Top Ten Turnabouts - Part 5 (#95)

#6 - 3-2: The Stolen Turnabout

The case begins with a cutscene involving a strange masked figure called Mask DeMasque (there's usually a cool star icon between the words Mask and DeMasque but unfortunately there's no star icon on my keyboard) flying away into the night sky after stealing a precious jewel without being noticed until it's too late. Oh by the way, the music in this intro is awesome, it's short but there are a couple different parts that play to match the stuff happening in the cutscene. Check it out here.

This case, like many others in the series after the first game, lasts for two days of investigation and two days of trial. However, the case has something to it for its first half that's pretty different than usual: it's not a murder case. Yeah, it;s the first time Phoenix has defended somebody from a crime other than killing, and of, course, it's related to the opening cutscene from before. You have to defend Ron DeLite (who reminds me of Ron Weasley, mainly because they're both called Ron and I don't know anybody else with that name, lol) from being convicted of large scale theft, which is where this ties into the jewel at the beginning.

Being defended by Phoenix? I'm sure
he was positively DeLite-ed.
(Or not, read below)

See, the weird part is, Ron seriously, seriously wants to be found guilty. However, Nick still gets Won-Won (see, this is the kind of stuff that happens when he reminds me of Weasley... just watch Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince) declared innocent and proves that the true culprit is none other Luke Atmey (get it? Look at me? I LOVES IT), a self-proclaimed 'Ace Detective' (Luke Atmey: Ace Detective coming this holiday season) who has a tendency to say 'ZVARRI!' when he realises something and loves his big magnifying glass.

He understands me.

Not complaining, but why does he look like he stuck some kind
of solidified lightning strike onto his almost bald head? I'm
probably overthinking this. 

It's not until after this trial, when you start to become a little disappointed that the case only lasted one day and it was pretty short for the second case in the game, when you realize that, oh crap, you screwed up. Well, Phoenix did anyway. You find out that at the place where you proved Ron was at the time of the theft to clear his name, and at the time he was there, 1AM in the morning,  a man called Kane Bullard was murdered.

Oh.

So, there is a day two of the trial, and, although this case does feature the usual murder after all, the way they played out the first majority of the case in a very different way than normal was really cool. Yeah, you do prove in the next trial that Ron was also innocent of the murder, but the way that you basically doom yourself by proving the whereabouts of Ron is great. You find out that Luke Atmey was the true murder and secretly wanted the larceny to be pinned on him to escape being convicted of a worse crime, murder. You even barge in on his trial where you get to see the judge's very similar looking brother for the first time who, guess what, is also a judge. He actually makes quite a few appearances in the third game. Ron DeLite does turn out to be Mask DeMasque after all, but after his first theft, Luke Atmey spotted him and blackmailed him into committing the rest of his five or so robberies.

Mask * Demasque's theme is awesome. Yes, the *
icon is the closest I can get on here to a proper star.

This case also marks the debut of the mysterious, the awesome, the amazing yet troubled prosecutor, Godot, who has only appeared in this game so far, despite being one of the most popular prosecutors. This guy loves coffee, and drinks seventeen cups of Joe (first time I've used that term) every like the epic caffeine-high lawyer-slayer he is. I won't go too deep into his backstory and secrets since that's explored properly in case 5, Bridge to the Turnabout (not making an appearance on this list, surprising for some) but it's very touching and brings a tear to many people's eye.

Actually I prefer tea -- *gets shot*

"All men wear masks - whether it be over their
faces, or over their hearts..." - Godot

If you weren't yet convinced that this is a cool one, just sniff the air. Smell that? This case features the return of the Butz. And now he's a security guard. Go play it.

Aaaagghhhh! The fangs!

We're at the halfway point of this long, long project. Yeesh.

Thomas

Intro | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10

Top Ten Turnabouts - Part 4 (#94)

#7 - E2-5: The Grand Turnabout

The last case in the most recent Investigations game and therefore the most recent case in the Investigations sub-series, The Grand Turnabout features probably one of the biggest plot twists in not just Investigations 1 and 2 but the whole Ace Attorney series. In fact, personally I think that the only other moment in the series I can think of so far that rivals it is the moment where Bobby Fulbright turns out to be the Phantom in disguise in AA5. You find out that one of the most innocent acting characters so far in Investigations 2, Simon Keyes of the Berry Big Circus (which has a cool return from Justice For All) is actually the mastermind behind many of the wrongdoings in the game, and so go to the circus to confront him and expose the truth.

