Disclaimer: I am reviewing my playthrough of this game from the Apollo Justice Trilogy's remastered version of it, not the original

That said, the updated version surpringly has additional merit for it's existence rather than for permanent playability after hardware has been phased out of the market. The visual updates are all very good, especially in the UI elements which they made custom updates to (except for a couple decisions here and there), and are thus also different to the other Phoenix Wright Trilogy which felt too adherent to the original games UI design. This game is also weirdly well optimised, not as weirdly optimised as Return of the Obra Dinn which'll run on a toaster, but for a visual novel remake/remaster you wouldn't expect attention to be drawn to performance, especially for release on modern personal computers.

However, aside from the changes in the remake, the game itself almost surprised me. I had played this game once before, about (ironically) 7 years ago, and remembered only some major plot beats. Going back into it again made me realise how well foreshadowed the rest of the series is from this game on (again, ironic). After the manoeuvre that saw Shu Takumi taken off of the production of this game and the future mainline ones, it makes perfect sense why this game and the Great Ace Attorney Chronicles are the way they are, given that most of the major design decisions that can be infered were left by Takumi in this game seem to suddenly reappear in the Chronicles under a more realised vision. Otherwise for the mainline games, you can see the newer team's ability in taking over and adapting stories presented in the past for the games which make up the Apollo Justice Trilogy, the succintness and completeness of these stories is present even here, despite the stumbles in this game and the overarching story of this second trilogy. I can't go into detail due to spoilers but trust me when I say I am thoroughly confused as to why the game is named "Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney" and not "Justice & Wright: Ace Attorneys". Plus, I am equally as frustrated as everyone else when I say this game gives a lot of setup for future games which has not been followed up on since, the writing staff gotta get their act together before they give this man another backstory.

The 1st case is probably the best introduction to a Phoenix Wright game ever as it perfectly sets up the context, tone, and themes for the entire game while remaining the most interesting an unique introduction to a Phoenix Wright game (despite the darker themes and story this time around, the game works very well with it's comedy and tone to not be overly depressing), the 2nd case is good if not solid but with too much coincidence, the 3rd case is also pretty good providing a more subtle indicator of coincidence whilst being an another unique interesting case. This game excels at creating unique problems to solve, especially ones not done before in the series, and never done as efficiently since.

Then the 4th case... I originally had this game at a 4.5/5 just from the first 3 cases, and the start of the 4th had me there too. The problem comes when we start getting into the meat of the last case, and especially it's reliance on two of the game's major themes: Successors and Coincidence. Again, it's difficult to describe the problem with this case without spoiling it, but I will give hints that you will be very confused by the obvious contradictions of the MASON system, and that it wishes it was Justice for All's final case.

Apollo Justice rightfully leaves off on a strong note to create another legacy, all while taking key points of interconnection.

I originally played through the first episode of this game after consecutively playing the original trilogy, but reading is hard work! Thankfully it came out on switch, so I didn't have to wait long.

The game's new cast and protagonist all feel full of purpose. I feel like the original games took a bit before we understood that these characters are people, but everything feels "real" now.

There's plenty of room for the older cast, and this would've been a great ending for Phoenix Wright. . . . . . Too bad there's two more games

Apollo Justice surprised me with the all around quality! I went into this game familiar with the events of the first trilogy, though this is the first Ace Attorney game I've played. Still, getting to see the mix of both returning and new characters brought me much joy, and I was pleasantly surprised with how good the writing was! The writing was great throughout, but especially excelled during its comedic and serious moments in particular. Every character I met had a mix of tragedy and comedy in them, and I loved that. Being a visual novel, the plot and story were forefront to gameplay, but the game doesn't have any issues providing a compelling narrative that doesn't leave you worried about the gameplay (though I still had fun with the gameplay as well). Overall I'd say that I enjoyed this game pretty well, and I'm excited to try the sequel at some point!

My favorite character is Trucy Wright

I went into this game not expecting too much in comparison to AA3. However I finished the game pleasently surprised! The characters are great, and Apollo is a more than suitable stand in for Phoenix. I played this with my friend and we dubbed the game together which made it a much better experience than it would have been if I just read it myself. Some of the one off characters like Stickler and Brushel we really fun to voice because of their goofy nature. The weakest link here is definitely Turnabout Corner but it's made up for with all of the other cases. Everything coming together in the end was quite satisfying and I was genuinely surprised at some of the reveals late game. Overall this is another really solid entry in this really solid series. My friend and I will be working our way through the next 2 main series games and I'm very much looking forward to it!

