History VideoGame / GhostTrick

** You're also forced to kill the two hitmen to stop them from killing Lynne early on. Of course, it's in defense of an innocent, and hitmen are AcceptableTargets.

* WineIsClassy: Which is presumably why Emma drinks while she brainstorms her novel. It seems to be completely an act, given that she never takes a sip, though. [[FrothyMugsOfWater It's also very unlikely that it's actual alcohol]], since dousing a match in an ethanol-filled fluid would most likely result in it catching fire.

* GhostlyAnimals: [[spoiler:It is revealed later on that Sissel, the ghost being followed for the game, was actually a cat. Additionally, it is also revealed that the lamp that interacts with Sissel at the start is the ghost of a Pomerarian dog named Missile]].

* FaceHeelTurn: [[spoiler:Yomiel was accused of espionage, of which he was innocent, but a young Inspector Cabanela [[PerpSweating pressured]] him into escaping, with the handgun Cabanela accidentally left behind. Jowd chased him down into Temsik Park, where, after being threatened with a warning shot, he took Lynne hostage and was suddenly struck in the back by a fragment of the Temsik meteor. Then he remembers his identity and tries to meet his fiancée Sissel, who had unfortunately committed suicide just before Yomiel could get to her, and he lacked the power to rewind time and save her life. This made him GoMadFromTheIsolation and make him want to take revenge on everyone involved in the Temsik Park incident, save for a certain black cat...]]

* CartridgesInFlight: {{Defied|Trope}}. Despite the low resolution of the original DS release, the game makes it extremely clear at one point that projectile bullets aren't cartridge-shaped where [[spoiler:Cabanela is about to be shot by Yomiel, but Missle can swap the bullet ''mid-flight'' for something else like the metal hard hat (which causes a much more brutal death) or a knitted hat for the correct answer if left hanging up. It morphs into a cartridge shape if knocked onto the floor, but this won't work with the helmet-shaped bullet and creates an UnwinnableByDesign situation.]]

* RunningGag: Lynne dying. [[spoiler:Even in the altered "final" timeline, she comes very close to it.]]

** In Chapter 15, you have to swap a bullet already in motion with something of the same shape that wouldn't be lethal. If you don't do any other tricks before that point, there's [[spoiler:a hard hat]] on the wall nearby that you can use. Ask yourself this: How would this object impact someone's skull if it were traveling at bullet velocity? Ask Cabanela -- it ain't pretty.

* UndignifiedDeath: There are a couple of these, but the prize has to go to Lynne being crushed to death by a giant roast chicken. And that's not even going in to the ways you can make some deaths into this, such as reclining a driver's seat, leaving him flailing helplessly on his back while his truck plows into a building and Cabanela dying from ''a hard hat launched at his face at bullet speed.'' ItMakesSenseInContext.

* UnexpectedlyRealisticGameplay: Making a hard hat hit a guy in the face with the force of a moving bullet leads to [[NonStandardGameOver exactly what you think will happen happening]]. [[spoiler:Also, if you trick an item in front of Yomiel, he will notice and respond.]]

The game was later made available for iOS, being released in December 2010 for Japan and February 2012 internationally; the mobile version features the first two chapters as a free download, with the rest of the game locked behind purchases. An [[UpdatedRerelease HD remaster]] for the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch, UsefulNotes/PlayStation4, UsefulNotes/XboxOne, and UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} was released on June 30, 2023; this version is slated to feature remastered music, an art gallery, and an assortment of animated [[FifteenPuzzle slide puzzles]] that were originally exclusive to the iOS version.

* CartridgesInFlight: {{Defied|Trope}}. Despite the low resolution of the original DS release, the game makes it extremely clear at one point that the bullets aren't cartridge-shaped where [[spoiler:Cabanela is about to be shot by Yomiel, but Missle can swap the bullet ''mid-flight'' for something else like the metal hard hat (which causes a much more brutal death) or a knitted hat for the correct answer if left hanging up which morphs into a cartridge shape if knocked onto the floor, but this won't work with the helmet-shaped bullet and creates an UnwinnableByDesign situation.]]

* AccessoryWearingCartoonAnimal: A black cat wearing a red scarf shows up in an early chapter. He [[ChekhovsGunman turns out to be important]], as he's [[spoiler: Sissel's true form.]]

** [[spoiler: If you're under suspicion from the police, [[WrongfulAccusationInsurance running from them]] [[SubvertedTrope will only make things worse]]. ''Especially'' if you're innocent.]]

