History NightmareFuel / PhoenixWrightAceAttorney

*** von Karma's methods aren't just terrifying if the defendant is innocent. It's almost certain that he's also [[FramingTheGuiltyParty put many genuinely guilty people behind bars]] with his tactics, and ''every single guilty person he's ever dealt with can get a free ticket out of jail by claiming, quite possibly correctly, that he forged evidence to get a conviction''. God only knows who is innocent and who is guilty, God only knows how many guilty people will go free, the various victims, God only knows how many friends and families involved will now never have any sense of peace as to whether the crimes were truly and properly punished, and God only knows how much damage this one single man has done because of his sheer selfish ego.

** Running into him at the police station, in the same case, is horrible in and of itself; he catches you off-guard, then TASES you and Maya and steals your evidence. Yes. He really will do ''anything''.

* The end of the last investigation day in 1-3. Phoenix and Maya decide to confront Dee Vasquez alone in the Studio 2 trailer. They then present the photo of the horrific accident as proof of Vasquez blackmailing the victim, Jack Hammer. She demands they hand over the photo, and they refuse. Her response? "BOYS!" Cue 4 scary looking guys showing up and Vasquez not so subtly hinting that they're gonna make sure Phoenix and Maya never see the light of day again.

** One of the men she summons has his hand in his coat. You can only imagine what he's holding...

* During 1-5, security camera footage of Officer Meekins' run-in with Jake Marshall (disguised as Goodman) in the evidence room is played. While it's already quite uncomfortable to view in the context of the case, especially given that [[ArtShift this is the only usage of 3D full motion video]] in the game, the fact that Gumshoe's [[UncannyValley Blue Badger]] is the focal point of the footage [[SoundtrackDissonance while "I Want To Defend!" plays on repeat]] makes it ''that'' more unnerving. Even worse; you have to re-watch the footage a good few times to point out contradictions for Meekins' sake, with some viewings of the footage having ''[[NothingIsScarier no sound at all]]''.

** The situation leading up to the DL-6 Incident was pretty frightening and riddled with AdultFear. A nine-year-old Miles Edgeworth, his father Gregory Edgeworth, and Yanni Yogi got into an elevator, only for an earthquake to leave them stuck and in the dark (literally) for five hours. As the oxygen inside began to run out, they became increasingly panicked and disoriented. Yogi freaked out and started attacking Gregory in front of Miles. In dazed desperation, Miles did what he could to help his dad: by throwing the bailiff's ''loaded'' gun at them. His last memory was hearing the gun fire, followed by a man's scream. Gregory Edgeworth was found in the elevator, dead from a single shot to the heart, and his son spent the next fifteen years wondering if he killed his own father.

** And one final bit of FridgeHorror, this time from Gregory Edgeworth's perspective: summoned back from the dead as a last-ditch effort by a police force who couldn't find any decisive clues to his murder, he is asked who killed him. But he didn't see it: he was already unconscious by then. All that he knows is that only two other people were in that elevator, and one of them was his own young son. If he admits to not knowing, his death and the specter of guilt will hang over his son's head for the rest of his life. So his ''very last act in this world'' was to lie, to accuse a man who ''turned out in the end to be innocent'', because he had no other choice if he wanted to protect his son. Talk about AdultFear.

[[/folder]]

This page covers the first three games: ''Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney'', ''Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Justice For All'', and ''Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations''.

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney]]

