Ace Attorney Trilogy HD Announced for Multiple New Platforms

[Toatali]

Ace Attorney 123HD is coming to Switch, PS4, Xbox One, and Steam! It will launch early 2019 worldwide, and there will be an eCapcom limited edition in Japan.

The UI and some assets have been updated, and the game now features 10 save data slots. You can watch the English trailer here here, and the Japanese trailer here

Spoiler: Lots of New Screenshots

[Southern Corn]

Little underwhelming, honestly, but the new UI looks alright, I guess? Not much else to say, but it's nice that more people will be able to play these now.

[Thunder84]

The music sounds really outdated, but it looks great. Will definitely pick this up (for the third time).

[Lone]

Neat if you haven't played these games before I guess. Although, even as someone who first played the games via the 3DS's HD port, the sprites look kinda jarring in the trailer. I think it's something to do with the lighting and shading. And the music and sound-effects still being the same is more than noticeable.

[Lusankya]

Well, there is still tomorrow's panel with Eshiro and Takumi, but I wouldn't get my hopes up we will get anything exciting there.

[Bolt Storm]

So here's my honest take on this: it's great that they're porting the games to HD platforms and branching out from Nintendo/mobile. I think this is a series that really has no reason to be exclusive anymore, and I hope going forward the rest of the series makes the transition as well.

That said: I'm definitely kind of weary of this announcement, and not even because it's a port rather than a new game - it's that it's specifically, yet again, the "Phoenix Wright Trilogy." The first re-release of AA1 will be almost 14 years old when this HD collection releases. The vast majority of AA tie-in media re-tells AA1 or is set around that time. All the series representation in crossovers is AA123-era.

Those are games that came out in 2001-2004. I love those games - a lot of people do - but it really feels like Capcom is terrified of ever moving on from them in terms of series/brand perception. And that's not healthy - that's stagnant.

[Nerdowl]

My first thought about this is it’s better than the rumour of HDTrilogy just for switch.

The one I’m very pleasantly surprised about is that it’s coming to PC/Steam. With the way Steam works, including their explore system for games similar to stuff you’ve already played, I’m hoping this will give the series more visibility.

If it does well hopefully they’ll port other games as well.

Finally: from a personal note I’m relieved they’ve put this HDTrilogy onto PC because I was worried it would be a Switch exclusive and potentially the next game could have been too. Why am I relieved? Because I ended up buying a gaming laptop (albeit second hand A-graded from CeX) earlier in the month so I really can’t afford to pick up a Switch just yet. Also if I can replay them on a device I’m likely to always have on when at home (and will always be charged) I may finally finish replaying all of them from the beginning!

[Rehncohro]

Localization confirmed: https://youtu.be/JRweGfrcEvM

[henke37]

While the ports are neat, I am not feeling it with the new ui. It feels like it's for a scifi game, not ace attorney. It's blue and simple instead of brown and blunt.

[Bad Player]

Those are games that came out in 2001-2004. I love those games - a lot of people do - but it really feels like Capcom is terrified of ever moving on from them in terms of series/brand perception. And that's not healthy - that's stagnant.

Well, they tried moving on from Phoenix after that, and... I guess they got traumatized, and refuse to ever try that again.

As a fan community we obviously don't have access to any sort of reasonable/official sales numbers, but isn't the 'common knowledge' that GK2/DGS/DGS2 sold pretty mediocre? I want them to move on (or at least don't play up the umpteenth port of the original games), but it also does seem like slapping Phoenix's face on it is the key to (financial) success. Which absolutely sucks, since they made some of the best games in the franchise when they moved away from Phoenix.

[SuperAj3]

These ports were a given, but ehh knowing they're putting it on everything kinda makes me happy it's still relevant. (Although this is the first time I've seen people react negatively to the ports. At least in the past it's been positive to neutral, so maybe it has been rehashed one too many times?)

Those are games that came out in 2001-2004. I love those games - a lot of people do - but it really feels like Capcom is terrified of ever moving on from them in terms of series/brand perception. And that's not healthy - that's stagnant.

To be fair, since 2015 we've had 1 new AA game a year (except for 2018). Ports are done for every new console, so it's more a standard practice to tide things over. I'd be worried if say, DD was the last game and we only got ports between 2013 and now.

[Apollon]

Not the most exciting news, but I’m glad to see them trying to make the franchise available to lots more people. I do feel like maybe they should do a port with a upgraded soundtrack though, it would be a good motivation for old fans to get excited and make the games feel more modern.