* AnimalJingoism: Subverted in every respect. The black cat [[spoiler: Sissel]] gets along incredibly well with the dog Missile and quickly makes friends with him. Also, he seems to have an aversion to hurting rodents. [[spoiler: Might have something to do that for 99% of the game, he doesn't ''know'' that he is a cat.]]

* TheCakeIsALie: The deal that [[spoiler: Yomiel]] made with the blue people's government was that [[spoiler: he would use his manipulator powers for their benefit and they would: A) help him with his revenge plot and B) work to create an artificial life for him, allowing him to live, grow old, and die like a normal human. Of course, Sith only wanted the Temsik fragment, so they never got past part A.]]

** The implication is that regardless of [[spoiler: Ray/Prime Missile's lie]], souls without Ghost Trickery will sooner or later disappear (and where that leads to being unknown). Hence only being able to communicate with (and rescue) souls that have been dead for less than 24 hours.

** Pigeon Man. He originally shows up as the superintendent of the junkyard with an odd blue pigeon on his head, but [[spoiler: he's a former police coroner and Cabanela's associate in figuring out the Manipulator's crimes and the Temsik meteorite.]]

* CollateralDamage: A stray shot missing it's intended target and hitting another target is a major plot point. [[spoiler: it's what killed Sissel the cat.]]

* DeathAsComedy: People die so many times that even they can find their own deaths amusing if they're ludicrous enough. It helps that we know the deaths won't stick. The record holder in that game is Lynne, who dies a grand total of [[spoiler: five times]] (not counting preventable deaths or repeats), and in [[TheManyDeathsOfYou increasingly absurd ways]] each time[[hottip:*:(by shotgun, by sniper rifle, by Rube Goldberg device, by giant roast chicken, and by explosion in a submarine)]]. At one point Sissel suspects that she's doing it on purpose.

* DemonicPossession: Sissel can possess dead bodies, but only so he can contact their souls. [[spoiler: Yomiel, on the other hand, can manipulate both the living and the dead.]]
* DestructionEqualsOffSwitch: A power failure [[spoiler: caused when the electric chair that was being set up to execute Detective Jowd malfunctioned and exploded]] opened the doors of all the cells in the prison, setting the prisoners free. This is explained as a security measure to ensure the safety of the prisoners. One might be inclined to wonder why a prison would risk its prisoners getting free so easily, but [[spoiler:this prison is specifically for those who the police suspected were controlled by the Manipulator.]]

* DisasterDominoes: The climax of the game turns into one of these. [[spoiler: The heroes attempt to save Yomiel's past self from being killed by the Temsik fragment by putting a giant Mino statue in the path in order to divert its course. It works, but the new trajectory makes the fragment pierce through Jowd's ankle instead, which causes him to accidentally fire his gun at Yomiel. Missile swaps the bullet out at the last minute, but the momentum pushes Yomiel into the pole that's barely holding up the Mino statue, impaling him. He somehow still lives, but the force causes the Mino statue to begin falling on Lynne. Since can't get there in time due to his ankle, and the ghosts are unwilling to let Lynne live with the memory that she died, it takes future Yomiel possessing his unconscious body in order to rescue Lynne (at the cost of being crushed under the giant statue himself, albeit somehow still alive).]]

* DistantFinale: An unorthodox version: [[spoiler: At the end of the game you go back 10 years into the past and save Yomiel from the meteorite. The epilogue shows what happened 10 years after that (though it's the same day as when the rest of the game was set) and how everyone's lives have changed as a result of the new timeline.]]

* TheDogWasTheMastermind: [[spoiler:Well, more like the dog was the TricksterMentor, but close enough.]] Also, there's the [[spoiler: black cat]] in the first chapter, which is later shown to have moved the protagonist's body. [[spoiler: It turns out the black cat was the protagonist's ''actual'' body, and was possessed by the BigBad at the time.]]

* FightingFromTheInside: You can see this happen with [[spoiler: Lynne and the justice minister]] when [[spoiler: they are controlled by Yomiel.]] In fact, the former example directly results in [[spoiler:Sissel dying and receiving his powers, as Lynne manages to resist Yomiel's control and fires a bullet that seemingly misses Yomiel but actually hits his bag, which holds Sissel the cat]].

* FoodEnd: The epilogue has [[spoiler: a birthday dinner at Jowd's house.]] With giant roast chickens, of course.