[[folder: Phoenix Wright: Justice for All]]
* The whole game is incredibly [[DarkerAndEdgier dark]], much more so than its predecessor. No wonder it’s considered the awkward game in the trilogy.
* Phoenix's nightmare with that horrifying Nightmare Judge. It returns in 2-4, only this time it's as real as the situation.
* Richard Wellington's breakdown in Case 1 deserves its own entry. Nothing quite like someone strangling himself with his own scarf until his skin actually turns blue. And his scream actually ''gets louder'' as he's choking himself (as denoted by the text suddenly being in all caps)... Really doesn't help that Bach's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_mNhW9PfS4 'Toccata and Fugue in D-Minor']] is playing while this happens.
* The way Dr. Turner Grey gets murdered, when he and Maya Fey enter the Channeling Chamber to perform a séance to channel the spirit of Dr. Grey's Nurse. They both close their eyes, the murderer sneaks up on them, drugs Maya, puts her in the clothing box behind the folding screen and stabs Dr. Grey in the chest. Before he died, Dr. Grey managed to fire a shot, but he missed and the murderer shoots him in the forehead at point-blank, killing him. It would have been worse if he was unable to fire a shot because then he would have died of blood loss instead, which is already painful itself. In addition, the gunshot is the reason Lotta and Phoenix break in. Without the gunshot, there would be nothing stopping Maya Fey from receiving a wrongful conviction.
* The end of Case 2, [[TheStinger after the celebration scene]], features Morgan Fey against a solid black background while her creepy {{Leitmotif}} plays, talking about her plans to knock Maya, her own niece, out of the picture, so that sweet, innocent Pearl can become the new Master of Kurain Village.
** During the same case, Maya says she had a dream that basically describes being buried alive. Again, as more of the case comes to light what was really going on is revealed but at the start, it's still pretty unnerving to hear someone explain such a sensation.
* In Case 3, [[SympatheticMurderer Acro]]'s situation is horrifying on many levels: His brother is in an irreversible coma because of a dangerous dare that he pulled to get Regina to like him, he himself lost the use of his legs trying to save said brother, and every day, Regina would take care of him. That's right: the unwitting participant of his brother's accident was with him all that time, saying innocently that Bat became a star in the sky since he's no longer at the circus - while his brother was, in fact, in a coma with debilitating brain damage. A brother who he visited by himself at the hospital multiple times, with the incessant company of the too-sweet and innocent princess Regina waiting for him at the only home he's ever known, for six whole months. It's no wonder he snapped. The situation was so unbearable that he contemplated the idea of suicide, but didn't go through with it. And when he thought he finally had a chance to get his vengeance, he ends up killing his beloved parental figure by accident. The man is completely and utterly broken, which you get to see once the case proceeds for long enough.
** Bat's accident is terrifying by itself. Putting your head in a lion's mouth only to have him clamp his jaws down on your head with no method of escape or making him let go.
* All of Case 4. It might be the darkest case in the series. The atmosphere from after Maya's kidnapping up until the final verdict is really unsettling and scary throughout. Also, be smart when presenting your evidence. You might get a bad ending if you aren't very careful.
** Here we have the truth about Matt Engarde. The adorable, somewhat ditzy actor turns into a [[GoodScarsEvilScars scarred,]] cold-blooded sociopath, who treats people like things and only cares about himself and his celebrity reputation. It's scary even if you had known from a walkthrough or otherwise that he was guilty because it's just so unexpected.
*** He drove his former lover to [[DrivenToSuicide kill herself.]] It isn't just the act, it's how she came to do the deed. She was dumped by Engarde when he got bored of her, and when Corrida, who was in love with her (and the feeling was mutual) and was going to marry her in three days, found out she was Engarde's former lover from ''Engarde himself'', which resulted in Corrida then calling off the wedding. ''All to protect his pride, stemming from his childish rivalry with Engarde.'' She was used as a poker chip in a fight between two celebrities who let their hatred of each other warp everything and everyone around them, and she basically killed herself so Engarde could never hurt her again.
*** His VillainousBreakdown is scary in its own right; when Engarde's attempt to {{Blackmail}} [[NobleDemon Shelly]] [[EvenEvilHasStandards de Killer]] backfires, ''he tears his own face to shreds,'' screaming "GUILTY" over and over.