It turns out that Horace Knightley and Simon Keyes were
friends since childhood, and were rescued from a freezing
car by Sirhan Dogen who took Keyes on as his disciple.

This case basically ties up all the mysteries left from the first four cases, and features dialogue between Shelly de Killer and Sirhan Dogen! That's right, two assassins in the same room. The case really is more action-packed than the others. We also finally start to like Justine Courtney and Sebastian Debeste, who we learn had a hard relationship with his father Blaise. There are a lot of revelations in this case, especially involving characters we've known for a while, such as the two I just mentioned as well as characters like Shi-Long Lang's father, Dai-Long Lang, and the president of Zheng-Fa, Di-Jun Huang (is it just me or is that a pun on 'they done wrong'? Could be a stretch) who it turns out died many years ago. Huh?! Yes, it turns out that this President Huang is a body double of the real president who was assassinated by Dogen 12 years ago. And, get this; the real Huang had an illegitamate son with Justine Courtney called John Marsh. Wow, so many plot twists.

Dai-Long Lang with the real President Huang, a long time ago.

The character development is great; Justine Courtney isn't actually a cold and cruel women after all, but was trying to secure a not guilty verdict (she's a judge) for murderer Patricia Roland because she had been blackmailed to do so by Blaise Debeste after he kidnapped her son John. Sebastian Debeste also goes from being one of the most annoying and foolish (am I turning into Franziska von Karma here?) characters to one of my favourite and most sympathised with. It's just a shame this game was never released outside out Japan, but at least there's the fan translation like with Mother 3. Hopefully we'll get one for DGS too, but it's unlikely. Oh well, at least AA6 has just been announced with a Western release!

Thomas

Intro | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10

Top Ten Turnabouts - Part 3 (#93)

#8 - 3-3: Recipe For Turnabout

The way in which this case starts is so unsettling. You're shown a cutscene set in the courtroom, and you assume that this has something to do with Nick. Maybe it's one of his past trials, or the case has thrown you right into a new one. But wait, what? The Judge starts saying that the court sees no reason to further prolong the trial, and that the case is extremely clear and he sees no room for misinterpretation of the facts. Huh?! Is there something wrong with the game? This is the exact thing that the Judge says when you get a game over! Somebody screams that it wasn't them, that they are innocent. The judge talks about how the victim was alone when he was poisoned by coffee, and that the only one who could have done it is the defendant, who claims that they saw another man slip poison into the victim's cup. Nobody believes her. Winston Payne (heya buddy!) is prosecuting, and the Judge declares a guilty verdict. It's just like when you lose normally.

You later find out that the defendant was none other than Maggey Byrde, the same person who was accused of murder in 2-1, The Lost Turnabout (she really does have the worst luck ever when it comes to being accused of murder... beaten only by Maya). Apparently, the person defending her who lost the trial in court was Phoenix Wright.

Gumshoe's bae.

WHAT?!?!

Yes, the case starts off in a really, really confusing way, and it isn't for a long time that you find out that the real murderer, Furio Tigre, a biker/crazy loan shark guy who owns a company called Tender Lender, had posed as Phoenix (I really don't know how the Judge and Payne didn't notice this. Sure, they have really similar hair and a similar body shape. But, Tigre's whole body is frickin' red! He even crafts a fake attorney's badge out of cardboard... this could only happen in a cartoon or a video game) in order to get Maggey guilty and protect himself.

The first time I saw a picture of Furio was on the internet,
I thought he was the devil or something.

Eventually, of course, you do prove who the real killer is and get Maggey innocent again, but this case is awesome, because the way it pushes you into it is really confusing and you have no idea how Phoenix apparently lost a case for the first time and has no idea about it. Tigre's breakdown is also awesome. Plus you meet some other cool characters along the way, such as Lisa Basil (her name is an anagram and she is a computer-like woman who owns the company that the victim, Glen Elg (also an anagram) worked at) and Victor Kudo, an old man who throws bird seed at you all the time and thinks that the clothes that the waitresses wear at the restaurant where Glen was murdered, Tres Bien, are indecent, despite the fact that he secretly loves them, the pervert. There's also Viola Cadaverini, granddaughter of the threatening crime boss Bruno Cadaverini, and Jean Armstrong, who's, uh... well... he's interesting, let's just say that.

