The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles (大逆転裁判1＆2 -成歩堂龍ノ介の冒險と覺悟-; lit. "The Great Turnabout Trial 1＆2 -The Adventure and Resolve of Ryūnosuke Naruhodō-") is a duology collection of The Great Ace Attorney: Adventures and The Great Ace Attorney 2: Resolve, announced April 21st, 2021 for the Nintendo Switch, Steam, and PlayStation 4, published by Capcom. The two games were originally directed by Shu Takumi and released on the Nintendo 3DS and Android platforms. The Chronicles release was built on MT Framework and produced by Yasuyuki Makino, while Masakazu Kougou served as director and game planner.
It was released worldwide on July 27th, 2021 for purchase standalone. Another purchase option was as a package called the Ace Attorney Turnabout Collection alongside the Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy, which was discontinued on May 31, 2024. It comes with most of the "Escapades" from The Randst Magazine, which was originally post-release extra content, as well as various other content not included in the 3DS releases, but Escapade 0 and the Asinine Attorney short episodes are omitted.
Setting[]
Unlike the other games in the series, which are set close to the present day and feature somewhat futuristic technology, The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles is set near the end of Japan's Meiji period, roughly over a century before the events of the Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy, when the profession of "defense attorney" was still a fairly new concept in Japanese society. Both games star Phoenix Wright's ancestor, Ryunosuke Naruhodo, as well as a female judicial assistant named Susato Mikotoba. Although the games initially take place in Japan, the two later travel to Great Britain and work cases alongside the renowned detective Herlock Sholmes.
In developing the plot, Shu Takumi wanted to introduce the classic mystery stories that he loves to the player. Additionally, previous games in the series placed emphasis on the true culprits' breakdowns at the climax of each episode, but this is less emphasized in The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles.[1]
Localization[]
| Taketsuchi Auchi |
| Japanese is such a cumbersome language anyway! English is the future! We must all su-pii-ku Ingurisshu! |
Localization was conducted in partnership with Plus Alpha Translations, which had previously been commissioned for Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Trials and Tribulations.[2]
The localization uses a variant of Victorian British English, making it the second time an Ace Attorney product localized in English uses non-American spellings, the other being Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney. To help achieve this, Janet Hsu collected dictionaries from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including the Oxford English Dictionary and "a different Oxford dictionary from 1912." They noted that the games used a "faux" style of Meiji-era Japanese, a compromise between authentic Meiji-era Japanese and modern Japanese for the sake of readability, and sought to bring a "faux" Victorian flavor to the English localization.[3] Some difficulty arose from doing this, as many phrases used in the present day either are American in origin or only came into use in the last 100 years. Moreover, the original dialogue contained much information about the Victorian era, which even the British translators had trouble getting straight. Thus, the localization team had to strike a balance between authenticity and accessibility, as they did not want players to require outside research to understand the games. Another style choice made was for the Japanese characters in Britain to speak English in public while speaking Japanese to each other in private, signified with the use of Japanese honorifics like -san instead of English words like Mr. and Miss.[4]
The localization has changed some names while leaving other ones intact, with the names Sherlock Holmes and Watson notably being changed to Herlock Sholmes and Wilson. Many characters, both Japanese and British, have had their names changed from Japanese puns to English ones, but the main cast outside of the aforementioned are also essentially intact. For the sake of supporting all of the different fonts used in the games, macrons (e.g. "Ryūnosuke Naruhodō") and accents (e.g. "Esméralda") are not used.[3]
The COVID-19 pandemic complicated the process of English dubbing, beginning before a studio could be picked out for dubbing services.[5]
Main cast[]
- Ryunosuke Naruhodo (成歩堂 龍ノ介)
- Voiced by: Hiro Shimono (Japanese), Mark Ota (English)
- Susato Mikotoba (御琴羽 寿沙都)
- Voiced by: Kana Hanazawa (Japanese), Rina Takasaki (English)
- Kazuma Asogi (亜双義 一真)
- Voiced by: Yūichi Nakamura (Japanese), Ben Deery (English)
- Herlock Sholmes (シャーロック・ホームズ)
- Voiced by: Shinji Kawada (Japanese), Bradley Clarkson (English)
- Iris Wilson (アイリス・ワトソン)
- Voiced by: Misaki Kuno (Japanese), Claire Morgan (English)
- Barok van Zieks (バロック・バンジークス)
- Voiced by: Kenjiro Tsuda (Japanese), Robert Vernon (English)
- Narrator
- Voiced by: Takayuki Sugō (Japanese), Peter De Jersey (English)
Gameplay[]
Chronicles comes with additional content and gameplay features that were not present in the original games. The altered saving system introduced in the Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy is carried over, being further improved by the addition of autosaves, with Adventures save files being colored red, while Resolve save files are colored blue; save files of investigation chapters are further decorated with a background silhouette of Herlock Sholmes, while trial chapters have a silhouette of Ryunosuke Naruhodo.
