Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth



A spinoff of Ace Attorney, Ace Attorney Investigations landed its American and European releases in February 2010. Investigations puts Edgeworth as the main character, along with sidekicks Dick Gumshoe and the newcomer self-declared thief Kay Faraday. The game took on a more traditional point-and-click adventure game style, with walking sprites exploring areas rather than simply moving from scene to scene. Rather than engaging in courtroom battles, Edgeworth solves mysteries through Logic, and by countering arguments from witnesses, culprits and the cocky Interpol Special Agent Shi-Long Lang.

A sequel, Gyakuten Kenji 2, was released in Japan in February 2011. It features a system called "Logic Chess". This does not necessitate playing chess, but instead acts as a visual metaphor. When Edgeworth can't find a fault in the witness' testimony he can instead ask one of two questions. Asking the correct one will cause the player to "take" one of their "pieces", allowing the "game" to move further. An incorrect choice will have the reverse happen, and the player will lose points from their Truth meter. There are no plans for the sequel to be localized at this time.

A character sheet for the whole series can be found here.

":Edgewooooooorth! The game isn’t over yet! I... I...
 * Absence of Evidence:
 * In the first case, the killer claimed to have lost his keys and asked a security guard to open the door to "his" office for him. The absence of the security guard's prints on his door, combined with some other evidence and Logic, suggests that.
 * In a later case, the absence of blood on the hilt of a knife that was found inside a victim suggests that
 * Absolute Cleavage: Cammy Meele
 * Accuse the Witness In Case 5, Lang accuses of the murder of DeMasque II.
 * Ascended Extra: Lotta can be spotted in AAI, and it's implied she takes a picture important to the case, but she's never identified.
 * Affectionate Parody: at one point uses the famous "HOLD IT!", but then apologizes for being too loud and simply says "Hold it".
 * Similarly, Miles using "OBJECTION!" during case two, only to get called on it. He thinks to himself that it's a force of habit.
 * Alphabetical Theme Naming: Allebahst and Babahl were originally one country named Cohdopia.
 * Always Murder: More obvious in case 3, where the crime is originally just a standard kidnapping.
 * Similar deal with AAI2 where
 * Subverted in The  case seemingly has no victim, until a body is found.
 * Amateur Sleuth: Edgeworth does far more of the detective work than any of the actual police. Somewhat justified, as a majority of the prosecutors and police are more concerned with getting a guilty verdict than actually finding the truth.
 * Ambidextrous Sprite: Pretty much everyone, but it's particularly noticeable with Franziska, who gets another mole on both sides of her face because of this trope, and, whose shoulder the kanji is reversed.
 * Amoral Attorney: takes this to its logical conclusion,  Then again,  We also have prosecutor Jacques Portsman, who is the killer in the first case and . According to Gumshoe he's been suspected of tampering with evidence since a long time back. Oh, and  in Ace Attorney Investigations 2.
 * Anachronism Stew: Case 4
 * : Case 3 of AAI2 has you
 * Anime Hair: Rhoda Teneiro and her 3-layered cube-shaped bun.
 * Arc Words: KG-8 and "seven years ago"
 * Armor-Piercing Slap: This is the game where Franziska will easily whip Edgeworth. She'll whip him a good number of times in required scenes, more if you press certain things or present the wrong evidence. Edgeworth and Gumshoe are also her victims-by-proxy whenever she doesn't want to whip the person who wronged her.
 * Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Gumshoe cleverly hangs a lampshade on it.
 * Art Shift: Detective Tyrell Badd is drawn in a similar, but noticeably different, style with facial definition and dark colors that markedly contrast everyone else's simple faces and bright colors.
 * Asshole Victim: Probably Lance Amano from the third case.
 * wins the prize for Assholiest Victim in the series. . The cast even notes he was as much of a selfish prick as his killer.
 * Subverted with
 * In the sequel, we have Manosuke Naitō and, Isaku Hyōdō. But even they are eventually out-assholed by.
 * Back for the Finale: . A rarity as he usually shows up in the same game before the last case.
 * In the sequel,, among others.
 * Bait and Switch Boss: The killer from case 4 Nope, it's either  or  both of which had suspicious names in the Japanese version. (Damian and Carnage, respectively). While both of these characters are awesome, a section of the fans would have preferred   to have been the Big Bad.
 * Be as Unhelpful as Possible: You prove that couldn't have been the murderer after a lengthy discussion with Lang. After that,  questions your theory and you have to play another discussion to convince him that he couldn't have been the murderer, while he tries to prove you wrong. In front of Lang.
 * Completely averted with Colias Palaeno. When Edgeworth asks if he can investigate, Palaeno says to go right ahead. No questions, no testimony, nothing.
 * Gumshoe leaves out details from his testimony because he doesn't want it to get out that.
 * Big Bad:.
 * Big Bad Ensemble: in AAI2.
 * Big Damn Heroes:The final case takes this to an art form.
 * They even hang a lampshade on it when.
 * Big No: in case 2 does one of these directly before her Motive Rant while '''
 * Edgeworth himself has one when he realizes
 * Bilingual Bonus: Several name puns are in non-English languages--for example, Quercus Alba = Latin for "white oak" and Shi-Long Lang = Chinese for "soldier dragon wolf"--the "soldier dragon" of the "wolf" family.
 * Quercus alba is actually the scientific name for the white oak, just as Colias palaeno is the scientific name for the Moorland Clouded Yellow.
 * Book'Em Danno: The end of AAI2 case one.