Apollo Justice Ace Attorney is another one of many love it or hate it titles in the series, it’s got some pretty low lows, but also decently high highs I think, I don’t really consider this one among my personal favorites for reasons I’ll get into later, but I still very much think it’s underrated, and has a lot of great things going for it that the Phoenix Trilogy didn’t. For one compared to those games, the visuals are just on another level man, they really used the jump from the GBA to the DS is really clean man, I love the characters all look great, and the background work here is excellent, I especially really like how the court looks in this game, always found it a lot more visually pleasing than that of the original trilogy, oh and man the case intros are so freaking atmospheric, easily among the series’ best. Soundtrack is also top notch, it doesn’t quite have the emotional highs of TnT, but the stuff here is super memorable, unique, banging, and there are even some legitimately really foreboding tracks that always really get to me, Forgotten Legend especially, that shit is eerie as all hell and I adore it. As for the new gameplay features, the DS gimmicks can be a tad hit or miss, there are some fun ones like messing with the soundboard, but then some stuff like deciphering the painting in case 4 can kinda drag, though I still sorta enjoy the novelty of it ngl. The Perceive mechanic though I could probably do without, it kinda just feels like something that’s here so that they could put it as a selling point on the back of the box, and outside of the one time in the final trial, it doesn’t really have many memorable moments associated with it. Similar to JFA, the cases here are generally regarded as a mixed bag, though interestingly unlike that game, the fan favorite chapter here isn’t the final one, but the first one.

Turnabout Trump is pretty dumb classic, and for good reason, I feel that this case does a really great job at setting up what AJ is trying to go for. Phoenix Wright’s character here is easily one of my favorites in the whole series, this takes place 7 years after TnT, so it makes sense for him to feel like a somewhat different person, he’s become a lot more sleazy and somewhat lazy, but it’s still made pretty clear that behind that mask, he’s still an unrivaled genius, he’s become somewhat displeased with the law, turning to backhanded technics he would previously mock to get his achieved results, I love how it feels like the player is right there with Apollo, wanting to punch him in the face for it, this really sets up an interesting mystery with the question of just how did Phoenix get to this point. Apollo himself is a really fan protagonist, and although he doesn’t really get much when it comes to development, I actually think he makes for a pretty good self insert of the player, behind someone who admired Phoenix and red up on his previous cases, coming into this business behind shocked by the man he’d become, it’s pretty much just Raiden from MGS2, and I love that. There’s also the villain here Kristoph Gavin, who I do feel it a tad overhyped honestly, but he’s still very memorable and works great for this game, the twist with him being the culprit very out of left field, but it works because it’s set up really well, I personally don’t think Trump is one of my favorite cases in the series or really even my favorite intro case, but it is still a DAMN fine one, and it deserves its fan favorite status.

Turnabout Corner then is a case I don’t have too many strong emotions over, yet I also feel it’s a tad misunderstood, it mainly serves the purpose of introducing most of the game’s cast similar to Turnabout Sisters from the first game, there’s the assistant Trucy Wright, the prosecutor Klavier Gavin, and the Detective Ema Skye, all of which I enjoy, Trucy is a pretty fun assistant that has good chemistry with Apollo, Klavier is a really fun spin on the prosecutor trope with him actually being a pretty nice guy overall, and I really like the turn they took with Ema here, with her failing to achieve her dreams, it’s a pretty neat parallel to Phoenix Wright, and I enjoy how she can be kind of an asshole honestly. As for the case itself, I think it has a really cool setup honestly, it involving a lot of smaller crimes that eventually lead to and connect to a murder, it’s really fun slowly peeling the lairs and eventually connecting it all to find the culprit, who’s a tad generic, but a pretty solid one, in general the characters here are pretty fun, I don’t know what it is about Guy Eldoon that I really like, but idk he’s just a really neat guy. The main issue most folks seem to have with this case is that the defendant, Wocky Kitaki, is kind of an unlikable asshole who you wouldn’t really want to defend, but honestly I feel that most people kinda missed the point here, Wocky is only like 19, he’s just a dumb teen that was raised trying to be a Mafia member, of course he’s be an asshole, but I don’t think you’re defending him for HIS sake, you’re doing it for his poor parents who are desperately trying to break away from their past, and want to save their dying son, the ending with Wocky’s father is a really heartwarming moment for that, it’s a unique feeling this series doesn’t give upon victory usually, and I honestly love that. So yeah, Corner isn’t really that great per-se, but I still think it’s a fun case with some unique emotional gravitas for this franchise.

