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This page is for subjective moments from the first game in the Phoenix Wright Trilogy.


  • Alternative Character Interpretation:
    • There's no question that Manfred von Karma is a terrible person, but is he an abusive parent to his daughter Franziska (there's no question he's using Edgeworth as part of his scheme) or merely strict and demanding? For that matter, was getting Miles Edgeworth framed for the murder of Hammond and/or his own father always a part of his plan, or did he come up with it only after realizing that his "son" wasn't going to become the perfect, ruthless prosecutor that the family name demanded?
      • Taking the events of Investigations 1 and 2 into account this essay argues that Manfred von Karma framing Miles wasn't the result of him wanting to gain Revenge by Proxy on Gregory but as a result of Manfred running from his guilt. The Investigations series demonstrates Manfred will turn his back on an investigation the moment he no longer has control. After 15 years of molding Miles as the "perfect" prosecutor only for Miles to still suffer from PTSD caused by DL-6, is it possible he wanted to get Miles out of his care so he would be free of having to console a boy that he caused the trauma of?
      • Did he really not recognize Phoenix and Maya in the police station? Given that several events in the courtroom have already gone not-as-planned like Larry's last-minute save whose seemingly unremarkable actions at Gourdy Lake unravel his case, it's possible that it's just an act to try to save face.
    • Was the death of Manuel really an accident? Also, why exactly did Dee Vasquez blackmail Hammer? Take into account these facts:
      • Oldbag mentions that Hammer never intended to kill Manuel, and in the paparazzi photo, he looked genuinely shocked at Manuel's death, so it's quite possible that it really was an accident.
      • Vasquez is The Stoic for most of the case, but she seems to take personal offense when Maya yells at her for controlling Hammer over "just an accident", and she seems extremely emotional in a brief flashback to Manuel's death. This opens the possibility that Manuel was her lover, and she blackmailed Hammer as revenge for killing him.
      • If these are both true, then it is no surprise the combination of being forced to work for pennies, and the rise of Will Powers's acting career while his fell because of an accident, drove him to eventually plot on the framing of Powers and attempting to kill Vasquez. If anything, Hammer's personality is hard to pin down, he might be just a normal man broken too much with pressure, or he could have been a mean guy in the same vein of the next game's Matt Engarde or Juan Corrida. But the game is really vague on this thanks to the POVs available are from someone who possibly had a grudge against Hammer (Vasquez) or a Loony Fan (Oldbag).
    • Did Gregory Edgeworth really believe Yanni Yogi had killed him, or was he trying to protect his son Miles from being accused of the murder? While Grossberg considers the latter a possibility, Yogi's behavior before he and the Edgeworths lost consciousness means that Gregory would have reason to believe that Yogi was the murderer. Alternatively, this video interprets that Gregory really only suggested Yogi was the most probable culprit when pressed, but the prosecution Quote Mined his testimony to sound more like a direct accusation.
  • Anti-Climax Boss:
    • Redd White. He's established over the course of "Turnabout Sisters" as an extremely powerful and dangerous CEO capable of blackmailing anyone, even punching Phoenix while openly proclaiming the police can't touch him, as well as the guy who killed Phoenix's mentor Mia. Despite all this tension, however, when he comes onto the stand, he buckles near instantly, making comically obvious blunders to where he at one point admits to the murder he committed by accident, and spends almost the entire trial a pathetic wreck. To add insult to injury, the player doesn't even get the satisfaction of proving White's guilt, as Mia successfully pressures him into giving up.
    • Dee Vasquez. She's reasonably difficult to crack, but by the point she's put on the courtroom you've already figured out most of the mystery, making her lies easier to spot and the damning evidence pretty apparent. Not to mention that Edgeworth helps out. Compared to Cody in the previous trial, who is very stubborn and necessitates a different approach given that he's a child, Vasquez is fairly easy.