* GhostlyAnimals: [[spoiler: It is revealed later on that Sissel, the ghost being followed for the game, was actually a cat. Additionally, it is also revealed that the lamp that interacts with Sissel at the start is the ghost of a Pomerarian dog named Missile]].

** You play as Sissel, who has recently died; his goal is to find out how he died and why. [[spoiler: The form he takes is actually Yomiel's body, and Yomiel himself has a goal of getting revenge on the people who he blames for his death. Sissel turns out to be a cat who was Yomiel's only friend during the ten years following Yomiel's death; Sissel couldn't remember who he was or how he died because he had taken Yomiel's form instead of his own.]]

** [[spoiler: Emma]] is a lesser example. [[spoiler: Initially she's portrayed negatively, keeping her daughter away from her husband despite their protests, but then you learn why she moved away from her husband: He was forced to sign an execution order for a prisoner, and didn't tell the cops about it. Emma left in order to pressure him into doing the right thing.]]

* TheGuardsMustBeCrazy: The guards in the special prison are pretty lax about their duties, with one not even being bothered to turn the alarm off when it comes on accidentally, and allowing their prisoners incredible [[LuxuryPrisonSuite luxuries]]. This can be explained in that [[spoiler: the prisoners are all suspected of being manipulated by supernatural forces, so they are viewed as fairly harmless otherwise]].

* {{Handwave}}: When Sissel asks Ray how ghosts can go back in time and comments that it doesn't even make any sense, Ray just replies: "We're talking about the powers of the dead, here. It doesn't have to make sense." Though, given how conversations between ghosts and the ghost world itself are out of time, it's not that much of a stretch to think they could go back to a previous moment. Later, it's explained that [[spoiler: the MagicMeteor that gives ghosts their powers also has time-related effects as well.]]

** One character, Ray, possessed a lamp. [[spoiler: Ray turns out to be an older version of Missile from ten years ago. Missile possessed the lamp so he could be there when Sissel died and thus coerce Sissel into saving not only the city but also everyone involved with Yomiel's case.]]

* HollywoodHeartAttack: It isn't specifically named as a heart attack, but the thrashing chest-clutch [[spoiler: the Justice Minister]] performs seems to match the stereotype. His life is saved by [[spoiler: stabilizing him with a drink of water and then getting him his pill bottle, which he proceeds to practically empty like a bag of Skittles.]]

* IHaveYourWife: The Minister of Defense is {{blackmail}}ed into [[spoiler: not rescinding Jowd's execution that evening]] by a phone call saying that kidnappers have his daughter Amelie. [[spoiler: In reality, they don't have the right girl, but use a recording of Amelie's voice to trick him, and the Minister won't hear anyone out until Amelie calls him.]]
* IdiotBall: Lynne's third death. [[spoiler: Not on her part, mind you, but on the Pigeon Guy's part. While reconstructing that RubeGoldbergDevice was understandable in trying to figure out how it all went wrong, leaving a loaded, working gun that would kill whoever turns on the light was really dumb.]]

* LeaveNoWitnesses: The murderous motive of [[spoiler: the blue foreigners]] is to [[spoiler:kill everyone connected to Temsik, so they are the only one who know about the meteorite's powers. [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness Even the ghost with a grudge who's enlisting their help in the first place]]]].

* LoopholeAbuse: Sissel is informed [[MagicAIsMagicA very clearly]] that you can only revive someone who's been dead for less than one day. [[spoiler:They're able to revive Yomiel, who died ten years ago, because technically his body is frozen at the exact second before his death by the Temsik shard, until Commander Sith removes it.]]
* TheLostLenore: The suicide of [[spoiler: Yomiel's fiancee Sissel]] is part of what drove him mad with isolation. [[spoiler: He even named his cat after her]].

* MadeOfIron: The game has several characters who stretch the limits of survivability, even without the player character's death-reversing powers. The best answer is probably [[spoiler:Yomiel in the final timeline. Even after getting impaled on a stone spike and his entire lower body crushed under a stone monument, he still manages to walk out of jail 10 years later under his own power.]]

* OccultDetective: Despite the subtitle of 'Phantom Detective', Sissel originally subverts this. It's only in pursuit of his own identity and murderer that he solves the multitude of mysteries around him. [[spoiler: And all of them turn out to be related to his identity anyway.]]