Plus, there's a moment where Nick references one of the most famous movie memes of all time. Here's what happens when you present incorrect evidence to Lisa Basil:

Maya: Umm, would you mind taking a look at this?
Basil: I'm sorry. That data is SuPer-Admin Restricted Desktop Access password-protected.
Maya: SuPer-Admin Restricted Desktop Access password-protected!? What? This is madness!
Phoenix: No, Maya, that is SPARDA.

Overall this is a great episode in the third game and definitely one of the most memorable in the main series.

Thomas

Intro | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10

Top Ten Turnabouts - Part 2 (#92)

#9 - E1-2: Turnabout Airlines

Like I said, most of the entries on this list are going to be completely different to what other people think. Trust me. Yes, there will be two or three that everybody loves, but not many since, again, I think differently, plus I want this to not be the same as everybody else's opinion.

If he wants to prove that he didn't do it, he'll
have to prove his (Edge)worth.

Okay, Turnabout Airlines. The second case in the first Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth game, set on a plane (iFly Flight I-390) where (massive plot twist by the way) somebody is murdered. What?! In an Ace Attorney game? Yes, the victim is Akbey Hicks, and at first Edgeworth is accused of being the murderer. After using the incredible concept of basic logic to prove to the air hostess Rhoda Teneiro that he's innocent, Edgey-boy eventually finds out the true killer is another one of the hostesses, Cammy Meele (she is always sleeping...).

This case also features on of the most annoying and selfish characters in possibly the whole series, Zinc LaBlanc. He's not evil, just... a pain in the butt. Even more than Larry. Yes, more of a pain in the butt than the guy with the last name Butz. He's that annoying.

I HATE YOU.

I kind of like Turnabout Airlines because it features the return of Franziska von Karma who we haven't really seen since Bridge to the Turnabout at the end of Trials and Tribulations (and even that was a fairly short appearance) and we get to see more of like what her relationship (not that kind of relationship) with her stepbrother Miles is like. Let's just say that just because he's her adopted sibling, he doesn't get whipped any less. :(

Fran-chan.

Airlines teaches us the way that cases in the investigation series work and is a lot longer than the first case, Turnabout Visitor. It sets the scene for one of the main mysteries of the game, the smuggling ring and its leader of unknown identity, and shows us that the people involved in the ring could be anyone, even an air hostess helping to transport smuggled goods.

Thomas

Intro | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10

Top Ten Turnabouts - Part 1 (#91)

#10 - 1-1: The First Turnabout

Ah, the First Turnabout. The shortest case in the series and the one that started it all. Yes, for many people this case isn't really all that special, but for most fans of the series, including me, this is the first thing you experience when you delve into the amazing Ace Attorney series. It sets the tone for the whole series. Sure, it doesn't include anything that we learn about later in the series such as the magatama or investigation mode, but it introduces a lot of main and recurring characters to the series.

We get to know Phoenix Wright, the rookie lawyer who goes on to win the case despite a bleak outlook, Mia Fey, his mentor who we get to play as twice in the third game and the sister of basically Phoenix's best friend/assistant, and less major but still recognisable characters such as Larry Butz and, Nick's first rival prosecutor who despises him (despite Phoenix not being able to even remember who he is), Winston Payne.

It's the first appearance of the great court trial music tracks in the game, and who could forget the Happy Mask Salesma-- I mean, Frank Sahwit, the crazy as heck sycophantic newspaper salesman who is totally not a thief. Who could forget the plot twist that is his baldness, as revealed to us when he throws his toupeé at Nick. It truly was a pleasure to see him again in Investigations 2.

His facial expression just screams, 'You've met with a
terrible fate, haven't you?"

The First Turnabout teaches us that when something smells, it's usually the Butz, which is always true for every single one of the six (or so) cases he appears in. And don't deny it, lovers of puns -- you loved when Phoenix said, "Good enough for you, Mr Sahwit? Or should I say... Mr did it!"

Thomas

Intro | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10

Top Ten Turnabouts - Intro (#90)

Hey, welcome to the start of a new little idea I had as I countdown to AFN's one hundredth post. Way back in post three (well I suppose it wasn't that long ago, it was only like the second or third of June) I made a post about how I had started playing a game called Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, and since then, as shown in how much I've been going on about it, my love for the series has grown so much and it's now one of my favourite video game series of all time for sure. In fact, since then, I've completed every single game in the series apart from the crossover with Layton, which I'm playing now, and Dai Gyakuten Saiban, the game recently released in Japan (I won't be playing that unless there's a fan translation since I can't read Japanese). To celebrate this, I thought it would be fitting to have a post made up of several different parts for the first time. Well, not really a post, but a group of posts.

