Gyakuten Kenji 2

"Tateyuki Shigaraki"

- Miles, which way you choose... That's up to you.

Gyakuten Kenji 2 (逆転検事 2 Gyakuten Kenji 2, lit. "Turnabout Prosecutor 2"), also referred to as Ace Attorney Investigations 2 by Capcom staff, is the sequel to Gyakuten Kenji and the sixth game in the Ace Attorney series of text adventure video games. Prosecutor Miles Edgeworth, detective Dick Gumshoe and self-proclaimed "Great Thief" Kay Faraday reprise their roles as main characters in the game. Motohide Eshiro, Takeshi Yamazaki, Minae Matsukawa and Noriyuki Iwadare also reprise their roles as producer, director, art director and soundtrack composer, respectively. The game was announced on the September 2010 issue of Famitsu, with a scan of the announcement page revealed on the internet on September 7, 2010.

Releases outside of Japan are currently not planned. On March 18, during a live streamed Q&A session with Capcom employees, upon being asked whether "Ace Attorney Investigations 2" would be released outside of Japan, Christian Svensson replied, "No. Sorry about that." He later clarified on Capcom's forums, "The costs of localization [on the Nintendo DS] are higher than the forecasted return. [...] I realize there are fans who would like to have this and I'll be sure to explore ways that could happen viably in the future with our strategy and R&D teams but no promises." In the wake of petitions to have the game localized, Svensson mentioned that niche titles like Gyakuten Kenji 2 could be good candidates for digital distribution. Svensson has reportedly attempted to convince Capcom to greenlight Ace Attorney Investigations 2 for another medium. Meanwhile, petition-like efforts have continued, and a fan translation named Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth: Prosecutor's Path is being developed.

Pre-announcement
After the release of Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth, an interview with its producer Motohide Eshiro revealed that he had contacted core series producer Minae Matsukawa offering his services in developing a new Ace Attorney game, in response to the positive fan reaction to Ace Attorney Investigations. Development started on September 2009; the developers went to a "training camp" to talk about the game all day for this purpose.



Post-announcement
Gyakuten Kenji 2 was revealed in the September 7, 2010 issue of Famitsu, showing Miles Edgeworth, Dick Gumshoe and Kay Faraday along with some gameplay pictures and a new gameplay feature with a chess-based theme. Shelly de Killer and a new character with thick red hair and beard were also seen. The article also stated that the game would focus more on Edgeworth himself than on other characters and past events, revealing a more "human", conflicted side that has never been seen before. The official website launched around the same time.

At Tokyo Game Show 2010, three new characters were officially revealed and named. The character from the Famitsu article was revealed to be Teikun Ō, the president of Zheng Fa, and Hakari Mikagami and Mikiko Hayami were revealed as well. Additionally, the TGS trailer of the game was revealed, featuring returning gameplay elements like Logic and Little Thief as well as the new gameplay feature, "Logic Chess". As well, a demo of the first case was available at the event. On November 2, the official website revealed the game's box art and a release date of February 3, 2011. The box art features Miles Edgeworth, Kay Faraday, Hakari Mikagami and a male character who had previously been seen only as a brief silhouette in the trailer.

Subsequent revelations before the release were primarily done through Famitsu issues, each followed shortly by a website update:




 * November 18
 * Featured case: Turnabout Target.
 * Featured character: Manosuke Naitō (内藤 馬乃介), the president's bodyguard.
 * More about Logic Chess was revealed. The Japanese CERO rating was revealed as B, like the other Ace Attorney titles.
 * A Nintendo Dream issue also featured an article about Gyakuten Kenji 2 and Layton-kyōju VS Gyakuten Saiban, both mostly repeating the same information about Gyakuten Kenji 2.


 * At the beginning of December, the demo from TGS became playable on the official website, and some details of the second case were revealed as well, including a prison location and Hakari Mikagami's role in evaluating Edgeworth as a prosecutor. Yumihiko Ichiyanagi, another previously silhouetted character, was also revealed to be a prosecutor to whom Mikagami is attempting to hand Edgeworth's case.


 * December 16
 * Featured case: The Imprisoned Turnabout.
 * Featured characters: Previously unnamed major character Tateyuki Shigaraki, the more recently revealed Yumihiko Ichiyanagi, and some new characters.
 * A second trailer was also released featuring all of the known major characters as well as the return of the metal detector and Missile. The official website, meanwhile, revealed more characters, including Tateyuki Shigaraki and two new characters.


 * December 22 - The last silhouetted character from the first trailer, Marī Miwa, introduced.


