Game Over

A Game Over is a scene given in the Ace Attorney series when the game ends on a negative outcome, usually triggered by depleting the penalty gauge. In most games, a Game Over results in an immediate return to the title screen, but in Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies, an option is given to resume from the point where the player failed, with a replenished penalty gauge.

Penalty gauge depletion
Whenever a player makes a mistake, a penalty may be meted out, which is subtracted from a gauge. When this gauge is depleted, the game ends. When breaking Psyche-Locks in Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Justice For All and Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations, depleting the penalty gauge does not result in a Game Over, but rather, the Psyche-Lock breaking process halts, and the player is forced to start it all over again.

In the main series, when the Confidence Gauge is depleted during a trial, the judge slams his gavel, pronounces the defense's failure to overturn the prosecution's arguments, and then finds the defendant guilty. The courtroom door then slams shut. In Professor Layton VS Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, the courtroom door is replaced with the witches' cage slamming shut. The actual words used by the judge vary somewhat between games. In the Investigations series, a context-specific scene will be shown that addresses Miles Edgeworth's failure to ascertain the truth, followed by a scene of a case file closing and the phrase, "Thus the truth was lost for all eternity."

Special bad endings
All main series games except Trials and Tribulations feature a scene in their last case where fulfilling certain conditions will result in the game ending in an alternative and oftentimes very dark fashion. This often occurs because the player has "lost" in a manner other than having his or her client pronounced guilty.

During Rise from the Ashes, Phoenix Wright can choose to present the Strip of Cloth upon Damon Gant's initial request. Doing so will finger Ema Skye as the murderer of Neil Marshall, and Lana Skye will be found guilty for the murder of Bruce Goodman, her motive being to cover up her sister's actions.

The original and perhaps most famous bad ending in the series occurs in Farewell, My Turnabout. Near the end, Wright is given the chance to show one piece of evidence to one witness. If he presents incorrect evidence, presents to the incorrect witness, or answers Shelly de Killer's follow-up question incorrectly, this ending is achieved. Unable to support his claim regarding Matt Engarde's guilt, Wright can only watch as his client is found "Not Guilty". Wright flees the courtroom out of shame and roams the streets alone, never to set foot in a courtroom again. He never sees Maya again, but knowing that de Killer is a man of his word, he is sure he has released her. Days later, he receives news of the outcome of Adrian Andrews's trial: "guilty," as expected. The miracle he had hoped for never happened. A large part of this scene's infamy stems from a typo in the Nintendo DS English localization of Justice For All, reading, "The miracle never happen."

At the end of Turnabout Succession, the player is put in control of Jurist no. 6, who is given the opportunity to decide the fate of Vera Misham. If the player selects "Guilty", the verdict is postponed due to a hung jury. The same night, Vera takes a turn for the worse and dies of her atroquinine poisoning, leaving the case unresolved.

Turnabout for Tomorrow features three bad endings, all achievable at different times during the trial by depleting the Confidence Gauge.

If Wright fails to prove Simon Blackquill's innocence after he admits his guilt, the judge ends the trial with no change to the UR-1 verdict; Simon is then executed the next day as scheduled. As a result of this, Aura Blackquill disappears with the people she took captive the day before, including Trucy Wright, without a trace. Athena Cykes leaves the Wright Anything Agency, Apollo Justice becomes a changed man, and Wright resigns in shame, realizing his uselessness as a lawyer.

After Cykes confesses, if Wright fails to answer any of the forced questions, Aura stops the trial and demand that Cykes be handed over to her in exchange for the hostages. Wright never hears from either of them again.

If Wright is unable to prove that Bobby Fulbright is indeed the phantom after suspicion falls on him, Cykes is acquitted, but the phantom disappears without a trace shortly afterwards, leaving the case unresolved, and the dark age of the law continues, growing ever darker.