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Video Game / Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
aka: Professor Layton Vs Ace Attorney

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The greatest minds team up for the first time.

"OBJECTION! Professor, there is a huge contradiction in your argument!"
Phoenix Wright, from the game's first trailer

Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney is a Nintendo 3DS title by Capcom and Level 5, which is a Crossover between the Professor Layton puzzle games and the Ace Attorney courtroom adventure series. It was released in Japan on November 29th, 2012 and later localized to Europe on March 28th, 2014. It came to US shores later that year on August 29th. It is the first Ace Attorney game since Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney back in 2007 to feature the involvement of original creator Shu Takumi.

After getting involved in mysterious incidents in London, Professor Layton and his apprentice Luke Triton, as well as the visiting defense attorney Phoenix Wright and his assistant Maya Fey, find themselves transported to the Medieval European Fantasy town of Labyrinthia. This town is ruled by a mysterious figure known as the Storyteller, who seems to command the townspeople's destiny through his writing. The people of Labyrinthia live in fear of witches in their midst, who are regularly hunted down by the Inquisition and tried in witch trials, with the guilty parties sent into a pit of fire.

Layton, Wright, and their respective friends seek the truth behind the incidents of witchcraft, as well as the secrets of Labyrinthia itself, each in their own ways. Investigation segments run similarly to the Professor Layton games, with the protagonists exploring the town, talking to people, and solving puzzles along the way. Trials are conducted in the manner of the Ace Attorney series, with Phoenix Wright taking up the defense of an accused witch (except for the prologue trial, which takes place in a normal British courtroom), cross-examining witnesses, and searching for contradictions to expose the truth. Trials in Labyrinthia have a new twist, in that multiple witnesses can appear on the stand at once, allowing Phoenix to spot reactions by one witness to another's testimony. (This element would later appear in the The Great Ace Attorney side series.)


This game features examples of:

  • Absurdly Sharp Blade: The swords used in the fight atop the Storyteller's tower can cut through plate armor and into stone.
  • Acoustic License:
    • Two aversions of this trope prove to be important to the plot:
      • In the first witch trial, one of the witnesses claims he heard someone say his name. He then reveals his name is Emeer, and Phoenix figures out that he actually misheard the witch casting Dimere, an invisibility spell.
      • During the second witch trial, everyone believes the witch cast Goldor, a gold transmutation spell; when Cracker the parrot testifies by repeating everything he heard at the crime scene, Phoenix realizes the witch actually cast Godoor, a portal spell.
    • Played straight at the very end of the game, when Espella is at the top of the bell tower and the other characters talk to her from ground level.
  • Alchemy Is Magic: Discussed. Labyrinthia's rigid definition of magic excludes alchemy, but the distinction is lost on most of the townspeople. They respected the local alchemist Sir Belduke during his lifetime, but never completely trusted him.
  • Always Murder:
    • Averted (for the first time in an Ace Attorney game); the trials are Witch Trials.
    • More directly, even though the witch trials involve someone biting it as a result of said witchery, the prologue case in London is simply one of assault and robbery, and the victim even testifies.
    • In addition, all of the murders by witchcraft were faked. The only deaths are in the backstory: one from a suicide and the rest from an accident, so there's actually not a single murder in the entire game.
  • Anachronistic Clue: As you explore the Storyteller's tower, you find a photo. Up to this point, everything has been medieval in technology level.
  • Angst? What Angst?: In-Universe. Special Episode 9 reveals that the residents of Labyrinthia still hold the fire festival, and that they're now running a "Miss Bezella" pageant as well, despite how the background for both the fire festival and the concept of Bezella would normally reopen old wounds, causing Layton to comment that "Labyrinthians really are quite resilient".
  • Animated Armor: When confronted at the top of his tower, the Storyteller sends suits of armor after Layton and Luke. They're implied to be robots, as they emit electricity when defeated.
  • Anti-Frustration Features:
    • The ability to use hint coins if you get stuck during trials: if you use one, it'll tell you what action to take on the suspicious statement and blank out some of the incorrect choices. Phoenix and Maya talk amongst themselves a lot if you go through all the statements as usual, making the right solution pretty obvious at times.
    • The number of hint coins available and number of hidden puzzles for every location are also shown in the location description when walking around on the world map; and like in every Layton game so far, any puzzles you miss can be solved later at your leisure, although without the dialogue that would normally accompany it.
    • At least one of the puzzles specifically notes that you cannot lose picarats for a wrong answer to that particular puzzle, and invites you to use "Check" as often as you like.
    • At some points where you cannot access the Great Archive to complete unsolved puzzles that have been sent to Ridelle Mystere, the Archive’s librarian, she will appear somewhere else and allow you to complete them.
    • In a relatively unique instance in the Layton franchise, it is possible to reclaim certain missed picarats; specifically, after completing the game, it's possible to replay the ending of the final trial with your Credibility reset to 5. If you made mistakes the first time through, finishing the game again from that point can give you the opportunity to earn more picarats.
  • Artistic License – History: In the game, it's established that witchcraft is a Gender-Restricted Ability, and thus men can't be put on trial for it. In real life, while less common than women, some men were in fact suspected, tried and executed for witchcraft, and accordingly labeled as warlocks. Granted, the game isn't trying to be historically accurate, and Labyrinthia's magic is revealed in the end to be a technological fabrication anyway.
  • Art-Style Clash: The game puts the cartoonishly drawn protagonists of Layton alongside the animesque Ace Attorney protagonists. The supporting cast is also a mix of both styles.
    • The unlockable gallery includes pictures of Phoenix and Maya drawn in the Layton style, and vice versa.
  • Ascended Fridge Horror: The previous games generally gave little insight as to what happened to the murderers the protagonists exposed after they were convicted; Frank Sahwit is sent to prison with the possibility of parole, Manfred von Karma presumably died some time between the first and second games, and Dahlila Hawthorne being executed is a plot point in the third game. In this game, the convicted witches are being shown being locked in a coffin and dropped into a fiery pit. It turns out that they weren't actually executed, but it's still a horrifying image.
  • Ass Pull: An uncommon In-Universe example. When the Storyteller is diagnosed with a terminal illness, he decides to quickly write an end to the Story, and orders Kira to play the role of the Great Witch Bezella in the final trial. This would make little sense as a resolution, as not only was she established in her own trial to be an independent witch working against the Great Witch, she'd already been sent to the flames. Ultimately, Darklaw foils Storyteller's plan, so it never comes up until Kira is discovered.
  • Background Music Override:
    • In the third case, Birdly the bard sings as he gives his testimony. When he does so, the background music switches to a (usually dissonant) piece of music he plays on his instrument until he's done singing. After that, the normal background music continues as normal.
    • Layton's theme plays during the game's final testimony.
    • When you play the final main story puzzle, "The Last Spell", the background music doesn't switch to the puzzle-solving theme. Instead, the music from the cutscene before it, Pursuit ~ Casting Magic, continues to play while you solve it.
  • Back-to-Back Badasses: When Professor Layton joins Phoenix in the witch trials, they get to pull off some pretty epic pointing.
  • Bait-and-Switch:
    • The "story" heard upon first entering Labyrinthia mentions "two companions" being attacked by a witch. Even people in-universe think it might be referring to Luke and Layton, and warn them to stay out of trouble. It turns out to be two random robbers we've never seen before.
    • When Layton gets summoned by the Storyteller he writes a story in which a man from afar is killed by a gold curse. The scene implies the victim will be Phoenix, but the story actually refers to Layton.
    • The game pulls a nasty fast one near the end, making the player think Espella really is Bezella (by causing the great fire), and thus suggests the possibility that the player has been defending a guilty girl for the whole story! This is because, near the end of the story, Espella seems to remember her whole past, including visiting the silver bell with her friend Eve when they weren't supposed to, and ringing the bell. Nope, actually it was Eve who rung the bell that indirectly caused the fire; Espella didn't do it after all, but Eve pinned the fire on Espella because Eve blocked out her memory of doing it.
  • Beware the Nice Ones:
    • Phoenix when he's mourning the apparent death of Maya.
    • Layton after he saves Maya. He easily beats back and disarms five thugs armed only with a stick, and when it looks like they're about to regroup, he stands his ground and asks, "Now, which one of you is first?".