* OneDegreeOfSeparation: Nearly everyone that Sissel encounters during the night are in some way related to the mystery of his death, even if they seem minor at first. [[spoiler: Lynne's next door neighbors are the Justice Minister's wife and daughter, who are living apart from him because of his refusal to revoke Jowd's execution. The "Guardian of the Park" was witness to the Temsik Meteorite. The junkyard superintendent used to be a police coroner who discovered that Yomiel's "shell" had regenerative properties, which led him to investigate the Temsik Meteorite. The other prisoners of Yomiel's prison were possessed by Yomiel to prove his Ghost Tricks. The doctor who looked at Yomiel's body was a double agent who was hired to bring back Yomiel's "shell." And finally, the cat in Yomiel's bag was actually Sissel all along and Ray turns out to be Missile from an AlternateTimeline where Sissel didn't help and everyone died.]]

* OurGhostsAreDifferent: All spirits seem to linger near their bodies after death, but only certain ghosts have special ''ghost tricks' which allow them to move around and affect the world through possessing inanimate objects [[spoiler: or living bodies, or swapping similarly shaped items]], as well as go back in time four minutes before a recently-deceased person's death. [[spoiler: Only people who die near the Temsik meteorite receive ghost trick powers, indicating even in that world it's a very unusual thing.]]

* PeggySue: Pretty much the entire point of the game. Sissel uses his powers to manipulate objects and turn back time to rescue people before they die, thus changing the present as the characters know it. This all eventually leads up to the final puzzle [[spoiler: where the heroes go back in time ten years to prevent the game's BigBad from dying and ending up in the state that led to his FaceHeelTurn.]]

** [[spoiler:Yomiel]] [[GrandTheftMe possesses people]] to force them to commit crimes, cuts a deal with a foreign nation who will almost certainly use what he offers them to attack other countries, and [[spoiler:manipulates poor Kamila into killing her own mother, albeit indirectly.]] Towards the end of the game, [[spoiler: he saves Lynne and Kamila from drowning by breaking open the submarine door that's stuck and manipulating junk to make an arm to pull them out.]]

* PlotBasedPhotographObfuscation: At one point, Lynne tells you about that one time when she [[spoiler:was saved 10 years ago by Detective Jowd from a criminal who had taken her hostage]]. While she's remembering, we see an illustration of the event with young Lynne and the two men. We can see every face clearly... except the stranger's. His head is completely obfuscated by shadows. As it turns out later on, showing his face earlier than that would've been a '''''major''''' plot twist: [[spoiler:the criminal was Yomiel, a man who looks exactly like Sissel. Or more accurately, Sissel just took Yomiel's appearance when he woke up at 7 PM thinking that was his own]]. Obscuring the kidnapper's face in Lynne's flashbacks is actually {{Justified|Trope}}, in that he grabbed her from behind, and she was then prevented from seeing him (either by coincidence or Jowd purposely diverting her attention) after [[spoiler: the Temsik Meteor landed and "killed" him]], knocking her free of his grasp. This would explain why she doesn't recognize his...distinctive appearance years later.

* PossessingADeadBody: [[spoiler: Yomiel]] is a ghost who is able to animate his own corpse. [[spoiler: This is thanks to a [[GreenRocks radioactive meteor]], a fragment of which is lodged in his body and keeps his corpse perpetually on the edge between life and death, making him virtually indestructible (much like Franchise/TheCrow). By the end of the story, the main character is like this.]]

* PsychoForHire: The hitmen. [[spoiler: They have no problem with killing unarmed women, little girls, and puppies.]]

* RealitySubtext: InUniverse again--the novel Emma is working on is between a (seemingly) ordinary woman who is half of a pair of StarCrossedLovers with a Prime Minister. [[spoiler: Emma's husband is the Minister of Justice]].

** [[spoiler: Yomiel. He broke rule N°2 of gun safety: "Do not fire if there is anyone or anything next to or behind your target that you are not willing to hit/destroy." This shot set the entire plot into motion.]]
** [[spoiler: Inspector Cabanella. Engaging in GunTwirling and forgetting his gun in the room with a suspect.]]
** [[spoiler: Detective Jowd.]] Warning shots are a terrible idea. [[spoiler: while it didn't lead to any CollateralDamage, it did push a suspect already operating under blind panic into an even more panicked and irrational state.]]

