History YMMV / PhoenixWrightAceAttorney

* BestBossEver: [[spoiler: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.]]

* BaseBreakingCharacter: 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 WakeUpCallBoss who serves to pad out the already bloated first half of the case.

* BaseBreakingCharacter: 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.

* EnsembleDarkhorse: Penny is one of the most popular one-shots in the series due to her {{Adorkable}} nature. She was brought back for ''Investigations'' because of this.

* TheScrappy: 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 CorruptCorporateExecutive 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 AssPull confession. While he's [[HateSink 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.

* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: If an [[https://www.reddit.com/r/AceAttorney/comments/oapfy3/official_ace_attorney_trilogy_popularity_poll/ official character popularity poll is any indication]], [[spoiler:Damon Gant]] from "Rise of the Ashes" is one of the least popular characters in Japan, with him being ranked near the very bottom of the list, only topping Von Karma. It is a very different story in the West however, as [[spoiler:Damon Gant is one of the most well loved villains amongst the Western fandom, thanks to his [[AwesomeMusic/AceAttorney bombastic theme song]], badass design and AffablyEvil nature]].

* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: If an [[https://www.reddit.com/r/AceAttorney/comments/oapfy3/official_ace_attorney_trilogy_popularity_poll/ official character popularity poll is any indication]], [[spoiler:Damon Gant]] is one of the least popular characters in Japan, with him being ranked near the very bottom of the list, only topping Von Karma. It is a very different story in the west however, as [[spoiler:Damon Gant]] is one of the most well loved villains amongst the western fan base and is incredibly popular for his [[AwesomeMusic/AceAttorney bombastic theme song]] and AffablyEvil nature, with him consistently being regarded as amongst the top contenders for best villain in the eyes of western fans. In general, most of the characters introduced in "Rise from the Ashes" tend to be much more loved by Western fans than by Japanese fans.

* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: If an [[https://www.reddit.com/r/AceAttorney/comments/oapfy3/official_ace_attorney_trilogy_popularity_poll/ official character popularity poll is any indication]], [[spoiler:Damon Gant]] is one of the least popular characters in Japan, with him being ranked near the very bottom of the list, only topping Von Karma. It is a very different story in the west however, as [[spoiler:Damon Gant]] is one of the most well loved villains amongst the western fan base and is incredibly popular for his [[AwesomeMusic/AceAttorney bombastic theme song]] and AffablyEvil nature, with him consistently being regarded as amongst the top contenders for best villain in the eyes of western fans. In general, most of the characters introduced in
"Rise from the Ashes" tend to be much more loved by Western fans than by Japanese fans.

"Rise from the Ashes" tend to be much more loved by western fans than by Japanese fans.

* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff:
** If an [[https://www.reddit.com/r/AceAttorney/comments/oapfy3/official_ace_attorney_trilogy_popularity_poll/ official character popularity poll is any indication]], [[spoiler:Damon Gant]] is one of the least popular characters in Japan, with him being ranked near the very bottom of the list, only topping Von Karma. It is a very different story in the west however, as [[spoiler:Damon Gant]] is one of the most well loved villains amongst the western fan base and is incredibly popular for his [[AwesomeMusic/AceAttorney bombastic theme song]] and AffablyEvil nature, with him consistently being regarded as amongst the top contenders for best villain in the eyes of western fans. In general, most of the characters introduced in Rise from the Ashes tend to be much more loved by western fans than by Japanese fans.

* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: Although the film is well regarded by fans for being a good PragmaticAdaptation of the first game, some of the more drastic changes that were made to the characters, such as the more serious depictions of characters like Gumshoe and Maya, as well as the Redd White's completely different occupation and appearance, has received this response by fans.

* BaseBreakingCharacter: The film's depiction of Maya Fey is divisive amongst fans, largely due to being far less of the bubbly GenkiGirl she was in the games and being more of a [[AdaptationalAngstUpgrade serious and angsty person]]. Some find the changes to work well for the more serious tone of the film and is more appropriate for someone who had just lost her sister to murder, while others [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks dislike the changes to her personality]], feeling the film strips away much of what made her a memorable and likable character in the games.

* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: If an [[https://www.reddit.com/r/AceAttorney/comments/oapfy3/official_ace_attorney_trilogy_popularity_poll/ official character popularity poll is any indication]], [[spoiler:Damon Gant]] is one of the least popular characters in Japan, with him being ranked near the very bottom of the list, only topping Von Karma. It is a very different story in the west however, as [[spoiler:Damon Gant]] is one of the most well loved villains amongst the western fan base and is incredibly popular for his [[AwesomeMusic/AceAttorney bombastic theme song]] and AffablyEvil nature, with him consistently being regarded as amongst the top contenders for best villains in the eyes of western fans. In general, most of the characters featured in Rise from the Ashes (if not Rise from the Ashes as a whole) tend to be much more loved by western fans than by Japanese fans.