Edgeworth: That’s enough. This game will continue in the courtroom."

"Kay: Dark skies of evening, when no other bird dares to take wing, one alone remains all-seeing! Now, witness the true power of a real, modern-day Robin Hood!"
 * Brick Joke: A minor one. In case 3, Lang's agents sound off from one to a hundred. Lang gets annoyed at this and tells them that in his book, everyone is number one. Later on in case 5, Lang's men sound off with a chorus of one's.
 * The brick bounces and lands again in case 5 of AAI2, where Lang is working with only one of his subordinates, who offers to count off to cheer Lang up. When he realizes just "one" is unimpressive, he starts going through various ways of saying "one".
 * Broken Pedestal: Edgeworth's respect for is emphasized here for Dramatic Irony, but it also turns out that, another person he respects, is also a criminal.
 * Ambassador Palaeno evidently placed a great deal of trust and respect on Manny Coachen, constantly talking about how he let the guy do all the important work for him and how much he relied on him, and is outright shocked when he is revealed to have been a genuine criminal.
 * But Thou Must!: A notable one near the end of the game, even by Ace Attorney standards.
 * By the Power of Grayskull: While she doesn't transform or anything, Kay evokes this when she's about to use Little Thief.

"Gumshoe:"
 * Call Forward: Case 3 gives us a glimpse of the Gavinners' equipment along with their logo on a stage. A banner emblazoned with "Troupe Gramarye" is also nearby.
 * Also, the Borginians, and
 * Another from Case 4:

"Kay: Wow, you really know how to laugh at inappropriate moments!"
 * The Cameo: All over the place.
 * Canis Latinicus: The "Theatrum Neutralis" in the fifth case.
 * Catch Phrase: Unique to this game Edgeworth gets "Eureka!" for his.
 * The same game gives us Shi-Long Lang's Not so fast! which is fitting as he's not a lawyer of any kind but an Interpol agent.
 * Lang Zi says: ...
 * Chekhov's Boomerang: also gets more than its fair share of use in the last leg of of the fifth case.
 * In GK2, Naitō's chessboard, ring and the photo of Kazami and Hyoudou with their sons.
 * Chekhov's Gunman: In the first case, Gumshoe delivers the line "So I guess only a GREAT cat burglar could get in! That must be who our culprit is!".
 * in the sequel.
 * The Chessmaster: Looks like they'll be playing this one literally in AAI2.
 * Also,, metaphorically.
 * Click Hello: Badd gets the drop on during the last case.
 * Co-Dragons: and  to  in AAI2.
 * Computer Equals Monitor: Averted in case 2 of the first game. The group finds a cell phone with a broken screen, but some experimentation shows its internals are still fine, and another character is able to transfer a case-relevant photo off of it to another phone.
 * Concealing Canvas: Edgeworth's office has a variation--instead of a painting canvas, it's the frame for a suit jacket he used to wear.
 * Continuity Nod: Has plenty of these, usually when you meet up with a fellow character from another game.
 * There's also a very minor one in case 3 --if you look behind the stage at the stadium, you can see a sign for "Troupe Gramarye", as well as the Gavinners' logo. Case 4 gives a reference to Phoenix getting hit on the head with a Fire Extinguisher.
 * If you examine the sign up during the re-creation scene, it mentions the Gavinners and Max Galactica vs Troupe Gramarye as upcoming events.
 * At one point, Franziska discounts some evidence by pointing out that, "people can't fly". Edgeworth then claims to have worked on a case involving a flying person (3-5), and after a pause, Franziska realizes that she's actually worked on two (2-3 and 3-5).
 * Also in Case 3 we see in the background near the entrance to the park. But only if you go there before there's any real reason to do so.
 * Kay asks if she can keep a bear statue that she found in Edgeworth's possession, referencing 2-4.
 * Don't forget, if you examine the Judge's seat in Case 4, you get an exchange about Edgeworth having a nightmare about being squashed by the Judge's gavel. This nightmare is a reference to the one Phoenix has at the beginning of 2-1 and 2-4. Same case, if you examine the
 * On the airplane, Edgeworth recalls a traumatizing experience when
 * Manfred Von Karma boasts that he would have found Manny Coachen guilty in three minutes.
 * AAI2 gives Gregory and Badd having a conversation about ladders and step ladders.
 * This also appears in the first one, between Edgeworth (ladder) and Kay (step-ladder). Kay comments that from a thief's perspective, the best kind is a rope ladder. Miles thinks that from a prosecutor's perspective, all ladders are equally guilty - of being dangerous during an earthquake.
 * Continuity Porn: Beside being a Midquel starring Edgeworth, Gumshoe, and Franziska, minor characters also return.
 * In the third case of the game, can be seen on a boat in the background,.
 * Also in the third case, there is a Stage with the Gavinners band logo on it and a little sign (that can only be seen during scrolling sequences) saying " <- Troupe Gramarye". And lets not forget the 'Love Letter' from Viola of Tender Lender...
 * If you're paying very close attention in the third case as well, you may notice that.
 * A Running Gag in the first three games is a detective in Criminal Affairs talking to himself, usually image training or some sort. In Rise From The Ashes, he can be found writing a novel where the killer uses a tape to fake a gunshot, which is exactly what  did in Turnabout Reminiscence.
 * Continued in AAI2, which already has confirmed reappearances of . Plus, there will be a flashback case involving.
 * Pretty much the entire Case 3 of AAI2 is this. But it doesn't stop there, you also find out and.
 * The Corpse Stops Here: Lampshaded if you press Lang on his being the first to find Mask DeMasque II's body. Edgeworth will point out that Kay was suspected because she was the first to discover 's body.
 * Cosmetically Advanced Prequel: Case 2 features a camera (possibly "smart" given the owner is described as playing with it) phone, while Apollo Justice has a (already slightly dated at the release) flip phone. Further, has a color video camera with sound, while the original Wright trilogy had all still pictures in black and white.
 * Dark Reprise gains a darker, menacing version of the majestic Cohdopian national anthem as his new Leitmotif, which was previously used as the two ambassadors' leitmotif. The change is so dramatic, you really have to listen really, REALLY closely in order to realize that it's the same piece, only played in a minor key and smoothed over heavily.
 * The sequel gives us three notable ones: of Lang's theme,, and theme for the SS-5 incident is a tragic remix of the Zheng Fa Presidents theme.
 * Deceased Fall Guy Gambit: Attempted by, much to Lang's outrage. Also was originally planning to make it look like Byrne Faraday and Mack Rell killed each other.
 * Death in the Clouds: The second case, Turnabout Airlines.
 * Difficulty Spike: The last third of the final case of AAI has parts that are harder than almost anything else in the game. The last part of the third case is also unusually difficult.
 * Diplomatic Impunity:
 * Disc One Final Boss:.
 * Dodge the Bullet: in case four.
 * The Dragon:
 * to in AAI2.
 * Dramatic Irony: The flashback cases are full of this from the player's point of view (and no doubt a Funny Aneurysm Moment from the point of view of the characters): for example, when, Miles seems to take this as reassurance, whereas any player who's followed the AA series will realize that this is some rather ominous foreshadowing of.
 * Don't forget Edgeworth and Von Karma's lamenting over the fact that Edgeworth would have to wait until a later case before he could conduct his first "perfect" case. In Trials & Tribulations Case 4.
 * Dramatic Wind: Kay gets this at the end of case 5, along with her Scarf of Asskicking.
 * Dude, Where's My Respect?: Edgeworth gets left out of the loop, pushed to the side, and is even in danger of losing his prosecutor position in the second game despite having brought down the smuggling ring in the first. Part of this is presuably to increase the challenge and force him to work on his own.
 * Enemy Rising Behind: In the third case, when Edgeworth drops off the ransom money in an amusement park's Haunted House dining room and steps into the hall, a slumped, seemingly-lifeless costume stands up and begins creeping up behind him.
 * Escapist Character: Kay Faraday is what many Edgeworth fan girls dream of being. She's a cute 'modern-day Robin Hood' and gets to play assistant to Edgey, who feels a deep connection to her because of . She's also Gumshoe's very best friend.
 * Eureka Moment: Taken rather literally. Edgeworth cries this every time he performs a feat of logic.
 * More traditionally, about once per case Edgeworth hits a brick wall in his deductions, only for someone to say or do something mostly unrelated that causes this. He immediately flashes back to a number of previous hints, and the player is given several new pieces of logic to sort through and reach a conclusion.
 * Evil Laugh: both do this when cornered. The latter is Lampshaded.
 * Eureka Moment: Taken rather literally. Edgeworth cries this every time he performs a feat of logic.
 * More traditionally, about once per case Edgeworth hits a brick wall in his deductions, only for someone to say or do something mostly unrelated that causes this. He immediately flashes back to a number of previous hints, and the player is given several new pieces of logic to sort through and reach a conclusion.
 * Evil Laugh: both do this when cornered. The latter is Lampshaded.