* {{Retirony}}: Subverted. Memry, the waitress at the Chicken Kitchen, mentions that it's her last day working there. She is ''almost'' killed by a speeding truck crashing into the restaurant, but is saved at the last minute by Lynne pushing her out of the way. The trope is further PlayedWith when you discover that she's only been working there for two days. [[spoiler: As an undercover cop, so she wasn't really going to work there long to begin with.]]

** [[spoiler: Lynne killed Sissel. Then it turns out she was controlled by the Manipulator. Then it turns out the "Sissel" she was made to kill was actually the Manipulator himself...and he was immortal anyway. And ''then'' it turns out that Lynne killed the real Sissel when she was controlled by the Manipulator. (This was an accident on the Manipulator's part though).]]

** In Chapter 6, the protagonist sees a video where [[spoiler: Lynne shoots him]], causing him to believe he was murdered [[spoiler: by Lynne]]. As the game progresses, [[spoiler: we learn that there's a guy who was controlling Lynne's actions, that Sissel wasn't actually the guy Lynne shot in the video, and the guy who got shot didn't even die anyway!]] Then at the very end we learn that [[spoiler: Sissel was indeed shot in that same incident shown on the tape. Though it was an accident.]]

* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: The BigBad spends years carrying out a meticulously crafted plan to punish everyone involved with [[spoiler: his death, including the then-young girl he took hostage.]]

* SealedRoomInTheMiddleOfNowhere: The idea behind the BigBad's ultimate plan to dispose of Sissel and all those involved with him in the Temsik Incident, as his ghost powers can't reverse the horrible slow death they are submitted to. [[spoiler: Too bad it didn't work.]]

* SerialEscalation: Just how many more insane plot twists can be fit into the game before it ends? How many times will [[spoiler:Lynne]] manage to die and still get revived? What new ridiculously convoluted RubeGoldbergDevice will Sissel use to save someone's life next? The plot twists are so crazy that [[spoiler: finding out that a crazy painter prisoner is randomly painting a picture of you when not a single person has a clue who you are, and that your lovable sidekick is the one who shot you]] are the first things you find out as you play the game. Later on you [[spoiler: stage a prison break, discover that a supposed hostage situation is bungled by the mistaken kidnapping of a seemingly innocuous girl living with Lynne, a manipulator has ghost powers that call the actions of every character into question as he has the power to manipulate people, the little seemingly minor dog character now also has ghost powers, which everyone gets from a meteor. The painter reveals he saw you die ten years ago despite you also dying tonight, in an event where Lynne nearly died and basically ties together the backstories of every character in the game, the manipulator looks just like you, the seemingly corrupt inspector was actually a hatching a BatmanGambit to prove the painter's innocence, the mysterious bad guys have actually been on a submarine the entire time. The wacky pigeon man was helping the inspector all along. Then you go back in time ten years to stop the game from happening. There you find out you've actually been playing as the antagonist's pet cat the entire time, who accidentally shot you in an attempt to frame Lynne. Oh, and to top it all off, that cute little puppy dog? He masterminded the entire game and outwitted everyone. But he's from an alternate timeline where Sissel was such a JerkAss he refused to help anyone.]]

* TheStoryThatNeverWas: [[spoiler: The game ends with going back to WhenItAllBegan and undoing the initial death, rewriting the entire timeline from that point forwards.]]

* SuperpowerLottery: Spirits who have obtained Ghost Tricks can acquire a combination of some, but not all, of the following powers: manipulating inanimate objects; [[TimeTravel time travelling]] to [[FourIsDeath four minutes before a recently deceased person's death]]; travelling long distances via telephone lines; [[spoiler: swapping similarly-shaped objects]]; and [[spoiler: [[DemonicPossession manipulating living beings]]]]. Which abilities a spirit acquires upon death is seemingly random. [[TheHero Sissel]] is considered by several other characters to have won the superpower lottery, because he received the specific combination of powers[[labelnote:*]]the first three in the list[[/labelnote]] that allow him to solve most the game's crises.
* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: Due to the death penalty not being practiced for years until D99's execution, the prison's electric chair is in terrible condition and is caked with dust. Bailey's concerns are proven right when it's suddenly turned on and causes a short circuit, which blows up the chair.

* TakingTheHeat: Played silly, where both Missile and Sissel treat Missile's taking the blame for breaking Lynne's headphones (to protect Kamila) as the noble act of a warrior. [[spoiler: One might consider it foreshadowing for the way Jowd confesses to his wife's murder to protect Kamila, who accidentally killed her with a birthday contraption.]]

