This trend unfortunately stopped by the time the series reached the Nintendo 3DS, with Capcom making titles like Dual Destinies and Spirit of Justice digital exclusives in the west due to their perceived lack of sales potential. By the time Apollo Justice released, the Ace Attorney series had gone on to become Capcom's 9th best-selling series of all time. It also helped that the game had received major critical success in the west, with some reviews hailing it as a "revival of the adventure game genre." Ultimately, the Nintendo DS version of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney alone would go on to ship over 100,000 copies by February 2007, something Capcom's higher ups did not expect, and the company quickly got to localizing the game's two sequels while Shu Takumi and the team in Japan would work on the next major entry in the series, Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney. This also applies to other characters in the series, as in Japan artist Tatsuto Iwamoto voiced Miles Edgeworth's voice lines, however in the English release these were done by Capcom employee Seon King. As many fans will know that in Japan, Phoenix's voice lines for "Objection!" and "Hold It!" are voiced by series creator in Shu Takumi, however, in the English release, this voice is done by translater Ben Judd. The localization team even got to leave their mark on the game in other ways. Smith, leader of the localization efforts, whose first task was to translate the characters' pun-heavy Japanese names into English in a way that respected the source material.įor example, while the name "Phoenix Wright" explains itself rather well in English, in Japanese the character goes by the name "Ryuichi Naruhodo." The word "Naruhodo" in Japanese commonly means "I see" or "I understand." Translations like these are what led to hilarious iconic like "Lotta Hart" and "Frank Sawhit," which are still a major part of the series' identity to this very day. Since the game was developed primarily by a small team of seven, the localization was likewise handled by an outsourced team by the name of Browne Global. Overall, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney took Takumi and his team at Capcom Production Studio 4 merely ten months to develop, with most of the work tied to the game's art and writing.Īn element of the Ace Attorney series that has come to define it over the years in western territories is the series' now iconic localization. Takumi initially envisioned Ace Attorney as a Gameboy Color game, however after being presented a demo of Mega Man: Battle Network on the Gameboy Advance, he decided to switch to the newer Nintendo handheld. This was after Mikami game Takumi six months to conceptualize any type of game he wanted to make, and since Takumi initially joined Capcom to create mystery games, it was a match made in heaven. With the popularity of the visual novel genre in mind, after finishing up his work on Dino Crisis 2 with Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami, Shu Takumi decided he wanted his next game to be a visual novel - with the intention of making a game so simplistic that even his mother could play it. While mystery games were the central focus for the genre during its inception, it later led to the creation of sub-genres many fans know today, such as the dating-sim genre of games.
PHOENIX WRIGHT SCUTTLEBUTT SERIAL
While the visual novel genre did not see major mainstream western success until the late 90s/ early 2000s thanks to titles for the PlayStation and PC platforms, in Japan the history of the genre dates all the way back to 1983 thanks to games such as Portopia Serial Murder Case and the Famicom Detective Club titles. With that in mind, here's a brief dive into the legacy of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, 20 years later. The game even went on to inspire an entire series which just this year saw a major localization of The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles, two games that fans have been waiting to play in English for years. While the game wouldn't come to western markets until its Nintendo DS port in 2005, it had a profound impact on the visual novel genre, with the entire genre owing a lot of its current success to Phoenix Wright and its popularity in both Japan and the rest of the world. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney originally released in Japan on October 12th, in 2001 for Gameboy Advance systems. One franchise that should not go overlooked, however, is Capcom's Ace Attorney series, which turns 20 today.
Given that 2021 is a major year for video game anniversaries, it's expected that some of the smaller victories for the industry will get caught in the shuffle as companies and communities celebrate the anniversaries of iconic franchises and games such as The Legend of Zelda, Halo, Grand Theft Auto 3, and Sonic the Hedgehog.
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