Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies

"Phoenix Wright"

- These are dark times, where the law has been reduced to rubble, and it's up to us to restore it to its former glory.

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies (逆転裁判 5 Gyakuten Saiban 5, lit. "Turnabout Trial 5") is the fifth installment of the Gyakuten Saiban series, the seventh installment overall in the Ace Attorney series of visual novel games, and the first in the series on the Nintendo 3DS (though Ace Attorney characters also feature in Professor Layton VS Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney). It was formally announced with a partial logo in Japan on January 29, 2012, alongside Gyakuten Saiban 123 HD as part of the Gyakuten Saiban 10th Anniversary Event. Phoenix Wright returns as the main protagonist, and his design has been changed to reflect his maturation and greater sense of comfort compared to his last cases as a lawyer eight years prior.

The development team includes producer Motohide Eshiro, scenario director Takeshi Yamazaki and soundtrack composer Noriyuki Iwadare, similarly to Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth and Gyakuten Kenji 2. Yamazaki replaces the role of series creator Shu Takumi, who reportedly is already busy with Professor Layton VS Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney. Dual Destinies also features a 3D world instead of the 2D sprites and backgrounds of previous games, as well as a fully orchestral soundtrack.

A Japanese release date of July 25, 2013 was leaked on the official website on April 11, 2013, which was later confirmed. Plans for localizations for the U.S. and Europe were revealed soon after the original Japanese announcement, and an official announcement with trailer was made on May 13, 2013. It was later announced that the game would only be localized into English for the European release.

Background
Speculation began on a fifth Gyakuten Saiban game after Capcom's president announced on May 22, 2007 that a new Ace Attorney game would be released, though no further detail was divulged. For the next five years, there was no concrete indication of the existence of a "Gyakuten Saiban 5". All hints of an "upcoming" Ace Attorney game from 2007 to early 2012 were followed by the announcement and release of a different title in the series, most recently Gyakuten Kenji 2 (starring Miles Edgeworth) and the crossover game Professor Layton VS Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney.

The rumors (Ace Attorney Investigations)
On February 1, 2008, Siliconera posted an interview with product marketing manager for Ace Attorney, Colin Ferris, concerning Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney, which at the time was weeks away from its North American release. Ferris gave no concrete information on "the next game" when asked about it, only assuring that the developers had "some neat new ideas for it." This may have been in reference to Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth, however, which was announced as "NEW Gyakuten NOT Saiban" a month later. Four months later, on May 4, 2008, Komachi posted on Court Records saying that development of the game had been paused. The reason given was that, while Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney had been the best-selling game in the series thus far, existing fans of the series had not received it very well, prompting them to focus their attention on Ace Attorney Investigations.

On June 30, 2008, at Capcom's first annual Captivate convention, Court Records admin Croik asked various Capcom employees about info on a fifth Ace Attorney game. The employees gave little concrete information but quashed rumors from Chinese fansites that Shu Takumi had left Capcom and that the game had been canceled. Croik commented that the employees probably knew that she was not asking about Ace Attorney Investigations. A year later, 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 and talked about making a new game in the Saiban saga, as well as possibly working on a sequel to Edgeworth's game. The latter was eventually released as Gyakuten Kenji 2, but news on the former once again became quiet.

Shu Takumi's involvement (Layton-kyōju VS Gyakuten Saiban)
Series creator Shu Takumi originally intended for the series to end at Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations and later Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney. However, he expressed in interviews that he was reconsidering his decision to end his involvement in the series due to the positive fan reaction that the series has gained over the years. In one particular interview with VideoGamer.com at E3 2010, Takumi expressed an interest in taking the Ace Attorney series to the Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo's newest portable game console. This eventually came to fruition with Professor Layton VS Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney.

Development
The game was announced with a partial logo on January 29, 2012, as part of the Gyakuten Saiban 10th Anniversary Event. Months later, starting on September 5, information on characters and plot were revealed through Famitsu and a new official website.

First wave: Famitsu interview and Tokyo Game Show
Famitsu featured an interview with Eshiro and Yamazaki, in which they talked about the gameplay and plot and speculated on Maya Fey's whereabouts during the game. Yamazaki posited that she was training at Kurain Village, which seems to imply that she will not feature heavily in the game, with a new character playing her role as the partner character. This new assistant was said to have been difficult to design, looking almost alien-like at first, though the color yellow was always a theme. The game is expected to be of similar length to previous games in the series.