  • Arc Fatigue:
    • "Turnabout Samurai" is sometimes accused of this. Phoenix definitively proves his client's innocence on the second day of the case, but the trial stretches on for a third day as Phoenix is tasked with uncovering the real culprit, something that isn't supposed to be a defence attorney's job. This is compounded further by the fact that the second investigation has very little story development, and a large chunk of it is taken up by the player having to navigate between two points at the ends of a map multiple times in what amounts to a Fetch Quest. Lots of fans suspect this case was a major reason later games stick almost entirely with two-day cases.
    • “Rise From the Ashes” also gets this reaction, due to it not only having three days but also being the only case in the game to have trial and investigation segments that last multiple hours.
  • Ass Pull: The ending of Turnabout Sisters. Phoenix firmly seizes hold of the Idiot Ball, clearing the way for Mia Fey to swoop in and pull things out of the fire at the last second. Turns out the piece of paper Redd White used to frame Maya was actually the receipt for the glass light stand, proving it was only bought the day before the murder. Had he simply thought to turn the piece of paper over, Edgeworth's last-minute objection to Phoenix's otherwise-airtight disassembly of Redd White wouldn't have happened, and the case would have been much shorter.
  • Awesome Music: Has its own page.
  • Base-Breaking Character:
    • Angel Starr. She's either an interesting witness with a unique gimmick who poses a formidable challenge, or an obnoxious and unlikable person who wears out her welcome early on by being an annoying Wake-Up Call Boss who serves to pad out the already bloated first half of the case.
    • Depending on who you ask, Wendy Oldbag is either one of the funniest and most memorable characters in the series, or an insanely annoying Stalker with a Crush who ruins the mood of every case she appears in due to being unfunny and cartoonish.
  • Best Boss Ever:
    • While not as popular as Edgeworth or Godot, Manfred Von Karma is regarded as one of the best prosecutors on a gameplay level. Manipulating testimonies and quashing evidence before it can even be used, he controls the courtroom with an iron fist, displaying just how terrifying of an adversary he is. While never cross examined, he's still the biggest opponent (before Damon Gant usurped his role as the Final Boss) and the Big Bad all future villains tend to be compared to.
    • Damon Gant is one of the most challenging and satisfying bosses in the series. He uses everything you're learned so far, is an excellent liar with a skilled poker face, and has the unique ability to dismiss incriminating evidence on a whim. While he's second only to Quercus Alba in terms of length, he's seen as a far superior enemy.
  • Best Level Ever: "Turnabout Goodbyes" is considered the best case in the first game, and one of the better cases in the series. The mystery is more complicated than ever, featuring two separate but related murders, a challenging prosecutorial opponent and one of the best villains in the series. It also serves as an effective climax to the game by revealing Phoenix and Edgeworth's backstories and enabling the latter to undergo Character Development.
  • Broken Base:
    • "Turnabout Sisters" is the most divisive case in the original game, since while many people consider it the weakest in the first game, it has many fans, and isn't considered quite as bad as "Turnabout Big Top" and "Recipe for Turnabout." Fans consider it an emotional Wham Episode that heightens the stakes, while detractors believe it has an underwhelming villain and ends anticlimactically.
    • "Turnabout Samurai" also gets this reaction quite a bit. Most fans agree that it suffers from Arc Fatigue owing to its three-day structure and repetitive investigation sections, but there are also plenty of fans who forgive this case for marking the start of Edgeworth's Character Development and several Running Gags, and argue that it is one of the better "filler cases" in the series.
    • “Rise From the Ashes” is either an extraordinarily tedious and drawn-out case with forced gimmicks attached to it, or one of the best cases in the franchise due to its complex mystery, interesting side characters, deeper look at the police force and amazing villain. It doesn’t help that it wasn’t originally part of the game due to it being made after the original GBA games, which, combined with its standalone nature, causes it to feel disconnected from the events of first game and the trilogy as a whole, on top of causing continuity issues with the sequels due to the case making Phoenix too competent (which can make it jarring when Phoenix goes back to needing Mia's help in the sequels). While many fans don't mind this and enjoy the case regardless, others have cried foul at these continuity issues, with some declaring the case to be non-canon because of them.