** The Guardian of the Park receives one [[spoiler:from a falling football]]. This is a particularly [[DrinkingGame/TVTropes egregio]]-- er, [[SubvertedTrope extreme]] example, as going by the [[TimeTravel time said tap occurs]], he was left unconscious for ''five hours''.

* TimeStandsStill: Time stands still when you're in the ghost world, allowing a ghost time to move from objects to object without losing precious seconds during the four minutes before death. It's represented in shades of red, with 'cores' outlined in blue, [[spoiler: though it's green for Missile and blue for Yomiel.]] Time can be paused at any point but tricks can't be used unless time is flowing again.

* TimmyInAWell: Played with. Missile is fiercely loyal to and protective of his owner, but doesn't come off as terribly bright: he's easily distracted by flashing lights, loud noises, and spinning doodads, all of which will incite him to bark incessantly. On the other hand, [[spoiler: in a previous timeline, he tracked down the people responsible for his owner's death without any outside help, and after time traveling into the past and taking TheSlowPath to the present day, [[TheChessmaster he skillfully manipulated Sissel into setting things right.]]]]

* TomatoSurprise: See Sissel up above? The guy in the red suit with the blonde hair? See how he's all over the game's advertising, he's the player character's image in-game, the first thing the player sees in-game, and even the picture of the PlayerCharacter in the manual? [[spoiler:That's not him. ''That's the BigBad''. But you do play as someone taking his appearence for almost all of the game]].

* TriangleShades: Sissel has a pair of these. [[spoiler:Yomiel, the person whose body Sissel mistakenly thought was his, has these too.]] These carry on even after [[spoiler: Sissel [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NJikFH0erM#t=1m37s loses Yomiel's image]] and reverts to the blueish blob shape all ghosts start out as and Yomiel seems to have drawn a pair of triangle shades onto his "face" after [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NJikFH0erM#t=0m50s pulling a body together]] out of random items he found in the submarine.]]

* TricksterMentor: [[spoiler:Ray]] puts [[spoiler: Sissel]] through quite an ordeal. Despite knowing the truth all along, he does not tell [[spoiler:Sissel who he is, he tricks him into thinking he's going to cease to exist in the morning, thus causing a great deal of stress, fools Sissel into thinking he's Yomiel, and then vanishes halfway through the game, making Sissel think that he has ceased to exist.]] However, this causes [[spoiler:Sissel to avert Yomiel's fate]] and learn the value of helping other people besides himself.

* UnfinishedBusiness: Sissel and Ray [[spoiler: and Yomiel]] have reasons for sticking around after death; Sissel, for example, wants to find out how and why he died [[GhostAmnesia because he can't remember either of those details.]] Any more said, and the game's multiple plot twists will be ruined.

** Saving [[spoiler: the Justice Minister]] has several particularly nasty examples. [[spoiler: Following the phone call he gets from his daughter's kidnappers leads you to a place where you can't do anything. Possessing the heart medication before he knocks it away and trying to get it back to him seems like a good idea, but you don't have enough time to get it back to him. The correct thing is to stop him from spilling the pitcher of water so that he can get a drink and delay the heart attack, but if you don't use the moment he raises the pitcher to move to the ceiling fan, then you'll be stuck at the Minister's desk with no way to get to the medication.]]

** The blue-skinned doctor tends to murmur "...like me" when someone close says "You don't know who may be listening". [[spoiler: He's an impostor and foreign spy.]]

* WhatMeasureIsAMook: Commented on. One of Sissel's powers is saving the lives of others by changing their fates. However, he defeats hitmen Jeego and Tengo by dropping heavy objects on them, crushing them apparently to death (we even see Jeego's body comically flattened against a rolling wrecking ball). Sissel muses whether, if he killed Tengo, he'd then have to go back and save ''his'' life. [[spoiler: He doesn't. In fact they're not mentioned again, even in the epilogue.]]

* RubeGoldbergHatesYourGuts: [[spoiler:How Yomiel offed Detective Jowd's wife, Alma, five years before the game's events]]. A replica of it is also responsible for [[spoiler:Lynne's {{th|eyKilledKennyAgain}}ird death]].

* SchizoTech: Outright lampshaded. The majority of areas seem to have near-contemporary levels of technology (besides the dependency on landlines for communication, which is a good thing since Sissel uses the phone lines to travel). However, the blue-skinned people from the unnamed foreign country have gigantic projector screens and grape-feeding robotic arms in their [[spoiler: huge submarine]], as well as [[spoiler: amazingly human-like robots]] to run them. More than one person comments that they use technology 'oddly', which is apparently a common complaint leveled at their country.