On the move to 3D, Yamazaki explained:

"Takeshi Yamazaki"

- Part of the visual appeal of Ace Attorney stems from the fact that it's in 2D, after all. We were limited in how many animation frames we could put in the first few games, so at first there were maybe only one or two variations on the 'Objection!' word balloon. That wound up giving the game this sense of speed and sharpness that we couldn't have gotten otherwise. To recreate that feel in 3D, we're deliberately messing with the pace, inserting pauses and skipping over other things. With 2D we played around with perspectives — drawing Wright's hand larger than usual when he's pointing at someone — and we're taking measures to recreate that sort of thing in 3D.

It was also announced that a localization was planned. Capcom USA's Senior Vice President, Christian Svensson, explained that the predicted performance for Ace Attorney 5 was "aggressive" in comparison to the performance of the franchise thus far.

The showing of Gyakuten Saiban 5 at Tokyo Game Show 2012 featured a 15-minute demo and some more information about the new partner character, Kokone Kizuki (Athena Cykes).

Second wave
In mid-March 2013, Housuke Odoroki (Apollo Justice) was confirmed to be returning, sporting a new look. A month later, a more substantial update was released to the public via Famitsu and the official website. This included the first details of the game's second case, confirming an uninjured Justice as playable, and the reveal of Jin Yuugami (Simon Blackquill), the rival prosecutor of the game. Among the announcements were a Japanese release date of July 25, various limited edition bundles, and the first downloadable content in the form of costumes for the three lawyers. At the end of April, Capcom had an updated demo and gameplay trailer to show at the Nico Nico Cho Kaigi 2 event, with the demo confirming Justice's role during the first case.



On May 13, the first details of the game's localization were revealed by Capcom USA and Capcom Europe. This included an English version of the Tokyo Game Show trailer, which showed the new title Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies and a fall 2013 release. Also shown was a provisional PEGI rating of 16, a change compared to the 12 rating of previous titles. It was also announced that the game would only come to the west via the Nintendo eShop. Capcom USA’s Senior Vice-President, Christian Svensson, cited difficulties with ensuring retail support for physical releases of Ace Attorney games as a reason for a download-only release in the West. Meanwhile, Reiji Mitsurugi (Miles Edgeworth), Minuki Naruhodou (Trucy Wright) and details on the second case were revealed in Famitsu. Additionally, the Tokyo Game Show demo and a new trailer were posted on the Japanese official website. The very end of the trailer was later slightly adjusted to briefly show Edgeworth's new in-game appearance at the prosecutor's bench.

Third wave: Nintendo Direct and E3
On May 31, 2013, the game was featured alongside Monster Hunter 4 in a Nintendo Direct focusing on Capcom's upcoming games for the Nintendo 3DS. A new three minute voiced trailer was shown that revealed two returning characters: Harumi Ayasato (Pearl Fey) and Kyouya Garyuu (Klavier Gavin). It also showed the return of gameplay elements from previous entries in the series, specifically Wright's magatama and Justice's bracelet, as well as teasing some details of the third case.

On June 6, the official site was updated with new information, including voice actors, details on the second and third cases, and the Thought Route (カンガエルート kangae ruuto). Six days later, the game appeared on e-Capcom, showing an increased CERO rating of C, which, like the PEGI rating, was a one-stage increase compared to the B rating of previous games. Meanwhile, ahead of E3 2013, the English names of Ted Tonate and Simon Blackquill were revealed. During E3, some more details were discussed in a Q&A session with Eshiro, and an English version of the demo was playable.

Fourth wave: Last Famitsu updates and Comic-Con
The June 20 issue of Famitsu and a corresponding official site update featured the third case of the game, along with Gavin's role in the game. On July 2, Capcom released screenshots of the English version of Episode 2, revealing the English names of Bobby Fulbright, Jinxie Tenma and Phineas Filch. The July 11 issue of Famitsu gave more details on the third case and the official website was subsequently updated with the new information, including an official profile of Pearl Fey and confirming Athena Cykes as the main lawyer for the third case. On July 17, Capcom released screenshots and details of the English version of Episode 3, as well as two new gameplay videos ahead of the San Diego Comic-Con. These videos showed a finalized PEGI 16 rating, as well as a corresponding ESRB rating of M, compared to the T rating used in past titles. However, the ACB retained the PG rating it had applied to previous games.