      • A related issue: Is Rise From the Ashes best played as the finale to the original trilogy (the Japanese release order) or as the finale to the first game (the Western release order, as well as its positioning in-game)? Proponents of the former cite Damon Gant as a fitting Final Boss for the trilogy, as well as how the new gameplay mechanics and several story elements (the introduction of Ema Skye, Phoenix Wright being at the top of his game) make the case a solid bridge between the trilogy and Apollo Justice. Proponents of the latter cite its canonical placement in the timeline, and specifically the fact that it does a lot of fleshing out of Edgeworth's reasons for disappearing prior to Justice For All.
      • One of the more contentious issues related to Rise From The Ashes is the handling of Edgeworth's character, specifically the revelation that Edgeworth never intentionally forged evidence. Detractors consider this a retcon to whitewash Edgeworth's character, bringing up the "updated autopsy report" as an example of Edgeworth using this tactic. Fans, however, believe this works well in bridging the original game and Justice For All by having Edgeworth start to show remorse for his actions and fear that he could end up like Manfred von Karma or Damon Gant.
  • Captain Obvious Reveal:
    • You probably figured out well before the characters in the game that Von Karma is the real culprit in the DL-6 incident. If him literally tasering Phoenix and Maya to steal the case files didn't tip you off, then his demand in court to re-try DL-6 on the spot should have sealed the deal, since he's the only possible suspect other than Edgeworth.
    • Damon Gant pulls a very villainous and smug expression in his very first appearance during "Rise From the Ashes," as well as an ominous-sounding theme song, making his status as, at the very least, a deceptive and villainous character, obvious long before the story gets around to showing the cracks in his cheery facade. What really clinches this is the ID number with all sevens used to access the evidence room at the time of the murder, which only belongs to someone higher than the rank of a captain. As you can see, Gant is the only character who can qualify.note 
  • Catharsis Factor: Manfred spends much of the fourth case practically running the courtroom, and at one point even has a Near-Villain Victory as the Judge hands down a Guilty verdict until Larry shows up last-minute to save the day. Thus it's immensely satisfying to watch his composure crumble as Phoenix picks him apart to resolve DL-6, watching as he runs out of avenues on which to defend himself, before finally screaming in defeat and having a head-banging breakdown as he's proven beyond reasonable doubt that he killed Gregory 15 years ago.
  • Common Knowledge:
    • It's often claimed by fans that Yanni Yogi was found by the court to have been the culprit of DL-6, with him avoiding punishment due to an insanity plea from his attorney. In actuality, it is stated many times that DL-6 was never officially resolved, and Yogi was declared innocent on a lack of evidence, not an insanity plea. Yogi's faked insanity is actually implied to have been a tactic used by Hammond to discredit evidence, as the only other witness was suffering from Trauma-Induced Amnesia. It also would have made no sense for Misty Fey to be disgraced if Yogi was declared the culprit since that is what her channeling claimed.
    • A prevalent way to mock the game's messed up legal system is the idea that Miles Edgeworth and Ema Skye would have been arrested if convicted of the respective Accidental Murders they were alleged to have committed at times both were minors (and in Ema's case, still underage by the time of the current case). Except it was never actually stated anywhere they were at risk of legal punishment. Phoenix even notes to Lana that Ema would not have been charged and in both cases the focus on proving them innocent is overall more about saving their reputations and mental states than preventing any real sentence.
  • Complete Monster: See here.
  • Cry for the Devil: Damon Gant is definitely Jumping Off the Slippery Slope, but his confession in the end is a borderline Alas, Poor Villain moment.
