The Great Thief Yatagarasu's first heist: stealing a boy held hostage away from his captors.
Case I2-1: Turnabout Target
- The fact that Ethan Rooke was able to hurt Shelly de Killer at all, let alone break his arm. A Worthy Opponent to de Killer indeed.
- Speaking of de Killer, Rooke's wound isn't stopping him from being just as effective as ever. He manages to take Knightley hostage for the sole purpose of getting Edgeworth access to investigate the president's plane, and then managing to make an escape, despite the fact Edgeworth and Gumshoe were specifically planning to trap de Killer and bring him to justice.
Case I2-2: The Imprisoned Turnabout
- Raymond Shields's Big Damn Heroes moment. Just when all seems lost in the case, with no way to catch Warden Roland, Ray pulls out one last objection, using his status as Simon's attorney to lure out one last testimony from the culprit on why she believes the culprit to be Sirhan Dogen, giving Edgeworth the chance to break the case open. It's especially powerful in the context of Ray putting trust in Edgeworth to help get the truth, since beforehand Ray's been skeptical that Edgeworth has outgrown von Karma's teachings.
Case I2-3: The Inherited Turnabout
- Just about every time Gregory confronts von Karma. But the final time really stands out, after using Logic to find out von Karma has been manipulating the crime scene and forging evidence, he walks up to him and yells HOLD IT while giving him the pointer finger. When von Karma accuses him of disrupting the police investigation, Gregory delivers this line:Gregory: "Police" ...no. My objection is to you!
- The resulting confrontation is nothing short of epic, and for the first time in the case Manfred completely loses his composure. It's clear no-one has ever managed to utterly humiliate von Karma like this, and Gregory makes it even more awesome by being in full Tranquil Fury mode practically the entire time. And while you don't actually get to play the trial itself, from Shields' description it was clearly one huge CMOA for Gregory and cemented his status as a complete and total badass. Not only did he prove von Karma forges evidence, he was able to present tapes of his interrogations to show the entire court he bullied the defendant into giving a false confession. He managed to get von Karma's (corrupt) replacement detective fired, and Manfred himself only got off with just a penalty because the Chief Prosecutor at the time was just as much of an Amoral Attorney as he was, and actually had a hand in the forgery, so he had to give Manfred some punishment or he'd give himself away.
- Katherine Hall gets one by setting up a trap that causes the real IS-7 killer to be exposed (and nearly kills him too).
- In the present, Miles has the true culprit on the ropes, admitting to everything... but then, the Statute of Limitations comes up. The murder happened 18 years ago, with the case as a whole being blanked 3 years ago due to the 15-year time limit. Gustavia is certain of becoming a Karma Houdini, but with his 3-year training in Zheng Fa and the "Statute of Limitations" guide, Edgeworth reduces it to effectively 15 years and 4 months. Then it turns out that Manfred's dickery with the first trial ironically turned a Miscarriage of Justice into the final nail into Gustavia's coffin since Jeff was legally charged with being an accomplice - which took a whole year to reach a verdict on, officially leaving a few months left to close IS-7 once and for all. Gustavia is sent down and Jeff is released.
Case I2-4: The Forgotten Turnabout
- At the beginning of Case 4, Edgeworth points out to Judge Courtney that she is technically a valid suspect (and in fact a relatively likely one, having visited the crime scene a mere two hours before the victim). Courtney is visibly taken aback and offended by this, making it the first time that Edgeworth has had a chance to take her down a notch.
- On a similar note, once Edgeworth starts getting some traction, we get this:Edgeworth: OBJECTION! (smiles) ......Hmph.Courtney: You need not object just because you wish to sigh.Edgeworth: Judge Courtney, it seems I have greatly overestimated you.
- Edgeworth doesn't even let up during cross-examinations. For example, when later pressing Courtney about the process of Kay's questioning, only for Courtney to claim that they'll be doing it later, he replies as such.Edgeworth: "Later?" That seems to be your favorite time for interrogations.