*** If you put yourself in Phoenix's shoes, then TheReveal itself is NightmareFuel. He thought Engarde was truly innocent, but then more and more shady things end up surrounding his client. After pressing him further, Engarde reveals his true colors; he's ''not innocent'' and never was, he's a thoroughly sociopathic bastard, and worst of all, if Phoenix doesn't help him get away with his crimes, Maya '''''would die'''''. To work for somebody whose actions stand against your moral code when you're a good man trying to do nothing but the right thing, let alone when your best friend's life is on the line, is a complete ''nightmare''. The resulting case forces him to overrule his own ethical code just to earn more small portions of time for Maya to be found, in a courtroom that becomes more and more hostile to him personally as Phoenix (in the eyes of the onlookers) knowingly and deliberately drags out the proceedings even when his client is blatantly guilty of the charges, and you can see the guilt beginning to gradually tear him down with every new piece of nonsense that he's forced to create whole cloth.
** TheReveal itself is jarring for the player as well. Up until now in the series you've defended people who were clearly innocent, and you fought hard to get them the acquittal they deserved. But Engarde is clearly guilty, he takes pride in being evil, and you're supposed to defend him nonetheless and get him declared innocent, ''or Maya dies.'' It's a huge shock to the system to be confronted with a situation like this out of nowhere when you thought this game was about being loyal to justice no matter what. During the case, the player is forced to constantly make up totally incorrect objections and debunk solid evidence, essentially having to hide the truth of what happened until the hostage situation ends.
** Shelly de Killer deserves a mention. With his Leitmotif playing in the background and a red aura surrounding him... you'll have nightmares for weeks. Not only that, but he has stitches going right down the middle of his face, from forehead to chin. What the hell caused this guy's face to need those stitches?
*** And to top it all off, this man, who not only was the actual killer of Juan Corrida but also of countless others, is never found and incarcerated. He's still out there, free as a bird waiting to perpetrate more hired hits. Just pray his next victim isn't you.
** His politeness and nonchalance about his profession is chilling. His manners are perfect to a fault, even when being questioned on the stand (though a radio, that is) and if you press him on certain statements, he'll ask Pheonix if he's interested in becoming an assassin or he'd like to put out a hit on someone. Also, a special mention to when the Judge gets frustrated with de Killer's rhetoric, and he promptly but quietly asks the Judge if he'd like to die. He immediately shuts up.
*** When visiting Matt Engarde’s house to feed his cat, you find de Killer acting as a butler. Everything seems relatively normal when you talk to him… up until the very end, where the music cuts out and he says “people aren’t always who they appear to be”. He then leaves after giving you that chilling message.
** The first instance where you're forced to make a choice between a 'Guilty' or a 'Not Guilty', with the 'Guilty' option resulting in Maya's death, and the 'Not Guilty' option resulting in [[TheWoobie Adrian Andrews]] taking the fall for Matt Engarde's crimes. While you're fretting over which choice is the right one to take, the screen is frozen on Matt Engarde's sneering face, as if he was [[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou looking directly at you with malicious glee.]] During this event, you cannot even save your game. You're forced to make a choice right then and there. Fortunately, after making your choice, [[BigDamnHeroes Franziska snaps her whip and barges into the courtroom with new evidence in hand]] to help Phoenix finally turn the tables on Matt Engarde. But that frozen moment where you have to choose between justice and your best friend's life is terrifying.
* Announce The Truth 2002, while being an awesome song in its own right, can be downright creepy when played during some parts. Notable examples include Acro claiming Phoenix to be insane, several moments with de Killer, and Ini Miney/Mimi trying to suffocate herself with her hat.
** And then there's the haunting [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sH-th9JZT0 Search ~ Core 2002 theme]], which plays at the most appropriate time in this game: when Engarde reveals his true colors and becomes your first ever not-so-innocent client, revealing that he was the one who had Maya kidnapped by an assassin in exchange for a 'Not Guilty' verdict.
[[/folder]]


