Summary
A producer from Capcom gave fans of theAce Attorneyfranchise some good news, promising that the publisher isn’t abandoning the series anytime soon. The firstAce Attorneygame was released in 2001 on the Game Boy Advance. Ever since, it has spawned a trilogy on the handheld console, which was then ported to the Nintendo DS and brought over to the West. With its surprise popularity,Ace Attorneywould help show the appeal of visual novel gamesin the West.
The series hasn’t slowed down its releases after this initial success, with Capcom launching three sequels on the Nintendo DS and 3DS, as well as the Miles Edgeworth-focusedInvestigationsandThe Great Ace Attorneyspin-off duologies.Capcom has also been keepingAce Attorneyalive through various re-release collections for modern consoles, such as 2021’sThe Great Ace Attorney Chroniclescollection (which was also the first time the games were localized in the West), along withthe release of theApollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogycoming later this month.
The producer of theApollo Justicetrilogy re-release, Kenichi Hashimoto, has recently said the series “won’t be stopping” at all. In aninterview with 4Gamer(translated courtesy ofNintendo Everything), he says the series isn’t being abandoned and asks fans to look forward to what they have in store, thanks to their knowledge of working withCapcom’s proprietary RE Engine. While the producer didn’t mention a game that the developers could discuss at the moment, working with the engine was extremely beneficial. “At this time there is nothing to talk about, but we have gained a lot of knowledge about the RE Engine. I can say that theAce Attorneyseries will not be stopping, so in that sense, I think you can look forward to what is coming,” said Hashimoto.
Hashimoto discussed some of the challenges that they had working with the re-release, as the developers were using the RE Engine to bring these games, which were made with completely different tech, to modern platforms. Other problems they faced werethe limitations of the RE Engine, noting how it was built for action-focused games likeDevil May Cry 5orStreet Fighter 6,and not necessarily adventure games like theAce Attorneyseries in mind. Despite the issues the developers ran into, Hashimoto says that working with the engine was a valuable learning experience.
At this time there is nothing to talk about, but we have gained a lot of knowledge about the RE Engine. I can say that the Ace Attorney series will not be stopping, so in that sense, I think you’re able to look forward to what is coming.
The last mainline title released in the series wasPhoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Spirit of Justice, originally launched on the 3DS in 2016, and is one of the games bundled in theApollo Justicecollection. While a newAce Attorneygame hasn’t been announced outside the aforementioned remaster package, this update should be encouraging for fans who are invested in the series.
Ace Attorney
Ace Attorneyis a visual novel adventure franchise that puts the players in the shoes of an attorney known as Phoenix Wright as he defends innocent clients and solves mysteries. Later games in the series would involve other playable characters, like Apollo Justice or Athena Cykes.