  • Diagnosed by the Audience: Von Karma shows many signs of obsessive-compulsive personality disorder. His occupation is his life and it comes before even his own family. He desires perfection and turns violent if he is accused of being anything less than flawless. He's a Control Freak who seeks to impose his views on those around him (such as demanding no prosecutors wear their badges while in court,) and he's obsessed with structure and punctuality, having a hissy fit when the trial goes on longer than he wanted it to. Everything he does is overly meticulous and his inability to change course when the unexpected happens bites him in the ass when things start spiralling out of control.
  • Difficulty Spike: Turnabout Goodbyes features a longer, significantly more complex and difficult case. Von Karma is also a ridiculously aggressive prosecutor that makes cross examinations a nightmare, particularly when he shuts down a line of questioning that could have immediately unraveled Lotta's testimony. Accordingly, the follow up episode, Rise from the Ashes, is extremely difficult.
  • Draco in Leather Pants:
    • Fans like to portray Dee Vasquez as a Broken Bird who simply made a few mistakes in her life and believe she didn't deserve a harsh sentence because the death she caused was both accidental and in self defense. However, this ignores the fact that she was a cold, abusive blackmailer who drove her victim to try and murder her due years of her constantly threatening and harassing him. She's also a member of the mob and she ordered her goons to kill Phoenix and Maya so casually that it couldn't be the first time she has done such a thing.
    • Fans also like to portray Damon Gant as a genuinely good guy who didn't mean to kill Goodman. And while that was spur of the moment, his other crimes were not.
  • Early-Installment Weirdness: Dick Gumshoe's dialogue was translated with a Character Tic of ending sentences with "see?" à la Edward G. Robinson in the first game probably to emphasise his nature as a tough guy, but this got dropped for the sequel onwards.
  • Ensemble Dark Horse:
    • Penny is one of the most popular one-shots in the series due to her Adorkable nature. She was brought back for Investigations 2 because of this.
    • Will Powers is loved due to being a Gentle Giant who is one of the kindest characters in the series, despite his Face of a Thug. Because of this, he returned in the sequel as a witness, being one of the few friendly ones in the series, with his contradictions stemming from misunderstandings rather than lies; what's especially notable is that his honest, scrupulous testimony is the absolute last thing Phoenix needs in said case since he's stalling for time.
  • Fanon Discontinuity: A minority of fans ignore "Rise from the Ashes" (which was not part of the original Japanese GBA game but instead added for the DS remake) because, despite establishing Ema Skye and providing us with Memetic Badass Damon Gant, it makes it clear that the rumors about Edgeworth (intentionally) using fake evidence are false. This, to said people, effectively reduces the impact of some parts of a good portion of the first game.note  Interestingly enough, when Phoenix sees Edgeworth again in 2-4, he assumes Edgeworth quit because his perfect win record was tarnished, when actually, in 1-5, particularly on the third day of investigations and the last trial segment, Edgeworth is already questioning himself and admits shame over his Amoral Attorney past and fear that he might become like Manfred von Karma and Damon Gant in the future.
  • First Installment Wins: Though the debate over which Ace Attorney game is the best one has plenty of common answers, in terms of cultural impact the very first game is generally the one people will reference. In-particular, Miles Edgeworth is often treated as the main prosecutor by default, and musical homages will generally take from this game's versions of the courtroom music.
  • Foe Yay Shipping: Even with Edgeworth and Phoenix as rivals, it doesn't stop certain fans from shipping them like FedEx.
  • Franchise Original Sin:
    • The tendency for the third case (or fourth case in Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of Justice) to be largely irrelevant to the main storyline began with this game, but Turnabout Samurai isn't nearly as unpopular as cases like Turnabout Big Top, Recipe for Turnabout and Turnabout Serenade. Not only was it a Breather Episode between the two cases directly tied to DL-6, but it also helped Edgeworth undergo Character Development after his first loss in court and established the Phoenix-Maya dynamic. Subsequent third cases didn't add nearly as much to the story or characters, leading many to see them as filler episodes.
