References to other media from Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of Justice.
- In keeping with the new spiritual theme of the game, Ahlbi Ur'gaid's dog Shah'do resembles Missile (the ghost dog, not the police dog.)
- In this countdown video
, Maya Fey says "Steel Samurai Maya Smelting", which is the name of Phoenix Wright's Hyper Combo that involves her in Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3. - In the Khura'inese court, the gallery calls for Phoenix's head several times, sometimes while chanting "Exterminate! Annihilate!"
- In Case 1:
- When Ahlbi demands that Phoenix Wright "give back" the time he spent planning for Phoenix's tour upon discovering he is a lawyer, Phoenix thinks: "Sadly, I'm a lawyer, not a time lord..."
- The first time somebody does a 180 in their personality for the plot, Phoenix exasperatedly thinks "...And now for something completely different...".
- At one point, when talking about music, Phoenix thinks "I've got chills, and they're multiplying...".
- The witness for the first trial is a hippie monk named Pees'lubn Andistan'dhin, and of course, at one point Phoenix asks him, "What's so funny, Pees'lubn Andistan'dhin?"
- Sometimes the gallery would add to his performance using a tune that vaguely goes 'stomp, stomp, clap, stomp, stomp'.
- "Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce to you: Brother Dumb and Brother Dumber..."
- The afterlife in Khura'inism is known as the Twilight Realm. While that might or might not be a shout out on its own, the fact that at one point Andistan'dhin refers to himself as the "Twilight Messenger" is.
- When Phoenix accuses Andistan'dhin's testimony of being off, Andistan'dhin believes Phoenix is talking about his music and wonders if Phoenix likes "Orchestra" or "Jazz Soul" better (referencing both the Gyakuten Meets Orchestra and Gyakuten Meets Jazz Soul albums).
- Pees'lubn Andistan'dhin references Twisted Sister in "The Foreign Turnabout" by saying "I'm not gonna take it! No, I ain't gonna take it!"
- "You're ridin' on the crazy train to nowhere, lawyer-man!"
- In case 1, the following exchange happens:Gallery: Long may [Rayfa] live and prosper!
Phoenix: (Hey! I want to live long and prosper too!)- Coincidentally, the English release of Spirit of Justice coincided with the fiftieth anniversary of Star Trek.
- In case 2:
- Mr. Reus is based on the Joker card, and his green-and-purple color scheme might bring The Joker and Kamen Rider Double's CycloneJoker form to mind.
- After the first conversation with Trucy at the Detention Center, if you talk to a grieving Athena and try to console her by telling her to wipe the snot off her face, she snappily asks if Apollo has never heard of "Into Each Life Some Boogers Must Fall".
- If you examine the birdcage in the dressing room, a sound from the veiled birdcage next to the open one calls out "Coooo coooo ka-tchooooooooo!"
- The twist of Case 2 (Mr Reus went underground after an injury, got someone else to assume his identity, and the impostor later died) brings Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain to mind.
- The twist with Bonny de Famme brings to mind The Prestige.
- While giving Apollo and the player the tutorial for investigations in Case 2, Athena exclaims, "Ten points for House Justice!"
- During the first investigation, while Apollo is in deep thought on how the rubber sword could have been switched, Athena shouts to him: "Ground Control to Major Apollo! Can you hear me, Major Apollo?"
- At one point, Bonny (Betty) de Famme refers to Athena specifically as a Know-Nothing Know-It-All, in reference to the The Simpsons' episode "Lisa the Vegetarian".
- In continuing with the ancient references relating to Apollo, Nahyuta's attack towards him using his prayer beads note is similar to the sutra from the Journey to the West used on Sun Wukong in order to make him obey during the journey. Luckily for Apollo, it isn't as successful as it was in the source material.
- When Apollo and Athena discuss the comic books the former has on his desk, Athena jabs at him about researching street fighting.
- Presenting the wrong evidence while cross-examining ends with this exchange:Judge: And just as I said earlier, Mr. Justice, I have a whopper of a penalty for that bluff.
Apollo: Owie... (I guess I can't always have it my way...) - During Roger Retinz/Mr. Reus's Villainous Breakdown, he yells "It's not my fault! I'm not the one to blame!"
- In case 3:
- A highly revered figure, worshipped as a god for taking the law into their own hands and executing criminals, is appropriately named Kee'ra.
- For bonus points, adding to the above, knowing people's names and faces is both an important part of Khura'in spiritualism, and a necessary prerequisite to using said Artifact of Death.
- When Phoenix converses with Maya in the Detention Center, she says, "And I think we're not in Kansas anymore..."
- A Khura'inese board game similar to chess, where the goal is to capture all enemy pieces and each piece has a special move that can be used once per game, is called Kachu'demahl.
- After learning the time of death had been faked when she was previously told how it could be accurately determined using forensic science:Rayfa: Barbed Head! You... You blinded me with science!
- When Abbot Inmee is channelled into Maya's body in Case 3, he asks the judge if he too has "shuffled off the mortal coil".
- At the end of the case, Rayfa says, "You know nothing, Maya Fey!"
- Inga specifically calls the Defiant Dragons rebel scum.