[[folder: Phoenix Wright: Trials and Tribulations]]
* Dahlia's "back-turned" pose from Case 1 is very disturbing in its own right. There's just something darkly unsettling about seeing her back to you with that heavy shade across the side of her face. Like getting your first glimpse into hell itself. It's actually more unnerving than what follows when she faces you with a DeathGlare and incinerates all her butterflies with her pure rage. Just watching her stand silently, looking away and feeling the anger course through her can send chills up your spine.
** Then she reins it in after Mia finally nails her, calmly states that she's going to spend some time with the "boys in blue", and promises that she'll meet Mia and Phoenix again, heavily [[ImpliedDeathThreat implying]] that she's going to try to murder them as well once she is released from prison. That has to be some ParanoiaFuel for Phoenix, the only surviving member of the pair and previously head-over-heels in love with a cold poisoner that only used him as a method to hide evidence.
* Case 3 starts off in the most unsettling way, making it seem you lost the case without even having a chance to defend it, having Winston Payne mock your defeat, showing that "the other man" was Phoenix Wright, it all makes it seem that YOU were guilty and no one believes the Defendant mentioning this "other man". Then it reveals, right after the "Game Over", that a terrible trial was enacted by Phoenix Wright and then Phoenix himself mentions he wasn't in such trial and that a retrial would be in order. Through the case you find out there was a phony Phoenix and that the performance you watched at the start of the case was not with Phoenix himself, but rather of his phony, "[[SdrawkcabName Xin Eohp]]".
** Whatever Bruto Cadaverini does as part of his duties as TheDon of his crime family, something the player can only imagine since he's never actually seen in-game beyond his portrait and profile, [[TheDreaded it sure as hell is scary enough that nobody questions him]] whenever he demands something (e.g. money) from them. Not even Furio "YOUSE TALKIN' TO ME?!" Tigre is gonna mess with a million-dollar debt he caused by getting into an accident with Cadaverini's granddaughter.
*** Speaking of Bruto's granddaughter, Viola herself can be rather unnerving character. An EeriePaleSkinnedBrunette MafiaPrincess who speaks in a slow, creepy way, acting incredibly polite and courteous while casually threatening your life, without so much as changing her expression. The first lines you ever hear from her are her threatening to burn down Armstrong's restaurant if he can't pay off his debt, then telling him she'll stab him if he tells anyone else. And that's before you even learn her name.
* The conclusion of Case 4, in which Terry Fawles, the defendant whose acquittal is just inches away from happening, [[DrivenToSuicide kills himself on the witness stand]]. Not only is it [[TearJerker heart wrenching]], but also quite horrifying because he dies in the courtroom before your very eyes. It's no wonder Mia didn't set foot in a courtroom for a year after the incident (remember, this was her ''first case'').
** And to top it all off, Armando looks Mia dead in the eye, squeezes his mug until it shatters, bleeds profusely, and tells her she can't cry yet while blood drips from his hand.
* Case 5: We witness Dahlia getting exorcised out of Maya's body, letting out a scream, and in her final on-screen moments takes the form of a very creepy ghost before turning into a flame and vanishing, while flashbacks to her crimes go off. For bonus points, her final text box actually seems to ''[[InterfaceScrew flicker out]]'' as she disappears- an effect used nowhere else in the game- as if Dahlia isn't just being exorcised from Maya, but from ''[[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou the game itself]]''.
** The same case gives us a seemingly unremarkable moment which, if you've been following the game's story closely, can give others a run for their money. In the final investigation, it eventually turns out that Sister Iris has a twin sister. You most likely already know who she is. You're also certainly aware of [[FaceOfAnAngelMindOfADemon her true nature.]] Then, her portrait is brought up, and it's a side-face photo; no other character had that kind of a portrait before. And then, there's nothing on that photo except for a dark grey featureless silhouette. Combined with the description "Age: Deceased", the shock was enough to make eyes water. Now, you wouldn't want to miss out on this, [[http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/aceattorney/images/e/e7/Mystery_Suspect.png/revision/latest?cb=20130113165503 would you?]]
** If we're going down that road you have to also mention [[https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/aceattorney/images/4/48/Unknown_Woman.png/revision/latest?cb=20140517101452 this mugshot]] (in HD-quality just for extra chilly points) from the previous case, ''Turnabout Beginnings''. Again, same as before: you can easily tell who this is supposed to be and you know what she's capable of because this isn't the first time you've seen this character. But all you're given is a shadowed, featureless mugshot to go by, even though the outline tells you right away who you're dealing with. Going back to the "back-turned" pose from the top of the ''Trials & Tribulations'' section, this strikes the same unsettling chord. Stare into it for awhile and, combined with what you know about the character, it will make your blood run cold and linger in your mind. It's as though someone was asked to draw a picture of Dahlia Hawthorne's soul.