    • Also, the series' Thinly-Veiled Dub Country Change began here. However, it was almost irrelevant at this point, as, unlike future games, this one contained very few explicit references to Japan to start with (or any other real places, for that matter) and the only obvious cultural ties are Maya's outfit and the Steel Samurai in the third case. The game's setting is so cartoonish and over-the-top it doesn't seem to be set in a real country, anyway. For the second game onward, though, the series underwent a reverse Earth Drift and made its Japanese setting — and, consequently, its strained references to "America" in the English version — more obvious.
    • The supernatural elements of the series also begins here, but are more understated, being limited to Maya's channeling of Mia, which is more a plot device to give Phoenix hints than anything. Even then, the fantasy stuff is a case of Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane, as the game doesn't even clarify whether characters other than Phoenix recognize Mia when she's being channeled. From the second game onward, fantasy elements start becoming more frequent, cases start revolving around them, and they unambiguously exist in-universe.
  • Growing the Beard: "Turnabout Samurai" was a step forward for the quality of the cases in several regards. The murderer is not immediately obvious, the case has an elaborate backstory that is revealed while investigating the murder, and there are multiple revelations that force Phoenix and the player to rethink everything they thought they knew about the crime.
  • Harsher in Hindsight:
    • In the very first case of the game, the judge tests Phoenix's knowledge of the case and provides a tutorial for using the Court Record, with one question asking him "Who is the victim?", with Mia Fey as an answer option. Come the following case, where Mia ends up the murder victim herself.
    • When you show Lana Skye the Attorney's Badge, she comments that the gold plating will flake off in a few years (specifically, three), then we'll see the real Phoenix. This could be foreshadowing Phoenix solving his biggest case all by himself in "Bridge to the Turnabout", but it could also foreshadow Phoenix being disbarred for unwittingly using falsified evidence.
    • In case 4, Gumshoe explains that his Undying Loyalty to Edgeworth is because he always got a conviction for the person the police brought in, which Gumshoe took as proof of his trust. It's funny/sad at the moment since Edgeworth clearly doesn't hold Gumshoe in such esteem — and then comes 1-5, where we learn about Lana Skye and Damon Gant, and realize that if Edgeworth did trust the police that much, his trust was misplaced.
    • After the Big Bad of "Rise From the Ashes" is finally taken down, he congratulates Phoenix, Edgeworth and the Judge for their efforts but warns Edgeworth that at one point when chasing down a seemingly-invincible culprit, he'll have to use the same methods as Gant did (forging evidence and fixing crime scenes) to bring true justice. Edgeworth ended up having to present illegal evidence to catch a near-invincible culprit, and Phoenix took this even further this to heart, getting rid of the man who orchestrated his disbarment by Framing the Guilty Party.
  • Hilarious in Hindsight:
    • Redd White murdered Mia Fey in the first game. In the third game, an important fact is Godot being unable to see red on white. Since the first game was localized after the third game was written, it's likely this was intentional.
    • The updated autopsy report from the second case became this come Gyakuten Kenji 2, where the autopsy report for the fourth case was actually tampered with, leading to Edgeworth and Franziska getting it updated. And then in Dual Destinies, Blackquill requests a second autopsy on the victim of the DLC case, and calls it an "updated autopsy report" word-for-word. And said report supports rather than hinders Phoenix's case.
    • Case 3 is the first case that makes it clear that the American version takes place somewhere similar to Los Angeles. Three of the characters are William, Hammer, and Penny.
    • Phoenix finds a contradiction in Cody Hackins's testimony and says it's because he has a magical power that lets him know when people are lying. He's just teasing a kid at that point, but one game later and he's got the magatama...
    • There's this exchange when Redd White tries to get out of testifying:
      White: My stomach, you see, it is hurting...
      Phoenix: Deal with it.
    • During Case 4, Phoenix repeatedly tells the judge to "Look at this photograph". If you're familiar with a certain memetic song that came out four years later, then every time he does, it'll make you laugh.
