Dai Gyakuten Saiban: Naruhodō Ryūnosuke no Bōken

Unreleased
 * This article is about the game. You may be looking for the character Ryūnosuke Naruhodō.

Dai Gyakuten Saiban: Naruhodō Ryūnosuke no Bōken (大逆転裁判 -成歩堂龍ノ介の冒險-; lit. "Great Turnabout Trial: The Adventures of Ryūnosuke Naruhodō") is an upcoming Ace Attorney prequel game for the Nintendo 3DS, published by Capcom, directed by Shu Takumi, and produced by Shintaro Kojima, with art by Kazuya Nuri and music composed by Yasumasa Kitagawa. It is the ninth title overall in the Ace Attorney series of text adventure video games.

Story
Unlike previous canonical games in the series, which were set in the near future and featured somewhat futuristic technology, Dai Gyakuten Saiban will be set near the end of Japan's Meiji period, when the profession of "defense attorney" was still a fairly new concept in Japanese society. The game will star Phoenix Wright's ancestor Ryūnosuke Naruhodō, and a female judicial assistant named Susato Mikotoba. Although the game initially takes place in Japan, Naruhodō and Mikotoba later travel to England and work cases alongside the renowned detective Sherlock Holmes.

Episodes

 * The Adventure of the Grand Travelers - Ryūnosuke Naruhodō finds himself accused of a murder committed in the restaurant La Kuwantosu, and ends up on trial three days later. Fortunately for him, he has an opportunity to represent himself as a "defense attorney" in a top secret trial organized by the government. Although he knows little about the courtroom, he has help in the form of his close friend Kazuma Asōgi.
 * Randst Magazine Special Edition - DLC available for free from July 9 to July 19. The title is a reference to The Strand Magazine, where Arthur Conan Doyle first published his Sherlock Holmes short stories.

Main characters

 * Ryūnosuke Naruhodō (成歩堂 龍ノ介) - A second-year student at the Teito Yūmei University. He has a strong sense of justice and is prone to putting himself in dangerous situations. An ancestor to Ryūichi Naruhodō.
 * Susato Mikotoba (御琴羽 寿沙都) - A judicial assistant working alongside Naruhodō. A "yamato nadeshiko" with a progressive frame of mind and a love for books on law and foreign mystery novels. She also has something of a sweet tooth.
 * Kazuma Asōgi (亜双義 一真) - A close friend of Ryūnosuke's and fellow student at the Teito Yūmei University. He is studying to become a defense attorney, but supporters say that he is more than qualified to become one. He seeks to travel to Britain to continue his studies. Asōgi is calm and confident compared to the inexperienced Naruhodō, and stands alongside him in Episode 1.
 * Sherlock Holmes (シャーロック ホームズ) - The legendary English detective famous for his talent for rapid-fire abductive reasoning. He assists Naruhodō with crime investigations.
 * Iris Watson (アイリス ワトソン) - Holmes's assistant. A genius 8-year old girl who has a medical doctorate and is also the author of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Takumi's familiarity with Arthur Conan Doyle's original Sherlock Holmes stories, and their various theories and parodies in particular, led him to create the Iris Watson character rather than the usual character of Dr. John Watson.

Other characters
Episode 1:
 * Taketsuchi Auchi (亜内武土) - Takefumi Auchi's ancestor.
 * Taizou Uzukumaru (渦久丸 泰三) - A soldier who appears as a witness.
 * Sanmon Sonohigurashi (園日暮 三文) - An old man who appears as a witness alongside Uzukumaru.
 * A judge (Japan).
 * A female witness in a blue dress and hat.

Other episodes:
 * Loylot (ロイロット) - A bearded man resembling a Russian revolutionary named "Demitri Demiglass" (デミトリ デミグラス). Holmes and Naruhodō investigate this man while on board a steamship, and engage in "joint reasoning" to find out whether he is indeed Demiglass.
 * Satoshi Hosonaga (細長悟) - A waiter.
 * Barock van Siegs (バロック・バンジークス) - A legendary English prosecutor with a perfect win record, earning him the nickname of the "Death God of the Old Bailey". He has returned to the courtroom after a five-year absence.
 * A judge (United Kingdom).
 * Three male witnesses in formal attire.

Gameplay
The game incorporates the basic investigation/trial formula used in previous Ace Attorney titles, with some changes especially to the trial portions. Like the other 3DS titles, Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney and Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies, the game features 3D character models and backgrounds. Special care was made to the animations, particularly camera work and eye movements.

Investigations
"Ryūnosuke Naruhodō"

- Hold it, Mr. Holmes!

Dai Gyakuten Saiban introduces a new element to investigations, known as "joint reasoning" (共同推理 kyōdō suiri). This feature involves Sherlock Holmes using his rapid-fire reasoning to come to a conclusion based on various details that he notices. Naruhodō then has a chance to rebut this train of logic by pointing out flaws and contradictions. One way of doing so is to inspect an individual from various angles to find hidden clues that have escaped Holmes's notice, possibly leading to an entirely different conclusion. Investigations in Dai Gyakuten Saiban also allow for more in-depth background exploration.