 * January 13
 * Featured case: Case 3, a "flashback" of the "IS-7 Incident" 18 years in the past, starring Gregory Edgeworth.
 * Featured characters: Issei Tenkai and Tsukasa Oyashiki.
 * Setting: A bakery called Dansweet, which was shown in a few of the backdrops shown very briefly in the second trailer.


 * January 20
 * Featured case: The Imprisoned Turnabout.
 * Featured characters: Regina Berry, Frank Sahwit and Ema Skye.
 * Updates to Little Thief, as well as video inspection, luminol and fingerprint testing were shown.


 * January 27
 * Featured case: The Imprisoned Turnabout, case 3.
 * Featured characters: Shi-Long Lang and Manfred von Karma.

Localization
In March 2011, Capcom's Christian Svensson stated that there were no plans at the time to release Gyakuten Kenji 2 in regions outside of Japan. In an interview with Siliconera in December 2011, Svensson stated that the potential for a downloadable, digital release of Gyakuten Kenji 2 exists, but that he couldn't say that it definitely would happen, and that "conversations are ongoing internally about how to address the audience that’s clamoring for more Ace Attorney goodness".

In January 2012, in a live "questions and answers" video, Svensson again said that he had not given up on trying to get Gyakuten Kenji 2 released in the West, that conversations remained ongoing, and that he was "cautiously optimistic that some day, that content will exist in the West in some form." In March 2012, he once again said that an English release of the game was "an open discussion point", and that he hoped that "the fans are still patient with us".

In August 2012, a Capcom employee said that if Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney HD Trilogy, an iOS remake of the first three Ace Attorney games, is a success, it would increase the chances of getting Gyakuten Kenji 2 localized.

In September 2012, when asked if high sales of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney HD Trilogy and the upcoming Nintendo 3DS title Ace Attorney 5 would help sway a decision about localizing Gyakuten Kenji 2, Christian Svensson said that the game "isn’t being held hostage so please don’t read this that way but if they do well, they certainly can’t hurt". He also added that the sales forecasts for Ace Attorney 5 were high compared to how well previous entries in the series had done commercially, which was necessary in order to get it released in the West.

In September 2013, a GBAtemp user named "Auryn" released the first translation patch for the game. The patch translates the first two cases.

Gameplay
All of the main features seen in the previous game have returned for this game, including the investigation/argument structure, the Logic gameplay mechanic and Little Thief. Little Thief itself has been given updates such as the ability to recreate an area in multiple instances of time. As well, the metal detector seen in Turnabout Goodbyes and Bridge to the Turnabout has returned for at least one of the cases. The police dog Missile is also used as a gameplay mechanic. As well, Ema Skye returns to re-introduce luminol and fingerprint testing in at least one case, and an instance of video inspection is also included.

Logic Chess
Gyakuten Kenji 2 features a new gameplay element called "Logic Chess". When interrogating a person who refuses to testify, the background changes to a chessboard with chess pieces, as if Miles Edgeworth / Gregory Edgeworth and the other person were in a mental chess match. Similarly to the magatama feature in Phoenix Wright's games, this feature is used to pry secret information from various people. However, instead of just presenting evidence, the player is presented with two options at each decision prompt.

There is a time limit to this mental exchange; when it expires, the opponent will change his or her mind and not entertain Edgeworth further. This emphasizes the need to analyze the situation quickly and adapt to each opponent's personality. For example, against a cautious opponent, one may want to ask a question that she is guaranteed to answer. Through this, Edgeworth can slowly gain information needed to "win".

When the opponent makes a suspicious statement, a chess piece icon appears next to one of the choices, marking it as the critical "move" to make to knock out one of the opponent's pieces. Edgeworth can either choose to pursue this or choose to wait to get into a better "position" in the "game". By choosing incorrectly (i.e. waiting for too long or striking too soon), Edgeworth risks incurring a penalty to his time limit.

Story


In the opening case, Edgeworth is summoned to Gourd Lake, the scene of one of his darkest moments to date, to investigate the assassination of the president of Zheng Fa, Teikun Ō. As time passes, the president's bodyguard, Manosuke Naitō, tries to stop Edgeworth's investigation. In later cases, Edgeworth becomes the next target of a so-called "Prosecutor Purge", a judicial program designed to weed out and replace incompetent prosecutors. Judge Hakari Mikagami is sent to observe Edgeworth during his investigations and attempt to replace him with another prosecutor, Yumihiko Ichiyanagi. Edgeworth risks his badge to continue his quest for the truth. Meanwhile, Edgeworth faces a personal conflict when he meets Tateyuki Shigaraki, a defense attorney who used to be an assistant to Edgeworth's father Gregory and has taken over his office. Shigaraki offers Edgeworth the chance to change sides, to become a defense attorney like his father.