* TrademarkFavoriteFood: Everyone's extremely into giant roast chicken. Extremely into it. [[spoiler:Except for Cabanela, who eats a giant plate of spaghetti in the ending.]] Then there's the curry-loving prisoner.

* ExtremelyShortTimespan: One night, just barely over ten hours, but a ridiculous number of shocking twists occur during them. [[spoiler:Except technically, you take actions in a span of ten years.]]

* FourthWallPsych: Played for scares. When someone tries to talk to a ghost and they aren't using the ghost world, their sprite will turn and directly face the viewer as if talking to the player themselves. [[spoiler: And when Yomiel does it, catching you in the act of trying to save Cabanela, it's fucking terrifying.]]

* {{Beat}}: In Chapter 15, one puzzle requires you to [[spoiler:swap a bullet ''after it's been fired'' with a wool hat]]. After you perform the required action and unstop time, the game lets the scene hang there for a moment, so you can realize the implications of what you just did. If you [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHEfWsrUbLE did the puzzle wrong]] and [[spoiler:swapped in a ''metal hard hat'']] instead, the feeling of "that was clearly not the correct action" is very effective.

The game was later made available for iOS, being released in December 2010 for Japan and February 2012 internationally; the mobile version features the first two chapters as a free download, with the rest of the game locked behind purchases. An [[UpdatedRerelease HD remaster]] for the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch, UsefulNotes/PlayStation4, UsefulNotes/XboxOne, and UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} [[https://www.gamespot.com/articles/ghost-trick-phantom-detective-preorders-are-discounted-for-pc/1100-6513886/ is scheduled to release on June 29, 2023]]; this version is slated to feature remastered music, an art gallery, and an assortment of animated [[FifteenPuzzle slide puzzles]] that were originally exclusive to the iOS version.

The game was later made available for iOS, being released in December 2010 for Japan and February 2012 internationally; the mobile version features the first two chapters as a free download, with the rest of the game locked behind purchases. An [[UpdatedRerelease HD remaster]] for the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch, UsefulNotes/PlayStation4, UsefulNotes/XboxOne, and UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} [[https://www.gamespot.com/articles/ghost-trick-phantom-detective-preorders-are-discounted-for-pc/1100-6513886/ is scheduled to release on June 29, 2023]]; this version is slated to feature include remastered music, an art gallery, and an assortment of animated [[FifteenPuzzle slide puzzles]] that were originally exclusive to the iOS version.

* WhipItGood: The thoroughly evil Beauty carries a bright red riding crop, though we never see her use it.

The game was later made available for iOS, being released in December 2010 for Japan and February 2012 internationally; the mobile version features the first two chapters as a free download, with the rest of the game locked behind purchases. An [[UpdatedRerelease HD remaster]] for the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch, UsefulNotes/PlayStation4, UsefulNotes/XboxOne, and UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} is scheduled to release on June 30, 2023; this version is slated to feature include remastered music, an art gallery, and an assortment of animated [[FifteenPuzzle slide puzzles]] that were originally exclusive to the iOS version.

** Ray has to be a reference to {{Creator/Pixar}}'s [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdtHSyfcSDs very first short film]].

** Quite a few to ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney'':
*** Kamila's dog is named Missile. This is the same name as the police dog in case 1-4. ([[TributeToFido Both are references to Shu Takumi's own Pomeranian, also named Missile.]])

* WeOnlyHaveOneChance: Used in the finale, but in an unusual way. When a character is about to die because saving one character's life didn't avert the overall disaster, Sissel says they only have one chance to do it. The other cast members remind him that they don't, and that they instead have infinite tries because of how their ability as ghosts work. Sissel then says he knows that and reveals the real reason: [[spoiler:anyone who dies keeps their memory of dying, and the person about to die is a young child that's already in a traumatic situation, meaning she'll need years of therapy in the best case scenario and her mind will shatter in the worst case]].

* ParentalAbandonment: The game goes all out in taking away poor Kamila's parents in the cruelest ways imaginable.[[spoiler: However, thanks to the timeline-altering efforts of the two most loyal pets ever, she ends up living happily ever after with both of them alive. Fans of ''Ace Attorney'' collectively cried tears of joy upon witnessing this unexpected outcome.]]

