Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth

"Miles Edgeworth"

- A prosecutor is one who seeks the conviction of a defendant. However... I don't believe that's all we are.

Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth (逆転検事 Gyakuten Kenji, lit. "Turnabout Prosecutor"), codenamed "NEW Gyakuten NOT Saiban" prior to its official announcement during an orchestra, is the fifth game in the Ace Attorney series of adventure video games. It centers around prosecutor Miles Edgeworth and detective Dick Gumshoe, with some other characters from the main Ace Attorney series appearing in the game with varying degrees of prominence. This is a departure from the previous games, known collectively in Japan as the Gyakuten Saiban series, in which Phoenix Wright was neither the main character or a major character, although he does make a cameo appearance in this game. In March 2009, Capcom trademarked "Ace Attorney Investigations" as the game's English title. Prior to this, English-speaking fans and magazines often referred to the game as "Miles Edgeworth: Perfect Prosecutor" or some variant thereof.

Basic information
Aside from one case, the game takes place roughly a month after the events of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations. Unlike the core series, which Shu Takumi directed, Takeshi Yamazaki is the director for the game.

Investigations is more similar to "point-and-click" adventure games than the text-adventure style of previously released games. During investigations, characters appear as small sprites standing at a specific point in an area rather than as large sprites facing the player. Edgeworth and his various partners also appear as such and the player is able to move Edgeworth around. Many gameplay functions return in similar if not identical forms to those in the previous games.

The developers have stated that they have taken great care in animating the characters correctly; for example, they have tried to ensure that Edgeworth's running animations are "graceful, while exerting effort". Like the other games in the series, the player can access gameplay features via either the touchscreen or the buttons.

Pre-announcement
While developing the Nintendo DS version of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations, producer Motohide Eshiro had the idea of making a spin-off series based on a major character in the Ace Attorney series. He ran into Takeshi Yamazaki and suggested the idea to him, and Yamazaki agreed to work on it. In his blog at the official Ace Attorney website, Eshiro described it as a reckless suggestion with an inspiring, enthusiastic, reckless response. Daily meetings occurred soon after that.

Eshiro and Yamazaki quickly established an emphasis on the crime scene, rather than on the courtroom, for the game. Some points of contention during the "endless discussions" included the meaning of searching for contradictions in a crime scene, the possibility of playing as multiple different characters, and conveying an Ace Attorney game without the signature courtroom battles.

Director Yamazaki's original plan was to create a detective game starring Akane Houzuki (Ema Skye). However, producer Eshiro saw Mitsurugi (Edgeworth) in his mind as the main character of the detective game, partly because he was seen as a more popular character according to fan feedback, and it was so. The game was developed as a follow-up and spin-off to the main Gyakuten Saiban series. Mikumo Ichijou (Kay Faraday) was the first character to be created for the game.

Post-announcement
On March 5, 2008, the official Gyakuten Saiban developer's blog hinted at the revelation of the game. The blog referred to the game as a product called "NEW Gyakuten NOT Saiban" and stated that more info would be released on the product during an orchestral concert for the music of Gyakuten Saiban. During the concert, the developers showcased a trailer revealing the game and a new major character, Mikumo Ichijou (Kay Faraday). An official website accompanied the revelation.

On September 17, 2008, the September issue of the magazine Famitsu revealed more information about Mikumo Ichijou as well as a new character, Makoto Yuuki. The official website was also updated over the following month.

During Tokyo Game Show 2008, more info on the game was released, including info about gameplay phases and the confirmation of Mei Karuma (Franziska von Karma) as another major character. The developers also announced that the game was about half-done at that point. Visitors were able to play a demo of the first case, which featured an appearance by Mako Suzuki (Maggey Byrde).



According to a Famitsu survey of 55 companies that were present at TGS 2008, Gyakuten Kenji received the most attention of any portable game at the show.

The October 2008 issue of Famitsu and the official website corroborated the information revealed at TGS 2008.