Episodes

 * 逆転の標的 Turnabout Target


 * 獄中の逆転 The Imprisoned Turnabout


 * The Inherited Turnabout


 * The Forgotten Turnabout


 * The Grand Turnabout

Timeline

 * Main article: Timeline

Dick Gumshoe's age is given as 32 in the Tokyo Game Show demo, and the demo case occurs on March 25, which puts the full date of the first case at March 25, 2019, ten days after Turnabout Ablaze.

Characters named during development
The following is a list of characters who were named before the release of Gyakuten Kenji 2. The full character list for each episode can be found in its article.

Major characters

 * Miles Edgeworth, the protagonist, a prosecutor
 * Kay Faraday, self-proclaimed Great Thief Yatagarasu
 * Dick Gumshoe, Edgeworth's detective partner
 * Gregory Edgeworth, a secondary protagonist, a defense attorney and Miles's father
 * 信楽盾之 Tateyuki Shigaraki, Gregory's partner
 * 水鏡秤 Hakari Mikagami, a judge who seeks to replace Edgeworth
 * 一柳弓彦 Yumihiko Ichiyanagi, a rival prosecutor

Returning characters
Case 1:
 * "John Doe", a suspect
 * Winston Payne (cameo)

Case 2:
 * Regina Berry, a witness
 * Shi-Long Lang
 * Polly (cameo)
 * Frank Sahwit, a witness

Case 3:
 * Manfred von Karma, Gregory's rival

Case 4:
 * Ema Skye, a witness. As it was never officially stated what case she would appear in, she was assumed to appear in an earlier case.

New characters
Case 1:
 * 王帝君 Teikun Ō, president of Zheng Fa.


 * 速水ミキコ Mikiko Hayami, a reporter. Her name is a pun on hurry, which is fitting for her less-than-hesistating personality.


 * 内藤馬乃介 Manosuke Naitō, the president's bodyguard, who likes to play chess and is rather liberal about playing with his gun. "Naitō" is a literal pronunciation of "Knight", and "Ma" means "horse", making the full name a double reference to the knight piece from chess.

Case 2:
 * 美和マリー Marī Miwa, the director of the prison and the detention center. Name comes from mimawari, which means patrol.


 * 猿代草太 Sōta Sarushiro, a man who acts like the Three Wise Monkeys. Name comes from saru, which literally means monkey.


 * 折中秀治 Shūji Orinaka, a prison boxer with a little polar bear. Pun on ori no naka, shuujin, which means prisoner in a cage.

Case 3:
 * 天海一誠 Issei Tenkai, a famous pastry chef who is considered the number one pastry chef in the world and appears on the TV program, Dansweets. He sings and dances when he makes cakes and is a suspect of the IS-7 case.


 * 緒屋敷司 Tsukasa Oyashiki, the servant and housekeeper of Tenkai's mansion who appears on Dansweets with Tenkai. She apparently becomes incapable of seeing her surroundings when she begins to dance.

Editions
This game came in four variants:
 * Gyakuten Kenji 2: The standard edition, which contains just the game with no extra content.
 * Gyakuten Kenji 2 - Collector's Package: which contains the game, an orchestral soundtrack CD composed by Noriyuki Iwadare, a promotional DVD and a booklet with an original manga penned by Tatsuro Iwamoto.
 * Gyakuten Kenji 2 - Extended Edition: which includes the game and a Miles Edgeworth figurine
 * Gyakuten Kenji 2 - Limited Edition: which includes all of the above.

Reception
Gyakuten Kenji 2 received a 8/8/8/8 score from Famitsu, for a total of 32/40.

Theme park attraction
Sega is building a theme park attraction called Gyakuten Kenji in Joypolis (逆転検事 in ジョイポリス) in its Joypolis theme park, which is dedicated to the Gyakuten Kenji games. Each guest will take around 20 minutes to investigate a crime scene and look for clues.

Anti-piracy measures
The file used to run Gyakuten Kenji 2 contains some anti-piracy measures that detect the legitimacy of the file and attempt to impede the gameplay if the file is deemed unauthorized. Unauthorized game files are typically ROMs ripped from the game cartridge. For this game in particular, dialogue text is converted into an unreadable font normally reserved for the Borginian fictional language, and organizer descriptions are replaced by Xs.

Localization petitions

 * Original petition
 * Operation Objection!
 * Capcom-Unity group
 * Facebook page
 * YouTube video