By: Cameron Tyo
June 30th, 2025
Warning: This review will provide tiny spoilers for the game Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney is a visual novel game that was initially released for the Game Boy Advance in Japan in 2001. However, after years of localization, western audiences would get an updated port of the game in 2005 for the DS. The game remained largely unchanged, with the exception of a slight update to the pixel art and the addition of a new case, which incorporated features that utilized the DS’s touchscreen and microphone.
The first time I played the first Phoenix Wright game was in 2015 on the Ace Attorney Trilogy collection for the 3DS, a year after the trilogy’s release date. It was the summer, and I was bored. I went on to the internet to look up games to play for the 3DS, and after a few minutes of searching and keeping my interest in the back of my mind, like of courtrooms and crime scenes, Phoenix Wright caught just that. I looked at a few trailers of the game and decided why not give it a try. I bought the trilogy and started playing the first game. I wasn’t expecting much, but I instantly became hooked. I played this game multiple times and have just recently played it again in the Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney Trilogy for the Nintendo Switch.
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney follows a simple pattern, much like its predecessors. You play Phoenix Wright through the five episodes of the game. You meet your defendant who is accused of murder, investigate the crime scenes looking for evidence that will veer away guilt from your defendant during the investigation sections, and later on duke it out with the prosecutor in the courtroom sections. During the courtroom sections, you continuously object to things not only witnesses have to say in cross-examinations but also to your prosecution’s theories, proving why either the prosecutor is wrong, or witnesses are lying by breaking down their testimonies and pointing out contradictions in their statements that get less and less obvious as you progress through the game with evidence. Just by reading what I wrote, the game might not seem all that interesting. Still, the humorous dialogue and the music that interjects cross-examinations during the back-and-forth between Phoenix and the prosecution make both sections of the game exciting.
While the music and quirky dialogue help make a concept you might think unenjoyable fun, the characters themselves and their personalities are also very helpful.
Phoenix is the main character, and in a game that doesn’t take itself so seriously despite some of its content matter, Wright just seems like such a relatable guy. While he’s at the forefront of a lot of cases and is kicking butt every time someone points out a flaw he has on a point he brings up; he is just as flabbergasted as any of the witnesses and prosecution would be when he does the same thing. He’s cheap. I’m cheap. So that’s great. There is Miles Edgeworth, the main prosecutor of the game, who is lauded as one of the cruelest prosecutors to work in the field. Someone who will do anything in their power to win a case. At the start of the game, everyone continuously remarks on how Edgeworth has never lost a case and how there are rumors that he uses falsified evidence to secure his verdict. When you first meet him in the courtroom, this helps establish a sense of dread not only for Phoenix but also for you, the player. You slowly but surely get to find out the layers of Edgeworth’s characters through his past struggles in life, his relationships with people, and his own inner conflict. You also have Maya Fey, who acts as Phoenix’s assistant at his law office after some tragic incidents unfold. It is always nice to see Maya during the investigation sections after going against Miles. Her bubbly personality contrasts with Miles’s brooding personality.
You have other characters who would eventually become mainstays in the trilogy in one way or another, like Mia Fey, Larry Butz, Dick Gumshoe, Winston Payne, and The Judge, all of whom have different personalities and whose flair shines through the game and cases they’re in. Some seem lovely to be around. You have intellectuals. Some just get the short end of the stick all the time. Some are just annoying. You also have the witnesses and defendants as characters who will greatly add to the personality and drama of the game, and therefore, the entertaining dialogue read during the courtroom sessions and investigation sections.
The cases in the first game are all so very unique. The weakest case in the game is probably the opening, but it’s naturally a short tutorial case where you are taught how to press statements, present evidence, etc. The culprit is kind of fun, and it introduces you to culprit breakdowns. You also see the punny names Capcom so loves putting in their games. The case that follows is even more exciting and introduces the investigation section, along with a more complex narrative. Turnabout Sisters starts off with the murder of an unexpected person, and it is the first time the stakes are high throughout. Turnabout Samurai has some fun witnesses and a tragic plot twist. My favorite cases by far, though, have to be Turnabout Goodbye and Rise from the Ashes.
Turnabout Goodbyes changes things up a lot, but to avoid spoilers, I can’t say much. All I will say is that the defendant is someone you know very well by this point. Not only do you end up solving one case during the episode, but you also get to defend that same person in a retrial for a case that happened long ago and is almost reaching the statute of limitations. It’s an exciting and emotional episode. Rise from the Ashes is the fifth and final case of the game. It’s extremely long, nearly as long as the last four cases combined, but it has a serial murder plot I love, twists, and complexities that extend not only to the characters but also to the courtroom sections, which makes solving the case all the more enjoyable when you do. You also get introduced to new features like testing for fingerprints and spraying for blood in a luminol test. All of these use the DS features or, in the case of the Switch, its touchpad. I can see why people dislike this case. It can be convoluted at times. Penalties can get super harsh, and the case can drag a little. I don’t seem to mind the drag that much. This is the added case, so the end of the original game is technically Turnabout Goobyes.
Capcom really outdid themselves when making the first Phoenix Wright game. Despite being the first, I actually think it isone of the better ones. This could be nostalgia talking. This is the very first Ace Attorney game I played, and I believe it should be everyone’s first. Not only is it good, but it helps establish characters and narratives that will be focused on more than other games in the franchise, especially the next two games in the trilogy.
With that being said, I give Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney a 9.1/10