  • Big Bad Ensemble: Both the Storyteller and the Great Witch Bezella are set up to be the antagonists. The Storyteller rules Labyrinthia through his Story, and is responsible for the witch trials, while Bezella is the leader of the witches. The Storyteller is actually Arthur Cantabella, Espella’s father and company president who used Labyrinthia to heal his daughter who they believed had accidentally started a fire that killed a town of people. Bezella is merely a legend; the only one close to that, and being a real "bad guy", is Darklaw/Eve Belduke, who took the moniker of Great Witch, then tried to twist the Story so it hurt the Storyteller out of revenge and was in fact one that actually started the fire (by accident) and started the mess in the first place, making her Bezella even if she didn't realize it. And both of them were pawns of the British Government.
  • Big Damn Heroes: Layton when he saves Maya after the audience was led to believe both of them were dead.
  • Big Word Shout:
    • "Objection!" "Hold it!" and "Take that!", of course, but also in this game are "Got it!" (also used in Dual Destinies, but for a different reason), used when pointing out a contradiction in a picture, "Hang on!" when questioning another witness during the multiple-witness testimonies, "Welcome!" used when Phoenix thinks he's a baker, and finally "Have a look!" used when Layton presents evidence in the final trial.
    • The bit when Layton and Wright dispel the illusion over Labyrinthia once and for all by shouting the final spell - Taelende!
  • Blatant Lies: One puzzle involves finding the culprit of an incident which caused red liquid to be splashed everywhere. One suspect is splashed in the same red liquid, which he claims happened in an entirely unrelated incident and he was actually the last guy to arrive on the scene. Subverted, he really is telling the truth.
  • Blue-and-Orange Morality: Discussed during the second witch trial. Phoenix demands that Barnham provide a motive as to why the accused would switch the gems on the Talea Magica. Barnham replies that witches are otherworldly in character, and that thus their reasoning and behavior cannot be understood by ordinary humans.
  • Borrowed Catchphrase:
    • The first person to say Layton's catchphrase, "that reminds me of a puzzle", is actually Phoenix, who ironically hasn't solved any puzzles at that point.note 
    • A lot of people pick up on Layton's "that's what a gentleman does" and start using it themselves with their profession of choice in place of 'gentleman'.
  • Breaking Old Trends: On the Ace Attorney side of things: up until this point, the Hold it! speech bubble was only voiced when used by playable characters, and more broadly, only major characters had any voice clips at all. In this game, prosecutors and witnesses get Hold it! voice clips, with some witnesses also getting an Objection! voice clip. While the main series would continue to only give voice clips to major characters, The Great Ace Attorney followed in this game's steps.
  • Breaking the Fourth Wall: Every now and then in the main game. In the Special Episodes however, it gets utterly demolished.
    Layton: Yes, puzzles dropped from the main game... Ahem... I mean, specially prepared for our further enjoyment.
  • Brick Joke: If you finish the game a second time starting from a clear file, the cameo scene featuring Edgeworth is swapped with a scene of Flynch finally finding his glasses.
  • Broken Aesop: Phoenix and Layton making a point that there is no such thing as magic can be seen as a bit hypocritical, given that both series have elements of the supernatural as plot points, such as Maya's channeling and Luke's zoolingualism. On the other hand, they are actually pretty quick to accept the magic overall and apply their logic in a Magic A Is Magic A sort of way, and only really start unraveling that thread when they notice contradictions in the magic itself.
  • Burn the Witch!: Those who are given the guilty verdict when accused of practicing witchcraft are sentenced to be locked in a cage and roasted to death. Subverted in that it's just an illusion. The cage protects the victim from the blazes below so that they can safely land on a wagon to be transported to Eldwitch Woods.
  • Busman's Holiday: Phoenix is in London for a cultural exchange program with the bar association when he gets roped into defending a client anyway... and then transported to Labyrinthia.
  • The Butler Did It: Subverted in case 3, where Jean Greyerl, the butler of the deceased Sir Belduke, was accused of turning Professor Layton into gold and framed Maya Fey for being a witch. Turns out, although she was a witch, she was not responsible for the former and accidentally caused the latter.
  • Butt-Monkey: Phoenix. Best exemplified at the end, when Eve explains that Layton coming to Labyrinthia was all planned from the beginning — she had heard of his fame, and knew that if anyone could unravel the mystery, it was him. As for Phoenix — that was a complete mistake. Cue Phoenix looking depressed and wishing he hadn't asked.
  • Call-Back:
    • Luke's habit of touching fire or hot things comes up again.
    • This is the third time that Maya has been put on trial.
    • Phoenix gets to cross-examine a parrot again.
    • This isn't the first time the trick with the fire pit has been shown — in Miracle Mask, pretending to set people on fire was actually one of the tricks the Masked Gentleman used.
    • Some of the major plot twists are similar to those of previous games in both the Layton and Ace Attorney series, including the entire town being subject to hypnotic suggestion caused by a gas from Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box and young children witnessing traumatic events which lead them to misinterpret their memories and put the blame on the wrong people from Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney.
    • Layton presents a photograph of Darklaw at one point in the final case. When Phoenix objects to the evidence's apparent anachronism, Layton claims that "the end justifies the means" — a commonly used phrase in Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies, and one used to depict that game's Dark (Age of the) Law.
  • Cannot Spit It Out: As of the special episodes, it is pretty heavily implied that Barnham is this to Eve Belduke, a.k.a. Lady Darklaw. He spends over an hour standing in silence just trying to give her a birthday present.
  • Chekhov's Gun: To gain access to the Grand Grimoire, Layton is required to prove he has skills equivalent to those of an inquisitor (since only inquisitors are granted access to the grimoire), which he, being Layton, accomplishes through puzzle-solving. This becomes important in the finale, when Barnham has been arrested for treason and Darklaw is called as a witness, leaving Layton as the only person both qualified and available to take over as inquisitor.
  • Chekhov's Skill: Layton makes a comment early on about taking fencing up again (also serves as a Call-Back, as we know the Professor is an excellent swordsman). It becomes necessary later on after the Storyteller sets robotic knights on him and Luke, although there is also an element of this in his defense of Maya when she is being chased by Shades.
  • Continuity Nod:
    • Luke Atmey's catchphrase "ZVARRI!" from Trials and Tribulations is quipped by Maya.
    • The Blue Badger was apparently so successful, he became the mascot for London's police department. Gumshoe would be proud.
    • Maya jokes that the Professor "never drinks more than 17 cups of tea during a puzzle", a reference to the coffee-loving Godot from Trials and Tribulations. Lampshaded by Phoenix, when he broke the fourth wall by calling her out after she explicitly used "A certain Ace Attorney Reference".
    • Phoenix's love for grape juice has been mentioned in Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney, and returns here with Phoenix himself lampshading it.
    • At one point, Cutter creates a small bust in the image of a friend who apparently died some time ago, said bust looks a lot like Larry Butz, which Phoenix comments on being familiar.
    • Losing any Credibility in the Witch Trials causes the shield icons to shatter exactly like a Psyche-Lock, even with the same sound effect.
  • Crazy-Prepared: There's no other way to describe the various methods by which "magic" is made to function in Labyrinthia. In particular, part of the story that the Storyteller writes for Layton involves the Shades making a solid gold statue of the professor in order to carry out the illusion of him being gold-ified.
  • Creator's Pet: Humourously, Espella has traits of this trope in-universe. She is loved by the writer (as The Storyteller's daughter), while the townsfolk look upon her with contempt.
  • Cruel and Unusual Death: What's promised for anyone convicted of witchcraft. Should someone be convicted of witchcraft, that person will be sealed in a cage complete with a mask fitting over the cage's "mouth", and the cage will be lowered into a pit of flames. A side character named Kira (who turns out to be the second case's culprit) is lowered into the flames, and then Maya Fey of all people ends up lowered into the flames when trying to save Espella from that fate. Both Kira and Maya show up alive anyway later on.
  • Cry into Chest: When facing their first witch trial, Maya and Phoenix walk in on the end of the previous one, just in time to see the girl in question lowered into the flames; Maya buries her face in Nick's chest, presumably sobbing in terror or sympathy for the (likely innocent) girl.
  • Cue the Sun: It is written that if the Great Witch Bezella is sentenced to death, a new day will dawn on the city of Labyrinthia, uncovering its secrets so they can start anew. This is accomplished by pure sunlight exposing the previously-invisible machines throughout town once Layton and Wright have spoken the final spell — Taelende.
  • Damned by Faint Praise: When the Vigilantes give their initial testimony, it quickly gets messy and all over the place, with four of them making statements unrelated to the case and the last one speaking a long sentence that flat-out admits he doesn't remember anything. The Judge's response? "Well, I suppose that can be summed up by saying, you all did the best you could".
  • Darker and Edgier:
    • For both the Ace Attorney and Layton series....until the final episode reveal, when it becomes much Lighter and Softer, especially for Ace Attorney.