Special contents[]
Much like Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, Chronicles includes an in-game OST ("Auditorium") and concept art with commentary by Nuri ("Gallery"). The Auditorium OST consists of unused versions of select themes from the games, with the original The Great Ace Attorney: Adventures Grand Performance Recording and The Great Ace Attorney 2: Resolve Grand Performance Recording being sold separately. Chronicles also features two new tracks, "Partners (Arrangement)", a new arrangement of "Partners - The game is afoot!" that is only available as part of the early purchase bonus, and "Baker Street Ball - Waltz for Chronicles", a new credits theme created specifically for this release.[6][7] Newly commissioned art and specially voiced lines are also included. Some of these are only available to people who purchase Chronicles early. Also contained in Chronicles are "The Great Special Trial" and "Special Trial 2017", two videos that were previously only officially distributed at events, as well as a collection of 13 videos called "Ryunosuke Naruhodo's Seven Days of Sin", where people voted on Naruhodo's guilt or innocence online and the results would be posted the following day.
Special features[]
Chronicles introduces Autoplay Mode and Story Mode. Autoplay Mode automatically advances the text without the player having to press a button, while Story Mode skips the puzzle-solving and decision-making mechanics for players who just want to go through the story. Dual audio is available between Japanese and English audio. There is also an option to switch the graphics between Japanese and English, with English subtitles being available when hovering a cursor over Japanese text.
Accolades[]
All accolades awarded in the gallery.
Similarly to the previous Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy, Chronicles includes achievements called "accolades", which have an in-game implementation to accommodate the Nintendo Switch version. These are as follows:
- The Great Ace Attorney : Clear all of Chronicles and get all other accolades
- Defence Debut : Complete Episode 1 of Adventures
- Crash Course Candidate : Complete Episode 2 of Adventures
- The Realm of the Reaper : Complete Episode 3 of Adventures
- Landed in London : Complete Episode 4 of Adventures
- Fleeting Farewell : Complete Episode 5 of Adventures
- Susato's Success : Complete Episode 1 of Resolve
- The Key of Knowledge : Complete Episode 2 of Resolve
- The Demasking : Complete Episode 3 of Resolve
- The Legendary Pair : Complete Episode 4 of Resolve
- The Risen Resolve : Complete Episode 5/The Final Chapter of Resolve
- Ace Aficionado : Complete all of the Escapades
- Bespoke Tailor : Play Resolve with all of the outfits on
- Ace of Spades : Have every argument about shovels and spades
- The Top Rung : Have every debate about ladders and stepladders (only in Resolve)
- Inconsistency Seer : Present evidence during the first cross-examination that occurs in either Adventures or Resolve
- Prime Presser : Press a witness during the first cross-examination that occurs in either Adventures or Resolve
- The Herlockian : Read every new idea on Iris' blackboard
- Healthy Curiosity : Thoroughly examine the medical report card, inside and out, in Episode 1 of Adventures
- Pillow Perfectonist : Examine the Bed in Episode 2 of Adventures
- Hat Hunter : Identify the milliner responsible for the victim's hat in Episode 3 of Adventures
- Second-Rate Strings : Examine the violin before talking with Iris about her last name in Episode 4 of Adventures
- The Woman...? : Examine the fireplace in Sholmes' suite while with Susato in Episode 5 of Adventures
- Sulky's Story : Pursue Nash and Ringo when no thought bubble appears in Episode 5 of Adventures
- Father Frustrator : Name Yujin and Auchi as the victim in Episode 1 of Resolve
- Down In One : Examine Olive's bottle before it falls from the table in Episode 2 of Resolve
- The Noodler : Present the wrong person in Sholmes' question about who might have something that had belonged to the convict in Episode 2 of Resolve
- Inspirational Roots: Present your armband to Van Zieks in Episode 3 of Resolve
- Best Chips in Town : Talk with Gina after Ryunosuke regains consciousness following the incident with Toby in Episode 4 of Resolve
- Asogi Clan Appreciator : Examine the head of Karuma after finding the crucial evidence inside of it in Episode 5 of Resolve
Gallery[]
Videos[]
- Announcement Trailer (Japanese)
- Announcement Trailer (English)
- E3 Trailer
- New Features Trailer
- Gameplay Trailer
References[]
- ↑ Ash. Re: DGS in September 2015 Dengeki Nintendo. Court Records Forums. Retrieved 2015-08-29.
- ↑ "Plus Alpha Translations: The Great Ace Attorney". Retrieved 2023-11-16.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Hsu, Janet (2021-07-06). The Adventure of The Great Ace Attorney Localization. Capcom News. Retrieved 2021-07-13.
- ↑ Epps, De'Angelo (2021-06-05). Capcom's quest to translate The Great Ace Attorney for Western audiences. Polygon. Retrieved on 2021-06-13.
- ↑ Hsu, Janet (2021-07-13). A Most Miraculous English Dub. Capcom News. Retrieved 2021-07-13.
- ↑ Kitagawa, Yasumasa (2021-7-21). The Adventures and Resolve of Music Creation Capcom: The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles Official Website Retrieved 2021-7-21.
- ↑ Kougou, Masakazu (2021-7-21). Little Backstage Tales Capcom: The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles Official Website Retrieved 2021-7-21.