On July 17, the official Japanese website was updated with new screenshots featuring Pearl Fey, Phoenix Wright's magatama showing Psyche-Locks when confronting Bobby Fulbright, and other screenshots featuring Simon Blackquill and Miles Edgeworth.

Story
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies takes place roughly one year after Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney. By this time, Phoenix Wright has regained his attorney's badge. The plot has a darker theme than previous games in the series, in accordance with Wright's warning in Turnabout Trump, "A dark time is coming for our legal system. [...] We have to set it right". However, it has the same overall light tone of the other games in the series.

Episodes
In the E3 2013 interview with Eshiro it was stated that the game would have roughly the same amount of content as Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations and would take 25-30 hours to complete.


 * Turnabout Countdown - Phoenix Wright takes on Winston Payne's younger brother Gaspen, in the case of a high school girl named Juniper Woods, accused of planting a bomb to destroy one of the courtrooms at the District Court.


 * The Monstrous Turnabout - Apollo Justice and Athena Cykes are invited to the village of Nine-Tails Vale by a friend of Trucy's, only to find the village alderman murdered. The case involves a hero wearing a kitsune mask and claims of youkai at the crime scene. This case introduces Simon Blackquill and his detective partner Bobby Fulbright.


 * Turnabout Academy - Phoenix Wright, Apollo Justice, and Athena Cykes are invited to a culture festival at Themis Legal Academy for Phoenix to give a seminar on law. However, chaos occurs when one of the teachers is found dead. It is up to Athena to solve the case and defend her best friend Juniper Woods.


 * The Cosmic Turnabout - Apollo's best friend Clay Terran turns up dead right after a spaceship that he was on blows up. Right before witness Candice Arme comes to the stand, the courtroom bombing from Turnabout Countdown occurs. Apollo decides to take a leave of absence to investigate the case on his own, so it is up to Phoenix Wright and Athena Cykes to defend Clay Terran's mentor, Solomon Starbuck.


 * Turnabout For Tomorrow - A crucial piece of evidence appears implicating Athena Cykes on the murder of Clay Terran. This case might involve an incident from seven years prior to the start of the game.


 * Turnabout Reclaimed - Downloadable case. This is Phoenix Wright's first case since regaining his attorney's badge. The case takes place at an aquarium, and the defendant is a killer whale named Orla  (エール, lit. "Ale").

Protagonists

 * Phoenix Wright - The protagonist of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, Justice For All, and Trials and Tribulations. A previously disbarred defense attorney who has regained his badge. His magatama allows him to see Psyche-Locks around people, showing that they are hiding something from him.


 * Apollo Justice - The protagonist of Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney has the ability to detect subtle, subconscious movements that witnesses make, aided by his bracelet. At certain points in the game, he takes on a different look. Both his arms and his right eye are swathed in bandages, and he sport a slightly tattered long blue coat, which hangs from his shoulders over his usual apparel.


 * Athena Cykes - The newest addition to the Wright Anything Agency's defense team. She can examine witnesses' emotions using a computer on her necklace called the "Mood Matrix".

Other main characters

 * Simon Blackquill - The game's main rival prosecutor. A pale man with black eyeshadow and a feather in his mouth, the Chief Prosecutor assigns Blackquill to prosecute various cases, despite the fact that he is serving a murder sentence and is on death row. Blackquill is tenuously restrained by a large pair of shackles connected by a chain on his wrists. He also wears a black and white long coat, and carries a hawk named Taka on his right shoulder. He uses his powers of persuasion to manipulate people into doing what he wants.


 * Bobby Fulbright - A hot-blooded detective with the catchphrase "In justice we trust!" He has worked with Simon Blackquill many times and is paired up with him in court. The detective hopes to help the prosecutor redeem himself, and he seems completely oblivious to Blackquill's attempts to manipulate him. Fulbright has a strong, yet simplistic, sense of justice, which compels him to help those in trouble, but often conflicts with itself when he has to choose between withholding information from the protagonists (thus helping the prosecution) and leaking it to them (thus helping the defense).


 * The unnamed judge who has presided over most of the cases in Ace Attorney series.