    • In universe, The Story was much lighter initially and took a particularly dark turn later on. In the First Story, the Witch causes mischief by transforming inanimate objects instead of actually harming anyone, and a little girl defeats her by stealing her stick, no burning necessary. Compare this to Muggs and Robbs attacking a traveler in the woods and being burned to ashes, or the Storyteller's dramatic death scene.
  • A Day in the Limelight: Special Episode 8 is entirely focused on Barnham and Rouge, and tells the story of how the former met Constantine. In fact, none of the main cast appear. Until the very end, when Layton shows up and admits to overhearing the story. The rest of the main cast remain absent, though.
  • Deadly Dodging: During the confrontation with the Storyteller at the end of chapter 8, Luke manages to get two of the knights to hit each other by running in between them, taking both of them out.
  • Death Is a Slap on the Wrist: Losing all your lives allows you to restart from an earlier point in the trial, with all your lives restored. Since you gain bonus Picarats at the end of a trial for each life you have left, deliberately losing can actually improve your score.
  • Denser and Wackier: The special episodes. They're loaded with No Fourth Wall humor and self-aware jokes, and between that and the fact that there's no real conflict left, it quickly gets much sillier than the main story. The only exception is Special Episode 8, which has no fourth wall breaks and deals with Constantine's backstory, which can be quite sad given the circumstances in which Barnham met him.
  • Doing In the Wizard: The final case reveals that all the "magic" of Labyrinthia never existed at all, and was instead mass hallucinations and brainwashing via special ink.
  • Downloadable Content: Special Episodes and Galleries are able to be downloaded online for free.
  • Dream Team: Professor Layton and Phoenix Wright, two of the best puzzle solvers in the world, team up to unravel the mystery of Labyrinthia. Subverted in the end, as Layton solves it on his own, and the person who got Phoenix involved reveals to have done so out of complete accident.
  • Driven to Suicide: Multiple times throughout the story. The second witch attempted to drown herself as a young child, the Alchemist poisoned himself three months prior to the story and Espella attempts to leap off the belltower during the climax of the story.
  • Dude, Where's My Respect?: Played With. Despite the fact that many of the townsfolk openly dislike Phoenix for defending accused witches and he spends the entire first witch trial being mocked by everyone for being a baker, the second witch trial opens with the Judge and Barnham acknowledging him as Barnham's equal... meaning that Butt-Monkey Phoenix gets more respect in a Kangaroo Court that had probably never acquitted anyone before he came along than he normally does in the more-or-less due process-based real-world court. Phoenix & Maya's role in the overall story does pretty much amount to being important, but definitely less so than Layton & Luke's. Darklaw even admits that the Ace Attorney characters didn't really have a role in her plan. The Storyteller also considers Layton to be his foe, saying almost nothing about Phoenix until the end of the game when the truth finally comes out.
  • Dueling Player Characters: A more literal example than most in that the player actually controls both characters during the "duel" itself. Darklaw is called as a witness, leaving the inquisitor's bench empty. Layton takes over so the trial can continue, effectively becoming Wright's opponent, and there are several points from there when the player must present evidence as Layton.
  • Dull Eyes of Unhappiness: Espella several times throughout the story. She has them for the entirety of the first case, and then gets them during flashbacks, and the final case. These are the result of either mind control (usually by Darklaw) or the return of her repressed memories about the Legendary Fire.
  • Earn Your Happy Ending: It took a great deal of suffering (years of it in certain characters' cases), but thanks to Layton and Phoenix, the story is brought to a happy ending. The truth behind Labyrinthia is uncovered, everyone's false memories disappear, their real memories return, the Shades go back to normal, Eve is reconciled with the Storyteller, who brings the Labyrinthia project to an end, and they and Espella finally start living happily.
  • Easily Forgiven: Layton and Luke are in surprisingly good terms with the Storyteller despite the fact he tried to murder them with robotic suits of armor under the suspicion they were saboteurs.
  • Easy Amnesia: Wright and Maya lost their memories, and through heapings of fake ones, believed they had been spending five years in Labyrinthia when they were really only there for a few days. It doesn't last long, as they recover their true memories soon afterwards.
  • Enemy Mine: Played for Laughs. Whenever Emeer appears in court, Phoenix, Barnham and Emeer's fellow witnesses all find him to be such a nuisance that they effectively team up to verbally put him down.
  • "Eureka!" Moment: During the English Court trial, Maya starts playing with the assault weapon (a pipe) to see how Phoenix's client could've possibly used it as a weapon, she eventually holds it in a way that looks like she's defending herself by pushing the pipe away from her, which gives Phoenix an idea.
  • Everybody Lives: With the exceptions of Newton Belduke and the victims of the Legendary Fire, everyone survives the events of the game. Yes, even the murder victims.
  • Everyone Has Standards: The Pawnbroker is completely pissed after learning that the sculpture with the golden hand he was just sold was practically lopped off a corpse.
  • Evolving Title Screen: The main screen either shows the courtroom dark (when the cast is investigating and solving puzzles) or lit with fire (if you left off during a trial). During the endgame it shows the special outdoors court set for trying Bezella.
  • Extremely Short Timespan: Compared to the main series Ace Attorney games. Not counting the special episodes, the whole game takes place within less than five days, whereas in a main series game, several weeks or even months usually pass in between cases. The duration of the cases themselves is also this to an extent; barring tutorial cases and very few other exceptions, a main series case generally lasts two days, except in the first game, where the third through fifth cases lasted three days each. In this game, all cases happen within a single day each, even the finale, which merely lasts from dusk until dawn despite being a three chapters long Marathon Level.
  • Face of a Thug: Cutter, a minor character, has this problem. He's actually a kindhearted sculptor despite his appearance.
  • Fake Crossover: The special episodes couldn't possibly exist within the Ace Attorney timeline. Besides the fact that those episodes gleefully break the fourth wall, Maya uses Luke Atmey's Borrowed Catchphrase "Zvarri!" and Phoenix still clearly has his badge, so it can be concluded that the main events of the game must take place between Case 3-2 on October 11-14, 2018 and Phoenix's disbarment on April 19, 2019note . While this gives ample time for the events in Labyrinthia to take place, it's explicitly mentioned that the special episodes take place a year afterwards, putting them in late 2019 or early 2020. By this point, Phoenix is disbarred and Maya is off serving as the Master of the Fey clan, so there is no logical reason for the Ace Attorney characters to be in London at all.
  • Fake Memories: This is the cause of Phoenix and Maya's Easy Amnesia. Later, at the end of the game, it's revealed that nearly everyone in town has them.
  • Fantastic Racism: In Labyrinthia, simply being a witch is considered a crime deserving of death by fire, as best exemplified in the second witch trial, where the witch is sentenced to burn despite Phoenix proving she didn't use her magic to kill anyone.
  • Fantastic Time Management: Magic in a nutshell. In actuality, it takes the Shades time to set up and enact the illusions with their machines and props, but the citizens of Labyrinthia "black out" thanks to little silver bells being rung, making the moment between the spells being invoked and then affected look perfectly instantaneous.
  • "Fawlty Towers" Plot: Project Labyrinthia began this way - in order for Espella to recover from the trauma caused by the fire, Arthur (the Storyteller) made a story about a witch being punished...then told Espella that witches were real and that his stories become true. It started out with a few people acting out roles in his stories, and as both the town and the story expanded, it ended up with an entire town with its population hypnotized and made open to suggestion.
  • Fictional Color: Anything meant to be invisible to Labyrinthia's inhabitants is painted in a color called "pure black" (as opposed to regular black, which is why normally black things like Nick and Maya's hair aren't invisible). Aside from the invisibility (which is psychological and has nothing to do with the color itself, anyway), this is actually not all that fictional. Such a color could theoretically exist; science just hasn't gotten there yet, though it has gotten close.
  • Fighting Your Friend:
    • The main story's final case pits you as Phoenix against Professor Layton as the prosecutor against Espella. But it's not because Layton actually believes such; the case would've ended against Espella's favor if there was no inquisitor, so Layton filled that role in addition to using the case to uncover Labyrinthia's masquerade.
    • In the third case, Luke Triton takes the stand as one of the Inquisition's witnesses against Maya because he is so upset about Layton's apparent death. It's downplayed in that he spends more of the trial arguing with Primstone for claiming Layton was pointing a knife (he wasn't, he was just pointing his finger) than arguing with the defense, a fact Phoenix points out early on:
      Phoenix: (At least Luke's found someone else to antagonise...)