    • Lana Skye, the defendant of case 5, is a young and attractive female chief prosecutor who wears a military-style uniform. Natalia Poklonskaya, anyone? Even better, Poklonskaya called the Ukrainian authorities "devils from the ashes" and the case Lana appears in is called "Rise from the Ashes".
    • One of the most hilarious moments was the moment where Phoenix made a parrot testify in court. Sounds absurd, right? But then this comes into play. For bonus points, it happened in the same month and year that this case takes place in.
    • Speaking of said parrot, its name is Polly. The eponymous protagonist of Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney is also nicknamed Polly.
    • In case 5, one of the crucial pieces of evidence is a monochrome surveillance video, allegedly of Bruce Goodman knocking out Mike Meekins. However, the whole court's attention is on the animatronic mascot in the room—its jerky motions leave them all deeply perturbed. Nine years later (and a few months before the eShop ports), players may find themselves capable of sympathizing...
    • After Powers is acquitted in Case 3, Edgeworth makes a surprise appearance at the defendant lobby and introduces himself as a great fan of him. Phoenix thinks he's just pretending, and players are inclined to think the same at this point... but once you play the following games you realize he was completely serious about it.
    • In Case 2, Phoenix scolds Gumshoe for thinking of the possibility of victims writing their killer's name with their blood, and stick to reality instead. All across the series, this possibility is raised way too often in order to indict a defendant of murder, and in one time, it was actually the case (to an extent, as while the victim did not write the killer's name, they did write something to incriminate them; another victim, instead of writing anything to incriminate the killer, instead writes a message that explains why they were killed).
    • At one point in Case 3, Phoenix refers to himself as "Sherlock Holmes II", a line not out of place in a series full of pop culture references. Almost fifteen years later, it would be revealed that not only is Sherlock Holmes (or rather, Herlock Sholmes) a real person in the world of Ace Attorney, but he was a good friend of one of Phoenix's ancestors.
    • Phoenix's backstory involves what is referred to as a "class trial".
    • In Case 2 starting from the original Japanese release, Mia while being channeled by Maya has to tell Phoenix to turn the bloody receipt with Maya's name over to reveal a major clue about it. The re-release with "Rise from the Ashes" has 3D inspectable evidence as a central mechanic, and Phoenix does find a major clue by turning a seemingly-nondescript piece of evidence over.
  • Hollywood Homely: Judging by character reactions, Will Powers is supposed to look downright frightening. He can only get roles wearing a mask. Opinions differ.
  • It Was His Sled: Due to its memetic status, it's rare to find someone who doesn't know that at one point Phoenix cross-examines a parrot.
  • Love to Hate:
    • Manfred von Karma. Despite being present in only three cases in the entire series, two of which being flashback cases in later games, he still manages to remain one of the most memorable Complete Monsters in the series to this day. It helps that no other prosecutor after him has managed to put as much of a fight as he did during "Turnabout Goodbyes".
    • The Big Bad of "Rise from the Ashes" Damon Gant even moreso. Despite being only in a single case, they remain one of the most popular villains in the franchise due to being one of the most ruthless and intelligent killers in the franchise, and being exceptionally likable atop of that. Their surprisingly humanizing final moments help exceptionally.
  • Magnificent Bastard: Damon Gant, once a legendary police officer seeking to use any means necessary to bring down criminals, murders a prosecutor to pin the crime on a criminal and ensure his rise to chief of police. Gant also has his old partner installed as the head of the prosecutor's office, having clandestinely framed her sister as the murderer years ago, so he can control both the police and the prosecution, using blackmail on his old partner Lana. When a detective reopens the old case, Gant murders him and has Lana stab the corpse, resulting in her being framed(although it's implied that this was a backup plan, and he was originally planning to pin the crime on Edgeworth), and Gant knowing she'll plead guilty to protect her sister. Despite his crimes, Gant operates with nothing short of whimsical good nature and accepts his defeat with good humor, claiming that at the end, he can leave the defense of the law to his rivals and one day they will understand the need to rise higher by any means to protect the law as a whole.
