what they mean.
I view this as the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy of Ace Attorney. Some great moments and ideas but ultimately let down by sloppy execution.
@Bass_X0 yeah, tbh, I don’t understand why people have to groan about puns or act like they’re a problem. Can’t we just smile and enjoy wordplay without getting all ironic and eye-rolly about it?
@NintendoKnower do what I did: import; I ordered the original trilogy and ace attorney chronicles from play-asia and this trilogy from amazon-jap.
I think each of the three games is better than the previous one. Probably just going to dive into Spirit of Justice of this collection (not been super long since I played the other two, especially Dual Destinies) for now and get around to the others down the line. Been wanting to do a full series deep dive for awhile, maybe finally get around to playing the Layton crossover and Investigations 2.
We’re getting Investigations 1+2 next, and Ace Attorney 7. (I’m delusional)
ok physical when tho? me and wife wanna play but we got our own switches in different languages
@Bass_X0 oh no, I'm not actually angry at them 😅 I've been playing this series for decades at this point, I'm just being goofy. That part about the puns is supposed to be read as tongue-in-cheek. Or should that be Tong'in Chi'ik?
@CANOEberry totes fair to find this review a little hard to parse - I think that's an artefact of having to review three very long games, plus their content, plus the ways it's changed over the years, plus the ways it's been remastered, plus all the extras, plus my general thoughts, etc etc, and then having to fit it all into a thousand words.
Actually, my first draft was closer to 1,500, and I had to cut it down, but then I remembered a bunch of other stuff and it got back up to 1,300, and I had to cut it down again... every time you edit a long piece like this, it ends up feeling a little more disjointed and a bit more stitched together. But with the amount of stuff I had to talk about there wasn't really any other way of doing it!
Also, I admittedly have a tendency to be more negative in reviews than I actually mean. A bit like when you ask your dad how a movie was and all he can remember is that the popcorn was stale, the sound was too loud, and his seat was uncomfortable... but he thought the movie was great 😅 it's something I'm working on!!
I'll pick this trilogy up soon-ish, but not at launch. Honestly, I'm not sure if I should've even read the review since I still need to play Trials and Tribulations. I just wrapped up Justice For All recently and am taking a break. Don't wanna burn myself out.
Dual Destinies has one of the worst cases in the whole series (the yokai one) but overall it’s the best game out of these three. The final 2 connected cases involving the space centre are the best outside the original trilogy for the main series.
Spirit of Justice is ok but it drags on way too long - especially the final case. And it makes no sense why Nahyuta is travelling to and fro between Khurain and the mainland to do case after case.
I played the Phoenix Wright Trilogy over a course of the last week of 2023 on a whim after noticing it on Game Pass, and I didn't expect to like it as much as I did. Not perfect and I wish there was a bit more "game" as opposed to visual novel, but thoroughly enjoyable puzzle games with a great storyline. I then bought Great Ace Attorney because it was on sale, but it's mostly been on the backburner for a variety of reasons. But out of all the AA games I haven't played, these interest me the most. The characters just seem so fun, from Trucy who looks to fit the little sister role perfectly to Klavier who looks like a giant German reference/joke which make me VERY excited as a third year German student. I don't know if any of them will be high up on my list of favorite games or that any of them will surpass Ghost Trick (which is a game I consider to be pretty much perfect), but they're fun journeys and I can't wait to eventually play the Apollo Justice games.
I got the Japanese version so it matches with my copy of Ace Attorney 123. Ace Attorney 456 is more accurate then "Apollo Justice Trilogy" anyway.
IMO Spirit of Justice > Dual Destinies > Apollo Justice. Although Nahyuta is awful, the rest of AA6 is pretty awesome.
My favorite standalone case in this whole trilogy might be the DLC one from Dual Destinies, with the orca. Don't pass it by!
@KateGray Much thankings for elaborating! That all makes sense. Your recommendation and reasonings come through clearly, in any case.