* On the subject of Dahlia... She killed two people, got a third to commit suicide, poisoned a fourth into a coma, planned on poisoning a fifth, and placed the blame for the death on one of the aforementioned two people she killed on the would-be poison victim (the actual victim just tried to warn him), and she almost got away with it, not because she could call a massive amount of resources like Redd White or Matt Engarde, not because she had done an inside job like Manfred Von Karma, but just because she was a [[FaceOfAnAngelMindOfADemon pretty faced sociopath]] who put the judge in her pocket with her cute looks. She stands out even more due to lacking an over the top gimmick like the other criminals (until after she's dead, that is, unless you count her superficial purity and butterflies as her gimmick). How many Dahlia Hawthornes are out there in the real world, [[TheyLookJustLikeEveryoneElse escaping punishment because they don't look the part?]] (Engarde was a celebrity variant of the same deal, but at least in private [[ObviouslyEvil he ''did'' look the part.]])
* Remember the Dahlia silhouette? Well, TheReveal of the real killer in "Bridge to the Turnabout" likewise goes for subtle ShowDontTell tension and a MoodWhiplash payoff instead of outright confirmation. The lights go out... and suddenly, there's an ominous [[RedEyesTakeWarning red]] glow coming from a certain new AffablyEvil prosecutor you've probably come to love. And his reaction? A quick chuckle and congratulations, no comedic coffee-throwing or anything like you've come to expect. Sure, he ultimately turns out to be a SympatheticMurderer whose action was actually half-justified (in contrast to Dahlia, who was ironically his intended victim).
* The "Psyche-Locks" appearing in the Inner Temple, blocking entrance to the Training Hall. It was creepy when the first one appeared, but it really became nightmare fuel when they increased in number. On the second day, an earthquake hits, Edgeworth (Iris' escort) faints, and Iris runs away. You hurry to the Inner Temple, and after the familiar sequence of chains and locks appearing, you find that the single lock on the training hall door has increased to FIVE. We have no idea what the fuck is happening, and at that point, it almost felt like the cave was a living creature piling lies on lies to stop us from getting to the truth.
* [[AbusiveParent Morgan]]'s entire plan in this case? She waited for her own daughter (Dahlia) to ''die'', then waited for her other daughter (Pearl) to channel that daughter, so that she could kill her '''niece''' and frame her third daughter (Iris) for it. Especially if you look at it from Maya's perspective. Had the plan gone as intended, she would have been killed by Pearl. Had it went as it was, without Godot's timely arrival, she would have been killed by her own mother. All of this so that Morgan could live off her daughter's success as she hypothetically ascends as the head of Fey Family.
** On the subject of the plan's execution, had the plan gone as intended (Pearl channeling Dahlia) without Misty's intervention ''but'' with Godot's, the plan would have backfired in the most horrific way; the crime scene would have been '''a 9-year-old girl stabbed by a sword'''. Godot lampshaded the possibility during his confession.
-->''Godot'': That night, in the darkness of the garden when I saw her silhouette... A part of me must have known the truth... The truth that it wasn't really Dahlia Hawthorne standing in front of me.\\
''Maya'':...!\\
''Godot'': It could have been Misty Fey, or even that little girl. But I still picked up the blade... It was like I was dreaming!
* Maya's expression when she is cornered by Dahlia Hawthorne in the Hazakura Temple's garden is particularly chilling, especially when it's accompanied by the sound of someone being stabbed. In spite of her expression only being the [[GoingThroughTheMotions first sprite of her comical 'shocked' expression]], it doesn't detract from the unsettling mood due to how well Maya's wide-eyed look of shock and terror fits the scene.
[[/folder]]

** Announce The Truth 2002, while being an awesome song in its own right, can be downright creepy when played during some parts. Notable examples include Acro claiming Phoenix to be insane, several moments with de Killer, and Ini Miney/Mimi trying to suffocate herself with her hat.
*** And then there's the haunting [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sH-th9JZT0 Search ~ Core 2002 theme]], which plays at the most appropriate time in this game: when Engarde reveals his true colors and becomes your first ever not-so-innocent client, revealing that he was the one who had Maya kidnapped by an assassin in exchange for a 'Not Guilty' verdict.

* Morgan's entire plan in this case? She waited for her own daughter (Dahlia) to ''die'', then waited for her other daughter (Pearl) to channel that daughter, so that she could kill her '''niece''' and frame her third daughter (Iris) for it. Especially if you look at it from Maya's perspective. Had the plan gone as intended, she would have been killed by Pearl. Had it went as it was, without Godot's timely arrival, she would have been killed by her own mother.