Trials
The trial system has undergone an overhaul, with many elements similar to the witch trials from Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney. This includes the five-strike penalty system from Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney and cross-examining multiple witnesses at once. Also included are the mechanics of catching one witness thinking during another witness's statement, and finding contradictions between different witnesses' testimonies.

The English courts use a jury system involving six jurors and a judge. The jurors vote by launching small fireballs in a firework-like manner onto a set of scales, one side representing a guilty vote and the other representing a not guilty vote. The jurors can change their votes as the trial progresses. If all six jurors vote "guilty", the defense has the right to make a closing argument to the jury in an attempt to convince them to overturn their guilty votes. The closing argument works much like cross-examinations, with each jury member having his or her own ideas about the case at hand. The defense wins if a majority votes to acquit.

The court record appears similar to the one used in Dual Destinies, with five evidence icons fully visible at a time, though two other evidence slots are visible, partially obscured by the arrow buttons used to scroll through the evidence.

Development
Development began a few months after the November, 2012 Japanese release of Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, when Takumi was asked to start work on a new Ace Attorney game. Because the series had become so long, spanning eight text adventure titles up to that point, a more accessible title was desired. Takumi thought that it would be fun to combine the Ace Attorney formula with an earlier idea that he had had for a game. The overall game concept really came together with the introduction of the Sherlock Holmes character. He did not actually expect Capcom to accept it.

Announcement
On December 27, 2013, Capcom announced that Takumi was working on a new game that was planned to be presented in 2014. A February 13, 2014 Nintendo Direct event revealed the game was a "totally different" Ace Attorney game for the Nintendo 3DS.

In April 2014, the game was finally given a title and was featured in Famitsu. An interview with director Takumi and producer Kojima described the basic details of the game, including the protagonists Ryūnosuke Naruhodō and Susato Mikotoba, and the Meiji period setting. Takumi said that he had not gotten to know the characters very well yet, but that he learned more about them as he wrote more of the script. He also mentioned the challenge of writing dialogue appropriate to the Meiji period, when Japan was focused on becoming part of "the new world" and becoming more Western, which included the Western court system complete with defense attorneys. Kojima revealed that the game is planned to be the first in a series, and that they would show players that the game was capable of being more than just a spin-off.

The Famitsu feature was followed by a teaser trailer for the game. According to Takumi, development of the game had only begun recently. He described this situation as chaotic and was not certain of how the game would turn out, but also said that it was always like this in the beginning of his projects, which was both scary and fun.

Tokyo Game Show
In September 2014, the game was featured again on Famitsu, and introduced Sherlock Holmes and Iris Watson. On September 18, another trailer for the game was released.

Jump Festa
In December 2014, ahead of Jump Festa, the official site updated with a profile of a new character, Kazuma Asōgi (亜双義 一真). A Famitsu feature of the game around the same time showed some details about the first trial. The Jump Festa event itself featured a playable demo of the game.

April 1
On April 1, 2015 local time, a wave of promotions occurred, including features in Capcom TV and Famitsu, as well as a trailer released shortly after the day's Nintendo Direct. On Capcom TV, producer Kojima showed off part of the first episode.

Ken Gyakuten Saiban
On April 1, 2015 local time, the official Japanese site for Dai Gyakuten Saiban celebrated April Fools' Day by renaming the game Ken Gyakuten Saiban: Inuhodō Ryūnosuke no Bōken (犬逆転裁判 -戌歩堂龍ノ介の冒險-; lit. "Dog Turnabout Trial: The Adventures of Ryūnosuke Inuhodō") and showing dog-like versions of the main characters. The first kanji of the title was changed from 大 (meaning "big"/"great"/"large") to the slightly different-looking 犬 (meaning "dog"). Similarly, the first kanji of the Naruhodō surname was changed from 成 (meaning "to accomplish/finish/become") to the slightly different-looking 戌 (the Earthly Branch for the dog). The other characters' names each had a kanji or syllable replaced with ワン (wan, the sound of a dog barking) (Kazuwan Asougi, Susato Mikotowan, Iris Wantson) except Sherlock Holmes, whose name stayed intact. A trailer was also shown, based on the Tokyo Game Show trailer of Dai Gyakuten Saiban.

Videos and external links

 * Official site (Japanese)
 * Limited edition offers
 * Trailers
 * Announcement teaser trailer (English subtitles)
 * TGS 2014 trailer (English subtitles) (with extra scene) (April Fools' version)
 * Nintendo Direct trailer
 * Other videos
 * TGS 2014 stage show and developer interview
 * Capcom TV #18

大逆転裁判 -成歩堂龍ノ介の冒險-