I have to review these games as one unit because they end up feeling that way, even though the first game was originally made to be standalone.
Ace Attorney is one of those things where I just genuinely can't really comprehend how it was made. How do you write this? The way the cases keep piling on mysteries and then have the truth come cascading down in ways that not only make complete sense, but are also incredibly satisfying to uncover. The simple gameplay also turns out to be surprisingly successful in making sure you can't just passively sit by and let the story happen, but actually have to make many connections yourself. It wasn't enough to just have pristine puzzles, the way things unfold also leads to frequently very touching character moments and there's very poingant themes that emerge through it all. I don't think I've ever done this type of mystery storytelling done better than in shu takumi's work, and that's including any medium. When these games are at their best, there's some real magic that emerges. Everything just falls into place in a perfect way that I've very rarely seen. What's cool is that none of that is due to any one particularly great idea or cool direction that they went. They simply executed this modest GBA lawyer game at a ridiculous level of craftsmanship. It's one of those things where the sheer fact that it exists feels like a little miracle.