I’ve been thinking a lot about Hobo Nick lately. He’s a fairly divisive character within the fandom, and I used to be on the side that thought he could’ve worked if only he didn’t revert back to his original self in Dual Destinies, but now replaying Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney for it’s most recent re-release, I’m more of the opinion that this isn’t a direction that works for this character at all. It makes perfect sense that Phoenix would become jaded after losing his badge and being forced to play poker for seven years to make ends meet, but Hobo Nick isn’t just jaded, he’s aloof, which is not a word I would use to describe Phoenix Wright at any point during the original trilogy. Seeing him casually leave his daughter to her own devices for extended periods of time, only occasionally popping in to spout something cryptic and generally uninterested-sounding before leaving immediately after is uncanny. It’s not like Shu Takumi forgot how to write Phoenix either, in the flashback sequences during Turnabout Succession, he acts just like his old trilogy self.

I bring all this up because I think in some way, my thoughts on Hobo Nick reflect my thoughts on Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney as a whole. Much like Hobo Nick, Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney is confused about what it’s supposed to be. Turnabout Succession is an excellent mystery when viewed in isolation, and Kristoph Gavin is an excellent villain, but as many others have pointed out, the final case of the game intended to introduce this new up-and-coming defense attorney as a key player in the series going forward is hardly about Apollo at all. The only time Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney isn’t about Phoenix Wright is during the game’s nothingburger filler cases, which are entertaining in the typical Ace Attorney fashion, but don’t do much to develop Apollo and Klavier in the same way that Phoenix and Edgeworth developed during the filler cases of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney.

For a long while, I didn’t really get the hype around Turnabout Trump, but now on my third time playing it, it finally clicked, and I got why so many see it as the best first case in the series (even if I personally still think 3-1 tops it). I was excited to see what the rest of the game had in store, but Turnabout Succession is such a pivot from everything that happens in Turnabout Corner and Turnabout Serenade that I got kind of lost. Ultimately, I’m back where I started. I have a hard time viewing Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney as anything but set-up for a sequel that never came. If we ever got follow-up for the plot threads regarding Lamiroir or Kristoph, maybe I’d be singing a different tune, but as it stands, Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney is simply less than the sum of its parts.