The November 2008 issue of Famitsu revealed the second case of Kenji and some relevant characters.

The January 2009 issue of Famitsu revealed two new characters. B's Log published the same information and added the age of one of them.

On February 2009, the box art was revealed. The February issue of Famitsu also revealed a limited edition of the game as well as a new mode of gameplay, "crime scene reproduction". As well, the TGS 2008 demo appeared on the official website. Additionally, e-Capcom, Capcom's virtual store, announced that the game's official soundtrack would be released as a two-disc set on June 24, 2009, and began pre-orderings at a price of 3.360 yen (including taxes). Tatsuro Iwamoto, the game's designer and art director, will draw the cover art.

In March 2009, Capcom trademarked the name "Ace Attorney Investigations". In late April, an English logo for the game was leaked on Court Records in a picture taken from the event Captivate 2009. The English version of Tokyo Game Show trailer was also released soon after the event's conclusion, revealing Mikumo Ichijou's name as Kay Faraday as well as officially releasing the English logo. A release period of Winter 2009 was also revealed.

The May 2009 issue of Famitsu revealed returning characters Ema Skye, Winston Payne and Mike Meekins. The game was released on the 28th of that month (though due to time zone differences it was the 27th in America when it came out).

North American coverage post-release
A small trailer was shown at E3, revealing "Portsman" (Makoto Yuuki) and "Jim". A release date window for North America of January 2010 was also leaked by Nintendo.

Comic-Con 2009, which was held on July 23-26, 2009, featured a playable demo of the English version of Investigations as well as the official North American and PAL release dates. The demo revealed Portsman's first name as well as "Jim's" name, as Jacques Portsman and Buddy Faith.

Nintendo Power's November 2009 issue contained an article on Investigations, revealing new English names such as Shi-Long Lang.

The English name "Shih-na" was revealed for Shi-Long Lang's partner during Tokyo Game Show 2009.

On Sept. 25, 2009, the official English website fully launched.

A playable demo of Turnabout Visitor and Turnabout Airlines featured on CES 2010, which ran from Jan. 7 to Jan. 10, 2010. The full names of Zinc Lablanc and Rhoda Teneiro were revealed around this time.

European release
Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth wasn't translated in any non-English language. This was justified by the sales of the last Ace Attorney games, said to be too low. This led to huge disappointment among non-English-speaking fans of the franchise.

Canceled features
One crime scene was indicated on a map that looked identical to the one used in Turnabout Corner to reveal the locations of the three minor crime scenes Apollo Justice was tasked to solve. The crime scene in question was shown to be located near the spot on which the Wright Anything Agency would have sat. This crime scene did not make it into the final game.

Gameplay
The game is centered around moving Edgeworth to different locations and interacting with different objects and people. This includes talking to people and examining objects. The player moves Edgeworth around by touching a directional pad on the touchscreen or the physical d-pad. Edgeworth also usually has a "partner" who follows behind him as he moves around, and Edgeworth can converse with his partner by touching his or her partner icon on the touchscreen or pressing "Y". As in the core Ace Attorney games, the player can access an "Organizer" (the game's court record) at any time and peruse evidence and profiles collected. There are two main phases of play in the game, which are equivalent to the investigation and trial phases of previous games. However, rather than abruptly alternating from one to the other, the transitions are seamless and the player is not necessarily in either phase at any given time.

In investigations, several modes of gameplay are available, including some that did not exist in previous games. Some areas, like crime scenes, can be examined more closely in a manner that is similar to the "Examine" function in the core Ace Attorney games. Occasionally, the player must look for a clue in an area that contradicts collected evidence and then press a "Deduce" button (or the "X" button) to select the contradicting evidence. Investigations also make use of a second inventory, called "Logic", that stores important pieces of information that Edgeworth has found. Here, the player can combine two ideas to reach a conclusion. This can create a new piece of information or trigger some other event. Some investigation phases involve investigating a virtually reconstructed version of a crime scene using Kay Faraday's Little Thief gadget, which has an appearance similar to a black cellphone.