"Lang: ! You BASTARD!"
 * Fan Nickname: Ace Attorney Investigations, before that title was bestowed, was called Perfect Prosecutor by the fandom (though early announcements in Nintendo Power magazine also used that name).
 * Gumshoe had been 'Gummy' to the fandom for years beforehand, but Kay makes the nickname canon.
 * Fantasy Counterpart Culture: Zheng Fa, an Asian country where Shi-Long Lang hails from, which at least seems more Chinese than Borginia is any of the traits it's said to have.
 * Cohdopia/Allebahst-and-Bahbahl are even more unclear. Fandom puts them anywhere from the Mediterranean to Eastern Europe.
 * A Father to His Men: Shi-Long Lang, to all 99 of them. And he takes it to ridiculous extremes by remembering the birthday of the younger brother of the wife of the younger brother of one of his officers.
 * When Lang's men are counting off, he gets mad at the MIB (his assistant) because he believes they are all number ones. Later, all 99 of them count off "1!", and at the end, the MIB says that probably all 99 of them are there.
 * Five-Bad Band: The smuggling ring.
 * Big Bad --
 * The Dragon --
 * The Evil Genius --
 * The Brute --
 * Dark Chick --
 * Sixth Ranger Traitor --
 * Five-Man Band: One of these assembles by the end of the last case:
 * The Hero -- Miles Edgeworth
 * The Lancer -- Dick Gumshoe
 * The Smart One -- Franziska Von Karma
 * The Big One --
 * The Chick -- Kay Faraday
 * Sixth Ranger --
 * This group is foreshadowed (at first literally) by the character portraits used on the chapter select screens.
 * In the sequel, the character portrait foreshadowing does not quite apply:
 * The Hero -- Miles Edgeworth
 * The Lancer -- Tateyuki Shigaraki
 * The Smart One -- Franziska von Karma and
 * The Big One -- Dick Gumshoe
 * The Chick -- Kay Faraday
 * Sixth Ranger --
 * Flash Back:
 * To a lesser extent, so are cases 2 and 3; they take place, respectively, two days and one day before the first case.
 * Foregone Conclusion:
 * Foreshadowing: In case five,
 * In case 3, after Lang mocks Edgeworth's investigative skills, Shih-na comments that in a deadpan tone. At first, it seems like a throwaway line, but it makes a lot of sense after you discover that
 * The shadow of the Yatagarasu is caused by  So's the real deal.
 * Along those lines, the real kidnapper of Lance Amano is
 * Found the Killer, Lost the Murderer: In AAI2, On top of that,
 * Frothy Mugs of Water: Hardboiled Badass homicide detective Tyrell Badd's cigarette is eventually revealed to actually be a lollipop. He even keeps a mirror in his coat. However, it allows him "to keep an eye out on who is behind him". It's at least somewhat possible this is a Kojak reference. Who loves ya, Badd?
 * And in case 2, there's a man completely surrounded by variously shaped bottles, some of which are the right shape or color to hold something far stronger than wine, and he still makes reference to having a calming glass of 'grape juice'. I think it's safe to guess they're doing it on purpose now.
 * Futureshadowing: All over the place.
 * Gag Boobs: in has impractically large thingies.
 * Getting Crap Past the Radar: In Case 5 Shi-Long Lang even goes as far to call a bastard.
 * The Ghost: Phoenix Wright. He's referred to obliquely as "him", "that lawyer","a certain defense attorney", and even "the guy in the blue suit", but never by name (even though it's no big secret that Phoenix and Edgeworth are friends), and isn't seen onscreen except for in an easily missable easter egg.
 * Glasses Pull: Shih-na and Lang do this a lot. At some points, they seem to have put on sunglasses while offscreen for the sole purpose of doing this.
 * Grandma, What Massive Hotness You Have!: Detective Badd is 53 (later sixty, with the same sprite) but he looks pretty damn good for his age.
 * Guide Dang It: Though this game has much fewer Guide Dang Its than its predecessors, however one testimony in the third case is incredibly bizarre.
 * The Logic Chess battle against in Case 4 of AAI2 could be considered this. Among other things, it requires you to go back on previous lines of questioning to discover options that weren't there before.
 * Hardboiled Detective: Homicide detective Tyrell Badd
 * Hoist by His Own Petard:
 * Hurricane of Aphorisms: Lang quotes Lang Zi rather often.
 * The Hyena: Calisto Yew.