  • Memetic Badass: Thanks to SaveDataTeam's Ace Attorney with an Actual Lawyer!, Mike Meekins has jokingly been envisioned by fans as a Reality Warper with access to the so-called Blood Dimension.
  • Memetic Mutation:
    • Due to the murder in "Turnabout Goodbyes" taking place during December 24th (Christmas Eve), it's very common among the fandom to refer to Christmas Day as the "DL-6mas" and similar nicknames.
    • Edgeworth pulling out an updated autopsy report mid-trial and being smug about it derailing Phoenix's claim that Mia died instantly and couldn't have left her Dying Clue has been the subject of various comics, fandubs, etcetera.
  • Mexicans Love Speedy Gonzales: Discounting any confusion he may cause in regards to the location of the games, Detective Jake Marshall is thoroughly beloved in the United States, even with (or possibly because of) him being a blatant stereotype of the American southwest.
  • Mis-blamed:
    • The western releases of the game changing the setting from Japan to California is often held up as an example of Capcom USA's executives believing that gamers are too stupid and/or prejudicial to want to play a game set entirely in Japan. In actual fact, the decision to change the setting was taken by the first game's translator, Alexander O. Smith — and his main reason for doing so was related to the puzzle from the game's first case where you have to work out that the Thinker clock was nine hours fast/fourteen hours slow instead of three/two hours slow, as he felt that the time difference between Los Angeles and Paris was more likely to be known than the corresponding time difference between Japan and New York, as was the case in the original game. Back then, the change was mostly harmless, as the only really Japanese themes in the game were the mystical Fey family (semi-convincingly reframed as traditionalists) and the Steel Samurai franchise (and even then, it could be chalked up as a show inspired by anime or something akin to Power Rangers), but in each following game it became increasingly harder to believe the game's set in the United States. It eventually got to the point the localization team forewent changing the location when The Great Ace Attorney duology was localized, keeping the location of those games in Japan and the United Kingdom.
    • Relatedly, some fans have accused Smith's changing the game's setting for the sake of a single puzzle of being a short-sighted decision which forced future games to jump through hoops to explain away the copious amounts of Japanese iconography. While debates can be had about the wisdom of the decision, Smith actually made it having been told that the next game in the series to be localized would be Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney, which dialled back on the Japanese influence partly because of Depending on the Artist, and partly to appeal more to western gamers. The second and third games (where the Japanese iconography is really prevalent) originally weren't planned to be localized, but the stronger than expected sales of the first resulted in them getting western releases to fill the gap until Apollo Justice was ready.
  • Moral Event Horizon:
    • Manfred von Karma crossed it when he murdered Gregory Edgeworth. He then proceeded to kick Gregory while he was down/dead by raising his son to become his complete antithesis, then framing said son for killing him, all just to get back at the entire Edgeworth bloodline because Gregory caused Von Karma to get his first and only ever court penalty, ruining his otherwise perfect record.
    • Damon Gant crossed when he killed Neil Marshall, and made it look like Ema Skye did it to force Lana Skye into becoming Gant's puppet for the next two years, culminating in forcing her to take the fall for Gant's murder of Bruce Goodman.
  • Narm:
    • Lana Skye's dramatic-looking pose facing her back to the player loses a lot of impact when done in the Detention Center, as the chair she's sitting on constantly faces towards the glass, giving the image of her doing Edgy Backwards Chair-Sitting.
    • Angel Starr's gratuitous lunch-based Busman's Vocabulary fits the light-hearted, silly parts of case 5, but just gets cringeworthy when she keeps it up during the intense, emotional parts. The worst offender is this line, which completely derails an otherwise intense, heart-pounding scene:
      "I swear it on my finest plastic spork!"
