(Before you read further, note that this topic contains spoilers for Apollo Justice and Hotel Dusk... if you have not finished both of these games, and do not wish to be spoiled... then it is in your best interest to leave the topic at once)





***SPOILERS***



So, I just finished AJ, loved it, thought it to be a notch above the rest of the series, almost to the point where it didn't quite seem like a AA game... I began wondering why this was I was getting such vibes.


Now, when I first saw 'The Hydeout', I immediately thought of it as a Hotel Dusk reference. It's the only sensible reason for use 'Hyde'... Hyde Park/Jekyll & Hyde etcetera, wouldn't make any sense as a reference. Leaving an allusion to Hotel Dusk's protagonist, Kyle Hyde as the most likely reason for the 'Hydeout's name.

What's the harm in borrowing a name? I hear you screech. Well, my dears... it runs much deeper than that. And I will explain why.

***NOTE: My explanations may seem a tad incoherent and difficult to follow. This is because I have been slightly ill over the past few days, and my head feels very 'heavy' as such. I'll attempt to clean things up when I feel better.

First off; let us think of the main plot device of Hotel Dusk, a mysterious painting called 'Angel Opening a Door", and it's stygian-sheathed painter, Osterzone. Guess what happens to be a very large part in Apollo Justice? That's right, a reclusive painter with a dark secret. It's also worth nothing that said painter was responsible for Phoenix losing his badge... a very similar incident occurs in Hotel Dusk. Kyle is kicked off the police force for shooting his partner, Bradley. At the heart of that incident, is the strange painting 'Angel Opening a Door', this of course, means that Osterzone was indirectly reponsible for Hyde's loss of badge. Also of note, is that both of these painters have daughters, and both of these daughters have experienced kidnapping.

So, both games have very important characters whose original profession is compromised because of a painter, albeit indirectly in both cases.

Next, draw your attention to Mila. Mysterious girl with amnesia, and an apparent lack of a certain sense(In this case, she is believed to be a mute). But this is not my main point... you see, Mila has an odd bracelet that is strongly connected to the web that is shot out from central plot. Can you think of a character from Apollo Justice that seems eerily familiar to this?

We also have a character that disappears after being shot; Bradley in HD, Lamiror in AJ. Weak connection, perhaps. But with all of the other references, you have to at least acknowledge the possibility that this is also 'borrowed' from Hotel Dusk.

Helen Parker ties in the magician theme... I'm sure there's deeper ways I can connect her backstory to something similar in AJ, but to be honest I only just noticed this now. >_>
I'll give it some more thought later.

There's also three other links floating around in my head that I need to investigate more... I'll post them up later later.

Oh, and before someone tries to pass it off as coincidence and claim that the dev team behind AJ have never ever heard of Hotel Dusk... I want to hear your alternate explanation of 'The Hydeout's name.

In a couple of places you seem to be grasping a little bit, but its a solid theory (Albeit it does sound a little like a conspiracy theory). What was the 'Hydeout' called in the japanese version? It might have just been an in-joke with the localization crew for all we know. Either way this is pure brilliosity.

I actually laughed out loud at the Zelda CD-i reference. Good one!

Hydeout was only in the localized version, so it's not something you can base your theories on. It all seems a little coincidental, actually, and only if you word it in a specific way.

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No this isn't stealing from Hotel Dusk. Both games came out on the same year and only 3 months apart or are you saying they both had the same developers? The Hydeout thing is only a coincidence made by the English translators'.

About the Hydeout... Did you also catch the gangster, "Badgai," that Olga mentioned? I think both are just supposed to be misspellings of Hideout and Bad Guy that are meant to be funny.

Some of the other references seem a bit weak, but you do make a good point, I guess. But then, this series already makes a lot of outside references.

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;_; I thought I made a thread about this... It wasn't in that much detail, though... And I missed mentioning a few other things that were mentioned here...
viewtopic.php?f=9&t=7445

I didn't actually read the post because I plan on playing Hotel Dusk and don't want to be spoiled, but I must say that your topic is what all true warriors strive for.

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Warriors!? Aww... Screw warriors...

Anyways, I just wanted to say that I agree.

OK I didnt catch all the similarities you said on my own.
BUT THE FORGING PAINTINGS THING! God once they said that I was just like "WOAHMG! Something smells like Hotel Dusk! DREW IS OSTERZONE!!! Vera's gonna get kidnapped!!!"

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In the Japanese it was known as "Narazumo's Room" because that's where the infamous gangster Narazumo was captured. It comes from the word "narazumono" which basically means "bad guy." It was not called a "hideout" let alone spelled "hydeout." If the localizer had felt like it, it could have easily been "Badgai's Room."

And, like someone already pointed out, Hotel Dusk only came out a few months before GS4 did in Japan. Even more damning to your theory is that by then the GS4 case 1 demo was already out (having been released at TGS). Unless Cinq and Capcom have joint staff it's just not possible for the similiarities to have been intentional.

Though it's possible Alex Smith is a Hotel Dusk fan and spelled it "Hydeout" so he could have a chuckle, but you'll have to ask him to know for sure :P

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If all else Capcom already started printing copies of GS4 when Hotel Dusk came out and even then if they didn't they wouldn't have any time to redo the entire case 1.