Returning characters

 * Trucy Wright - Phoenix Wright's adopted daughter and Apollo Justice's former investigative partner. A young magician from a well-known family of magicians, she is still working at the Wright Anything Agency and continues to aid the lawyers in their investigations.


 * Miles Edgeworth - A renowned prosecutor prodigy and current Chief Prosecutor. A childhood friend and longtime rival of Phoenix Wright, as well as the protagonist of Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth and Gyakuten Kenji 2.


 * Klavier Gavin - Apollo Justice's rival in Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney. Former lead vocalist and guitarist of the Gavinners.


 * Pearl Fey - A member of a Fey clan branch family and the younger cousin of Phoenix Wright's old assistant Maya Fey.

New characters
Episode 1:


 * Gaspen Payne - Winston Payne's younger brother. He is somewhat more villainous than Winston.


 * Juniper Woods - Athena Cykes's childhood friend. A high school student with a weak disposition who goes into spasms when nervous. Woods is also the president of the Themis Legal Academy council.


 * Ted Tonate - A suspicious member of the bomb squad who communicates almost entirely via his keyboard.


 * Candice Arme - The murder victim. A bomb disposal expert.

Episode 2:


 * Rex Kyubi - The alderman for Nine-Tails Vale. The victim of this case.


 * Jinxie Tenma - The daughter of the head of the Tenma family. Her father is arrested for the murder of Nine-Tails Vale's mayor. Jinxie believes that the real culprit is the demon Tenma Taro. A friend of Trucy, she had originally invited Justice and the others to Nine-Tails Vale for a celebration.


 * Damian Tenma - Jinxie Tenma's father and the mayor of Tenma Town. He is accused of Rex Kyubi's murder. He recently tried to merge Nine-Tails Vale with Tenma Town.


 * Phineas Filch - The manager of the mayor's mansion. He is known to steal other people's belongings.


 * Florent L'Belle - A secretary working for the Tenma family.

Episode 3:


 * Hugh O’Conner - A high school student at Themis Legal Academy who is, according to a school newspaper, involved in a love triangle with Juniper Woods and Robin Newman. He has a cool personality to match his blue uniform. Known as a genius and a master ace archer among his classmates, he carries a bow around with him and often reads through the Six Laws Compendium.


 * Robin Newman - A high school student at Themis Legal Academy who is dressed in red and has a hot-blooded personality to match. Newman is proud of being skilled in ceramics but gets rid of unpreferred works.


 * Aristotle Means  - A pale older man at Themis Legal Academy who is a defense attorney teacher and expects meaningful results from his students. He wears a white toga over his suit and holds a staff with a globe on top. His face somewhat resembles that of the Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle.


 * Constance Courte - The victim. She was a teacher at Themis Legal Academy who educated students in being courtroom judges. She believed the main purpose of the law was to find the truth, not to win.


 * Myriam Scuttlebutt - A suspicious student who obscures her features by covering herself in a cardboard box. She may know something about the case and may be hiding crucial items related to the case in her box. Justice has to use his powers of perception to reveal what she knows.

Episode 4:


 * Clay Terran - The victim in this case. Before his demise, he was a close friend of Apollo Justice and a member of the HAT-2 crew.


 * Solomon Starbuck - The defendant, a mentor to Clay Terran and another member of the HAT-2 crew. He seems very energetic, and enjoys to pretend to be inside a rocket.


 * Yuri Cosmos - The director of the space center that Starbuck and Terran worked in. He is exceedingly self-centered.


 * Aura Blackquill - The older sister of Prosecutor Blackquill and a researcher at the space center. She enjoys hitting her robot, Clonco, who she refers to as 'Hunk of Junk.'

Gameplay
The classic courtroom gameplay of the Ace Attorney series returns. The game world has transitioned into 3D with fully orchestral music, allowing for dynamic camera angles and more freedom in animations, while retaining the 2D "touch" of the characters by taking measures to maintain the sense of speed and sharpness from the 2D games. The 3D transition also allows the player to look at rooms from different angles during investigations. In addition, the game features animated scenes by the anime studio Bones, similarly to Layton-kyōju VS Gyakuten Saiban.