  • Never Live It Down: Edgeworth will forever be known for destroying defense attorneys' arguments with updated autopsy reports and being smug about it, and little else, despite the fact that he only ever did it once across all seven games he appears in. Probably because it's one of the first things he does the first time the player faces him in court, and first impressions are usually the strongest, so the fanbase naturally latched onto that as Edgeworth's "prosecutor gimmick" instead of something more suitable, like his inability to get witnesses to state their name and occupation, which happens far more often.
  • Nightmare Fuel: In case 4, running into Von Karma in the police station and getting tased by him promptly thereafter.
  • Player Punch:
    • The opening cinematic of 1-2, due to springing Mia's death onto the player very early on in the game. To an extent, the opening of 1-4 could also qualify, as it's definitely a shocker.
    • Having to prove towards the end of 1-5 that Ema, who's been your sidekick for the whole case, accidentally killed Neil Marshall two years ago.
    • Redd White punches Phoenix in case 2. What, didn't think physical harm was possible for a visual novel character?
  • The Scrappy:
    • You'd be hard-pressed to find any fans of Redd White. Despite having an incredibly important role in the trilogy due to killing Mia, he is largely disliked by fans due to having a very generic Corrupt Corporate Executive personality and, despite being built up as incredibly powerful and dangerous, coming off as a complete idiot with no common sense who is taken out with an anticlimactic Ass Pull confession. While he's clearly meant to be hated, many fans have noted how much they dislike that such a generic villain would have the all-important role of being Mia's killer. Also, the fact that he doesn't even make half of the lasting impact that the equally heinous and powerful, yet far more intelligent and cunning Von Karma does only two cases later, doesn't earn White any more fans.
    • Mike Meekins is also hated due to being unnecessary, cartoonish looking, and obnoxious, especially in the utter stupidity he frequently displays. It also doesn't help that his megaphone is one of the most irritating noises in the entire series.
  • That One Puzzle:
    • The first day of the trial in "Rise from the Ashes" is generally regarded as one of the hardest parts in game. Much of it consists of finding subtle flaws in Angel Starr's testimony, mainly concerning the point from which she supposedly saw Lana stab Goodman. After you're done with Angel's four testimonies, you have to deal with Gant's complicated single testimony, which doesn't work quite the same as other cross-examinations.
    • Towards the end of 1-5, you're expected to position a vase in 3D so its outline matches the silhouette of the Blue Badger. It's easy to think you got the right angle but come up short, plus the game is very finicky on what counts and the exact position even if you're close.
  • Too Cool to Live: Mia Fey had to be killed since Phoenix Wright is the main character. Otherwise, the game will be "Mia Fey: Ace Attorney".
  • Tough Act to Follow: The role of the prosecutorial rival has proven difficult to get just right over the course of the franchise and, unfortunately, the first game really nailed it with Edgeworth. Edgeworth had both sympathetic and unsympathetic qualities, had a dense and complicated personal past with Phoenix, and his character arc was arguably the main plot of the game. He also had great animations and lines, whether he was being very smug or Not So Above It All. It worked so well that every subsequent prosecutor struggled to get out of his shadow, whether leaning too far in one direction or the other when it came to balancing sympathetic and unsympathetic qualities, having to squeeze their character arc in around a more-interesting main plot in which they are just a side player, going a bit too over-the-top with their animations and Courtroom Antics, or just feeling like they're retreading the same ground Edgeworth once did. None of them are helped by Edgeworth's incredible popularity seeing him join the story for at least part of most final cases, further making them seem less interesting than he.
  • Unintentional Period Piece: At the time of the first game's initial release, Japan had a 15-year Statute of Limitations on murder, and this was incorporated into the plot of the fourth case. The statute of limitations was then revoked in 2010 for all murder cases within the past 15 years and thenceforth. This meant that the revisit of a 2001 murder in 2016 would no longer be impacted by the expiration of the statute of limitations.note  The anime adaptation of Turnabout Goodbyes takes out the plot point of the statute entirely.

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