 * Informed Ability: In case three, upon examining the mic during the stadium re-creation, Edgeworth mentions the only instruments he can play are the flute and piano.
 * Playing the flute is a reference to the second album cover.
 * Ironic Echo: Two near the end of AAI2: first, repeats Edgeworth's "It's game over" line after the final villain is taken down, and during the ending of the case,  mentions "the contradiction of law", which Shigaraki had spoken about earlier.
 * James Bondage: This happens twice to Miles Edgeworth in this game; he's handcuffed in his seat early in Case 2, and in Case 3, he's ambushed by the kidnappers and tied up.
 * Jump Scare: Admit it, while "scare" may be rather strong of a word, made you jump a bit.
 * Karmic Death:
 * The Khan:
 * In the sequel,.
 * Kleptomaniac Hero: Averted for once, it's "Jotted down in the Organizer" unless the object is clearly handed to you, and you can examine it in detail.
 * Laughing Mad:
 * Laser-Guided Amnesia:
 * Last-Second Word Swap: Mike Meekins. "B-b-b-b-however, sir!"
 * Leaning on the Fourth Wall: In case 5, Kay describes Edgeworth's "Logic" ability through the sound effect it makes when you trigger it.
 * In the same case,  compares the whole thing to a game (though that's more a product of  incredible arrogance), and   does not like the introduction he gets in Edgeworth's internal monologue.
 * Life Meter: The usual explanation for how this works is absent here, but Edgeworth can evidently deplete his lifemeter by thinking wrong, if the player screws up the logic segments. Screwups take him "further from the truth", as he explains it.
 * Like Brother and Sister: Gumshoe describes Franziska and Edgeworth as this, at one point.
 * Locked Room Mystery: Case 4
 * Made of Iron: Agent Lang!
 * Magic Realism: Kay's "Little Thief" is a technological equivalent, being a cell-phone sized device able to generate room sized holograms.
 * Marathon Villain:
 * Meaningful Name: .In the Japanese version, where his name is.
 * Mexican Standoff: The final confrontation with.
 * Mind Control Eyes: Cammy Meele has these since she's constantly nodding off.
 * Miscarriage of Justice:
 * Mood Whiplash: Case 4,
 * Musical Nod: Music from older games that was associated with characters from past games.
 * Musical Spoiler: Whenever you hear Confrontation: Presto playing, you know the person you're cross-examining is the killer. Played With in the sequel though, where Presto is often used for characters uninvolved with the murder as a major fake-out. Examples include
 * Mysterious Waif: The "Mysterious Girl" brought to Edgeworth's office in Case 4 of the sequel.
 * Names to Run Away From Very Fast: The Big Bad is also an extremely unsubtle example of this.
 * Never Speak Ill of the Dead: Badd had to yell at for criticizing  right after his death.
 * In the sequel, when  speaks ill of his fallen co-worker, almost everyone believe he's crossed the Moral Event Horizon by doing so.
 * Never Trust a Trailer: The official trailer showed several scenes of Kay Faraday assisting with the investigation of the second case. Edgeworth doesn't meet Kay until the beginning of case 3.
 * No Export for You: The 2nd game (see 29:45)
 * The Many Deaths of You: Every situation where it's possible to get a game over is unique, but they all end with the same line: "Thus, the truth was lost for all eternity."
 * Not So Different: Like in case 3-5, Edgeworth's inner monologue is surprisingly similar to Wright's.
 * Ominous Pipe Organ: There's a bit of pipe organ in  Leitmotif just before it loops.
 * Hakari Mikagami's theme in the sequel features it heavily, presumably to reinforce her "holy" appearance.
 * Only a Flesh Wound:.
 * Origins Episode:
 * Passing the Torch / Take Up My Sword:  does this.   She's...not quite as effective.
 * Phantom Thief: The first Yatagarasu. The second is a Highly-Visible Ninja.
 * Precision F-Strike: In a series where swearing is rare, Lang beautifully delivers one to the villain of the last episode.
 * Only a Flesh Wound:.
 * Origins Episode:
 * Passing the Torch / Take Up My Sword:  does this.   She's...not quite as effective.
 * Phantom Thief: The first Yatagarasu. The second is a Highly-Visible Ninja.
 * Precision F-Strike: In a series where swearing is rare, Lang beautifully delivers one to the villain of the last episode.

