Ace Attorney is a series that I’ve only discovered in recent years, thanks to the Ace Attorney Trilogy collection for Nintendo Switch. I knew of Phoenix Wright, mainly through memes and other references, but prior to that, I had never actually played the original games. Once I did, I gained an appreciation for Ace Attorney, especially its unique sense of humor, strong characterization, and challenging scenarios. The general idea is that you’re playing the role of a lawyer, gathering clues and then spotting contradictions in witness testimony. While the situations presented are completely implausible from a legal point of view, the Ace Attorney games are usually entertaining enough to overlook those issues.
The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles is a similar collection as the Ace Attorney Trilogy, and it works in a similar way if you’ve played that. Shu Takemi, creator, writer, and designer of the original Ace Attorney, returned for these games, and that gives this series a tonal consistency. The collection is comprised of the two existing Great Ace Attorney games, though this is the first time it has been ported to the West.
These games were originally made for the Nintendo 3DS, and the reason they took so long to port mainly comes down to legal reasons because of characters used in the games. These games draw on characters from the Sherlock Holmes series, with Holmes himself as a major supporting character; these characters have an inconsistent copyright status depending on the part of the world that it’s published in. Moreover, Holmes is not completely in the public domain in the US, with several stories still under copyright. Seeking to avoid these legal issues, Capcom (perhaps wisely) decided to present the Western version of Holmes as a parody analogue named “Herlock Sholmes”, a tongue-in-cheek reference to Maurice Leblanc’s version of Holmes from the Arsene Lupin novels. As Sholmes in Great Ace Attorney is a very different character from the traditional Holmes, this is perhaps just as well.
Though Sholmes is the most recognizable character in these games, he is not the central figure. The main character is a Ryonosuke Naruhodo, an ancestor of Phoenix Wright who ends up drawn into the legal profession largely by circumstance. There is a certain Wright-ness to Ryonosuke as presented in this game, although the character and the story are somewhat different to Phoenix Wright. Ryonosuke’s arc is about gaining the confidence and self-assurance to be a lawyer, and having to adjust to a new career that he had never planned on pursuing. Still, there are elements in common between Ryonosuke and Phoenix—they both snark on the goofiness of the characters and situations around them in much the same way. Like Phoenix, Ryonosuke has his own Maya Fey in the form of Susato, the Japanese daughter of a medical examiner who serves as a judicial assistant. Susato is likewise different from Maya, however; she relies on jujitsu and legal training as opposed to the mystical heritage of the Fey family. The remaining characters consist of Sholmes and a young inventor girl named Iris Wilson, who provide assistance to Ryonosuke’s legal team. The series even offers a Miles Edgeworth figure in the form of Baron Van Zieks, the “Grim Reaper of the Old Bailey”, likewise different enough from Edgeworth that the series doesn’t feel like a retread. The cast is altogether quite solid, keeping the feel of the original Ace Attorney cast while feeling like something different.
The gameplay of Great Ace Attorney starts out very similar to the early Phoenix Wright games before evolving into something entirely different. The series begins with something comfortable and familiar before branching out into new gameplay mechanics, which may be the most sensible approach with this kind of game. The first episode focuses mainly on the basic courtroom mechanics, where you’re given a Court Record with the clues in the case, with the object of spotting and calling out contradictions in the testimony given by the witnesses. This plays out exactly like the early Phoenix Wright games, but later episodes branch out into newer territory. The second episode introduces the changes to the investigation scenes with the introduction of Sholmes. In these games, Sholmes is presented as a great detective who is led astray by following the wrong clues. As Ryonosuke, it is your task to lead Sholmes down the correct path, pointing out the correct clues to follow so that Sholmes makes the correct deductions. Otherwise, the investigation scenes are likewise not so different from Phoenix Wright, though the Sholmes deduction sequences offer something different and these scenes are fun to play through.
Once the action arrives in London, the game introduces the changes to the courtroom scenes, with one major wrinkle—cases there are decided by a jury system. Although presented as the English legal system in the Victorian era, the jury presented in this game can decide on a summary judgment if they are set on finding your client guilty. This leads to a summation examination, where as Ryonosuke, you must pit jurors against each other by spotting and exposing contradictory statements between jurors. The game also makes you cross-examine multiple witnesses at once, and as lead defense counsel, you will occasionally have to call out reactions to the testimony given by other witnesses. This is in addition to the usual features of the Ace Attorney games, such as pressing witness statements and presenting contradictory evidence to expose lies given by witnesses. Though this approach is likely not how cases were tried in 19th Century Britain, this series has always approached the law in exaggerated and sometimes ludicrous ways for comedic effect. The gameplay remains entertaining and accessible as the series always is, and the cases are fascinating and sometimes even morally complex. Shu Takemi continues to deliver good Ace Attorney stories, and the innovation in the gameplay keeps the series fresh and engaging.
All in all, it has been a pleasure to return to the world of Ace Attorney, and The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles is a worthy addition to the series. There are occasional moments when the silliness of the series is a little too much for me, especially in the games’ approach to the law or the over-the-top comedic portrayal of Sherlock Holmes. Still, if you can embrace the humor and charm of the Ace Attorney games for what they are, you should have a good time with The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles, especially if you’re a fan of the series. This game gives you a comfortable and recognizable experience while also offering something new to the series, and that’s often a difficult balance to achieve well. It’s my hope that Shu Takemi will return to do more Ace Attorney games, because he hasn’t lost his touch in the slightest. If you’re a fan of the older games or just want an accessible way into Ace Attorney, The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles should deliver on that and then some.
Score: 4.5/5
Platform: Nintendo Switch
Publisher: Capcom
Author Profile
- Steve Sellers had been a fan of superheroes ever since Superman: The Movie. But it took the JSA, the Legion of Super-Heroes, Dragonlance, Lord of the Rings, Twilight Zone, and Chris Claremont's legendary run on the X-Men to make him a writer and a longtime fan of comics, fantasy, and science fiction. Steve is the co-creator of WHITE DRUID & MICHAEL NERO and GUARDIANS OF ELAYIM for Omen Comics, and he is also the creator of BLITZ and SHOCKWAVE for Revelation Comics (an imprint of Omen Comics).
