Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies

Did You Know?

• The first episode of the iOS version was available for free, with remaining episodes sold separately.
• The American and European releases were digital only due to a lack of retail support for previous Ace Attorney games.
• The limited edition in Japan included a Phoenix Wright figurine, a Nintendo 3DS pouch, and stickers.

Plot

Dual Destinies takes place roughly a year after the events of Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney. The legal system has entered an era known as the dark age of the law, filled with false charges and fabricated evidence. The game features three playable protagonists: Phoenix Wright, who has retaken the bar exam; Apollo Justice, a junior attorney; and Athena Cykes, a specialist in analytical psychology. They frequently clash with Simon Blackquill, a prosecutor on death row for murder. Other characters include Trucy Wright, Miles Edgeworth, Pearl Fey, Juniper Woods, and Bobby Fulbright. After Athena joins the Wright Anything Agency, she and Apollo defend Damien Tenma, the mayor of Tenma Town, accused of murdering alderman Rex Kyubi. They expose the real killer as Tenma's aide, Florent L'Belle, who plotted to frame Tenma for a treasure. Additional content covers Phoenix's first case after regaining his badge, defending an orca accused of killing aquarium owner Jack Shipley. Phoenix proves the orca innocent, then clears handler Sasha Buckler of the crime. He determines Shipley's death was accidental, resulting from employee Marlon Rimes attempting to kill the orca out of revenge for the apparent death of his girlfriend Azura Summers. Phoenix proves Azura died from a heart condition, and Marlon promises to atone.

Development

Dual Destinies was produced by Motohide Eshiro and directed by Takeshi Yamazaki and Yasuhiro Seto, with music by Noriyuki Iwadare. Series creator Shu Takumi was not involved due to his work on Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney. The game was first announced in May 2007, a month after the previous Ace Attorney game. In January 2012, Capcom revealed the game's logotype during the series' tenth anniversary. A demo was shown at Tokyo Game Show 2012, and the game was confirmed for Nintendo 3DS. It was developed using Capcom's MT Framework Mobile engine. Development began in 2011 with a skeleton team. Yamazaki wanted players to use emotions and analytical psychology alongside evidence, introducing a third element. Designer Natsuki Ikawa researched psychology and proposed ideas such as goggles showing a witness's personality as a specter or a computer analyzing brain waves. Yamazaki would call these nifty but reject them, leading Ikawa to realize the concept for the mood matrix system, which was refined through team feedback. Designer Yoriki Daigo worked on free movement between locations and the revisualization system. The investigation interface was overhauled for visual appeal. The developers aimed to keep the game simple, in line with Takumi's original vision of a game simple enough for his mother to play.

Localization

Capcom announced a localization for North America and Europe in September 2012, having planned it for about two years. Christian Svensson, Capcom USA's senior vice president, described the sales forecasts as high compared to past Ace Attorney titles, which was necessary to greenlight a Western release. Janet Hsu directed the localization, having previously served as localization lead and lead translator on the series. The localization team worked closer with the developers than on previous games, incorporating their work into overall development for greater insight into the developers' intentions. The localizers had more control over pre-programmed dialogue scripts than in any prior Ace Attorney game, using an internal tool to transfer scripts from Japanese to English. Hsu would adjust the placement of sentences to increase dramatic impact, such as aligning a dramatic pause or finger-pointing animation with a specific word. Because Japanese word order differs from English, Hsu sometimes added words to push a big reveal into the second half of a sentence or rearranged the order facts were revealed to match animations or camera zooms. Hsu described the work as a balancing act, emphasizing continuity and consistency. She avoided changing details unless something in the original would not be understood by the target audience. The team kept writing in-character, ensuring that substituted jokes fit the character, and made puns and references appropriate so dialogue still made sense to players who did not get them.

Reception

Dual Destinies received generally favorable reviews on Metacritic. It debuted at the top of the Japanese charts with 250,216 copies sold in its first week, and Capcom stated that projected sales were basically achieved. Chuck Osborn at IGN enjoyed searching crime scenes but wished the mood matrix and perceive systems could be used on demand. Reona Ebihara at Famitsu said the mood matrix fits perfectly and is fun. Chris Hoffman at GamesRadar found gameplay fulfilling with earned victories, though with instances of debatable logic; he liked the mood matrix for adding diversity but found the perceive and psyche-lock systems underutilized. Aerox at Destructoid noted that the game inherits issues from previous entries, such as evidence only being presentable when the script allows and unclear investigation triggers, though less frequently than before. Osborn criticized cross-examinations for not always accepting logically valid objections, forcing trial and error. Bryan Vore at Game Informer praised the in-game task list and new travel system for preventing confusion. Urara Honma at Famitsu noted the hints and lower difficulty as helpful.