One could say that the Ace Attorney series has seen a slight resurgence over the past few years. Capcom shipped Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy on Switch in 2019, followed by The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles in 2021 (which were localized for the first time). Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy is also coming out very soon. The good news is...
This could mean that there is a new game coming (I hope), but it most likely (also) means that they are gearing up to port all of the Ace Attorney games to a new system. I love the series, but they really squeeze every cent out of it.
Hopefully they will port the game engine and then feel confident enough to release a new game.
Cynical reading “These fans have not played all of the previous games and don’t have the older systems, so we need to get the games on the new systems that they own.”
Makes sense to port them in this case. More than in most series with an overarching story, lots of context in later Ace Attorney games is missed if you haven’t played the earlier games. It’s not to Kingdom Hearts level (the above only really applies to the main entries, you don’t need to play Investigations or GAA), but still more than most.
I’m totally on board with the ports, but I actually don’t like people pushing the idea that you have to play every single one in order, especially since some don’t age well.
The first I saw of the game was a playthrough of Trials and Tribulations. The twists were shocking, and the best part was, nothing I saw really spoiled me on the appeal of the prior games. They didn’t bring back any prior villains/murderers, and I knew what I needed of core characters.
I’d argue the same could even be said of Apollo and Trucy in later games. “This guy is an apprentice lawyer. This magician is Phoenix’s adopted daughter.”
Part of that to me is that the main appeal is the individual mysteries, and not the character progressions - of which there hasn’t been much. Phoenix himself doesn’t really even change past the end of his third game.
While I try not to delve too deeply into marketing speak, I think they are only porting all the games because they are selling well, and if they are selling well enough, new entries would surely follow.
Capcom is doing well for Resident Evil, by both remaking older inaccessible games and creating new ones, hopefully they will do the same with Ace Attorney and their other franchises too.