Ace Attorney/Shout Out

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


The Ace Attorney games are filled with shout outs. They can be almost from any popular sources, specially on the English translation.


These Shout Outs range from Phoenix telling Franziska "Well, excuuuuse me princess!", to a security system named "S.P.A.R.D.A", to a clown who sings the intro of Fresh Prince of Bel Air.


Please, if you are writing an example, try to be as specific as possible to the reference, while also marking out appropriate crucial spoilers. Being vague about it is something we should avoid. Also, please try to keep this page as organized as possible.

General

  • The plant named Charley in Phoenix's office is likely a shout out to Chuck the plant, a mascot/RunningGag in LucasArts adventure games.
  • The Steel Samurai is about half reference, half parody of tokusatsu shows like Kamen Rider, though once it gets the Iron Baby that it carries around in a cart, it becomes a full on Lone Wolf and Cub reference.
  • Checking the security cam with Phoenix from the second game on will make him say "Smile, you're on Candid Camera"

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney

Phoenix: [Will Powers] doesn't seem the type, does he. (Curiouser and curiouser...)

  • The Gatewater Hotel becoming famous for an illegal wiretapping operation. The hotel name and the event are similar to the Watergate Scandal.

Phoenix Wright: Justice For All

"In West Clownidelphia, born and raised. In the Circus was where I spent most of my days."

Judge: "Mr. Curls, are you reciting The C-Team theme just to anger this court?

    • During the same case:

Phoenix: (Like sands through the hourglass, so are the Days of the Circus...)

"You're the man now, doll!"

Phoenix: "Not you too, Mia! With the whip...and the pain...and the oww..."


Phoenix Wright: Trials and Tribulations

Maya: "This is madness!"
Phoenix: "No, Maya. That is SPARDA."

Maya: ...I'll take money for the win.

  • Godot. His real name is Diego Armando. Take a wild guess as to why.[1]
  • Luke Atmey: "It's elementary, my dear"
  • Edgeworth: I detest talk of supernatural drivel. I suppose now you'll say she has midi-chlorians?
  • Larry: "I swear I saw her flying! *WHOOOSH!* Just like that guy in the red underpants!
  • The CD from Furio Tigre's office and the virus it contains is labeled "MC Bomber." When Maya tries to remember the name later she comes up with MC Screwdriver and MC Wrench, but doesn't quite hit it.
  • When uselessly presenting evidence to Sister Bikini, the conversation with her goes like this:

Bikini: I don't know anything about it; I don't care about materials things. I'm some sort of immaterial girl.
Gumshoe (while laughing): You could say she lives in an "immaterial world", huh?

  • Phoenix: (about Bikini) Wow, she must have just gotten off the trolley from the land of make-believe...
  • Gumshoe sings "Every case is gonna be air-tight" in a reggae beat. I wonder who that's meant to sound like...
  • If you examine the other side of the Suspension Bridge, Maya will suggest to Phoenix that he should train with her, since it would be great if he could have spiritual powers too, leading to this comment:

Phoenix: (Really? "I see dead people" sounds more like a cause for alarm to me...)

  • During the cross-examination of Laurice

Edgeworth: If you truly have nothing to hide... then why are you stammering like you just flew over a cuckoo's nest!?

  • Here's where things get meta...

Phoenix: But then a miracle happened. The kind people like Mr. Tigre like to say never happen.[2]

Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney

Zak: In his last years, Magnifi worked us to the bone... No. To the pain.
Klavier: "Logical"? I do not think this word means what you think it means, Herr Forehead!

  • Also, Apollo has this little exchange:

Trucy: Maybe they're trying to trick kids into thinking the police are some kind of band.
Apollo: But that's just silly. Who'd name a band the "police"?

    • There's a reference to the Police song Roxanne in the same room.
      • Namely, when you examine a red siren Apollo tells Trucy not to put on the red light.
  • Gavin's song Atroquinine, My Love might be a reference to the Jethro Tull song Aqualung (which includes the line "Aqualung, my friend" quite a few times).
  • Apollo: (I should have learned to play the guitar.)
  • Klavier's phrase, "Achtung, baby!" is most likely reference to U2's hit album in the 90's, Achtung Baby.
  • Also a mention of the Mason System.
  • "How about flowers made of metal?" "What, like a magnolia made of steel?"
  • Apollo: "Valant Gramarye! (Using the door like an average muggle, no less.)"
  • Judge: "With a great accusation comes great responsibility!"
  • Capcom also does a shout-out to its less-known survival horror series, Dino Crisis. The first DC game took place on Ibis Island in "The Republic of Borginia." Two key characters in Apollo Justice are from the Borginian Republic, suggesting a very bizarre intercontinuity canon.
  • Case 4:

Judge: I do hope this latest accusation is well-based.
Phoenix: (...Don't worry, I've got all your bases right here.)

Trucy: My panties are Bigger on the Inside!
Apollo: (Hm, that reminds me of that TV show I used to watch...)

Edgeworth Saga

  • Several Internet memes have appeared in Investigations, including, but not limited to: Over 9000, "relevant to my interests", the Badger Song, etc.

Edgeworth: Lance Amano! I propose that you killed Mr. Deacon with the revolver in the haunted house!

Gumshoe: Extraterrestrial rights? Sir, do you really believe that the truth is out there?

    • In the first case, Edgeworth exclaims "You fail!" moments prior to exposing Jacques Portsman as the killer.
    • And in the same vein, the fifth case contains an extremely similar moment in which Edgeworth says "Is that your final answer?"
  • Badd: "The times...they are a'changing..." He's one of the few people in the game old enough to have been alive when that song came out.
  • Lang: "Your diplomatic immunity... it's just been revoked."
  • "Miles, my boy. This verdict is what all prosecutors strive for"
    • Something similar happens in Investigations, when a young Franziska says that she will whip Yew into shape.
  • In case 5 of Investigations, Edgeworth says that Larry Butz has been the world's largest source of Trouble with a capital T.
  • In case 2 of Investigations, there's a bit of an internal reference, where examing a few books will eventually lead to reading about a "working name" for iFly Airlines. That name being GoYou Airlines. GoYou is the name of the airline in the Japanese version.
  • Like in one of the previous games, we have Edgeworth muse about some evidence: "Curiouser and curiouser..."
  • Calisto Yew: "Why so serious?"
  • While checking a group of suitcases in case 2 with Gumshoe.

Gumshoe: Holy suitcases, Mr. Edgeworth!

Edgeworth: And where were you when you experienced this... calm?
Lance: Our family garden, of course! Where else could it have been!?
Edgeworth: (Well! Excuse me for asking! This child is more princess than prince...)

  • In case 2, examining the Mr.iFly Piggy Bank's writing will prompt Edgeworth into this comment:

Edgeworth: I've seen it a lot lately and it's been bugging me...why does no one know how too properly space and capitalize anymore...?

Unorganized

  • At one point, it even gives a weird internal shout-out by Maya suggesting Phoenix spice his name up by calling himself "Naruhodo A. Wrighto". "Ryuuichi Naruhodou" is Phoenix's name in the Japanese versions of the games.
    • And in case you're wondering why the o is shorter in the version proposed by Maya, "Naruhodo"(short O) literally means "I understand/ I say" in Japanese and is Nick's nickname in the Japanese version.
  1. ↑ Maradona.
  2. ↑ A localization hiccup in the bad ending of the second game included the line "The 'miracle' never happen," which underwent Memetic Mutation.
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