Something strange is going on in Labyrinth City. The townspeople live in fear of witches and magic, and celebrate the "Story Teller", an enigmatic figure whose writings become reality.
In a courtroom deep within the city, a young woman stands trial for witchcraft. The prosecutor,
a dapper gentleman with a top hat, accuses her of being the witch that has brought havoc to the city.
Across the room, the defense attorney smirks and taps a sheet of paper, then stands.
"OBJECTION! Professor, there is a huge contradiction in your argument!"
So goes the story of
Professor Layton VS. Ace Attorney, a
Nintendo 3DS title by Capcom and
Level-5. A
Crossover between the jaw-droppingly popular
Professor Layton puzzle games and the
extremely well-written
Ace Attorney courtroom adventure series,
VS seeks to combine the two playstyles, warning that "this time, the puzzles are filled with contradictions".
Check out the official site for more details — but only if you can read Japanese. There's no English translation site available at present. It was released in Japan on November 29th, and an English release has also been essentially confirmed.
This game features examples of:
- Always Murder: Averted (for the first time in an Ace Attorney game), the trials are Witch Trials.
- Big Bad: The storyteller.
- 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 Bartley finally finding his glasses.
- Burn the Witch!: See Cruel and Unusual Death below.
- Busman's Holiday: Phoenix is in London for a cultural exchange program with the bar association when he gets transported to Labyrinth City.
- Butt Monkey: According to released art...still Phoenix.
- Continuity Nod/Shout Out: Mahoney's black cat, Kuroune, bears a striking resemblance to a certain cat from Ghost Trick.
- Crossover: Obviously.
- Intercontinuity Crossover: Including the addition, it seems, of a third world for the characters of the first two to jump into.
- 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 Madalla (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 Mahoney from that fate. Both Madalla and Maya show up alive anyway later on.
- Dream Team: C'mon, it's Professor Layton and Phoenix Wright.
- Easy Amnesia: Apparently Wright and Maya not only lost their memories, but have lost it for five years.
- Though truly it was only lost for a few days, the villagers have been given heapings of Fake Memories and think they were long term residents.
- Giving Someone the Pointer Finger: It's Phoenix Wright and Professor Layton, people. The very first batch of promo pictures included shots of each one dramatically pointing. This is, of course, how the TGS 2011 trailer ends as well.
- Let's You and Him Fight: From the title and the trailer it looks like Layton will be up against Phoenix.
- Friendly Enemy: Despite this they are seen traveling together and seem to be on good, if somewhat uneasy terms.
- Huddle Power: Formed by a mob of villagers who stand as witnesses in the trial.
- Limited Wardrobe: Semi-averted by Luke, who curiously enough is seen in his prequel-Layton wear in the first trailer but is seen in his Curious Village~Unwound Future getup in the recent trailer and promo artwork. Whether or not this trope will be be used will have to wait.
- Make The Dog Testify: Case three features Phoenix cross-examining a parrot, again. Case four has Kurone jump up onto the stand and take up a witness slot, and though she never actually testifies, Phoenix questioning her results in Mahoney mentioning a crucial detail.
- Motionless Chin: Layton originating characters have this, despite original and Ace Attorney characters not.
- 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 Mahoney and Luke using his design from Professor Layton and the Last Specter.
- Actually, Layton does prosecute Mahoney...in the very last trial (not the first, as the trailer would have us believe), and him showing up to do so is a shocking enough twist that Layton walking into the courtroom and confronting Phoenix gets its very own animated cutscene.
- Non-Standard Character Design: Noticeably, both sets of heroes look distinct from the rest of the people.
- Original Generation: In addition to being set in an entirely new world, the game introduces a new braided, blonde girl (Mahoney) to be the focal point of the game. There is also a new prosecutor who dresses like a knight, named (something along the lines of) Jeeken Barnrod.
- Phrase Catcher: 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'.
- Reality Writing Book
- Rewriting Reality: The villain in control of the town, "The Storyteller," seems to have this ability.
- Scenery Porn: For a puzzle game utilizing Level 5's artists. Scenery Porn is an inevitability.
- Screw Destiny
- Suddenly Voiced: Maya and Phoenix (beyond his courtroom catchphrases), although they have been voiced in Japanese trailers before, and always have been voiced in CD dramas, in Japan of course.
- Sword Pointing: We've seen very little of a certain character, but what we have seen indicates that he is a prosecutor and likes doing this, in lieu of Giving Someone the Pointer Finger.
- Trapped in Another World
- Versus Title
- Video Game 3D Leap: The game still is in Visual Novel style, in lieu of Professor Layton and Ace Attorney adventures, but this time around the character models are in 3D. (Which will also be the case for the next entries in both the Layton and Ace Attorney series on 3DS.)
- 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.
- What Could Have Been: The first trailer featured Luke in his prequel trilogy outfit because the team was still deciding if they should include Emmy. Ultimately, they decided not to and shifted the game's timeline forward a bit.
- Witch Hunt: For the most part, this is what the game centers around.
- You Can't Fight Fate
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