This page covers the first game and its adaptations.

!! ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney''

!!Film adaptation

[[folder:Multiple games]]
!! Multiple games
* AccidentalAesop:
** Don't judge people by who their relatives are. There can be black sheep and white sheep in every family.
** Don't {{Bowdlerise}} the world to children, hiding the harsh truths from them: they need to know how the world works to make good decisions and understand the consequences of their choices. In the case of Regina Berry, [[spoiler:this led to her causing an accident that left a guy in coma and another permanently crippled, and being completely unapologetic, not out of malice but because she wasn't able to understand the harm she had done]]. In the case of Pearl Fey, [[spoiler:this led her to go along her mother's plan to murder Maya, who Pearl clearly adores, because (having never been told of Morgan's previous attempt to frame Maya) she believed her mother to be a good person and thought said plan to be in Maya's benefit]].
* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: So many to count that each game has its own section. See below for more.
* AuthorsSavingThrow: The 3DS version of the trilogy fixes many typos from the original English releases, while also removing some small contradictions and inaccuracies. [[labelnote:Examples]]Phoenix not acknowledging the events of 1-5 while talking to Franziska in 2-3, and replacing mentions of Adrian Andrews' "co-dependency" with her "dependent personality".[[/labelnote]]
* {{Adorkable}}: Adrian Andrews, due to being extremely intelligent and ''very'' clumsy, especially in ''Trials and Tribulations''. Her dependency can also put her here.
* CommonKnowledge:
** A very common misconception, built off a number of throwaway lines and the fact that generally culprits are never heard of again after their defeat, is that ''all'' the killers in the franchise receive the death penalty for their crimes. This is despite the fact that as early as the ''second case'' of the series is this proven false, as [[spoiler:Redd White is pushed into pleading guilty for Mia's murder, explicitly because confessing to murder would be less fatal than whatever will happen to him should his extensive blackmail network be outed]], and numerous instances since then have continued to show such an idea as untrue; for example, Frank Sahwit (whose murder of Cindy Stone during a burglary attempt was not premeditated) is seen again in prison in the second case of the second ''VisualNovel/AceAttorneyInvestigations'', with the implication that he has a long sentence that can be shortened if he behaves himself. Additionally, the death penalty in Japan, while existent, is very much a GodzillaThreshold reserved for especially dangerous criminals without chance of rehabilitation, a fact reflected in the only specified cases in the trilogy of the penalty applied being {{Serial Killer}}s and a man accused of kidnapping a child for ransom and then murdering her in cold blood. Even the line most commonly cited as being evidence of the idea, where the Judge claims murder is a "capital crime with capital punishment" is actually a minor mistranslation, as in the Japanese script he merely states that murder is a crime which carries the ''possibility'' of capital punishment, which is both entirely true and meant to act as {{Foreshadowing}} for events later in the game.
** Despite it being near universally believed to be the case by English speaking fans, Edgeworth and Franziska are ''not'' adopted siblings in the game canon. Throughout all his appearances, Edgeworth only ever refers to the von Karmas as his mentor and mentor's daughter, and the word Franziska uses to describe him in the original Japanese script is actually more accurately "younger disciple" than "little brother", referring to them both being students of her father. There is a stronger case to be made for them being adopted siblings in the anime continuity due to AdaptationExpansion that does not contradict what is in the games, however.
* FanNickname: Fans typically shorten the various case names to their game number + the case number. For example, the first case in the first game, "The First Turnabout", is known as 1-1.
* FirstInstallmentWins: The original trilogy is still widely regarded as the golden age of the series, with even its weakest entry, ''Justice For All'' considered to be better than most post-trilogy games, most {{Updated Rerelease}}s being of the first three games, and the ''Anime/AceAttorney'' animated series being an adaptation of this trilogy (albeit with a few original stories thrown in).
* FoeYayShipping:
