Objection!

I just finished playing Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney for the Nintendo DS. I'm considering cosplaying as one of the game's characters when I go to Otakon in July. There are a few more options for brown-haired people in this installment than in the original trilogy, after all, but the outfits are a tad elaborate for my sewing skills (and lack of a sewing machine).

I'm generally an RPG person, not that I really play that many games. Outside of the Ace Attorney series, I have Pokémon Black, Chrono Trigger, Golden Sun: Dark Dawn, and The World Ends With You for my personal library (though I've traded around for other games). The size of my library proves a bit revealing of how little I tend to spend. I'd much rather trade around the games I have with friends.

But back on topic: Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney is the fourth installment of the Ace Attorney series of video games. The games are Capcom products and were a popular import from Japan for a while, hence the amount of fanfiction and fanart floating around the internet that uses the Japanese names. Originally, the series was a trilogy of games released for the Game Boy Advance. They starred Naruhodou Ryuuichi (or Ryuuichi Naruhodou in Western name order), better known as Phoenix Wright. Naruhodou is a phrase meaning "I see," which works the same in Japanese as it does in English. Ryuuichi means "Dragon no. 1," so "Phoenix" sort of preserves the mystical animal thing. Interestingly enough, Ho-oh the sacred fire bird and Shenlong the dragon god are the partners in the flow of yin and yang in Taoism, but I don't think the choice of a phoenix was necessarily that deep.

Anyway, the GBA games did well, and became popular English-patched ROMs and imports. Later, the series was re-released for the Nintendo DS, and finally given an official localization. Then, taking gameplay elements and even characters from the special DS-only bonus case of the first game, the fourth game was made, set seven years after the original trilogy. The new hero is Apollo Justice, or Odoroki Housuke (which is something confusing like "king mired in the mud rejoicing mediator of law"). Phoenix has become a bit of a bum, and yet he is now the veteran mastermind orchestrating the events of the game. His love interests, both of them, have disappeared without explanation (exactly how much prison time did Iris get, anyways?). And the big supernatural mechanic is gone without a trace until one special part of the fourth case, at which point that trace is just kind of there. Another, far more tedious gameplay / plot element is introduced instead. And the third case is quite possibly the worst courtroom segment in the series. How many times can YOU watch the same 32 bit partially 3D synthesized singing music video?

The game was simplified quite a bit. No more presenting character profiles, which means that if you want someone to think of a certain character, you either need a photograph or some kind of item that ties them together. No more psyche-locks, at least until the second-to-last segment of the last case. None of the cases go three days, meaning they're rather short, on the whole. What to present tends to be a lot more obvious, though there was still one point where I just found myself presenting everything (this game's equivalent of button-mashing). But these are things I have to say as someone who has played the rest of the series. The sound is good, really, always keeping me immersed in the mood (Lamiroir's theme song and Klavier's guitar solo are particularly note-worthy), despite my mixed feelings towards "The Guitar's Serenade." Having the recycled GBA sounds and backgrounds in the flashback courtroom segment really shows the differences between the platforms, when I see Phoenix's character sprite and hear his voice.

Trucy Wright is an enjoyable sidekick, though I think they should have cut out the Easter eggs. I know that seems a bit weird, since those are generally there to reward loyal fans, but the whole step-ladder routine...isn't tired, but it was Maya's thing with Phoenix. Reusing it with Apollo and Trucy just makes them feel like substitutes. A lot of Apollo's lines are exactly lifted from Phoenix's, such as when presenting the wrong evidence. For the judge, that's fine, since he's the same character, but Phoenix and Apollo? Not so much so. I wish Maya had at least made a cameo. And Phoenix doesn't feel like the same person in this game. Meanwhile, what happened to Gumshoe? Did he finally get fired? Where's Edgeworth? Was law no longer worth it without his rival? Von Karma? Ema Skye was easily one of my favorite characters, but when compared to her original appearance in the bonus case of the first game, doesn't it seem like a let-down that she never became a forensic investigator?

Don't get me wrong: I love this game. I've loved every one of the games in this series, which is why I continue to buy them instead of a flashcart and a miniSD card. Now I just have to get Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth and pray that its sequel gets localized. That and wait for the crossover with Professor Layton that's coming out for the 3DS eventually.