"Edgeworth: You know I've seen it occur a lot recently, and it's been bothering me greatly...
 * Real Men Wear Pink: In addition to the title character's suit, Detective Badd has a pink lollipop.
 * The Reveal: 's Laughing Mad moment.
 * Rule of Three: In most of the cases, the third person to come under suspicion is the actual killer.
 * Sequel Difficulty Drop:
 * In nearly every situation Edgeworth's inner monologue would make it clear even to Gumshoe what you're supposed to do next. When you press the testimony for which you must present evidence, Edgeworth will think- and sometimes say out loud- that there is something suspicious about that part, and if you reach the end of the testimony, Edgeworth will make some commentary on the testimony, providing a hint as to the evidence that must be presented (In Case 5, Edgeworth will say once that the relevant evidence was hidden away, and is referring to ). This is probably because many fans mentioned they liked the way he thinks
 * Penalties in the game always take off 10% of your life bar, thus you have 10 chances before a game over, which is pretty easy going compared to the roller coaster of penalties amounts in the previous games.  Although in the sequel's final case, the final boss
 * Serendipity Writes the Plot: Edgeworth's flashback to the DL-6 incident in the 4th case is masked heavily and bordered by a "cloudy" filter (in addition to the series standard of merely putting flashbacks in black and white) to hide the fact that it is reused from the original GBA game (and thus has a 240 × 160 resolution with a 15 bit color depth on a 256 x 192 screen with 18 bit color depth) while Investigations is otherwise free of such sprite reuse (contrast Apollo Justice, where such reuse is very blatant when it occurs).
 * Shout-Out: The painting hanging in the airplane stairway is a reference to Napoleon Crossing the Alps by Jacques-Louis David.
 * Snot Bubble: Cammy Meele.
 * Soundtrack Dissonance: While theme seems like the appropriate track to be played after, the upbeat theme doesn't mesh well with the fact that.
 * It seemed odd that the heroic and noble Great Revival heralds the arrival of.
 * Staring Contest: The fourth case reveals that Edgeworth once won a glaring contest against his own reflection. Somehow.
 * Statute of Limitations: A major plot point in the IS-7 incident.
 * The Syndicate: The smuggling ring.
 * Take That:

