Highlights
- A producer from Capcom assures fans that the Ace Attorney series is here to stay, promising more in the future.
- The series has seen a number of releases and spin-offs, with re-release collections for modern consoles to keep the franchise alive.
- Despite challenges in adapting the games to the RE Engine, working with it has provided valuable knowledge for the future of the Ace Attorney series.
A producer from Capcom gave fans of the Ace Attorney franchise some good news, promising that the publisher isn't abandoning the series anytime soon. The first Ace Attorney game was released in 2001 on the Game Boy Advance. Ever since, it has spawned a trilogy on the handheld console, which was then ported to the Nintendo DS and brought over to the West. With its surprise popularity, Ace Attorney would help show the appeal of visual novel games in the West.
The series hasn't slowed down its releases after this initial success, with Capcom launching three sequels on the Nintendo DS and 3DS, as well as the Miles Edgeworth-focused Investigations and The Great Ace Attorney spin-off duologies. Capcom has also been keeping Ace Attorney alive through various re-release collections for modern consoles, such as 2021's The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles collection (which was also the first time the games were localized in the West), along with the release of the Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy coming later this month.
Why the Detective Pikachu Games are a Great Starting Point Before Playing Ace Attorney
Detective Pikachu Returns serves as a cute, low-stakes mystery adventure that might ease players into Ace Attorney's investigations smoothly.
The producer of the Apollo Justice trilogy re-release, Kenichi Hashimoto, has recently said the series "won't be stopping" at all. In an interview with 4Gamer (translated courtesy of Nintendo Everything), he says the series isn't being abandoned and asks fans to look forward to what they have in store, thanks to their knowledge of working with Capcom's proprietary RE Engine. While the producer didn't mention a game that the developers could discuss at the moment, working with the engine was extremely beneficial. "At this time there is nothing to talk about, but we have gained a lot of knowledge about the RE Engine. I can say that the Ace Attorney series will not be stopping, so in that sense, I think you can look forward to what is coming," said Hashimoto.
Hashimoto discussed some of the challenges that they had working with the re-release, as the developers were using the RE Engine to bring these games, which were made with completely different tech, to modern platforms. Other problems they faced were the limitations of the RE Engine, noting how it was built for action-focused games like Devil May Cry 5 or Street Fighter 6, and not necessarily adventure games like the Ace Attorney series in mind. Despite the issues the developers ran into, Hashimoto says that working with the engine was a valuable learning experience.
At this time there is nothing to talk about, but we have gained a lot of knowledge about the RE Engine. I can say that the Ace Attorney series will not be stopping, so in that sense, I think you can look forward to what is coming.
The last mainline title released in the series was Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Spirit of Justice, originally launched on the 3DS in 2016, and is one of the games bundled in the Apollo Justice collection. While a new Ace Attorney game hasn't been announced outside the aforementioned remaster package, this update should be encouraging for fans who are invested in the series.
Ace Attorney
Ace Attorney is a visual novel adventure franchise that puts the players in the shoes of an attorney known as Phoenix Wright as he defends innocent clients and solves mysteries. Later games in the series would involve other playable characters, like Apollo Justice or Athena Cykes.