  • Fission Mailed: In chapter 8, the trial is briefly interrupted to allow the defense to prove their theory by operating a contraption, initiating a puzzle. However, the puzzle is unsolvable at that time, and after you inevitably fail it, it seems like the accused is about to be declared guilty when new evidence surfaces that makes it possible to solve the puzzle, allowing the trial to continue.
  • For Doom the Bell Tolls: Heard frequently in Espella's flashbacks. Because of the bell tower that suddenly appeared in town.
  • Foreshadowing:
    • Darklaw's name, hair pieces and clawed gauntlets give her appearance a striking similarity to that of Eve the cat - Espella's "one true friend".
    • Layton decimating a squadron of animated armor sicced on him and Luke looks a bit suspicious when every time he damages one, it emits electrical sparks and makes sounds as if he was fighting animatronics.
  • Formula-Breaking Episode: Special Episode 8. While the other special episodes have No Fourth Wall, are Denser and Wackier than the main story and focus on the main characters paying another visit to the game's various locations and supporting cast, the eighth one doesn't break or lean on the fourth wall at all, focuses on Barnham, Rouge and Constantine and has a more serious tone due to telling the story of how Barnham met Constantine, which can be very sad since he found him trying to feed his dead parent; said parent had been fatally wounded in the "Barnham's Wild Ride" incident, causing Barnham to feel responsible.
  • For Want Of A Nail:
    • Turns out that the sole reason why Phoenix and Maya got involved in the whole plot was due to Layton's plan to spirit Espella away at the beginning inadvertently got her arrested soon after, forcing Eve to rearrange her plans when it went to court.
    • Had Young Arthur and Newton were able to properly decipher the ancient text describing the Bell of Ruin, they would've likely left it alone.
    • Things would've been a lot different if Arthur had the bell tower taken down as soon as possible when building Labyrinthia instead of hiding it under a sheet.
  • Frothy Mugs of Water: Strangely subverted in Rouge's bar. Rouge offers Phoenix two puzzles regarding "tomato juice", and Nick even makes reference to how he's more of a "grape juice" fan. Upon offering the second one, Phoenix tries to pass it off to Luke, but Rouge insists Nick solve it, stating the puzzle isn't for kids, apparently due to the "alcohol" references. After solving it, Luke inquires as to why exactly it wasn't for kids, if the drink involved was just tomato juice. Rouge replies with how the drink actually was tomato juice, but she wanted Nick specifically to solve it, as she claims whoever can solve her riddle would be her soulmate. Nick swiftly moves on.
  • Gameplay and Story Segregation:
    • Sometimes during a trial it's made fully clear the accused is not really a witch early. But gameplay-wise the game still needs game overs. So no matter what happens during a trial, when you run out of shields and get a game over, the person accused for being a witch will be sentenced to death. This is REALLY egregious during the last trial where even long after it's been made fully clear that there is no such thing as magic, the town is a project, and Espella is not a witch, you can still get Espella sentenced to death if you mess up and get a Game Over as Layton, who is on the PROSECUTION'S side!
    • Puzzle 66 is solved by Luke, but the victory animation shows Layton instead.
    • Subverted in Special Episode 8, where Barnham solves a puzzle during a flashback, but the victory animation shows Layton instead; except it is revealed immediately afterwards that Layton solved the puzzle again in the present day, and has been listening in to Barnham and Rouge's reminiscing.
  • Gas Mask Mooks: The Shades. It keeps them from inhaling the vapors of the hypnotic ink that might interfere with their assigned missions.
  • Gender-Restricted Ability: It is made explicit during chapter 3 that only women can be witches, thus explaining why while Newton Belduke was treated with suspicion due to practicing alchemy (which is distinct from magic, but similar enough to put people on edge), he couldn't actually be accused of witchcraft. It also becomes a plot point when Phoenix starts unraveling the case of Layton's gold transmutation, and discovers Jean Greyerl, the butler, is actually a girl. She admits she passed herself off as a boy to avoid suspicion. At the end of the game, the trope is Subverted as it's revealed that the magic isn't really magic, just a technologically crafted illusion, and thus on paper gender wouldn't really be a factor. In fact, Phoenix and Layton are the ones to use the last "spell", Taelende, to bring the ruse to an end.
  • Ghost Leg Lottery: A variant of the ghost leg involves eliminating colored vertical lines until each character at the start of the board can reach their corresponding castle.
  • Giving Someone the Pointer Finger: It's Phoenix Wright and Professor Layton; of course there's a lot of pointing going on. In addition to the regular puzzle and court pointing, every Witch Trial has a climactic moment where both simultaneously point as Back-to-Back Badasses. This happens even when the Professor's a gold statue, as he's already in a pointing pose and Espella and Luke rotate him to give the same effect.
  • Giving Up on Logic: When Phoenix, understandably, is flabbergasted at how all of Labyrinthia's judicial system are so readily accepting of witchcraft, and even attempts to use fingerprints as a means of identifying who touched a Talea Magica, Layton tells him that notions such as forensics just won't work here — they will have to treat the magical accusations as being legitimate and argue their case with it in mind, no matter how little sense it would make in reality.
  • Going Through the Motions:
    • Played for laughs during the special episodes. An example would be in episode 4: Barnham started working in the bakery. He is shown with full armor on (Handwaved by him saying that the reason why he's wearing his armor is because Aunt Patty said a apron is the baker's armor), and he still brandishes sword needlessly when talking to the gang. Naturally, given the silliness of the special episodes, this got Lampshaded when Phoenix got very startled by him brandishing his sword up close.
    • A few of the Vigilantes' animations were made with the witness's stand in front of them in mind. They weren't changed when they reappeared during a special episode - Shakey apparently leans on nothing when he gets up and Foxy's animations still depict her in a sitting pose. The latter's Handwaved to her sitting on Treddon when Professor Layton points it out. However, her hand still rests on thin air.
  • Greater-Scope Villain: The British Government were the ones who oversaw Arthur’s experiment, and are indirectly responsible for the story’s events.
  • Guilty Until Someone Else Is Guilty:
    • Played with in "English Turnabout." Phoenix proves Espella's innocence in the crime of assaulting Olivia, but while he establishes the existence of a third party who's the true culprit, he doesn't identify that person in court. However, Phoenix indicts Olivia of a different crime: he proves her to be a thief, who was smuggling jewels inside the PC Badger dolls that Espella had been accused of trying to steal. So Phoenix did clear Espella by proving someone else guilty, just guilty of a separate crime.
    • Played for Drama in the second witch trial. Phoenix has figured out who the actual witch that framed the accused is, and must call her as a witness to keep his case afloat, but he's reluctant to accuse her because he doesn't want anyone to be executed for witchcraft after seeing the previous trial's outcome. His co-counsel persuades him to continue by pointing out that even if he doesn't agree with witchcraft being considered a crime, the case is still a murder.
    • In the last case, this is taken to a weird extreme: if you get a Game Over during the last stretch of trial, Espella will be convicted of witchcraft despite it having been proven in court that witchcraft does not exist.
  • Hate Sink:
    • Emeer, thanks to his generally obnoxious personality and due to him stealing Layton's broken-off arm after he was transformed into a gold statue. In-universe, no one likes him.
    • Ms. Primstone in the same case only exists to be an extreme Jerkass at every opportunity. Since she's the only female witness initially, this is probably so you suspect she's the witch at first. Unfortunately, she's not.
  • Hell Is That Noise: The sound of pure silver being struck causes anyone who's consumed Labyrinthian water to completely pass out.
  • His Name Really Is "Barkeep": You won't know that Mailer really is the mailer's last name until she says that her name is "Lettie Mailer".
  • Heroic BSoD: Espella being led to believe that she is Bezella causes this, several times. This also happens to Eve after she discovers that it was her who rang the bell and caused the Legendary Fire. Also Luke when he thinks Layton is gone forever. Though it's half this trope, half the "break the cutie" trope.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: A very complicated example in case 3. First, Jean Greyerl confesses to being a witch and is set to be executed… but then Maya and Espella intervene and then both, individually, try to offer themselves in her place. Maya pretends to be the original culprit to save her, Espella uses her status as Bezella to cancel out her sacrifice, and then Maya tries to free Espella from the flame pit at the last second. It ends in a colossal screw-up with Jean and Espella safe, but with Maya (supposedly) executed.
  • Heroic Safe Mode: Having just watched Maya been executed in front of his eyes, Phoenix is understandably upset. However with two children to look after, the Professor gone and the knights of the court on their trail, he simply doesn't have time to break down.
