Capcom has truly done an incredible job when it comes to re-releasing some of their older titles. The Ace Attorney trilogy, the Apollo Justice trilogy, and even Ghost Trick have all been revamped, allowing fansーboth new and oldーto play these games on more modern platforms. Today, we’ll be looking at the Ace Attorney Investigations Collection, a game that features both a timeless classic and one that was previously exclusive to Japan.
For the uninitiated, Ace Attorney Investigations is a spin-off title series initially released for the Nintendo DS, with the protagonist in these games being not Phoenix Wright or Apollo Justice but Miles Edgeworth. The events of these titles take place between Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations and Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney.
While the first game received a localized release, the second one sadly stayed exclusive to Japan, with the only way that fans could enjoy it was via a fan translation. There were several theories at the time as to why, but that was then, and this is now. With this release, we finally have a fully localized release in English, Spanish, French, Chinese, German, and Korean.
Fight Your Way…With Logic!
In Ace Attorney Investigations, Miles Edgeworth involves himself in a multitude of cases, most of which occur outside the courtroom. There are a multitude of staple elements of the series, such as examining the crime scene and collecting testimonies from those involved.
However, instead of simply organizing the evidence into his Organizer, Edgeworth also relies on a feature called Logic Mode, where your task is to play a complex game of “connect the dots” so that you may get closer and closer to the truth. Furthermore, there is also cross-examination, where you use your conclusions to expose a flawed logic that someone has concluded of the case.
Additionally, the “penalty meter” that would be normally present in the courtroom is also here, but in a new form. If you mismatch pieces of information or present the wrong evidence on the wrong statement during an Argument, points are deducted from that gauge, eventually leading to Edgeworth failing to grasp the truth.
The second game of the series also introduces a new debate-like mode called Logic Chess, where Edgeworth punches through a person’s statements with objective logic and clues that the person lets slip during the debate. It is definitely one of the most hectic modes that will keep you on your toes. You have to know when to press further, when you should just bide your time, and even when you risk getting them too riled up.
Changes from the Original?
While the translated script of the second game is a completely new translation, I had thought that this meant that the original dialogue from the first game would’ve been left relatively unchanged. In fact, the title screen even has a warning saying that minimal changes were made to preserve the original experience.
However, that’s not to say that there weren’t any changes. In Turnabout Airlines, the second episode of the first game, for example, the name of the airline, which was iFly in the original, was changed to GoYou. I presume it’s due to the fact that maybe iFly is a real company that exists, so they changed it to avoid potential issues? We may never know.
The episodes are just as funny as I remember, and I actually went through the first half of the first game in pretty much a single day. It was always a…weird feeling when I would start an episode and immediately have my memory jogged. It has been over six years since I last played these games, but it did feel nostalgic to go back and re-watch these scenes on a crisp and sharp HD screen.
Now, regarding the translation of the second game…Yes, the characters you meet are named entirely differently than what the community probably knew them as due to the fan translation. Still, I had a feeling this would happen. Honestly, the revised names make a lot of sense for the characters themselves, and while my brain might subconsciously call them differently, I feel it’s just a matter of getting used to it.
From Two Screens to One Screen
Being a DS title, Ace Attorney Investigations made full use of the DS’s dual screens, so naturally, Capcom needed a way to translate this into a single-screen format. And I’d say they succeeded, though, to be fair, the DS also had options if you did not wish to use the touch screen in any way. One major change is that all of the 2D sprites have been changed to a new art style, which I’m a huge fan of. And if you’re nostalgic for those classic DS sprites, you can always change it.
One personal concern I had was that the screen flashes were a bit too much for my photosensitivity, especially when playing on a Switch OLED. There is an option to turn it off, but it seems the developers have accounted for this increase in screen size, so the flashes are severely softer while still retaining some of their impact, which I appreciate.
That being said, I did notice some minor hiccups with the Nintendo Switch version, which is the one I played. For some reason, the game takes a bit to open specific menus, and some animations feel somewhat choppy, which can sometimes feel a bit jarring. Furthermore, some textures do have a bit of a “blur” from the upscaling. Still, these issues are minor and aren’t quite enough to make the game unplayable, but considering both games were originally on a portable console, I hope this gets addressed somehow in a patch.
Accolades Add a Lot of Replayability
Since Ace Attorney Investigations Collection essentially features two games, there is plenty of story for you to enjoy. Generally, each game’s story takes about 20 to 25 hours to finish. Still, if you’ve played the original on the DS, you can finish the game much faster, provided you still remember the solutions to every puzzle. As a result, the total playtime gets much closer to 50 to 55 hours, depending on your playstyle.
Furthermore, just like the other Collections games, this one features a built-in Accolades system, where you can obtain achievements for doing certain actions during each episode. Most Accolades simply ask you to clear an entire episode from start to finish without relying on Story Mode, a setting you enable through the options menu that will basically progress the game, solving all of the puzzles and presenting the correct evidence for you. Personally, I wasn’t particularly bothered by this option existing in the previous Collections, and in reality, it’s an optional feature you can blissfully ignore if you choose to.
I enjoyed how these will actively make you replay certain episodes and discover some obscure dialogue that you might miss if you’re laser-focused on progressing the story. It almost feels like Capcom watched those “Things You Might’ve Missed in Ace Attorney Investigations!!” videos and then implemented them as Accolades. I have no evidence that was their plan, but I can only imagine.
One small wish I had was potential bonus content or side episodes. The game does seem to check for downloadable content on the title screen, so I assume that is planned at some point. Still, the title screen warning of “keeping the experience intact” makes me feel that there won’t be any, which isn’t a huge issue, to be honest.
Extra Goodies for Fans
Ace Attorney Investigations Collection features both a gallery and a soundtrack replayer for you to enjoy. As a designer myself, I always love it when games include digitalized versions of the artwork sheets because it provides a really good glance at some of the concepts for some of these characters.
You also have a Character Compendium, where you can view and playback their poses. It’s a shame we don’t have a studio feature like in the Apollo Justice collection, but I’m personally okay with it. And, of course, we can’t gloss over the Soundtrack player, where you can play some of the new arrangements that were composed just for this re-release.
The Final Piece in the Ace Attorney Series
This re-release of Ace Attorney Investigations Collection puts the final piece of the puzzle in place. Now, fans are able to enjoy every single mainline Ace Attorney game in an official capacity. Players can at last experience what I would argue to be the full portion of Edgeworth’s tale. Capcom has gone above and beyond to polish this release up for fans of the series, even going as far as localizing the previously Japan-only second game.
While the performance hiccups are present, it’s nothing a quick patch can’t fix, and it didn’t affect my experience to a concerning degree. It’s games like these that just make me pray for a Megaman Starforce collection to be released one day, though… I can only dream…
Disclaimer: Capcom provided Final Weapon with a Nintendo Switch review copy of Ace Attorney Investigations Collection for review purposes.
