Nightmare Fuel / Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Justice For All

"Silence! You are no longer worthy of your title."

Nightmare fuel in Justice for All.

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• The whole game is incredibly 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 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.
  • Also, the fact, which is usually not brought up, that Grey's gunshot, which doesn't hit Mimi, nearly hits the unconscious Maya and goes through her sleeve as she was in the clothing box.
• The end of Case 2, 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, 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 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 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 Villainous Breakdown is scary in its own right; when Engarde's attempt to Blackmail Shelly de Killer backfires, he tears his own face to shreds, screaming "GUILTY" over and over.
    • If you put yourself in Phoenix's shoes, then The Reveal itself is Nightmare Fuel. 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.
    • Genre Savvy players will be surprised when meeting Matt Engarde for the first time in the detention center. Instead of the regular detention center's theme playing (Detention Center - The Security Camera's Elegy), you're treated with another theme (Investigation ~ Middle Stage) for the first time in the series (going by original GBA release order). The entire track creates a musically dissonant background. Where players would usually expect to be greeted to a somber BGM representing the hopelessness of the defendent in the detention center, Matt Engarde's time in the detention center is anything but hopeless. Overall, players who expected all of the defendents to be not guilty of their crimes will be in for a surprise with Matt Engarde.
  • The Reveal 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 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 looking directly at you with malicious glee. During this event, you can't even save your game. You're forced to make a choice right then and there. Fortunately, after making your choice, 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 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.
• This isn't like the other examples, but everything with grown men obsessing over a 16 year old child has to be this, surely. Her father supposedly okaying her marrying the 21 year old Max (although this is according to Max). According to Moe, the 26 year old Acro has been with the circus since he was 9 (Acro only says "about 10", which 9 is), meaning Bat literally was in the circus when she was born and has known her since infancy but still decided he at 22 he was "in love" with her. The 31 year old Ben has Trilo sing a song about wanting to molest her/have her become intimate with him while playing on her naivete that it's really Trilo (who shows no signs of being anything less than 31 himself) who is in love with her. The anime was right to write this out completely. All three grown men try to groom this 16 year old child into choosing them.