The game was later made available for iOS, being released in December 2010 for Japan and February 2012 internationally; the mobile version features the first two chapters as a free download, with the rest of the game locked behind purchases. An [[UpdatedRerelease HD remaster]] for the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch, UsefulNotes/PlayStation4, UsefulNotes/XboxOne, and UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} is scheduled to release in mid-2023; this version is slated to feature include remastered music, an art gallery, and an assortment of animated [[FifteenPuzzle slide puzzles]] that were originally exclusive to the iOS version.

The game was later made available for iOS, being released in December 2010 for Japan and February 2012 internationally; the mobile version features the first two chapters as a free download, with the rest of the game locked behind purchases. An [[UpdatedRelease HD remaster]] for the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch, UsefulNotes/PlayStation4, UsefulNotes/XboxOne, and UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} is scheduled to release in mid-2023; this version is slated to feature include remastered music, an art gallery, and an assortment of animated [[FifteenPuzzle slide puzzles]] that were originally exclusive to the iOS version.

''Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective'' is an AdventureGame from the minds behind the ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' series for the UsefulNotes/NintendoDS.

The game is focused on solving a variety of puzzles in order to prevent events from happening and save the people around Sissel (the ghost), while working to uncover the truth behind his death. It was released on January 11th, 2011 in the U.S. and on January 14th, 2011 in Europe under the name ''Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective''.

It is also available for iOS on the iTunes Store; the free download includes the first two chapters, with the rest of the story locked behind purchases. An HD remaster for the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch, UsefulNotes/PlayStation4, UsefulNotes/XboxOne, and UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} was announced for release in the summer of 2023. Features include remastered music, an art gallery, and an assortment of animated [[FifteenPuzzle slide puzzles]] from the iOS release.

A demo for the game can be found [[https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Games/Nintendo-DS/Ghost-Trick-Phantom-Detective-270880.html here.]]

* CatsHaveNineLives: Nine separate lives are saved in the game. [[spoiler:Lynne (though five times), Yomiel, Cabanela, Jowd (twice), Pigeon man, Guardian of the Park, Missile, Detective Rindge and Justice Minister. The cat in question is Sissel, who technically ends up in [[UsefulNotes/SchrodingersCat a state between life and death]].]]

It is also available for iOS on the iTunes Store; the free download includes the first two chapters, with the rest of the story locked behind purchases. An HD remaster for the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch, UsefulNotes/PlayStation4, UsefulNotes/XboxOne, and UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} was announced for release in the summer of 2023. Features include remastered music, an art gallery, and an assortment of animated [[FifteenPuzzle slide puzzles]].

It is also available for iOS on the iTunes Store; the free download includes the first two chapters, with the rest of the story locked behind purchases. An HD remaster for the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch was announced during the February 8, 2023 WebVideo/NintendoDirect.

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It is also available for iOS on the iTunes Store; the free download includes the first two chapters, with the rest of the story locked behind purchases.

A demo for the game can be found [[http://www.nintendo.co.uk/NOE/en_GB/games/nds/ghost_trick_phantom_detective_18194.html here]].

The game is focused on solving a variety of puzzles in order to prevent events from happening and save the people around Sissel (the ghost), while working to uncover the truth behind his death. It was released on January 11th, 2011 in the U.S. and on January 14th, 2011 in Europe under the name "Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective".

* NiceJobFixingItVillain: [[spoiler:By removing the Temsik fragment from Yomiel's body and making it a regular corpse —and able to have its fate rewound— Commander Sith undoes his own victory. He did foresee the "slight possibility", though, and [[CrazyPrepared did everything he could think of]] to keep Yomiel's body as far from a ghost as possible]].

** Although most technology seems to be modern (wireless headphones and plasma [=TVs=]) and a young woman (who must be around 18-years-old) is allowed on the detective force (suggesting modern social mores), everyone uses rotary telephones that still use the old station-extension phone number style. ''[[SchizoTech Wireless]]'' rotary phones, in some cases. Which makes for some major SchizoTech with the blue people, who have robotic arms, pimped-out information consoles, and [[spoiler:remote-controlled robot manservants]]. It would be tempting to write this off as an alternate universe where cell phones were never invented...except that the game shares a universe [[note]]though not necessarily a ''country''[[/note]] with ''Franchise/AceAttorney'', which has cell phones aplenty.

''Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective'' is an adventure game from the minds behind the ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' series for the UsefulNotes/NintendoDS.