The other main phase of the game is the argument, which is similar to cross-examinations in the core Ace Attorney games.

List

 * 1) Turnabout Visitor (逆転の来訪者)
 * 2) Turnabout Airlines (逆転エアライン)
 * 3) The Kidnapped Turnabout (さらわれる逆転)
 * 4) Turnabout Reminiscence (過ぎ去りし逆転 The Departed Turnabout)
 * 5) Turnabout Ablaze (燃え上がる逆転)

Chronological Order

 * Turnabout Reminiscence (過ぎ去りし逆転 The Departed Turnabout)
 * Turnabout Airlines (逆転エアライン)
 * The Kidnapped Turnabout (さらわれる逆転)
 * Turnabout Visitor (逆転の来訪者)
 * Turnabout Ablaze (燃え上がる逆転)

Characters
Returning characters are denoted by their North American names. New characters are denoted by their Japanese names or, if they have one, their English names.

Major characters

 * Prosecutor Miles Edgeworth
 * "Mysterious thief" Kay Faraday
 * Detective Dick Gumshoe
 * Prosecutor Franziska von Karma
 * Rival investigator Shi-Long Lang
 * Secretary Shih-na

Minor characters revealed during development

 * Buddy Faith
 * Zinc Lablanc
 * Sal Manella
 * Mike Meekins
 * Wendy Oldbag
 * Winston Payne
 * Jacques Portsman
 * Ema Skye
 * Rhoda Teneiro

Other characters
Full lists of characters that appear in each episode can be found in its respective episode article.

Timeline

 * See also: Timeline

The "present" timeline of the game starts on March 12, 2019 with Turnabout Airlines and ends on March 17 of the same year with Turnabout Ablaze, with the trials of major villains in the game. There's a case played seven years earlier in September 10, 2011. This game thus features the shortest "present" timeline period in the series, as well as the earliest playable case in the series. However, ages in character profiles assume the same "year" used in Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations.

Limited edition
The limited edition of Gyakuten Kenji in Japan included the following:


 * A pamphlet from the spring concert
 * A few character illustrations
 * A card case
 * An orchestra "mini album" (four of the tracks plus a bonus)
 * A DVD of promotional trailers

There was also a limited edition Nintendo DSi themed for Gyakuten Kenji.

Music
The Gyakuten Kenji Original Soundtrack was released on June 24, 2009 on two discs. Composed by both Noriyuki Iwadare and Yasuko Yamada, the cover was designed by Tatsuro Iwamoto, the game's designer and art director. It is the only game in the series to have a two disc soundtrack.

Another music disc, Gyakuten Kenji Orchestra Mini Album, was released with the limited edition and featured orchestral soundtracks based on music from the game as well as the previous games in the Ace Attorney franchise.

In Japan
Ace Attorney Investigations sold 172,000 units in its week of its release in Japan, and 42,000 the following week. In both cases, the game was the 2nd best selling DS title in Japan, trailing Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days.

In June 2009, an interview with Eshiro revealed that, considering the positive fan reaction to the game, another Kenji game would probably be developed in the future.

In America
The game received positive reviews from critics. Nintendo World Report gave the game a 8.5 out of 10 and said "Ace Attorney Investigations is quite possibly the best entry in the series, as it changes up the tried-and-true formula enough to keep it fresh, while retaining the style and witty dialogue of the previous titles." They gave high praise for the game music and art style, but complained a bit on controlling Edgeworth with the touch screen. EuroGamer gave the game a 8 out of 10, praising the choice of Edgeworth as the main character and the new gameplay and character additions, on which they commented that "For all that's new, it's still faithfully an Ace Attorney game."

GameZone's Steven Hopper gave the game a 7.5/10, saying "Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth gets props for changing up the setting and providing a new protagonist for the franchise. However, the gameplay is pretty standard for the Ace Attorney series, and brings with it the same flaws from other entries."