[MBr]

I agree, the multiplatform release is great. I actually was introduced to the series through the trilogy iOS version, and the DD mobile port is the best version of the game.

Those are games that came out in 2001-2004. I love those games - a lot of people do - but it really feels like Capcom is terrified of ever moving on from them in terms of series/brand perception. And that's not healthy - that's stagnant.

I also agree with this and what BP said, we know what happened when AJ came out. It's the highest selling game in the franchise but the reaction to it would understandably explain why Capcom is so cautious. Not only do DD and SoJ have Phoenix's name on them but they also borrow plot elements and character arcs from the trilogy.

[random123]

Why does this still use the same three-line Textbox from DS?
Two-lines, like the japanese one, fits just fine.

[MBr]

I think this is interesting, because there's a lot more options here than we see in AA games.

Look at the second one from the bottom. I recognize the kanji as "Japanese language" so I assume you'll have the option to change languages like in the 3DS version.

[DeMatador]

The graphics look like they're begging for death, you can tell a mile away that it's 16 year-old art. The music is using the same instruments from the goddamn Game Boy Advance. And I appreciate the new UI, but it's just really lazy. The DS UI continues to be unmatched. I really have no reason to buy these games again, it looks worse then then the 3DS remasters.

Guess an actual remaster with either redrawn art or 3D models, plus a re-instrumentation of the music, was always out of the question...

[Skittlemask]

Personally, I wouldn't want to play a text based game on a big TV screen that the XBox and PlayStation will provide, but I'm not against letting the series expand onto different consoles. But man do the graphics and music look outdated to be ported to these consoles. Although, I never liked the HD sprites. Something about the shading or lighting make the characters look either really old and wrinkly, or like they're made of plastic.

I kind of agree with Bolt on this one tho. I mean, yeah, the trilogy is the series' prime, imo, but it's kind of annoying that those are the only games to get attention and anything past that is treated like it doesn't exist. Part of me feels like it's Yamazaki and Eshiro's fault (not exactly, but I'm not going to be naming everyone at Capcom) for not continuing Apollo's story and making an Apollo Justice trilogy. AJ, DD, and SoJ are too disjointed, messy, and incomplete to tie them together as a trilogy. It would be easier to market if that was the case. Then again, even if there was an Apollo Justice trilogy, I'm not sure if Capcom would still treat it like it exists.

Anyway, I won't be picking up the trilogy for any of the consoles mentioned (including purchasing it on Steam.) I also don't think I'll ever really be playing anything but the DS versions as long as I have a working DS/3DS and the cartridges work fine. Even though I actually got into the series through the originial iOS port, when it was just the first game and not HD. But I'm glad to see it expand to different platforms, even if I think it looks ugly and is in some dire need of some updating, lol.

[Bolt Storm]

I mean, I get why Capcom focuses on the original trilogy so much. If I'm Eshiro (or whoever makes the final call on what games get made/ported), of course I focus on the three most beloved entries in the series. And I'm also (painfully) aware that AAI2 and the DGS games didn't sell so well.

At the same time, in terms of long-term health and branding of the series it's a little mind-boggling that "Phoenix, Maya, and Edgeworth back in the good old days" is the version of Ace Attorney Capcom promotes whenever there isn't a new game out there. It makes me concerned that they're never really going to try to break away from that in the main series, which in turn limits what they can do in the games. It's hard to put into words exactly, because again I understand the business logic for it - but when the series keeps devoting the lion's share of its promotion to three games that came out 15+ years ago, that feels like a series that doesn't have a lot of confidence in its future.

I dunno. If they had announced like, literally anything else in addition to this, be that a new game or ports of 456 or other spin-offs, or whatever, I wouldn't be feeling this this keenly. And I know my viewpoint is biased as someone who's been playing these games for more than a decade, but I can't help but feel it all the same.

Why does this still use the same three-line Textbox from DS?
Two-lines, like the japanese one, fits just fine.

Switching to two-lines would mean they'd have to go through the scripts and re-format and re-time everything, which would add a ton of work to porting the script. The English scripts were written and had effects (like delays, SFX, graphical things, etc.) inserted with the assumption they'd have three lines.

[DeMatador]

Why does this still use the same three-line Textbox from DS?
Two-lines, like the japanese one, fits just fine.

Why have screen-wide textboxes when you're gonna use less than half of it?