** Edgeworth and Phoenix. Phoenix becomes a defense attorney to reach out to and save Edgeworth, then later feels personally betrayed after Edgeworth's disappearance for much of the second game. After Edgeworth's HeelFaceTurn, relations between the two improve, but they're still rivals in court. It's not hard to understand what the shippers see in these two.
** Edgeworth and Franziska to an extent, though AAI clarifies this into being a competitive sibling relationship.
* FranchiseOriginalSin: The fact that the games generally don't reference previous games has caused problems in later installments, but it began as early as the Phoenix Wright trilogy, in which the fact that Miles Edgeworth's mentor is a murderer who killed Miles' father is never mentioned in the second and third games. Back then, it didn't cause all that many problems due to the relatively simple stories and the fact that the significance of the twists was made clear; for example, it was clear that Edgeworth rejected von Karma's ways by the time of his return in the second game. In later games, the refusal to spoil plot twists causes various plotlines to be dropped without explanation, as well as important events to never be spoken of again.
* HarsherInHindsight: After the BigBad of "Rise From the Ashes" is finally taken down, [[GracefulLoser he congratulates Phoenix, Edgeworth and the Judge for their efforts]] but [[spoiler: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 FramingTheGuiltyParty.]]
* IronWoobie:
** Maya Fey: Smiling through even the most hardcore misfortunes.
** Maggey Byrde, who fell from the ninth story of a building when 6 months old, has been hit by multiple vehicles, gets accused of murder three times over the course of the series- the first time she's accused of her boyfriend's murder and the second time she's convicted before Phoenix overturns the conviction- ([[BornUnlucky and that's not even covering half the things that have happened to her]]) but does not give up, and remains plucky and optimistic throughout.
** Phoenix Wright had his beloved mentor die, was framed for murder twice, [[spoiler:nearly killed by the woman he loved]], abused by nearly every single prosecutor and witness, is never in the Judge's favor, almost never gets a thank you from his clients, was bullied in school, and let's not get started on what he goes through in ''Apollo Justice''. This [[BreakTheCutie cutie]] has been broken by then [[spoiler:-- even to the point of arguably overlapping with JerkassWoobie via his consequent UnscrupulousHero actions in retaliation against the one responsible]].
** Pearl Fey during Case 3-5. Despite her doubts about her powers and fear over Maya's safety, she still manages to ShutUpHannibal at Franziska and makes Phoenix present solid evidence before her last psyche-lock breaks. Pearly is tough as nails.
* PolishedPort: The PC version of the CompilationRerelease is considered really good, running at widescreen resolutions beyond the handheld originals, able to run at 60 [=FPS=] (and higher if you [[https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Phoenix_Wright:_Ace_Attorney_Trilogy#Essential_improvements take the steps to disable the framerate locking VSYNC]]), and is basically three games for half the price of one.
* PortingDisaster: The original trilogy was initially ported for a CompilationReRelease over to the iOS, which released with many {{game breaking bug}}s and problems from a lack of beta testing and/or laziness: Slowdown was all over the place. Character animations, while better looking, were also choppy, missing several frames (half the characters didn't blink), or flat-out missing. Music would not loop properly, Pearl's theme was missing, and the second and third games used the lower quality GBA soundtrack. Ema Skye's fingerprinting tutorial in the first game was completely omitted, and [[http://36.media.tumblr.com/d1a63b1ce38add85fe8e59c92ff49dac/tumblr_n02z7bthA81rgkwumo1_500.jpg several typos were ADDED]]. And when iOS 7 came out, it broke the HD version to the point that the app simply would not launch, and it took Capcom nearly two months to fix the problem. Thankfully, the 3DS version of the trilogy is miles better: correcting many typos, fixing every issue, and re-adding many animation frames, and the subsequent release for the [=PS4=], Switch, and Xbox One would feature the best of both worlds, featuring the improved artwork in full HD resolution, and including the fixes from the [=3DS=] port (on top of providing more fixes, including restoring the remaining animation frames).
* TheWoobie: Pearl. Oh, you poor kid. Her role as TheWoobie is most significant in ''Justice for All'', where in case 2-4, she lays out all the bad stuff that's happened to her when you talk to her in your office [[spoiler:after Maya's kidnapping, particularly when she says Maya is the only family she has left]]. And then there's her role in case 3-5, where [[spoiler:she's used once again by her mother to try to kill the girl who is her remaining closest family]]. Adding to that, [[spoiler:she couldn't even channel Dahlia when she had the chance, so she feared her powers were weakening.]] While her time with Larry in the "Loser's Shack" is mostly played for laughs (Larry's involved after all), it's hard to see her so down. Heck, even [[spoiler:'''Dahlia Hawthorne''', the psychotic killer she was supposed to channel,]] feels sorry for her.
[[/folder]]