  • Hero with Bad Publicity: Phoenix being treated like a joke by others is nothing new, but here it's pretty clear that the NPCs are outright scornful and outraged over his attempts to prove his clients innocent, and are clearly infuriated whenever he scores against the inquisition. At one point, the knights of the court outright hunt him down because they're tired of him defending "witches". Fortunately, he eventually does get the respect of the townspeople when he and Layton team up to reveal the truth about Labyrinthia.
  • Hopeless Boss Fight: Puzzle 64, The Bell Tower, is unsolvable at first. Though, you still have to solve half of it to move on; once you've found the missing piece to the puzzle during the trial, you return to it and can solve it correctly.
  • Huddle Power: Formed by a mob of villagers who stand as witnesses in the trial as they collude with each other to undo the massive holes Phoenix has ripped in their previous testimony.
  • I Choose to Stay: The majority of test subjects who signed up for Project Labyrinthia decide to stay behind and rebuild the research facility grounds into a legitimate community.
  • Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: The title of the second prologue chapter, "English Turnabout", is a nod to the tendency for each case in Ace Attorney to include the word "turnabout" in its title.
  • Intercontinuity Crossover: Including the addition, it seems, of a third world for the characters of both franchises to jump into. Subverted in that it turns out that this isn't the case at all - Layton, Wright and Labyrinthia all exist in the same world.
  • Interface Spoiler: Three, in fact:
    • When Professor Layton was turned to gold, the mysteries page updated itself with Golden Layton inside of it. While he had no comments due to, you know, apparently being a golden statue at that time, his face graphics, in contrast, was not golden. Also doubling as Foreshadowing, this proves that Professor Layton wasn't turned to gold after all. The very fact that it's the first magical crime to be added to your "mysteries" list implies it'll get the Doing In the Wizard treatment eventually.
    • The butler Jean Greyerl uses the higher-pitched text typing sounds that female characters tend to use. Sure enough, it turns out that Jean Greyerl is actually a girl. This is averted later when one of the vigilantes also uses the high-pitch text typing sounds (Dzibilchaltunchunchucmil), but is confirmed to actually be male.
    • The exclamation mark cursor in investigation mode chimes in a particular way whenever the interaction would result in a puzzle to solve, even if you wouldn't have known otherwise that it would do so. Particularly egregious with plot-related interactions.
  • Invisible to Normals: A sort of inversion. Due to hypnotic suggestion, anything colored pure black cannot be seen by the denizens of Labyrinthia. This makes the witchcraft work, as Shades, cloaked in pure black robes, interact with pure black machines all over town to create the effects of magic.
  • It's All Upstairs From Here: A staple of the Layton games, in this case: The Storyteller's tower, and the Bell Tower, as investigated by their respective parties — Layton and Luke; Maya and Phoenix.
  • It Was a Dark and Stormy Night: Title of the prologue and the setting.
  • Kangaroo Court: Taken up to eleven. The Judge is not biased towards the inquisition—he is impatiently looking forward to calling your client guilty as soon as you make one wrong turn, so he can gladly condemn them to burn in the fire alive and watch them reduced into ashes. Meanwhile, the audience cheers for the inquisition even while you are destroying their arguments and the witnesses will change their testimony a hundred times and make up any lies necessary to prove that the defendant is an evil despicable witch who deserves to be burnt alive. Witch Trial, indeed. In particular, the first witch trial involves Phoenix arguing with a group of witnesses for over an hour over whether or not they saw an invisible stick that none of them were capable of seeing (with Phoenix arguing that they did not, as their original testimonies said). Spoiler: They didn't. Oh, and there are multiple witnesses at a time, and they're colluding with each other to try and match up their stories. Obviously, this is all justified in that the game takes place in a middle ages town (at least everyone in town thinks they're from the middle ages), and the trials are realistic to how witch trials would have actually been like.
  • The Last Title: Chapter 9 is titled "The Last Inquisitor". It's referring to Layton, who takes over the inquisition when Darklaw is called as a witness, because otherwise the trial wouldn't be able to continue.
  • Leaning on the Fourth Wall: After meeting Phoenix and Maya for the first time, Luke comments in the Story Notes on how they look vastly different from the citizens of Labyrinthia, even noting them as more "modern".
  • Left Hanging: We never do find out who whacked Aldente on the head.
  • Magic A Is Magic A: Magic in the setting has a strict set of highly specific limitations. First, a witch must use a special scepter with two gemstones in it. Which stones are placed in it determine which spells they can cast. When the witch wants to cast, she must proclaim the incantation for the spell. Each spell has its own limitations as well, such as a portal spell only working on a green surface. These strict limitations are to make it easier for the Shades to set up the illusion of the spell being cast. Because each witch has their own scepter, the Shades need only equip themselves to fake two spells. The incantation is a signal for the Shades to go to work. It's a good thing, too. Magic being falsifiable is pretty much the only tool Phoenix has to keep the witch trials from turning out like their historical counterparts.
  • Magical Incantation: Witches must proclaim the name of the spell they intend to cast in order for it to take effect. Subverted in that the incantations are just a signal for the Shades to act. In the finale, Layton and Wright both cast the Grimoire's ultimate spell, "Taelend" (pronounced "Tale's End"), which functions as the trigger word to break everyone out of their mass hypnosis.
  • Magic Wand: The Talea Magica, which witches use to cast their spells.
  • Make the Dog Testify: Case three features Phoenix cross-examining a parrot, using him as a makeshift medieval tape recorder. Case four has Eve the cat jump up onto the stand and take up a witness slot, and though she never actually testifies, Phoenix questioning her results in Espella mentioning a crucial detail.
  • Marathon Level: Whereas all other trials take up a single chapter, the final trial spans across a full three of them, with each being about as long as any other chapter in terms of playtime.
  • Mass Hypnosis: On a city-wide scale. Every citizen of Labyrinthia is subjected to the vapors produced when a special type of ink used to write the Stories dries, making them believe in what they are instructed about. The Storyteller's parades are specifically dated for when the hypnosis is due to wear off, with his newly penned Stories renewing the effect.
  • Meaningful Name: It's an Ace Attorney game.
    • Mahoney マホーネ or 魔法姉 magic sister. English version, Espella.
    • Jeeken ジーケン バーンロット 事件 Case Burns a lot. Translated as Zacharias Barnham. First part of the surname sounds similar to "burn". All of Barnham's translated names are a play on fire, or red.
      • The crowd has a habit of chanting Barnham's name whenever he has the upper hand in a trial. Considering the gamut of regional brogues the audience has, it's very easy for "Barnham, Barnham, Barnham!" to be heard as "Burn 'em, burn 'em, burn 'em!"
    • Madara マーダラ being a long vowel away from murderer. Fitting seeing as how her case turns out. In the English version, her name is Kira. Not exactly subtle. In French, her name is Rose Morthem. It's not as obvious, but it doesn't take a genius to realize the implications behind it either.
    • Darklaw's name is, obviously, the words "dark" and "law". In addition to arguably applying to Labyrinthia's laws, it may also refer to her metallic claws.
    • Dewey, a library worker — a reference to the the Dewey Decimal System
    • Newton Belduke, the alchemist and local doctor. Named for Isaac Newton, who — as well as being a prominent mathematician and scientist — was very much into the subject of alchemy.
    • In the Spanish version, Espella is called Aria Fable. An aria is a piece of melody, usually with singing, used in opera.
      • Darklaw is Diana, Roman goddess of the Moon. Meanwhile, Espella's cat is called Selene... Greek goddess of the moon, hinting at the fact that both are actually the same character.
      • Barnham is Flamair, obviously referencing flames.
    • Espella Cantabella is called "Sophie de Narrateur" in the German version. This overlaps with Bilingual Bonus as "Narrateur" is the French equivalent of "Storyteller," hinting at a connection between the two characters. However, because the Storyteller is called "Der Schöpfer" (The Creator) in the German version, it isn't immediately obvious.
    • In French, Espella is named "Aria Novella". In addition to the aforementioned meaning of "Aria", "Novella" refers to a literary style. Her father's name is "Roman Novella," with "roman" being another literary term (more specifically, it's French for "novel").
    • Wordsmith's name comes from the term for someone who applies almost craftsman-like skills to word use. His French name "Philocrate" is a portmanteau of "philosophe" (philosopher) and "Socrate" (How the Greek sage Socrates is called in French).
    • Ridelle Mystere's name comes from "riddle" and the French word for "mystery". In Japanese, she was "Nazomi Steria", from the Japanese "nazo" for "puzzle" and the Latin "misteria" for "mysteries".
    • Mary the goatkeeper is meant to evoke Mary had A Little Lamb.
