Ace Attorney/Trivia

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Although a few references by Edgeworth, Franziska, and Larry are made, Phoenix's name is never mentioned in Ace Attorney Investigations.
    • Phoenix and Maya actually DO make an onscreen appearance if you look out into the lake during a certain chapter in case 3. However, no one seems to notice them nor can the player see their faces.
    • In Ace Attorney Investigations 2, Phoenix and Maya can be briefly seen in case 5, and during the ending Edgeworth flashes back to his first court encounter with Phoenix. He still isn't named, however, his "Objection!" is silent, and the camera cuts away just before we see him in court.
    • On that note, though Phoenix and Ema drop hints, we never hear of Maya and Edgeworth in Apollo Justice.
  • Every playable lawyer bar one has defended Phoenix Wright at some point. Phoenix himself in the second half of Turnabout Sisters, Edgeworth in the "trial" of Edgeworth's stolen lunch money, Mia Fey in Turnabout Memories, and Apollo Justice in Turnabout Trump. The sole exception is Gregory, who is related to one of the lawyers who did defend Phoenix.
  • Gumshoe, Payne, Phoenix, and the Judge are the only characters to appear in every game thus far; Gumshoe is the only one to testify in every game, while Payne is the only one who has never testified. It remains to be seen if the Judge will appear in Ace Attorney Investigations 2.
  • The Ace Attorney series is amongst the top 30 selling series in Capcom history.
  • Ace Attorney Investigations was originally going to star Ema Skye.
  • As well as Phoenix, Mia, Edgeworth, Apollo, and Gregory, Maya was also briefly playable in the last case of Justice For All, turning the total of playable characters up to six.
    • On top of that, you very briefly play as Lamiroir near the end of Turnabout Succession, and it looks like you'll briefly control Gumshoe in AAI2.
  • As of Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth, Gumshoe has appeared in the most cases throughout the series so far (if one doesn't count cameos by Phoenix in cases he does not play a role in).
  • If deKiller is indeed the killer of AAI2 case one, he will have the dubious honor of being the only character to be the killer in more than one game. Unless Von Karma is counted for the DL-6 case appearing live in the same game, or Morgan Fey orchestrating 3-5 and the death it results in counts as a murder.
    • As it turns out, he's not, but on a related note: Frank Sawhit appears as a witness in AAI 2 Case 2 (The Imprisoned Turnabout), making him the only killer to show up in more than one game. He's also the only guilty character to appear in a Where Are They Now? Epilogue.
    • Similarly, Manousuke Naito has the dubious honour of being the only character who's both a killer and a victim in the same game.
  • The earliest chronological case has changed three times: first to Turnabout Beginnings in Trials and Tribulations, then Turnabout Reminiscence in Ace Attorney Investigations, and finally the IS-7 Incident in Ace Attorney Investigations 2.
    • Also the IS-7 Incident is the only case which is set in the past to when the game came out. The case is set in 2001, whereas the game came out in 2011. The closest is Turnabout Reminiscence, which is set in 2011 and the game came out in 2010.
Tropes used in Ace Attorney/Trivia include:
  • Development Hell: Gyakuten Saiban 5 was first hinted at in 2007 then lay dormant for nearly five years before we even got a logo in early 2012. That's still not even to say that the game will be out anytime soon (but at least there's hope that it is in development).
  • Executive Meddling: Shu Takumi wanted to make an entirely new cast in Apollo Justice, but Capcom's higher-ups told him he had to put Phoenix in it. Additionally, the jurist system being introduced was also a requirement due to changes in the Japanese legal system, which caused the hotly debated storyline involving Phoenix to be developed.
  • Fan Nickname: Phoenix in Apollo Justice is HoboPhoenix, Naruhobo, or Hobonix, and Daryan Crescend is "Dickhead" for, well, obvious reasons.
    • Before her Japanese name was revealed, fans referred to Kay Faraday as "key girl".
    • "Bratsworth" for his Miles Edgeworth's younger self seen in Case 3-4 and Case I-4.
    • Badd ass.
    • Rather infrequent, but those in the Court-record.net forums will refer to Yumihiko as "Question Mark Head." On Youtube, he's referred to as Bakahiko.
    • "The Gay Chef" for Jean Armstrong.
  • I Knew It!: The fandom were correct in assuming that Ema's button was a spycamera and that Edgeworth is secretly a big fan of the Steel Samurai.
    • Jossed: However, the fandom was NOT correct to assume that Trucy was Phoenix Wright's biological daughter or that she's actually an older Pearl.
    • When the flashback case featuring Gregory Edgeworth was announced to involve Manfred von Karma, people began suspecting that this was the case that led to von Karma's penalty, and by extension the DL-6 incident that basically sparked all the events of the series.
  • Name's the Same: Iris is also the name of a character in the Mega Man X series, whose relationship with an ex-boyfriend also ended in tragedy.
  • No Export for You: Capcom USA have no plans to localize Investigations 2, and have said that we're unlikely to see the Layton crossover unless Level-5 publish it themselves (Note: despite plans to the contrary, Level-5 does not currently publish games outside of Japan). While they're still denying that they've given up localizing the franchise completely, many Western fans are already fearing the worst.
  • Sequel First: Apollo Justice was released before Trials and Tribulations in Europe, due to complications on the latter's rating.
  • Serendipity Writes the Plot: Might be in effect in Ace Attorney Investigations for Dick Gumshoe. The fourth case being a flashback, also features a young, rookie Gumshoe. However, just like the last time he appeared as a younger man in Trials and Tribulations, he looks exactly the same except his coat is a different color. On the Game Boy Advance, this is due to not wanting to take up cartridge space with extra sprites for a character they could simply palette-edit but on the Nintendo DS, this is simply to stay consistent with his design from Ace Attorney 3.
  • What Could Have Been:
    • Kristoph's early designs included a kimono getup that made him look he'd fit right in with the Gotei 13. Franziska was a much colder-(but sexier-)looking woman [1] who licked her whip, Young Mia a motorcyclist, Phoenix's hair-spikes hung downward (and were more natural), Pearl had plain, short black hair (and later Odango Hair), and Dahlia had a hell of a lot of different appearances, all equally deceptively sympathetic.
    • Phoenix and Franziska were slated to appear in Tatsunoko vs. Capcom. However, due to several reasons (explained on that game's Trivia page for that game) they were dropped.
    • Colias has an unused sprite, which frankly enough looks quite silly and could be considered his "damage" sprite.
    • During the initial concept phase for Ace Attorney Investigations, Ema Skye was the intended player character. One can imagine that the game would have featured a large range of forensic techniques.
    • Shi-Long Lang's design was considerably different at the outset, according to Word of God. He was to be shirtless with a complex scar on his chest, resembling a constellation. However, they were unable to proceed with the design due to decency issues. Even attempting to cover up his nipples with a boa proved unsuitable and the current design was the end result. Apparently his Cool Shades are the remnant of his original design.
    • Every other draft of Quercus Alba's character design had him as extremely tree-like.
  • The Wiki Rule: HOLD IT! The Ace Attorney Wiki's here.


  1. One design looked like Mia Fey.