- Edgeworth, finally fed up with how corrupt the prosecution has become, responds to Courtney's demand that he indict Kay for murder by resigning. How Gumshoe reacts? He suppresses his own Heroic BSoD when it barely started, never giving up investigating, thus providing decisive evidence for that same case.
- Judge Courtney gives us this Wham Line when she delivers her verdict:Courtney: The defendant... Blaise Debeste! I hereby indict you!
Case I2-5: The Grand Turnabout
- Sebastian Debeste's final confrontation with his Amoral Attorney father. Truly a sign that he's Taken A Level In Badass. Making it even more awesome is that, at this moment, Sebastian replaces his old, goofy Leitmotif for THIS
:Sebastian: I'm...I'm fine now. I thought that I had to be Number One so that you would accept me, dad. But then, after I got kidnapped by your men and left in that dark storeroom, I realised..."I really am powerless". I became depressed, and tried not to see that...but then...but then, Prosecutor Edgeworth showed me the way. I'm no longer a child chasing after his dad's back. I CAN find evidence on my own now! - A villainous one occurs for the set up of Case 5, Simon manages to encounter fake President Huang by luck whilst in his hot air balloon. Seizing his chance, he proceeds to crush him under the basket, in spite of the fake being armed with a handgun. He then hides the body and manipulates it so he evades capture for quite some time.
- There's also the fact that he was pretty-much behind everything in the entire game. And unlike the Big Bad of the previous game, he's not the head of an international criminal organization or anything, he's pretty much just a clown at the local circus. And almost singlehandedly, this "mere clown" orchestrated the downfall of an entire government conspiracy. He really is an Anti-Villain version of The Joker, folks. Not only that, but the fact that he actually appeared before, and yet likely never aroused any suspicion in Edgeworth or the player, is one for both his character and the game itself.
- Not only this, but he's also technically the only villain in the entire franchise to actually win. Oh sure, he might've gotten caught, but at the end of the day, he accomplished everything he set out to do, and then some with only a "few letters". What's even more incredible is that in the eyes of the law in the Ace Attorney universe, he could very well be out of jail by the time Dual Destinies rolls around, and even if he's not, he still gets to be with the man who saved his life, and will undoubtedly make sure his time there will at least be decent.
- In what is probably the most shocking revelation, after investigating the orphanage 12 years ago thanks to Kay's Little Thief, Edgeworth gives us this:Edgeworth: This case wasn't a kidnapping, it was a presidential assassination!Lang: GROOOOOOOWL! WHAT?
- When the final boss is first confronted, they're keeping up a pretty good innocent act, talking about how Edgeworth, Kay and Ray had said they would believe in him and how they're so sad that it was all a lie, complete with sad background music. Kay begins to feel sympathetic and suggests to Edgeworth that maybe "Simon's not a bad guy after all." Edgeworth immediately objects, cutting off the sad background music in the process and calls out the villain for such blatant emotional manipulation, a trademark of the villain's style. After confirming that Edgeworth's not going to be fooled, the villain drops the façade and reveals their true nature, all to an epic new villain theme.
- True to form, Edgeworth takes down Simon by turning his logic around and deducing that if the body double wasn't seen leaving the roof on the security cameras, and didn't go through the black market auction storehouse, then there's only one possibility left- Simon killed him, transported his body with the hot air balloon, stored him in the refrigerated warehouse and then transported him to the film set near the Grand Tower. He then proves this by identifying the flower pollen on the bottom of the balloon and proving it came from the body double's flowers.
- Dogen arriving to save Simon's life. He's able to get Shelly de Killer to back down.
- While John hates Dogen for killing his father and has no intention of forgiving him, he refuses Dogen's offer to kill him in revenge, simply because if he became a murderer, it would make Justine and everyone else who cares about him suffer. He can be a brat, but in some ways, he's wiser than many of the adult characters.