    • Jean Greyerl the butler, in two ways. First, Earl Grey is a popular type of English tea. Second, Jean Grey is the name of one of the original members of a certain other group that is often persecuted for having superhuman abilities.
    • Of course, almost every single one of these names might be fake names given to them when they adopted new identities, so they may or may not be intentionally meaningful.
    • Similarly, every magic spell evokes imagery of what effect it creates. "Ignaize" creates fire, "Famalia" summons a witch's familiar, and "Dimere" causes someone to vanish from sight. "Granwyrm" summons an immense fire dragon. "Taelende" brings an end to the Story.
    • A former student of Layton's named Carmine Accidenti gets into some automobile trouble. It's even more blunt in the German version: "Will Crash".
    • Lottalance is an obvious reference to Lancelot. In Japanese, he was Loncelat.
    • The Storyteller's real name is Arthur Cantebella, a pun on "author."
    • In addition to a plot-related meaning to his name, the character who ends up being the butt of many a joke is named "Emeer Punchenbaug" (a mere punching bag).
    • Lampshaded in one of the special episodes, where several villagers get together to complain about the names the developers stuck them with; including Mary (who has a goat, not a lamb), Kira (who thinks that naming her "Killer" was just lazy), and Emeer (who was named for the sake of the aforementioned Mondegreen Gag). Emeer thinks "Punchenbaug" is a good strong name, though, and when Luke starts to work out its meaning Layton advises him not to share with Emeer.
  • Mind Screw: The truth behind Labyrinthia. It was created both as a top-secret research facility investigating the powers of a drug that causes those who inhale the vapors to be heavily prone to suggestion and hypnosis, and as a haven to protect the mind of a young girl who believed that she was possessed by a witch.
  • Missing Secret: A variation with puzzle 20. Because it isn't available until after puzzle 39 can be completed, the player may think they missed a puzzle somewhere. The only indication that this is not the case is that Ridelle doesn't have it.
  • Mondegreen Gag: The "Amere" incantation gets confused for the name of one witness, Emeer. Similarly. there's two spells with very similar names which have wildly different effects; "Goldor" transforms things into gold, while "Godoor" creates a portal between two green-painted walls. Naturally, these become critical contradictions during witch trials.
  • Moon Logic Puzzle: Played for Laughs with the "bread puzzle" Layton tries to teach Phoenix and Maya to solve. It involves two loaves of bread arranged like the number 11. The goal is to make a smaller number by adding an identical loaf to the arrangement. Phoenix's suggestion is to place the loaf sideways to make 1-1=0. Maya instead eats half of the third loaf which pretty much is the same as Phoenix's, except she broke the rule about the loaf being identical. Layton reveals that the answer is to put the third loaf on its end standing up to make 1.1.
  • Motionless Chin: Layton originating characters have this, despite that original and Ace Attorney characters do not.
  • Ms. Fanservice: Foxy; a member of the Vigilantes. She's wearing very little armor, constantly shows off her legs and has two male Vigilantes fawning over her, with one proudly keeping her stiletto print on his back after she stomped on it.
  • Mythology Gag: When discussing Phoenix's combat potential in a Special Episode, Phoenix mentions that his fighting catchprase would be something like "It's time to pay for your crimes". He uses this quote during his Ace Attorney Hyper Combo in Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3.
  • Never Trust a Trailer: The first trailer had a number of aspects that are now completely contradictory, such as Layton being the one to prosecute Espella, Luke using his design from Professor Layton and the Last Specter, and a totally different design for the Storyteller. While Layton does prosecute Espella in the last case, it's to prove her innocence rather than her guilt. Even the parts that are used qualify as Missing Trailer Scenes, as the events were completely redrawn.
  • The Nicknamer: Barnham, of all people. He refers to Wright continually as, "Sir Blue Knight", and Layton as, "Sir Top Hat".
  • Noob Cave: "The English Turnabout" is fairly simple for a first case, with only two witnesses and relatively obvious contradictions. It also lacks this game's unique mechanics for the Witch Trials, such as having multiple witnesses take the stand, and has no magic-related evidence whatsoever.
  • No Fourth Wall: The Bonus Episodes start with a discussion of "puzzles dropped from the main game", and the fourth wall only weakens from thereon out.
    Phoenix: Hey, Professor. Is it really okay for everyone to be so, err... self-aware like this?
    Maya: Ease up, Nick! Sometimes a little self-awareness is fun. Isn't that right, avid video game player?
  • Non-Indicative Name: The "epilogue" chapter is not the denouement, but the climax of the game. Interestingly, this is actually justified; the Storyteller has already written an ending to his story, namely his own (staged) death at the hands of the Great Witch Bezella. The chapter is an epilogue not to the game's story, but the Storyteller's.
  • Non-Standard Character Design: Noticeably, both sets of heroes look distinct from the rest of the people, although all the important characters share AA's art style while the side characters are closer to Layton games in design.
  • Nostalgic Musicbox: "Turnabout Sisters ~ Music Box Melody" takes Maya's theme from her home series and turns it into a slow music box piece. Extremely fitting, considering it plays when Phoenix is lamenting her apparent death.
  • Oh, Crap!: Chapter 4 and 5 has two major ones related to Professor Layton and Maya being supposedly dead.
  • Once an Episode: The special episodes always have a puzzle towards the end. Since they have No Fourth Wall, the first one even has the characters let it slip that they're puzzles that were dropped from the main game.
  • One-Steve Limit: Subverted, which turns out to be critical to the plot: Espella remembers going to the belfry with Eve on the night of the Legendary Fire. However, Phoenix points out that the second pendant needed to access the belfry is too big for a cat to carry. As it turns out, Espella did go there with Eve... that is, Eve Belduke, better known as Darklaw.
  • O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
    • After the third case, Phoenix looks positively enraged when he meets Barnham, so much that it looks like he's about to punch him. It's the first time in the series we get to see an angry Phoenix Wright.
    • When Professor Layton supposedly turns traitor and becomes the inquisitor during the final case, he becomes somewhat sterner and more harsh than you would expect. Much like Phoenix, he also takes up smacking the bench to punctuate his points
    • The Storyteller becomes much harsher toward Wright and Layton during the last few chapters.
  • Original Generation: In addition to being set in an entirely new world, the game introduces a new braided, blonde girl (Espella) to be the focal point of the game. There is also a new inquisitor who dresses like a knight, named Zacharias Barnham.
  • Overly Long Name: One of the witnesses in the final trial is named Dzibilchaltunchunchucmil. Unsurprisingly, everyone opts to call him "vigilante number nine" - except for Maya.
  • Person as Verb: Parodied in the final trial, where the vigilantes describe using the name of vigilante number 9 as a synonym for potentially lethal failures, specifically the action of locking oneself inside a dangerous situation. The villagers proceed to pick it up during a tense scene.
    Townsperson: Darn it! She's gone and Dzibilchaltunchunchucmilled herself!
  • Plausible Deniability: In the finale, Maya puts on Barnham's helmet as a disguise because she's supposed to be dead. When Darklaw recognizes it and asks where it came from, the helmet-wearer replies that it was found lying in the woods, and that "finders keepers", an explanation Darklaw seems to accept despite the fact Barnham seems to never even wear the thing.
  • Please Kill Me if It Satisfies You: In chapter 5, Barnham feels responsible for Maya being accidentally sent to the flames and presents his sword to Phoenix Wright, giving permission to cut him down. He's not taken up on it, and instead the offer just makes the person in question feel even worse.
  • Plot Hole: Discussed in Special Episode 2, where the characters question how the magic during the prologue was pulled off if the machines and other elements present in Labyrinthia aren't in place in London. Inspector Chelmey proceeds to Hand Wave the statue at the park flinging the car into the tree by saying it was a robot set up by Labrelum all along, but everything else remains unaccounted for.
  • Prophecy Twist: Towards the end of chapter 3, the Storyteller writes that "A man from afar falls to a golden curse and a woman from afar cries out in grief. The woman is captured, her dark trial begins, the fiery pit will cleanse all her sins". Layton assumes that this refers to Phoenix and Maya. Turns out Layton is the one who turns to gold, albeit he was correct about Maya becoming the accused.
  • Pungeon Master: Barnham, particularly during the first case, where spends a lot of time cracking bread-related jokes.
  • Pyrrhic Victory: The characters really, really hate themselves after the ending of the first witch trial because they proved Espella innocent only to send Kira to the flames in her stead. The second witch trial would have ended the same way if things didn't get far worse instead.
  • Rearrange the Song:
    • Several bits of music from Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box are re-used and updated in this game, which is quite thematically appropriate seeing as both games deal with towns where the occupants are under the influence of hypnotic chemicals.
