Ace Attorney 6 is Channeling Plenty of Fanservice for Everyone

You could say Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney — Dual Destinies restored balance to the franchise, according to most who played it, a move that was deliberate on Capcom’s part. The development teams responsible for the series were seemingly aimless after attempting experiments with Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney and the Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth, though both were far from bad. Dual Destinies mixed old and new elements to appeal to fans that found something to enjoy with every title, and lure back those who drifted away from the franchise. Sure, it didn’t impress everyone, but it did its job well enough.

But DD will have nothing on Ace Attorney 6. In the interim between its announcement shortly before Tokyo Game Show and the present day, Capcom has confirmed plenty of details regarding new characters and the game’s earliest cases — without spoiling any big twists, thankfully.

Phoenix Wright is returning in the protagonist role for the fifth time (not including Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, which isn’t a mainline installment), while Apollo Justice and the Dual Destinies-introduced Athena Cykes are back as defense attorneys for the Wright Anything Agency. The Mood Matrix feature, which allowed players to use Athena’s “Widget” computer to psychologically analyze witnesses and suspects in the courtroom, will also return — despite criticism towards it being over-the-top unrealistic even by AA’s standards.

We also knew from the earliest details that Phoenix’s first case will take him to the island of Kurain, in a courtroom where spirit mediums can reenact events which occur shortly before a person’s death — especially useful for solving murders. Considering that, and the mysticism theme, it would have been a significant trolling effort on Capcom’s part if Maya Fey wasn’t making her grand return. I wasn’t expecting too much from the recent Ace Attorney stream, where the developers promised to reveal “that character,” but a new trailer shown proved they were teasing Maya after all. This would have been a nice surprise in the game itself, but this is how Japanese game hype cycles go.

You have to hand it to current Ace Attorney’s character designer Takuro Fuse for managing to make Maya, and other characters, appear visibly older without giving them arbitrary details or simply not bothering. She’s clearly aged since her last appearance in Trials and Tribulations, but remains recognizable. T&T, by the way, is commonly referred to as the best installment, and whose story also featured heavy involvement from Kurain practitioners. I’m sure this is no coincidence.

Oh, and of course Pearl is joining her, especially since she also appeared in the last game.

The aforementioned stream also confirmed that Miles Edgeworth and Klavier Gavin will appear. Given what occurred in the last game, it will be somewhat surprising if Edgeworth is part of a case, considering the detail that head prosecutors don’t handle trials directly. “Somewhat” because this is a fanservice game, so the writers can (and probably will) find a way. Meanwhile, Klavier’s been missing in action since the fourth installment (though he made an appearance in DD), so his return to prosecuting is welcome. It also wouldn’t be an Ace Attorney game if a Payne brother wasn’t involved with the first case, Gaspen Payne in a gold suit, in this case.

It’s not all about returning characters though; new faces will be involved. Many of them introduced thus far represent Kurain, including Leyfa Padma Kurain (whose name will likely change for the western version, the Kurain part notwithstanding), who stands against the game’s defense attorneys. She’ll be responsible for channeling the last few seconds of a victim’s death using a Water Mirror in court, after performing the Dedication Dance in the courtroom. Guess that’s not too out of the ordinary with the aforementioned Mood Matrix, and they are using a special courtroom. Also representing Kurain is a new prosecutor whose Japanese name is Nayuta Sadmadhi, who believes trials are rituals to mourn the lives of victims. He’s also impossibly pretty, so you know who they’re targeting with his design — though there’s nothing wrong with that. You can see all of the characters on the official website.

Ace Attorney 6 will release in Japan on June 9th. Early copies will include two scenarios, featuring Phoenix in the Kurain Kingdom and Apollo in the vicinity of the Wright Anything Agency. Preorders will also include special outfits for Phoenix, Apollo, and Athena, who will receive Furio Tigre’s outfit, a school uniform, and a maid outfit, respectively. We’re still waiting for details on when we’ll receive it, and since it’s already confirmed, we should receive that information soon. No, you shouldn’t expect a retail release.

P.S. You probably also shouldn’t expect to hear any localization news regarding The Great Ace Attorney at this point, which released in Japan back in July last year. Despite requests for Capcom to localize it, they’ve made no comment whatsoever regarding it. Even if its setting is very “classic Japan,” they should still give it a chance, especially given the humor that could be derived from localizing its setting as “Japantown USA.” That Capcom wasn’t too impressed with its sales in Japan doesn’t help (PDF — see the bottom half of page 4). At least we’re still getting something Ace Attorney-related, but it’s a bittersweet victory.