And wow, my first multi-part post will be ten parts, eleven including this intro. I'm going to be doing a list of my top ten personal favourite Ace Attorney cases. This list will not be including Dai Gyakuten Saiban (which translates to The Great Ace Attorney, by the way) for reasons I already stated, or Layton VS Wright, not just because I haven't completed it, but I wasn't going to include it anyway since it's not really a standalone Ace Attorney game.

I love this picture.

Each case will have a similar layout, and include stuff about the plot of that case, any new characters that stand out or returning characters who are explored more, and maybe some stuff about music and other things, I'm not completely sure yet. Each part will have the name of the case in bold at the top along with the number, for example 1-1 (game 1, case 1). E1-1 means Ace Attorney Investigations 1, case 1 (the E stands for Edgeworth). And, of course, there will be pictures.

This has been my phone's menu screen for
a while...

A few more things; I know the description for the blog says this, but obviously this will contain BIG spoilers. Secondly, this list is just my opinion and it probably will be very different to the opinions of most fans of the series. In fact, I'm going to try to not include too many cases that everybody else includes on their top ten list, since I want this to be unique, plus I usually view things a lot differently to other fans anyway. Finally, I'm going to also try to add some cool interaction (for some reason I forgot that word and wrote interactivety at first, lol) to this group of posts. So, at the bottom of each post is a section where you can select a different part of this countdown to go to. Just... scroll down and you'll understand.

...and this has been my lock screen.

Oh, two more things: I won't be signing my name at the bottom of each post as usual, but will write 'Thomas' at the end of the last part. And the other thing is, I will be trying to update this very often, so there will be one or more new parts every day. Please don't be angry if I don't keep that promise, since the day I upload this intro is the day before the day I go back to school so things will be pretty busy. Okay, without further ado... click Part 1 down below to get started.

Update: I decided I'm going to write my name on each of these after all. It just feels weird not to after doing it on every other post. :')

Thomas (ahhhh, that feels better)

Intro | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10

Ace Attorney 6 Announced! (#89)

Originally I had a completely different post planned for today, but it'll have to wait, because this just can't. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney 6 has been announced just a few hours ago!

There haven't been many details announced about the game yet, except that it will be releasing for 3DS. I presume it will be released late this year or most likely early next year. I'm so happy! Perhaps the sixth main instalment in the franchise will feature a new starring character. Athena Cykes: Ace Attorney, anyone? Or maybe even Mia Fey? Although, it looks that Nick will probably be the main protagonist again (probably along with Apollo Justice and Athena) as his figure can be seen in the Japanese logo that has been released above. I'd like to also note that the purple six also looks a lot like an upside down Magatama, though that could just be a coincidence. The game has been produced by Eshiro Motohide and has been directed by Takeshi Yamazaki and will feature a 'new system for quicker play'.

Turnabout Trial 6 will be available to play at the Tokyo Game Show later this month from 17th to 20th September. I'm sure we'll learn much more about the game then.

Update: Some more info has been released a few hours after this post! According to the Japanese Famitsu magazine, AA6 will take place in a mysterious country with the spirits of the dead, and people who believe in them. A little like like Nine Tails Vale from AA5, perhaps, except with a strong belief in spirits instead of yokai? This country's courtroom will use some kind of 'water mirror' during testimonies, and there will be a new character called Bokuto Tsuani (English name not yet known) who is a cheerful priest and tour guide who talks a lot. Probably like Wendy Oldbag. You can see a scan of the two pages in Famitsu that talk about the game below. Oh, and this was already very likely, but just in case you were a little worried, the game has been confirmed to have a Western release. Thank god.

Phoenix visits this strange country for some reason that we don't
know yet. Will Apollo and Athena be making a return?
Hopefully.

The character at the very bottom of the page there
is another new character whose role is unknown. However,
she will apparently not be a prosecutor, witness
or judge.

Jurassic IMAX was great. There aren't really any films out until Christmas that I'm interested until watching now. I found out that Fantastic Four actually is in IMAX after all and not just 2D, but it did get crappy scores so I still don't think I'll be watching it. So, now December 18th can't come fast enough. Star Wars VII is out on that day. Anyway, I'm watching Series 1 Episode 10 of Doctor Who at the moment. Is good. And yes, I changed the template back to orange and white. Okay. I talk too much. Bye.

Thomas