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Ace Attorney[a] is a series of visual novel adventure video games developed by Capcom. With storytelling fashioned after legal dramas, the first entry in the series, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, was released in 2001; since then, five further main series games, as well as various spin-offs, prequels and high-definition remasters for newer game consoles, have been released. Additionally, the series has seen adaptations in the form of a live-action film and an anime, and has been the base for manga series, drama CDs, musicals and stage plays.

The player takes the roles of various defense attorneys, including Phoenix Wright, his mentor Mia Fey, and his understudies Apollo Justice and Athena Cykes, who investigate cases and defend their clients in court; they find the truth by cross-examining witnesses and finding inconsistencies between the testimonies and the evidence they have collected. The cases all last a maximum of three days, with the judge determining the outcome based on evidence presented by the defense attorney and the prosecutor. While the original Japanese versions of the games are set in Japan, the series' localizations are set in the United States (primarily Los Angeles), though retaining Japanese cultural elements. In the spin-off series Ace Attorney Investigations, the player takes the role of prosecutor Miles Edgeworth and in the prequel series The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles, of Phoenix's ancestor Ryunosuke Naruhodo.

The series was created by the writer and director Shu Takumi. He wanted the series to end after the third game, but it continued, with Takeshi Yamazaki taking over as writer and director starting with Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth (2009); Takumi has since returned to write and direct some spin-off titles. The series has been well received, with reviewers liking the characters and story, and the finding of contradictions; it has also performed well commercially, with Capcom regarding it as one of their strongest intellectual properties. The series has been credited with helping to popularize visual novels in the Western world. As of September 30, 2022, the game series has sold 9.6 million units worldwide.[3]

The Ace Attorney games are visual novel adventure games[54] in which the player controls defense attorneys and defends their clients in several different episodes.[55][56][57] The gameplay is split into two types of sections: investigations and courtroom trials.[58][59] During the investigations, the player searches the environments, gathering information and evidence, and talks to characters such as their client, witnesses, and the police.[58] Once enough evidence has been collected, the game moves on to a courtroom trial section.[60][61]

In the courtroom trials, the player aims to get their client declared "not guilty". To do so, they cross-examine witnesses,[58] and aim to find lies and inconsistencies in the testimonies. They are able to go back and forth between the different statements in the testimony, and can press the witness for more details on a statement. When the player finds an inconsistency, they can present a piece of evidence that contradicts the statement.[62][63] If the player is correct, the game presents a sequence that often starts with the protagonist shouting "Objection!" and pointing at the witness along with a shift in music before they begin to grill the witness with the inconsistency, which has become an iconic aspect of the series.[64] The player is penalized if they present incorrect evidence: in the first game, a number of exclamation marks are shown, with one disappearing after each mistake the player makes;[65] in later games, a health bar that represents the judge's patience is used instead; and in 3DS games, the character's lawyer badge is used.[66][67][68] If all exclamation marks or lawyer badges are lost, or the health bar reaches zero, the player loses the game and their client is declared guilty.[65][66][68]

Several Ace Attorney games introduce new gameplay mechanics to the series. Justice for All introduces "psyche-locks", which are shown over a witness when the player asks them about a topic they do not want to discuss; using a magatama, the player can start breaking the psyche-locks by showing the witness evidence or character profiles that proves they are hiding something. The number of psyche-locks depends on how deep the secret is; when all locks are broken, the topic becomes available, giving the player access to new information.[69][70] Apollo Justice introduces the "perceive" system, where the player looks for motions or actions made by witnesses that show nervousness, similar to a tell in poker.[71]

