Franchise as a whole
Mainline entries:
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney | Justice for All | Trials and Tribulations | Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney | Dual Destinies | Spirit of Justice
Spin-offs:
Ace Attorney Investigations | The Great Ace Attorney
Other media:
The 2012 film | The anime
- Dawson Casting: The voice actress who voices Rayfa's lines (as in "That's enough!" and the Séance's incantation) doesn't sound like a 14 year old girl at all.
- Directed by Cast Member: Wendee Lee, the voice of Athena Cykes, is the game's voice director.
- Milestone Celebration: The game was released in 2016, the franchise's 15th anniversary. In a twist of fate, this is also true in-universe as well (Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney is set in 2016, which is made relevant in-game by the DL-6 Incident, an event that happened in the year of the original game's Japanese GBA release).
- Missing Trailer Scene: The launch trailer
shows Ahlbi Ur'gaid with Psyche-Locks, which never happens in the final game. The scene in Case 5 where you find out he managed to sneak into the palace plays out as if one could have been there, so it's possible it was cut. - Newbie Boom: This installment in particular has gained attention from new fans ever since Geiru Toneido went viral in late June 2022.
- No Export for You:
- Just like the previous game, the 3DS version of the game has been released in the West only in English and digital format, when the series previously had localizations into other languages such as French, Spanish, German, Italian of similar quality to the English localization, as well as getting released on physical format. This also means that if the country does not have access to the Nintendo eShop, they will not be able to download the game. The iOS and Android ports that were released a year later averts this, which is as usual available anywhere where there is App Store and Google Play access, which is pretty much worldwide, but the 3DS version is still this as there is still a considerable amount of countries without eShop access.
- The game will be widely available with the upcoming 2024 release of Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy for Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC via Steam.
- The second set of DLC costumes based on Sengoku Basara characters are not available outside of the original Japanese 3DS version, since most of that series has not been released outside Japan itself.
- Just like the previous game, the 3DS version of the game has been released in the West only in English and digital format, when the series previously had localizations into other languages such as French, Spanish, German, Italian of similar quality to the English localization, as well as getting released on physical format. This also means that if the country does not have access to the Nintendo eShop, they will not be able to download the game. The iOS and Android ports that were released a year later averts this, which is as usual available anywhere where there is App Store and Google Play access, which is pretty much worldwide, but the 3DS version is still this as there is still a considerable amount of countries without eShop access.
- No Port For You: The Asinine Attorney non-canon episodes have not been made available on the mobile ports or the Apollo Justice Trilogy re-release, and given the time that has passed as well as their overall reception, are unlikely to ever see the light of day on those platforms. Currently the only way to enjoy them is on a 3DS that was used in a country with eShop access before it closed down.
- The Other Darrin: In the Japanese version, Ema Skye is voiced by Marina Inoue instead of Satomi Hanamura, who had voiced her in the promo trailers of previous games. This is most likely due to Satomi also being the voice actor for Maya Fey in trailers, and since she reprised that role in the game proper, the developers decided the two characters should have different voices.
- Polished Port: Like its predecessor, the iOS and Android ports that was released towards the end of September 2017 and the 2024 Apollo Justice Trilogy on modern platforms received higher quality audio and visuals, as well as bugfixes and interface redesigns (notably, the ports fixed the atrocious loading times that plagued the 3DS version, as well as minor issues like grammatical errors and typos in the dialogs), as one would expect for ports to more capable devices, albeit ones with only a single screen and no autostereoscopic 3D.
- Pre-Order Bonus: There are two non-canon episodes exclusive to pre-ordered copies in the Japanese release. Pre-orders are also entitled to some alternate outfits for Phoenix, Apollo, and Athena (similar to Dual Destinies) and some pixel-art keychain charms of different Spirit of Justice cast members. These are all purchasable as ordinary DLC for Western audiences, with the costume pack having been free for those who bought the game before a certain date, though the non-canon episodes are not available on the iOS and Android ports or 2024 rereleases.
- Promoted Fanboy: Trucy's voice actress, Kira Buckland, is a huge fan of the Ace Attorney series, having played every game in the series. She also provided her voice in some Ace Attorney fandubs and fanworks, including one where she voiced Trucy.
- Recycled Script: "The Magical Turnabout" appears to have been strongly influenced by "Turnabout Animal Circus", a drama CD released for Dual Destinies. Both are about Trucy being accused of committing a crime during a performance that the Wright Anything Agency witnesses, feature an antagonist who acts as a sleazy manager who threatens to sue the Wright's and secretly orchestrated the entire event for an ulterior motive, and include a scene where Athena teases one of the guys (Phoenix in the drama CD, Apollo in the game) about their fear of heights when head up into the rafters and find one of Trucy's magic props conspicuously located there.
- What Could Have Been: Going into this game the writers knew they had to take Phoenix out of his comfort zone so they could provide challenges for him while keeping his status of legendary lawyer in tact. In the end they decided to put him in a foreign country, but one of the early ideas was to have Phoenix partake in underground criminal trials for the mafia where Phoenix would have to defend people accused of breaking the criminal underworld's own code of law. The judge, prosecutor, accused and witnesses could all be criminals, giving Phoenix a hard time trying to figure out who to believe and a lot of reason to doubt his own clients.
Miscellaneous
- The game's writing staff included Masakazu Eguchi, who was a main writer on Capcom's Mega Man Battle Network series and appeared in the Battle Network games as Meijin Eguchi (Mr. Famous in the west).
- The concept of the Holy Mother takes cues from both Buddhism and Christianity, the name "Holy Mother" itself was most likely derived from the Virgin Mary, while the character design was based of the deity Guan Yin from Buddhist folklore. On a side note, the similarity of both the Virgin Mary and Guan Yin has long been noted by the Japanese. The concept of not depicting the deity's face most likely came from Islam or old testament Christianity, where depicting the face of a holy spirit (or indeed, depicting a holy spirit at all) is deemed blasphemous.
- In the last of the developer blogs, writer Masakazu Eguchi mentions he had trouble writing the script for "Turnabout Time Traveler" because one of the words kept getting misinterpreted. While he intended to write "kekkon" (結婚, marriage), the computer kept interpreting it as "kekkon" (血痕, bloodstain). That's quite the typo.
