Same here, but I just wonder how.
I mean, aside from the thing ya mentioned; what was it again that Plum said of him in 4-2?
Something like him being hit by a car, flying several feet in the air...And then he just walks away.
I mean...I get it was a joke in the game about his dumb luck,
but he literally has become superman. :D

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That is actually exactly how I compare Phoenix and Edgeworth. I use Phoenix as the "superman" stereotype and Edgeworth represents Batman. Edgeworth has known too many troubles (DL-6 being the "batman has no parents" event) and Phoenix has not seen enough. I want to see the tables turned for this game. Have Phoenix face a big crisis and see how he reacts to not lucking out.

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Yeah, sorry, jumped the gun there. I meant to say it was implied Phoenix got his badge back eventually, at least to me. A sequel in my opinion need only have confirmed that and moved on.

Your point about Edgeworth getting a load of character development in GS1/2 is great, and indeed correct, and if Apollo gets similar treatment in this game that would be great. However, I can't help but feel that Apollo will be swept under the rug as much as possible. My instincts told me as soon as I saw Phoenix was the starring character of this game that would happen. Maybe I'm wrong. I guess we'll see. I'd definitely love to see Apollo's father.

Yeah, and 'at least to me' is the point. Canonically it was written to be ambiguous. Players could assume or imagine that OR him taking piano lessons, (and people did go for the piano lesson route and argue he would never take the bar exam again he gave up when he forged the card/said x to Apollo/whatever.) Now it isn't. Unless you decided to end GS4 with that bad end where Vera dies....


I agree with that, a brief confirmation could have cleared up some of that bad aftertaste from GS4 a lot of people had, but this is clearly the big marketing hook this time. People who didn't like GS4 wouldn't buy this game years later 'in case' there's an Easter Egg of Phoenix. You've got to recall there's probably people (especially in JP) who buy/don't buy the games without obsessing over them online for years but just by a simple advertisement. One look at those pictures of Great Revival - Ryuichi Naruhodo? It'd work on me, even if I dismissed the series after GS4 and completely forgot it for 6 years or however long it's been. Meanwhile, Apollo fans will buy it anyway as there's bound to be some kind of cameo or more. It probably was a marketing decision, but it's the fault of Capcom Marketing Dept Phoenix was dragged back into a major role and 'disbarred' in the first place and the game was never again about Apollo like might have otherwise been in a totally new set of chars. Since they didn't it's harder balancing the notion of 'characters/characterisation' vs 'game mechanics' and 'marketing hooks to sell the game in the first place'.


Nah, this doesn't look like a ret-con. With Phoenix as main char, they're MORE likely to have the Apollo-era storyline as the actual content, since they decide GS4-haters were placated, or at least bought the game and paid already. If this I tentatively predict some minor ret-con of the actual content of parts of GS4 though.

I'm not going to say the yellow person is another Gramarye because we always compare the new chars to the old, and the reason they look the same is just reusing visual design. But it's a good hypothesis. Or maybe there's a 4th (5th...10th..?) family of girls with magical powers. (Which is starting to get ridiculous...) I do want to know: do we know what sort of timespan this takes place in? Is it over many months or a few days like GK? It's harder to predict anything because we haven't seen these people writing the main series before. They can easily say 'Apollo went to study law overseas' for the duration, but I expect them to pull out another Exciting Scoop of his cameo to force the Apollo fans to buy the game anyway. Trucy will be kidnapped and ransomed by the Dark Forces. etc.

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It doesn't have to be a retcon to willfully ignore Apollo. They can just write him out of the plot.

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This is what I'm worried about as well, although the interviews hint that they're trying to be really respectful to GS4. We'll probably find out more at TGS.

Was Fransiska, Larry, Meekins, or Oldbag shown during the Famitsu for AAI? Because if they didn't maybe Apollo is in a lot of the game and just wasn't revealed now.

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Can't wait to see the creative breakdowns that'll come out of the Investigations team this time.

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Just voicing my opinion here, I'm kinda sad that they need to go out of their way and make complicated backstories with all kinds of hoops and loops, which will only make problems with fans later on.

I think it's much better to make Phoenix Wright a simple Ace Attorney (with incredible private investigation authority): give me a case and give me time to solve it. Throw in a few puzzles and backstory for each case, but no further than that. Like Mario: with every game it's a different world, different backstory, but at the end of the day, it's just another day. There is no canonical "end," or problematic backstory to worry about (such as the existence of humans, or lack thereof).

I'm glad they brought back Phoenix. Apollo just couldn't get a place in my heart. I hope GS5's idea of "dark" is still family-friendly and not "depressing"

That works with Mario, and most games and genres for that matter, because story in those games is an excuse for more puzzles, platforming, shooting, fighting, what have you.

But with the visual novel in general, and mysteries in particular, backstory is paramount. Of the who, what, where, when, how, and why: backstory answers why and often is a connecting point or explanation for the others.

Edgeworth has been backstoried out. Phoenix was never designed to be a protagonist for more then one game. (Hence Amnesia, and pulling a long lost love interest out of a hat). The only way do do away with the having too much mystery-drained backstory is to have cases which don't deal with his backstory. That's not an effective way to build attachment.

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