A conversation between the protagonist and their assistant about the difference between a ladder and a stepladder is a recurring joke in the Ace Attorney series that has appeared in every game in the series to date, with the exception of The Great Ace Attorney: Adventures.
The first instance of this is found in Turnabout Samurai, the third case of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney. Upon examination, the protagonist and the partner character engage in an argument on the usage of the words "ladder" and "stepladder", and the difference between them. One usually accuses the other of being too absorbed in the details instead of looking at the big picture and realizing that stepladders and other ladders serve roughly the same function. The latter's response to this varies. Similar gags involving other items have been used on occasion over the series, with The Great Ace Attorney duology in particular primarily using a "shovel vs. spade" variation of the debate instead.
In its original incarnations, Phoenix Wright makes the distinction and Maya Fey warns him not to rely on "narrow-minded cultural assumptions". However, in later instances of the gag, the protagonist fills Maya Fey's role.
I've met plenty of guys like you, always picking on the smallest details. The vegetable store guy near my place does it all the time. He even corrects me when I ask for a head of lettuce. "That's a cabbage," he says. I'm telling you, they're the exact same thing!
You have to plant both of them firmly in the ground before they can grow, don't you? Listen. You gotta take a step back and look at the bigger picture sometimes. Otherwise you could miss a really important clue. That's advice from a pro, pal!
No way! From their structure up, they're totally different! But of course, from a thief's perspective, the best kind of ladder is the rope-ladder. A step-ladder is much too heavy to carry around, after all.
We do in English, too, you know. It's a stepladder, or just 'steps'. So be careful of making assumptions about other cultures, Runo. That's how wars are started.
The office spade... Now that Susato-san's gone, the shovellers aren't represented to correct me. ......... Maybe I'll have to do it myself. 'That's not a spade, Naruhodo-san; it's a shovel!'
The office spade... Now that Miss Susato's gone, the shovellers aren't represented to correct me. ......... Maybe I'll have to do it myself. 'That's not a spade, Mr Naruhodo; it's a shovel!'
What a large shovel... He's holding it rather ominously, isn't he? What on earth was the man doing with a shovel in a graveyard in the middle of the night?
In the 2009 point-and-click adventure game Another Code: R – A Journey into Lost Memories the player can examine a stepladder in a boathouse. Upon doing so, protagonist Ashley Mizuki Robbins calls it a ladder, before correcting herself and remembering that it's actually a stepladder. She then ponders what the difference even is between the two. This was likely intended as a reference to the running Ace Attorney joke.
Birth ME Code is another investigative mystery game that references the debate, although the character Ancora fails to get anyone to engage in the debate with her.
The 2015 adventure game Aviary Attorney is a storyboard attorney game like Ace Attorney set in 1840s France, which contains many references to and parodies of Ace Attorney, including the main characters Jayjay Falcon and Sparrowson referencing the stepladder debate during a search for clues.
In the 2021 adventure game Buddy Mission Bond, the character Mokuma can examine a stepladder during an infiltration section in Chapter Four and question whether it is a ladder or a stepladder.
In Master Detective Archives: Rain Code, the player can examine a stepladder to get the player character, Yuma Kokohead, to ask himself if what he is observing is a ladder or a stepladder.