    • The prologue trial features arrangements of the courtroom themes from the first Ace Attorney game.
  • Reality-Writing Book: The Historia Labyrinthia, which sucks the principal characters into the eponymous town. The book is being continually written there, and everything penned comes true. Because it's written with hypnotic ink and the town is being manipulated in various other ways on top of it.
  • Red Herring:
    • "Five years" is brought up a lot. Five years ago, Espella began living at the bakery, five years ago, Phoenix and Maya began work as apprentice bakers, five years did Jean work for the alchemist... it doesn't actually mean anything, beyond emphasizing the fact that Labyrinthia's residents don't have memories dating back more than ten years.
    • Two spells were never actually cast, albeit they're still presented as evidence specifically to prove that they couldn't have been used in their respective cases: Famalia in the golden trial, which summons a familiar (the gem was a fake and thus the spell couldn't be used) and Fainfol in the finale, which renders those who hear it unconscious (the witness was able to struggle with their attacker, which wouldn't be possible with Fainfol because its effect is immediate).
    • It's never pointed out in-game, but Foxy can be considered this when she and her fellow Vigilante guards are on the witness stand because of her hair color, how it hangs in the front, and the fact that a given case's culprit is usually one of the witnesses.
    • Before Maya's trial for turning Layton into gold, Greyerl arrives before the trial and tells Phoenix that he's looking through Belduke's notes to see if there was a way to revert objects and people once turned into gold back to their original selves. Nothing comes out of it, nor was Layton turned to gold in the first place.
  • Remember the New Guy?: In-Universe - As a result of being sucked into the Story, all of Labyrinthia's residents remember both Phoenix and Maya as having worked at Patty's bakery for five years, despite them having actually been in Labyrinthia for a day or two at most.
  • Rewatch Bonus: Replaying the first witch trial and getting to the part where one of the witnesses claims to have heard a "sploosh" sound; at the time the characters think this refers to the lantern falling into the mud and it's never brought up again, but knowing how the case ends you realize it was the sound of the culprit's glasses falling into the bucket of milk. Maya references this matter in Special Episode 5, asking Kira if her glasses fell into Mary's bucket again. They did, by the way.
  • Rewriting Reality: The villain in control of the town, "the Storyteller," seems to have this ability, via his Reality-Writing Book. Except he doesn't, he just has an army of invisible minions and hypnotic ink to make people THINK that he has this power.
  • Running Gag:
    • Once again, a parrot takes the stand.
      Phoenix: The defence summons its new witness, Mister Cracker the Parrot!
    • Maya makes Continuity Nods to the ladder/step-ladder arguments in all the AA games.
    • Poor Maya can't escape her curse of being the defendant at least once in every game she's in, even in Labyrinthia.
  • Samus Is a Girl:
    • Figures into the solution of one of the early puzzles. No one said that the Knight was specifically a man...
    • Turns out Jean Greyerl is a girl, who was suggested by her adoptive father to pretend to be a boy in order to hide her magic powers.
  • Save Scumming: Downplayed. Doing this in the Trials doesn't take you to where you saved, but to a somewhat earlier moment, meaning that the old "save and reload" trick from Phoenix's home series doesn't work here as effectively. You can save when the dialogue turns tense and use a Hint Coin then reload the save and retrack to that point.
  • Scenery Porn: It's a puzzle game utilizing Level 5's artists. Scenery Porn is an inevitability.
  • Scoring Points: The ever-present Layton picarats make a return. Phoenix's portions have his available penalties each being worth picarats, as well.
  • Screw Destiny: Layton's reaction when the Story implies that Phoenix will be killed is to interrupt the prophecy before it can come true. Unfortunately, he misinterpreted the Story and is turned to gold himself.
  • Screw This, I'm Outta Here: In Special Episode 4, after Phoenix pushes Patty's Berserk Button, Barnham quietly abandons the scene just as the other characters turn to him for help.
  • Security Cling: After winning the first trial, the real witch is sentenced to be tossed in the fire pit; the heroes attempt to stop it (despite the fact that this witch was convicted of burning two men alive), but are unsuccessful. Both Maya and Luke cling to Phoenix and the Professor's arms, respectively, and cower behind them as the flames shoot up.
  • Shoo Out the Clowns:
    • Following Kira's very Family-Unfriendly Death (or, more specifically, what appears to be her family-unfriendly death at the end of the first witch trial, the game takes a decidedly dark turn. Although the comedic elements are still present, they are notably downplayed and before long you'll see Professor Layton turned to gold, Maya accused of witchcraft and threatened with Kira's fate, Luke turning against Phoenix and Maya in his grief over the Professor, and Maya seemingly killed in the fire pit, pushing Phoenix into Heroic Safe Mode. Damn!
    • Early into the final trial, Phoenix must cross-examine the Vigilantes, a group of ten increasingly ridiculous witnesses who provide some comic relief, effectively replacing Emeer (who has no involvement with this case). However, once Kira is found at the bell tower, the Vigilantes go away and the trial gets a lot more serious as the truth about Labyrinthia starts to unravel.
  • Shout-Out:
    • Espella's black cat, Eve, bears a striking resemblance to a certain cat from Ghost Trick. Said cat is also featured as a plush doll in Espella's room, complete with red scarf.
    • Mildly, with Espella being called Mahoney in the Japanese version.
    • Jean Greyerl's name seems to be one to Jean Grey from X-Men. Bonus points for interacting with a character named Phoenix.note 
    • The game's Wham Episode reveals that the Storyteller is the president of a pharmaceutical company called Labrelum Inc. If you swap the "la" and "um" around, you get the name of a certain other pharmaceutical company from a Capcom franchise; Umbrella Corporation from Resident Evil.
    • Observing Professor Layton in action causes Phoenix to muse that they should make a movie of an Archaeology Professor who goes on epic adventures in his spare time.
  • Spanner in the Works: A thunderstorm managed to burn the invisible sheet covering the old bell tower, which causes everyone problems much later.
  • Spell Book: Of a sort. The Grand Grimoire contains a list of every known spell in a witch's arsenal, including its name, effect, incantation, and what color gemstone must be set in the Talea Magica in order to cast it.
  • Springtime for Hitler: Phoenix was not meant to succeed in the case in Britain; hence his being put into a trial without prior notice, and without even a background in the British court system. He was told to go along with the guilty plea and the prosecutor even lets it slip that "this wasn't how it was supposed to go" when he declares his client not guilty.
  • Suddenly Voiced:
    • Shouts of "Objection!", "Hold it!", and the like are all voiced in this game, no matter how minor the character saying them. In previous Ace Attorney games they were limited to the lawyers, with other characters only getting the associated sound effect.
    • Akin more to Professor Layton titles, some important story points, cutscene or otherwise, are fully voice acted. In the Ace Attorney games, only later titles have any voice clips at all, and only during the rare animated cutscenes.
  • Sufficiently Analyzed Magic: How Phoenix learns to argue against magic. Does the accused have the necessary Eye of Newt required to cast the spell they're accused of?
  • Stealth Pun:
    • When the crowd cheers "Barnham! Barnham!" it sounds like they're shouting "Burn 'em! Burn 'em!"
  • Story-Breaker Power: Discussed by Maya during the final trial when it's revealed the Great Witch Bezella can use all spells without needing a Talea Magica.
  • Swallow the Key: Dzibilchaltunchunchucmil does this in guarding the Bell Tower, which causes some problems in retrieving the key to unlock the door, especially since the entire team of Vigilantes were crammed there leading to a count of more than 10 people at the same time.
  • Sword Pointing: Inquisitor Barnham likes doing this, in lieu of Giving Someone the Pointer Finger.
  • Take My Hand!: When Espella goes to jump off the top of the bell tower, it's Darklaw who catches her in midair and holds her there.
  • Taken for Granite: Professor Layton gets turned into solid gold, and Maya gets put on trial for his death. Of course, the Professor isn't really dead — like they would really kill off a main character in a crossover game — but the crime scene is a good enough fake that everyone gets fooled. This hits Luke extremely hard, and it has much greater implications for the rest of the story.
  • Talking Is a Free Action: The conversation Espella and Darklaw share atop the Bell Tower is a lot lengthier than should be allowed given the Storyteller's observation that the railing that they're holding onto is too rotted to support both their weight.