Edgeworth: ... but why does nobody know how to properly capitalize and space nouns anymore!?"

"Edgeworth: I suppose this is the Pink Badger? But since it has the same design, doesn't it seem forced to call this one a female?
 * Tap on the Head: Done to Edgeworth by in the first case and the Proto Badger/ in the third case.
 * Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: Discussed as it is applied to the Pink Badger, the Blue Badger's Distaff Counterpart.

Kay: You think so? I mean, just look at how long her eyelashes are!

Edgeworth: That's the only difference.

Kay: And the fact that she's pink.

Edgeworth: Yes, and?

Kay: And her lips are red! See, lipstick!

Edgeworth: (thinking to himself) What? She has nothing to say about the giant pink ribbon, or is that too obvious?"

"Edgeworth: ...Might I recommend that you review what the word "evidence" means."
 * That One Case: KG-8. The sequel features IS-7, . Then there's also SS-5,.
 * The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: Despite being a self-proclaimed thief Edgeworth's sidekick Kay Faraday never actually steals anything. She only steals the truth, apparently.
 * This becomes Hilarious in Hindsight when you realise Phoenix Wright's supposedly non-thief sidekick Maya regularly expressed an interest in "acquiring" items from crime scenes, whereas Kay does not.
 * Thief Bag: Kay, befitting a Great Thief such as herself (in her mind, anyway), wears a pink-and-white-swirl variation on her shirt.
 * To Be Lawful or Good: Edgeworth's major decision in the last case of the first game, over whether to use a piece of illegal evidence to find the truth, boils down to this. . In the second game, he's faced with a decision over whether to sacrifice his badge to continue to defend.
 * Turn in Your Badge:.
 * Ultimate Job Security: . It's revealed after his arrest that he managed to keep his job despite being under strong suspicion of misconduct and corruption.
 * Wasted Song: The truly amazing marching remix of the Blue Badger's theme is played exactly once, in a part of the intro to case three that will take a good minute less than the song to finish.
 * What Would X Do?: Edgeworth does this twice. Although the "X" is never named, Edgeworth is obviously refering to Phoenix.
 * Why Did It Have To Be Quakes: Edgeworth apparently fears earthquakes enough so that the turbulence on an airplane produces a close enough effect that it triggers his phobia and he passes out.
 * Xanatos Speed Chess:.
 * Edgeworth literally gets to do this with several major characters through the "Logic Chess" feature.
 * You Are Better Than You Think You Are: In case 4 of the sequel,
 * You Keep Using That Word: At one point, Prosecutor Portsman claims that there is a "mountain of evidence" pointing away from him. If you press him on this point, however, it turns out his "mountain of evidence" isn't really evidence at all; simply a claim regarding his supposed lack of motive. Edgeworth hangs a lampshade on this:


 * Especially bad because Portsman should know what the word means; he is a prosecutor, after all.
 * You Meddling Prosecutors: says this word-for-word at the end.