Dual Destinies also makes use of special powers possessed by the protagonists. Phoenix Wright's magatama and Apollo Justice's bracelet return from previous games, though the latter is used in investigations rather than trials. Athena Cykes employs the "Mood Matrix" (ココ口スコ‐プ "kokoro sukōpu" lit. "heart scope") to examine the emotions of a witness and find contradictions between the witness's emotional state and his or her testimony. Another new gameplay mode is "Revisualization" (カンガエルート "kangae ruuto" lit. "thinking route"). Similarly to the Logic feature in Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth and Gyakuten Kenji 2, the player character reviews the known facts and builds up a train of thought to reach a conclusion. The player is presented with a series of facts of many kinds, such as items and evidence connected to the case, and must choose the correct one to advance the reasoning towards a final conclusion.

Changes to the formula
Dual Destinies includes several new features and modifications to existing features to make the fundamentals more accessible. A backlog function that allows players to review previous dialogue can be viewed at any time with a touchscreen button or the "Y" button. Another touchscreen button takes the player to the save menu, a function previously accessible only through the "Start" button. Unlike previous titles, two save files can be recorded into a single game copy. The fast-forward function, previously only available when going through repeated dialogue, can now be used to go through any dialogue.

The court record has undergone an overhaul. In addition to the evidence and profiles, an investigation memo titled "Notes" lets players keep track of tasks that need to be fulfilled during investigation segments. All three are accessible as folder tabs at the top of the touchscreen, and they can be scrolled through with the shoulder buttons. The evidence and profile folders show the overview from the Nintendo DS games at the bottom of the screen, and a detailed view of a cursor-highlighted item appears above the menu, removing the need to select an item explicitly in order to view its basic information.

The penalty system is only used in trial segments of the game. When the penalty health bar depletes, rather than having to start over from a save point, the player has the option to continue where he or she failed, with the health bar fully restored. Moreover, if the player incurs three penalties or is forced to restart during a cross-examination, the player can press the "Consult" (X) button that appears, at which point the game indicates which segment of the testimony to examine.

Downloadable content
Free downloadable costumes were available in Japan until a month after the game's release. The costume pack includes the Old-School Suit, Phoenix Wright's old suit and appearance from the first three games; the Stylin' Street Clothes, a new casual outfit for Apollo Justice by character designer Kazuya Nuri; and the Themis Academy Uniform, a sailor fuku for Athena Cykes. In addition to this is a downloadable extra case called Turnabout Reclaimed. This content is also available for the American version of the game. If the game was bought from the eShop from October 24, 2013 to November 7, 2013, the player will get access to the outfits for free. However, if brought after November 7, 2013, the costume bundle will cost 99 cents.

Another downloadable costume is the old outfit Wright had worn during Turnabout Memories. The outfit is a reward for completing the extra quiz DLC. In the English version, this outfit will be unlocked upon the player completing the DLC case, Turnabout Reclaimed.

Music
The music used in Dual Destinies is almost entirely from the Gyakuten Saiban 5 Original Soundtrack. That is, almost every music track used in the game is either original or a new version of a track from a previous game. Even "Suspense", which survived unaltered through all six games in the series prior to Dual Destinies, was replaced by a "Suspense 2013". However, Dual Destinies uses "Guilty Love" and "Surging Eyes" from Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney's soundtrack.

Note

 * Excluding the European box art for Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (which only has Phoenix Wright on it), Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies is the first game in the Ace Attorney series to have voiced speech bubbles for all the characters featured on the front cover of the box art.
 * The game is the first game where all the culprits are males.
 * Dual Destinies is the first game in the series to feature more than five cases.

Trailers

 * Tokyo Game Show trailer
 * In Japanese with English subtitles
 * In English
 * Second trailer (subbed)
 * Adjusted trailer (Japanese)
 * Nintendo Direct trailer (subbed)
 * English release trailer
 * Opening intro to the first case (Japanese)
 * In Japanese (with English subtitles)
 * Partial opening intro to the second case (Japanese)
 * Adjusted opening intro (Japanese with English subtitles)

Interviews and stage shows

 * Capcom's stage show & show floor at Tokyo Game Show 2012
 * Gyakuten Saiban 5's stage show (Japanese)
 * Capcom Unity's live interview with Motohide Eshiro
 * Capcom's Hagitoko interview with director Takeshi Yamazaki & producer Motohide Eshiro (Japanese)
 * June 28 stage show
 * 8:11 - Demonstration of the Mood Matrix
 * 14:14 - Case 2 opening