Where is The Great Ace Attorney?

The localization chances for The Great Ace Attorney appeared horrifyingly low early on. It stars the ancestor of Phoenix Wright (or Ryuichi Naruhodou, if you prefer), solving cases during the late 19th century. Early details showed how the game would involve locations set in early Japan, a setting that would have proved challenging for the localization team to work around. That is, unless they were willing to set it in “Japantown” (which is a real town, you should know, though its name didn’t exist in this game’s time period) — or something similar to that.

Interestingly enough, it was soon confirmed that only the first case will occur in Japan, with the setting shifting to England afterward. Our young Wright won’t be able to learn everything he can while remaining in one country, especially if he only takes on prosecutors like an ancestor of Winston Payne. England’s schools were the best for training future defense attorneys and prosecutors in this game’s past, meaning this is where the real adventure will occur.

There, you’ll meet the Ace Attorney team’s interpretation of Sherlock Holmes, and their, uh, extremely different iteration of Watson. Remember that Watson comes in the form of a teenage girl in this game, because this is an apparent prerequisite for low and mid-tier Japanese games these days. Despite that oddity, it should be an enjoyable game on par with the franchise’s better installments, especially since its being directed by franchise creator Shu Takumi. If you were disappointed in how Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney — Dual Destinies turned out, you’ll want to keep an eye on this one, though that game is also receiving a sequel sometime in the future.

That’s assuming you’ll even have the opportunity to keep watch for it. With the game hitting Japanese stores today, it’s rather alarming that a localization hasn’t been announced yet. Capcom’s western districts confirmed Dual Destinies for a western release around the time they started detailing the game, well before its Japanese release, yet we haven’t heard a peep from them about this one. You’d think the apparent mostly-English setting would make localizing the title far easier, and it’s not as if a Japanese-influenced setting would be impossible to adapt. Their localization teams are qualified enough that they’ve skillfully written around it in the past, with hilarious results (and with humorous webcomics making fun of it), so that wouldn’t be a problem.

The issue might be one slightly similar, but not identical, to what kept Ace Attorney Investigations 2 from coming over. While they don’t have the excuse of saying retailers wouldn’t carry it this time around, since they skipped making physical copies for Dual Destinies outside Japan entirely, they might be convinced that only games with “Phoenix Wright” in the title will sell. Even Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney’s title felt the need to include his name, despite the Japanese version not including its equivalent, and the game being published by Nintendo. In a localization, this ancestor would have the last game of “Wright,” but Capcom could feel that’s not enough to help it sell.

Yes, that is illogical, but Capcom doesn’t need logic to operate. Ace Attorney fans have been dealt horrible hands in the last few years, and I hope Capcom proves me wrong about Great Ace Attorney’s localization fate. But this scenario could likely occur.

More logically, there’s a chance some legal hurdles may prevent Capcom from using Sherlock Holmes outside Japan. Reports suggest he’s a public domain character, but there isn’t much proof of that, particularly for his use in video games. If he really can’t be used, it will unsurprisingly confirm that Capcom Japan’s developers didn’t have the western AA fanbase in mind when making this game. Whether it’s possible to change his name and provide the same effect is another question.

If that’s not the case, this means fans will have to do their part again in convincing Capcom that people outside Japan want to play this. This can happen in multiple ways, including letting them know through social networks and email (though not by bombarding them with messages — you don’t want to be blocked for being a constant annoyance). It’s a shame we have to keep doing this with certain companies, and there’s no guarantee that it will work, but it’s better than nothing.

Cross your fingers and hope Capcom has better decision-making skills than I’ve given them credit for in this post, but there’s little chance that they don’t. I’m far from alone in sharing this opinion, and I really hope all of us cynics are proven wrong with this one.

P.S. If this is announced tomorrow, or sometime over the weekend, you know who to thank!