Dual Destinies introduces the "mood matrix", through which the player can gauge the emotions of a witness, such as tones of anger when mentioning certain topics;[72][73] if the player notices a contradictory emotional response during testimony, they can point out the discrepancy and press the witness for more information.[74] Dual Destinies also introduces "revisualization",[75][76] where the player reviews vital facts and forms links between evidence to reach new conclusions.[75] Spirit of Justice introduces "divination séances", in which the player is shown the memories of victims moments before their deaths, and must find contradictions in the victim's five senses to determine what has happened.[77] Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney introduces simultaneous cross-examinations of multiple witnesses, with the player being able to see and hear reactions from the different witnesses to the testimony and using this to find contradictions.[78] The Great Ace Attorney introduces "joint reasoning", where the player finds out the truth by pointing out when their investigative partner Herlock Sholmes takes his reasoning "further than the truth".[79]

The Ace Attorney Investigations spin-off series splits the gameplay into investigation phases and rebuttal phases, the latter of which is similar to the courtroom trials of the main series.[80][81][82] During the investigation phases, the player searches for evidence and talks to witnesses and suspects. Things the player character notices in the environment are saved as thoughts; the player can use the "logic" system to connect two such thoughts to gain access to new information.[80][83] At some points, the player can create hologram reproductions of the crime scene,[80][84] through which they can discover new information that would otherwise be hidden.[85] Ace Attorney Investigations 2 introduces "logic chess", where the player interrogates witnesses in a timed sequence that is visualized as a game of chess, with the player aiming to destroy the other character's chess pieces. To do this, they need to build up their advantage in the discussion by alternating between speaking and listening, and then choose to go on the offensive.[82][86][87]

The protagonist of the first three games is the defense attorney Phoenix Wright (Ryūichi Naruhodō in the Japanese version), who is assisted by the spirit medium Maya Fey;[88] in the third game, Phoenix's mentor Mia Fey is also a playable character.[56] In the fourth game, the protagonist is the defense attorney Apollo Justice;[89] in the fifth, Phoenix, Apollo and the new defense attorney Athena Cykes are all protagonists;[90] and in the sixth, Phoenix and Apollo are the main protagonists, while Athena is playable in one case.[91] The spin-off The Great Ace Attorney is set in England near the end of the 19th century, and follows Phoenix's ancestor Ryunosuke Naruhodo.[92]

Phoenix's childhood friend Miles Edgeworth, who is the protagonist of the Ace Attorney Investigations games,[80][82] is a recurring rival prosecutor character; in addition to him, each new game in the series introduces a new rival:[88] Franziska von Karma is introduced in the second game,[93] Godot in the third,[94] Klavier Gavin in the fourth,[95] Simon Blackquill in the fifth,[96] Nahyuta Sahdmadhi in the sixth,[97] Baron van Zieks in Adventures,[98] and Kazuma Asogi in Resolve.[99] Most of the prosecutor characters are portrayed as powerful and arrogant characters of high social status and who care about keeping perfect-win records in court, and even may favor convictions over finding the truth, although most have secret motivations and sympathetic backstories and typically help the protagonist at the game's climax. Similarly to real Japanese prosecutors, the prosecutors in the series often directly oversee investigations, issuing orders to the police. Japanese attitudes towards the police force are reflected in the series, with the police being represented by incompetent characters such as Dick Gumshoe, Maggey Byrde and Mike Meekins.[100] In the world of Ace Attorney, trials only last three days, and usually end with a "guilty" verdict, with trials taken up by the protagonists of the games being rare exceptions.[88] The outcomes of cases are decided by a judge, based on evidence provided by the defense attorney and the prosecutor.[100]

The series was created by Shu Takumi, who wrote and directed the first three games.[101] The first game was conceived in 2000 when Takumi's boss at the time, Shinji Mikami, gave him six months to create any type of game he wanted to; Takumi had originally joined Capcom wanting to make mystery and adventure games, and felt that this was a big chance for him to make a mark as a creator.[102] The game was designed to be simple, as Takumi wanted it to be easy enough for even his mother to play.[93] It was originally going to be a detective game, with Phoenix being a private investigator, but at one point Takumi realized that finding and taking apart contradictions was not related to detective work, and felt that the main setting of the game should be courtrooms.[103]

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