The Ace Attorney series, known in Japan as “Gyakuten Saiban” (turnabout trial) has established itself as a major player in the interactive visual novel market with five mainstream titles and a variety of cool side-stories and spin-offs like Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney.
The games, while undeniably Japanese in origin right down to the legal framework, have proved extremely popular in the west thanks to some inventive localisation work which has helped smooth down some of those cultural rough edges. Thus, instead of Ryuichi Naruhodo and Odoroki Hosuke, we’re more familiar with their westernised counterparts Phoenix Wright and Apollo Justice. And now the upcoming sixth instalment in the main franchise is set to feature both of these protagonists together in a dual lead role!
The new game, which is due for release in 2016 in Japan, was unveiled at this year’s Tokyo Game Show with a trailer which showed both Phoenix and Apollo as major players in the story. This time the setting is the Kingdom of Kurain, which is apparently populated by spirits of the dead. Phoenix Wright is called upon to defend one of its citizens against an accusation of murder after all of the other lawyers either refuse to get involved or are otherwise disposed. Phoenix will have to deal with laws that are totally unique to this new kingdom of the dead, including key evidence seemingly gleaned from the deceased through paranormal means.
Stay tuned to the end of the trailer and you can see Apollo appear, swearing to win the case even though Phoenix is “not around”. We’re wondering if something spooky happens to put the boss of “Wright Anything” out of commission!
Check out the trailer here:
While the series is undoubtedly popular in the west, some of the Japanese reactions to the new trailer online haven’t been especially positive. The inclusion of Apollo in particular has drawn several snarky comments, such as “We don’t need Apollo” and “Phoenix by himself is quite enough.” Others pointed out that the previous game in the main series, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies also featured both Phoenix and Apollo in leading roles. Perhaps Japanese fans are growing tired of the same old formula, although we think the new spooky setting of the game does sound pretty compelling to this writer—you certainly won’t be hearing any cries of “Objection!” from us.
Source: Jin115
Main image: Screenshot via YouTube/CapcomChannel