- In case 4:
- At the beginning of the fourth case, when Athena's client is late, Widget says the following:
- At one point, Blackquill tells Athena, "You'd best screw your courage to the sticking place and attack their testimony head-on!"
- When Athena yells at Owen a second time to get him to open up on the real culprit, she reacts in shock again with an internal monologue: "(Oops! I did it again!)"
- In Case 5 (part 1):
- At the beginning, Dhurke says that the Defiant Dragons are like "the good, the bad and the ugly, except without the 'good' part."
- The Yashichi symbol that has shown up in many Capcom games appears in Case 5 as a computer icon within the E-mail evidence.
- The clay automaton in Professor Buff's study likewise yells "EX-TER-MI-NATE. EX-TER-MI-NATE. DES-TROY ALL TAR-GETS."
- The second time you get to the Doctor's Study and examine the automaton, it springs to life and yells "EX-TER-MI-NATE. EX-TER-MI-NATE. DES-TROY ALL HU-MANS."
- After you present the photo of Apollo's father to Sarge, the next time you show him irrelevant evidence, he gives Apollo a lesson on evidence, before Apollo makes an inner monologue aside: "(And I guess that's all he has to say about that.)"
- Sarge claims that "A modern-day warrior must be well-versed in technology... and have mean, mean pride!"
- During Case 5, while investigating Dr. Buff's study, Apollo and Dhurke have a minor dispute about whether a hanging relic is either a bird or a plane.
- When questioning Pearl Fey about why Dr. Buff was at the bus stop, she lies and says that rain spirits were at the bus stop, a possible nod to My Neighbor Totoro.
- During Case 5, Paul Atishon attempts to avert suspicion away from him by saying "I am not a crook."
- "Ask not what you can do for your country, ask what you can do for me!"
- If you press the third statement of Ema's testimony during the cross-examination, she will say that "good intentions are no get-out-of-jail-free card. That's a fact."
- In the same third statement, she says that Buff was "a classic treasure hunter", to which Athena ponders whether or not Buff had "thrilling adventures in exotic places, risking life and limb for glory"; Apollo lampshades this by saying that it's unlikely that Buff was the star of his own movie series.
- When Sarge claims that Athena has no place on the "battlefield" (referring to the courtroom), she counters by saying "This G.I. Jane's always ready for a fight in the courtroom!"
- In one of Paul Atishon's testimonies, he states that he was "walking alone, lost in thought."
- In the same testimony, if you press one statement, Atishon boasts about elections for him from the platform, leaving Apollo unamused and thinking, "(Clearly, his is a platform, told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.)"
- One of the penalty dialogues during Case 5 has the Judge and Phoenix sing Kenny Rogers' "The Gambler."Apollo:: (I don't know what's worse: the penalty, or their singing.)
- Sgt. Buff's drone has a minigun as part of its arsenal. They later admit that their mother was part of the Russian military, making them part-Russian. A Russian prominently using a minigun? That sounds familiar...
- In case 5 (part 2):
- Dhurke tells Inga on the phone that he's "just your friendly neighborhood dragon."
- A key point is that a villain character is secretly suffering from prosopagnosia, much like in Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors.
- Also, said character is trying to overthrow a female mastermind, who outsmarts him in part by exploiting his disability.
- Upon examining the desk in Inga's quarters in Case 5 and seeing the amount of execution paperwork, Edgeworth declares "something is rotten in the Kingdom of Khura'in".
- The name of the hair color spray on Inga's desk is "Je Suis L'Belle", which is a parody of the "Je suis Charlie" logo.
- The name of the hair color spray on Inga's desk is "Je Suis L'Belle", which is a parody of the "Je suis Charlie" logo
- If you check the curtains in the front of Amara's Tomb (which is functionally the door), Athena thinks somebody else could have hidden there and has solved the case because it's impossible to see through them. Ema shoots her down saying that the royal guards have already thoroughly inspected that area during their siege and found nobody. Athena's response takes a cue from Tsubomi Hanasaki's Unsettling Gender-Reveal.Athena: (crying in frustration) My brilliant deduction — destroyed in three sentences.
- After Athena's theory about the identity of one of Inga's jacket buttons is denied by Ema, Apollo says "See? Every puzzle has an answer, Athena". Fitting, since Phoenix met the professor himself once.
- In the final case, Phoenix and Apollo are amazed by Queen Ga'ran's transformation, calling it an "extreme makeover".
- Occurs during a very tragic scene where Apollo suffers a Heroic BSoD when he learns Dhurke was murdered. He basically utters "What... was I even fighting for?"
- At one point in "Turnabout Time Traveler", Athena attempts to psych Phoenix up with the phrase "Just do it!"
- Larry: Ellyyyyyy... You're breaking my achy breaky heart!
- Athena: I think I'll take "Toilets" for $200 instead, Mr. Wright...
- The case is about time travel and The Power of Love is brought up, which brings Back to the Future to mind. As a bonus, Edgeworth's theme plays at one point, the opening chords of which are reminiscent of the film's theme music as well as his car pulling up, which can make a few players think that the DeLorean was going to show up.