Oh boy though Turnabout Serenade, yeah this isn’t exactly a liked one now is it? I think it’s largely due to the serenade video they make you watch a bunch of times, and while yeah this crap can get pretty damn tiering, it also leads to a lot of REALLY fun and creative contradictions, the crime itself here is honestly one of my favorites in the whole series, it’s really integrated put together and I love how Apollo plays a witness role here, the fact that the defendant is a presumed 14 year old boy presumed to be blind is a tad over the top yeah, and some parts like the super heavy gun that was used could’ve been changed to make the prospect of him being the culprit more believable I think, the actual culprit is pretty fun to take down, but not really much of a noteworthy one, I find it pretty disappointing that Klavier doesn’t have much of a reaction to them being the killer considering that they’re literally in a band together, like Jesus, between this and the arest of his brother, Klavier loses so much throughout the game, and it could’ve really hit hard if they portrayed how hard it is on him, but as it is he’s mostly able to play it cool and hide it all. Back on the topic of Serenade, I like some of it’s auditions to the lore like the existence of made-up countries like Borgania, and unlike previous third cases it also continues to introduce characters who will become important later which helps it feel more substantial, yeah the plot kinda goes of the deep-end later on with all the cocoon smuggling, but idk it’s still pretty fun to solve and fits in with the conflict nicely, Serenade’s not really that good, but I also wouldn’t call it bad, it’s kinda just a bid mid ig.

And finally, Turnabout Succession. This is a really weird one honestly, it manages to have a lot of really cool stuff in it, while also kinda feeling undercooked in a lot of ways, like the final trial is by far the shortest in the whole series, Kristoph literally breaks down after a single testimony due to the jury system. I honestly kinda wish Phoenix’s final trial got to be its own case, letting this one put more screen time on Apollo and the gang, though as it is I do really like said trial, with it using the visuals from the original trilogy, it’s cute. A lot of people say Phoenix didn’t “deserve” to get a penalty for what he did, but consider he pretty much just got a random page from some random girl and considered it to be factual evidence. This is something that has happened numerous times in the original trilogy, and this here is pretty much a critique on Phoenix and why he couldn't just trust everything that’s handed to him. I do like the Mason system, those parts are pretty neat, but it alongside some other stuff actually has a lot of REALLY chilling implications which the game never really touches upon. Phenix pretty much time travels here to unravel the “truth” of the case, and this is presented as something he’s showing to the jury before the final trial. Thing is though, it’s not really made clear how much of what we see actually happened, and how much could have literally just been made up by Phoenix, considering he presents evidence in the past segments he got from the future, it may seem weird that he’s even lie about this, but consider for a second that according to what we know, Phoenix literally KNEW that Drew Misham would die in 7 years time, yet REFUSED to save him and stop the plan, why would he do that though??? The answer is revenge, the entirety of this case is just one massive plan orchestrated by Phoenix Wright to get revenge against the people who ruined his life, Kristoph is literally ALREADY in jail, yet Phoenix is petty enough to drag him down even further, and from what we know, people in Ace Attorney who have killed more than one person receive the death penalty, meaning this plan literally involved killing them both. In the end though, he can’t really be indicted on this, Kirstoph did it to himself after all. The whole thing seems to be uplifting at first, being a lesson on how sometimes the law needs to be changed, and can be flawed, but once you look deeper, you realize that no matter what, the law will ALWAYS be corrupted, such a system handled by humans is not something that can be stable. I personally believe that these themes were originally going to be explored further in sequels to Apollo Justice, but unfortunately, that never happened, and so much of the brilliant stuff that this game setup ended up falling by the wayside.


I still love Apollo Justice for what it is, it’s a fun Ace Attorney game with great characters, and a really fascinating overall story that tackles dark themes you wouldn’t expect initially, the issue with it however is that it feels like the first instrument of a trilogy, setting up a lot of plot points to be resolved in sequels, however, this game never really got a direct sequel, leaving it's story feeling incomplete.There is still a lot of good to be found here, but it doesn't live up to it's incredible potential, which is a crying shame.

Fazia muito tempo que não voltava a jogar Ace Attorney, e foi ótimo voltar com o início da nova trilogia. O primeiro caso de Apollo Justice é o melhor da franquia até agora, é tão intenso e 100% voltado a história principal, mostra tudo que o jogo pode oferecer.

O caso 2 e 3 são meio chatos e não impressionam muito. Mas o caso 4 é MUITO absurdo, não só de criatividade, mas caralho, fumaram 3 kilos de maconha pra escreverem esse caso por inteiro, além de muitos momentos que já se tornaram icônico pra mim.

Tenho umas ressalvas sobre a conclusão, mas adorei a experiência, animado pro resto da franquia.