* BaseBreakingCharacter: The film's depiction of Maya Fey is divisive amongst fans, largely due to being far less of the bubbly GenkiGirl she was in the games and being more of a [[AdaptationalAngstUpgrade serious and angsty person]]. Some find the changes to work well for the more serious tone of the film and is more appropriate for someone who had just lost her sister to murder, while others [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks dislike the changes to her personality]], feeling the film strips away much of what made her a memorable and likable character in the games, to the point of being borderline Maya Fey InNameOnly.

* PortingDisaster: The original trilogy was initially ported for a CompilationReRelease over to the iOS, which released with many {{game breaking bug}}s and problems from a lack of beta testing and/or laziness: Slowdown was all over the place. Character animations, while better looking, were also choppy, missing several frames (half the characters didn't blink), or flat-out missing. Music would not loop properly, Pearl's theme was missing, and the second and third games used the lower quality GBA soundtrack. Ema Skye's fingerprinting tutorial in the first game was completely omitted, and [[http://36.media.tumblr.com/d1a63b1ce38add85fe8e59c92ff49dac/tumblr_n02z7bthA81rgkwumo1_500.jpg several typos were ADDED]]. And when iOS 7 came out, it broke the HD version to the point that the app simply would not launch, and it took Capcom nearly two months to fix the problem. Thankfully, the 3DS version of the trilogy is miles better: correcting many typos, fixing every issue, and re-adding many animation frames, and the subsequent release for the [=PS4=], Switch, and Xbox One would feature the best of both worlds, featuring the improved artwork in full HD resolution, and including the fixes from the [=3DS=] port.

* BaseBreakingCharacter: The film's depiction of Maya Fey is divisive amongst fans, largely due to being far less of the bubbly GenkiGirl she was in the games and being more of a [[AdaptationalAngstUpgrade serious and angsty person]]. Some find the changes to work well for the more serious tone of the film and is more appropriate for someone who had just lost her sister to murder, while others [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks dislike the changes to her personality]], feeling the film strips away much of what made her a memorable and likable character in the games, to the point that of being borderline Maya Fey InNameOnly.

* BaseBreakingCharacter: The film's depiction of Maya Fey is divisive amongst fans, largely due to being far less of the bubbly GenkiGirl she was in the games and being more of a [[AdaptationalAngstUpgrade serious and angsty person]]. Some find the changes to work well for the more serious tone of the film and is more appropriate for someone who had just lost her sister to murder, while others [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks dislike the changes to her personality]], arguing that the film strips away much of what made her a memorable and likable character in the games.

** The film's version of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYbg8m7LIcc Objection!]] is an suitably intense take that stays faithful to the original 2001 theme, while going for a more serious and cinematic vibe fitting for the film, while also adding in an beautiful version of the objection theme from ''VisualNovel/ApolloJusticeAceAttorney'' at the very end to top it all off.
** The film's take on [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfbPKwz4rC4 Pursuit ~ Corner the Culprit]] goes for a more dramatic and suspenseful take on the iconic theme compared to the fast-paced original theme, but it is still incredibly epic in its own way.

* BaseBreakingCharacter: Maya Fey, largely due to being far less of the bubbly GenkiGirl she was in the games and being more of a [[AdaptationalAngstUpgrade serious and angsty person]]. Some find the changes to work well for the more serious tone of the film and is more appropriate for someone who had lost her sister to murder, while others [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks dislike the changes to her personality]], arguing that the film strips away much of what made her a memorable and likable character in the games.

* BaseBreakingCharacter: Maya Fey, largely due to being far less of the GenkiGirl she was in the games and being more of a [[AdaptationalAngstUpgrade serious and angsty person]]. Some find the changes to work well for the tone of the film and is more appropriate for someone who had lost her sister to murder, while others [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks dislike the changes to her personality]], feeling it makes her feel less like Maya.

* AuthorsSavingThrow: The 3DS version of the trilogy fixes many typos from the original English releases corrected, and some small contradictions and inaccuracies within the text were fixed. [[labelnote:Examples]]Phoenix not acknowledging the events of 1-5 while talking to Franziska in 2-3, and replacing mentions of Adrian Andrews' "co-dependency" with her "dependent personality".[[/labelnote]]

* AuthorsSavingThrow: The 3DS version of the trilogy had many typos corrected, and some small contradictions and inaccuracies within the text fixed. [[labelnote:Examples]]Phoenix not acknowledging the events of 1-5 while talking to Franziska in 2-3, and replacing mentions of Adrian Andrews' "co-dependency" with her "dependent personality".[[/labelnote]]

** Despite it being near universally believed to be the case by English speaking fans, Edgeworth and Franziska are ''not'' adopted siblings in the game canon. Throughout all his appearances, Edgeworth only ever refers to the von Karma's as his mentor and mentor's daughter, and the word Franziska uses to describe him in the original Japanese script is actually more accurately "younger disciple" than "little brother", referring to them both being students of her father. There is a stronger case to be made for them being adopted siblings in the anime continuity due to AdaptationExpansion that does not contradict what is in the games, however.
* FanNickname: Fans typically shorten the various case names to their game number + the case number. For example the first case in the first game, "The First Turnabout", is known as 1-1.