Bracelet



Apollo Justice's bracelet is an important tool in Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney. Justice uses the bracelet in and out of the courtroom to "perceive" subtle hints of tension in a witness. It is among the many items that Phineas Filch tries to steal over the course of The Monstrous Turnabout.

Usage
Justice's bracelet is represented by an icon in the top center of the Nintendo DS touchscreen during a cross-examination. When a witness is called to testify, he or she displays a nervous twitch or habit in certain parts of his or her testimonies. Once this happens, Justice can "sense" that it has occurred. During a cross-examination, if Justice has "sensed" a nervous habit during the testimony, the bracelet slowly spins to indicate the fact, and it can be activated by touching it or pressing the "X" button; if not, the bracelet appears gray and does not spin.



Justice must pinpoint a point in the testimony that seems suspicious and focus on it. When Justice focuses, he is able to watch the witness very closely and in slow motion as he or she goes through the statement or statements in question. If the witness displays the nervous twitch, the player can press the "Perceive" button that is located where the bracelet icon was (or press "X" twice), causing Justice to yell, "Gotcha!" From there, Justice must deduce the meaning of the habit, based on the nature of the habit and the specific part in the testimony in which the habit occurred, by presenting a piece of evidence from the court record.

Although no penalty is incurred from incorrect perceiving, presenting irrelevant corroborating evidence does result in a penalty (the severity of which the player is informed beforehand).

Unlike other gameplay features exclusive to Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney, use of the bracelet does not strictly require any inputs that are impossible on the Game Boy Advance.

In Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies, perceiving now occurs during investigation segments rather than in court (with one exception). Similarly to the appearance of Psyche-Locks, Justice senses a tell during conversation with witnesses, at which point the conversation topic is "locked" with an eye symbol and the bracelet becomes available to use via an icon at the top of the touch screen.

How it works
The bracelet is made of a special alloy that changes size in response to body warmth. This allows the bracelet to fit perfectly around the wearer's arm. When the wearer senses a nervous habit, the wearer becomes slightly tense as well, and this causes very small muscle contractions that he or she does not normally notice. However, since the bracelet is always a perfect fit, the wearer can feel it tightening slightly when he or she becomes tense. Only Magnifi Gramarye and his descendants are known to be able to focus on nervous habits, so the bracelet is probably useless on other people.

Perceiving requires great focus, and Justice cannot perceive if something breaks his concentration. Simon Blackquill set his hawk Taka on Justice to break his concentration and prevent him from using his power, which Blackquill considered cheating. Justice also appears to need both eyes to perceive.

It is possible to learn to sense a nervous habit without the use of a bracelet if the person knows when to focus. This is how Trucy Wright is able to help Phoenix Wright to win his poker games.

Known bracelets
Only two bracelets are known to have existed in the Ace Attorney universe. Thalassa Gramarye owned both of them, and one was passed on to Apollo Justice a year after he was born.