  • That One Case: There is a case that the inquisition has been struggling with for three months: during a thunderstorm, a bell tower suddenly appeared in flames at the town square; a few days later, the alchemist Sir Newton Belduke, who had shown extreme concern at the tower's appearance, was found dead in his own room. These two events were notorious for being the only major incidents in Labyrinthia not to have been foretold by the Storyteller. The former is solved in the second witch trial, where Phoenix discovers that Sir Belduke died by his own hand due to despair, while the latter is solved in the final trial, where Phoenix and Layton figure out that Labyrinthia's magic isn't real, but an elaborately crafted illusion; the bell tower was always there, just concealed by a giant cloth made of invisible material, and when the tower was struck by lightning, the cloth burned away revealing it; Sir Belduke was in on the ruse, whose purpose was to help Espella recover from repressed trauma, and the tower being uncovered made him despair by realizing that they couldn't shield Espella forever and that Project Labyrinthia had taken things way too far.
  • Theme Naming: Several Labyrinthian characters (Mary, Cinderelia, Patty, and Muffet) have names inspired by fairy tales and nursery rhymes.
  • There Are No Therapists: The game's epilogue reveals that most of Labyrinthia's ruse was created to comfort Eve and Espella after the Great Fire, and convince the former that she was not Bezella. Possibly justified, as he and Newton couldn't send them to a legal therapist, because that would leak the story of the fire to the public, which would not only push Espella further over the edge, but destroy Mr. Cantabella's career/fortune/reputation. In addition, the people desperate enough to sign up for the Labyrinthia experiment fall under this.
  • Time Skip: The special episodes take place a year after the events of the game, and follow the gang as they meet up with the characters of the game again.
  • Title Drop: Well, not for this game in particular, but Phoenix is referred to several times as an "ace attorney."
  • Throw the Dog a Bone: Phoenix has been mocked and penalized endlessly for presenting wrong evidence in his own games, but when Layton takes up the inquisitor's position at the end of the last trial and you're tasked to present evidence as him, presenting the wrong evidence makes Phoenix object before he even gets to say anything, saying his argument made no sense and expects him to use a lame excuse to cover up for it, clearly enjoying every single second of the moment.
  • Too Awesome to Use: Lampshaded in Special Episode 10. Phoenix admits that while he goes out of his way to collect all the hint coins, he winds up never using them because he doesn't want to see the coin counter go down.
  • Town with a Dark Secret: Labyrinthia was created by the Storyteller for two reasons - the first to provide therapy for two little girls, and the second to test the effects of a hypnotic drug on an entire city.
  • Trapped in Another World: The premise of the story. However, as per Layton tradition, it's actually a very elaborate facade.
  • Trial-and-Error Gameplay: Lampshaded in Special Episode 10. The episode's puzzle only has two answers, and Maya points out after solving it that you can simply brute force it because if you choose wrong, the only thing left to do is to pick the other option.
  • Unexpected Character: Invoked in-universe. While Eve fully intended for Layton to come in and solve all the mysteries of Labyrinthia, she admits that she didn't anticipate Phoenix showing up and had to change her plan accordingly (which did not turn out well for it). He doesn't even register on the Storyteller's radar as a threat either, due to Eve's interference with the Story.
  • The Unpronounceable: Dzibilchaltunchunchucmil. In Japanese, he was named "ンパカパポコルペヌ" — note that no word or regular name in standard Japanese begins with ン.
  • Unusual Euphemism: Layton is at one point called a "son of a witch".
  • Vague Age: The character's ages aren't given in the court record, which is unusual for an AA game.
  • Versus Title: Ironically, Phoenix and Layton spend the vast majority of the game as allies. It's only in the very last trial that Layton opposes Phoenix. Even then, it's part of a gambit to do what Phoenix is after anyway, which is to clear Espella of guilt.
  • Video Game 3D Leap: The game still is in Visual Novel style, as in the Professor Layton and Ace Attorney adventures, but this time around the character models are in 3D. While it didn't end up being the first for Layton as Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask beat this game to release, this was the first for Ace Attorney in the East, where the game was released before Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies.
  • Villainous Breakdown: As it turns out, these return from the AA series, at least during "trial" segments. However, unusually for the AA series, the breakdowns are sometimes filmed from different camera angles, not just facing the witness from the player's perspective. For example, during the first breakdown the camera starts facing the witness, but when the witness falls to the floor after the breakdown is over the camera cuts to an overhead view. The second culprit's breakdown, meanwhile, is filmed from a "close up" angle. They're also fully voiced too.
  • Voodoo Shark: As is standard with Professor Layton games, the overarching mystery is an extreme case of this. All of the magic witnessed in the town of Labyrinthia was faked by a corporation as a part of a scientific experiment. Everyone in town had been living under hypnosis thanks to a substance that made them extremely susceptible to suggestion that they were constantly exposed to. One of the effects of the hypnosis was that residents could not see material of a certain color, thus allowing the operators to make themselves and their equipment "invisible." Furthermore, a contamination in the local groundwater meant that anyone in town who heard the ringing of a silver bell would instantly pass out, making it possible to set up complicated illusions "instantly" because any witnesses would not notice the missing set-up time. The problem is that magic is also used outside of Labyrinthia on people who had not been hypnotized and were immune to the bells in locations that the company could not possibly have foreseen magic would be necessary, including Professor Layton's own office.
  • Water Source Tampering: Though it's naturally occurring as opposed to being maliciously put there, Labyrinthia's water source is contaminated with a substance that causes citizens to pass out at the sound of pure silver and, when channeled through the plants, produces a substance that, when mixed into ink, makes them extremely vulnerable to suggestion.
  • Wham Episode: In Chapter 3's climax, Layton is transformed into a gold statue. Then in chapter 4's, Maya is executed after saving Espella from the same fate.
  • Wham Line:
    • In Chapter 5, Layton and Maya find that someone broke into the Great Witch's chambers, then search for the culprit, one of the Shades in disguise. After being confronted, the culprit has this to say.
    Barnham: Hmph. Impressive work, Sir Top Hat.
    • In Chapter 9, after Darklaw is formally accused of being Bezella and takes the witness stand, the court needs someone to serve as Inquisitor with Barnham in the dungeon. Layton then steps forward and becomes the game's final prosecutor.
    Layton: I believe I can fill that role.
    Phoenix: Professor, wait... What are you saying?
    Layton: I can prove conclusively... that Espella Cantabella is in fact the Great Witch Bezella!
    • Toward the end of the game, the Storyteller finalizes The Reveal.
    The Storyteller: Although you may know me as the Storyteller, I have one more identity. I am the president of Labrelum Inc. This whole town... is one of Labrelum's research facilities.
    • In Special Episode 8, Barnham tells the story of how he met Constantine. Then he gets to the part about him identifying the dead dog Constantine was trying to feed. Players who paid attention during a previous special episode will immediately know where things are headed:
      Barnham: It had a scar above its left eye, a tail that looked as if it were singed by the Legendary Fire itself, and black and white coloured fur.
  • What the Hell, Hero?: Phoenix receives this speech from Rouge after Maya's "death", and is told to Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!. Should be noted that her speech actually isn't the typical "get a hold of your emotions" speech, but the exact opposite. She gets on Phoenix's case for holding onto his emotions TOO MUCH and never self-pitying, which is an original, yet also profound and rather nice, variation.
  • Where the Hell Is Springfield?: Labyrinthia seems to be completely self-enclosed, with no access to the outside world as we know it. The truth is that it's in a region of England owned completely by a pharmaceutical company who collaborate with the government to keep its location a secret and off of public maps. According to the final animated cutscene, it appears to be a very large island.
  • Whole Episode Flashback: Special Episode 8 is made up almost entirely of a flashback to the day Barnham met Constantine.
  • Witch Hunt: For the most part, this is what the game centers around.
  • Witch with a Capital "B": During the final witch trial, the Storyteller calls Layton a "son of a witch".
  • A Wizard Did It: In-universe, obviously. This is what witch trials are all about, and this kind of "logic" is accepted as commonplace in the game's world, meaning Phoenix has to approach logic from another point of view.
  • World-Healing Wave: Layton and Phoenix shouting "Taelende!" untriggers the hypnotic suggestion placed on everyone and reveals the machinery placed everywhere.
  • You Can't Fight Fate: Everything the Storyteller writes is destined to come true. It's not, since it's not magic, but pretty much everything happens as the text says, with a few obvious cracks, such as Layton not being killed by statues and Bezella not being burned.
  • You Didn't Ask: Played for Laughs in the second witch trial. When Barnham demands to know why he was never informed that Lettie Mailer asked Emeer to get something for her the morning Sir Belduke was found dead, the witness replies that he never asked. Barnham is visibly fuming, and the Judge shakes his head in disbelief.

Alternative Title(s): Professor Layton Vs Ace Attorney

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