Is there a way for us to regularly read more of your stuff that doesn't involve Xwitter? For reasons I'm sure you can appreciate, I really, really really don't want to support that "service", even though I've missed out on quite a few good writers and knowledgeable folk still using it. I've absolutely refused to create an account of my own since the login wall came up...
On the wish list it goes. I would pay full price for it but them capcom games often go on sale so a bit of waiting won't hurt.
Kinda wish I hadn't picked these up on the 3DS before the eShop closed now. Can't really justify buying again for Switch given I still haven't played them.
@CANOEberry ah, I don't use twitter much anymore anyway, so no worries there. Most of my writing these days (the fun stuff, anyway!) is here, although I did just start writing for the Epic website, but that stuff's more matter-of-fact.
other than that, I'm mostly working on games these days! Moonstone Island is my main one and then there are a couple of NDAed projects 😊
Sounds good! I'll be grabbing the JP physical release before I leave the country!
"While I sympathize with you, witness, you will refrain from firing gatling guns in this court."
Now I just wanna say excellent job again by @kategray. Thanks to some of their excellent reviews like the Ghost Trick one that made me get that game last year and I loved it. Been a huge fan of the AA series for a while too but I do have to say the only thing I find weird about this one is that maybe I’m wrong but it seems there’s not a lot added to this collection? I mean I’ve played all these games before so it was never a major pickup anyway over say another code, Tekken or LAD8 but most of the article is about the games themselves like “apollo Justice good. DD is Mid.” So on and so forth. With only like a little line at the end about a notes feature? Maybe I’m wrong and if so I apologize but it definitely feels like this might just be a port job with not much added.
@Ryne-Gaia There are a lot of extras, like the animation studio where you can make your own clips of the games, achievements, music, costumes, and so on, as well as extra tutorialisation, the story mode, and the auto-play. It was hard to squeeze everything into the review!
Also, these games were in need of a bundled re-release, as previously they were only available on the 3DS eShop with DLC sold separately. Even if this trilogy had no extras, it would still be a great buy in my opinion!
Looking forward to replay these, it's been a while.
I have already played the individual games but I'm obviously going to dive back in. Obviously a 9 as a trilogy judging by the write up and my previous experience with the games. Cheers for the review.
Removed - inappropriate
@Porky Have you actually played the game? Capcom’s disclaimer says “SOME” content appears as initially released. Not all. And tbh, the changes in your linked thread are actually for the better.
@Porky Incredibly dumb thing to be mad over them changing. It's mild language cleanup to sound a bit more accommodating to a situation the characters were already largely supportive of as it was.
@SlowPokemon I've read the disclaimer; I generously quoted it for you even. Suppose 'some' would be an indicator, but why even have the disclaimer in the first place if you're going to further neuter dialogue anyway? Could keep quiet like Nintendo does with their remasters of Pikmin 1 & 2.
That aside, how's it better? Feels forced. @Lizuka Reminds me of crunchyroll with onimai where they changed girls' sitting posture and girly behavior to omit 'girl.' They're trying to remove gender from common behavior and attiaire of males and females because of their world views. And that's just a spec of what's been discovered that's changed so far. Shouldn't be surprised at this point since Crapcom loves that ESG money.
@Porky Thanks for telling me and sharing the link!
Funnily enough I had a discussion about censorship yesterday here on Nintendo Life and while I conceded to the other person that censorship is better than not having the game released at all, we should strive to reduce it and even when it's unavoidable do it in a way to affect story, characters etc. as little as possible (the example I made is aging most of the "problematic" characters instead of changing their S rank dialogue).
Unfortunately nowadays, especially in English localizations, I feel we're going in the opposite direction...
Fingers crossed at least the original Japanese version and other localizations didn't get affected by this!
Hope that just sharing the link doesn't count as going against the rules, people have the right to know about what was changed:
https://twitter.com/Megamanxlegends/status/1751579172940489055
@KateGray oh wow shoot I didn’t realize all of this was there or considered that last part that is definitely my bad yo.
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