Blueflower's Gaming Blog and Reviews

[Echo]

I've decided to do a Top 34 cases list after I finish Investigations 2 and then review each individual game after I finish replaying it.

I've finished the second case in Investigations 2 (The Imprisoned Turnabout) and it's definitely in the Top 10. Gosh that was a good case.

Nice! The case after is actually one of my personal favourite cases ever, so I can't wait to hear what you think about that one!

[Yugi]

AA stuff

So long as 2-4 is on top I'll be happy

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[blueflower999]

Assuming Investigations 2 doesn't beat it, I guarantee that case will be in the Top 3

[blueflower999]

I'm in the middle of The Grand Turnabout. Expect a Top 34 Cases shortly.

To further celebrate my completion of this fantastic series, I'm planning on reviewing each of the games in turn and also doing more stuff related to it. Top Cases definitely comes first, but the poll now asks the question of what other topics I should do. Please vote if you'd like!

[blueflower999]

Top 34 Ace Attorney Cases (34-26):

Alright, I'm finally doing it! In four parts, I'm going to rank all the cases from the Ace Attorney series, including the five mainseries games and two Investigations spinoffs. Each case ranking will be in a spoiler tag and thus WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS, but I will put the name of the game on the spoiler tag. Therefore, if you've finished the first two games, it's safe for you to read the entries saying "Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney" and "Justice For All" on them because I won't spoil things from other games. However, because some cases connect with others, I ask that you don't read the articles if you haven't finished the game entirely (this includes the DLC case from Dual Destinies). Before I begin though, here's a quick reference of all the cases in the series:

Just Names Listed

1-1: The First Turnabout
1-2: Turnabout Sisters
1-3: Turnabout Samurai
1-4: Turnabout Goodbyes
1-5: Rise From The Ashes
2-1: The Lost Turnabout
2-2: Reunion, and Turnabout
2-3: Turnabout Big Top
2-4: Farewell, My Turnabout
3-1: Turnabout Memories
3-2: The Stolen Turnabout
3-3: Recipe For Turnabout
3-4: Turnabout Beginnings
3-5: Bridge to the Turnabout
4-1: Turnabout Trump
4-2: Turnabout Corner
4-3: Turnabout Serenade
4-4: Turnabout Succession
5-1: Turnabout Countdown
5-2: The Monstrous Turnabout
5-3: Turnabout Academy
5-4: The Cosmic Turnabout
5-5: Turnabout For Tomorrow
5-S: Turnabout Reclaimed (DLC case)
E-1: Turnabout Visitor
E-2: Turnabout Airlines
E-3: The Kidnapped Turnabout
E-4: Turnabout Reminiscence
E-5: Turnabout Ablaze
E2-1: Turnabout Target
E2-2: The Imprisoned Turnabout
E2-3: The Inherited Turnabout
E2-4: The Forgotten Turnabout
E2-5: The Grand Turnabout

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Now with that out of the way, let us begin!

#34 Miles Edgeworth Investigations

The Kidnapped Turnabout

My gosh, this case irritates me. Hands down, I didn't even need to think to name it my least favorite case in the series. If I had to pick one  thing that I do like about this case, it would be the whole Blue Badger theme park. Just the concept of such a thing is hilarious, and the orchestral arrangement in game is very well done, if a little underplayed.

Now let's look at the bad stuff. First off, the characters. To the case's credit, it introduces Shi-Long Lang and Kay Faraday well, who end up becoming great characters. But because their main characters (plus Kay was supposed to be introduced in an earlier case originally), this isn't very much to the case's credit. All the characters that are exclusive to this case (Ernest Amano, Lance Amano, Lauren Paups, and the victim Colin Devorae) are all incredibly flat and simply not interesting. Lance Amano is hands down my least favorite character in the series. He's a spoiled brat rich kid, and unlike some other characters later on in the series, he doesn't pull it off well at all. He's arrogant, his animations are obnoxious, and he's just a pretty-rich boy that I don't like. His breakdown sucks, he uses his girlfriend, and just all in all he's not a likable character. Lauren Paups, Lance's girlfriend, is slightly better, but not by much. She's not given very much character development before it's revealed that the victim was actually her father. That's slightly touching I guess, but I didn't find myself caring very much because it isn't built up well. Lauren has this annoying habit of flirting with Edgeworth all whilst scolding herself in the third person, which gets annoying really fast. Ernest Amano, Lance's father, is the best of the three but still isn't very memorable. He's essentially the stereotypical rich dad who spoils his son, but he has this annoying habit of going "Now, Now, Now", which scrolls ridiculously slowly. He turns out to be a villain by the end of the game, but you've essentially figured that out by the end of the case anyway. He makes a smart move by purchasing the Haunted House so that it can't be investigated, but Kay Faraday spoils it with her Little Theif.

Other than those new characters, the case also has three pointless cameo characters. Wendy Oldbag is the least annoying of them (strangely enough) because she fits right into the case. Her flirting action with Edgeworth is always amusing, so I don't mind her being there too much. Next, Mike Meekins in the Blue Badger costume. This role could easily have been filled by any other character, but the developers I guess felt like making a ton of Rise From the Ashes references. He's not terrible, but it feels kinda forced. Finally, Ema Skye. My gosh, this is probably the worst cameo in the game. Ema was one of my favorite characters in the series after 1-5, but the following games continue to butcher her character (Apollo Justice) and her role (Investigations). Rather than being the cute science-loving sidekick, she just appears for a split second for no reason other than to provide forensics help. If you wanted her to provide forensics help, have her there as a character in other scenes. These developers are using her as an object. "Oh, Edgeworth needs to find out whose shoes these are. Better make Ema a character for this one scene and then never mention her again!"

The plot of the case isn't anything all too spectacular either. The concept of a boy kidnapping himself for a ransom has been done before (although admittedly the reference to Tender Lender was rather subtle and amusing). All in all, I just really didn't like this case. It didn't' build up to anything unique or interesting, the characters were among the worst in the series, and Ema Skye's cameo makes me really mad.

But is it *AWFUL* for video game standards? ...No. Not even the worst Ace Attorney case has no redeeming qualities. And that just goes to show how good the series is at its core. Like I mentioned earlier, Kay Faraday and Shi-Long Lang are both great characters and make their debut in this case, but that's not nearly enough to save it.

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#33 Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney

Turnabout Sisters

With The Kidnapped Turnabout out of the way, I don't hate any more cases. Turnabout Sisters is still a bad case though, no matter which way you look at it. However, it does have the excuse that it was the first real case in the series to have any sort of meat behind it, and because it takes place at a point where the series was still defining itself, I can let it slide.

This case is one of the few instances in the series where a main character, Mia Fey, is killed. This could easily have been the concept for a finale or even a middle game case, but unfortunately they ruin all the suspense by showing you the killer's face in the opening cutscene (not that there was anyone else in the case who could have done it anyway).

This case is the first case that requires you to investigate the crime scene and interrogate witnesses and other people. The characters aren't nearly as bad as The Kidnapped Turnabout, but there are a couple that could still use some work. I like Marvin Grossberg for some reason, Redd White is a despicable villain yet is still lacking a little in character, and The Bellboy is simply hilarious with his random affidavit fetish. April May is alright too, but her archetype of being evil-yet-attractive/slutty-accomplice isn't very original.

Of course, as every fan knows, this case introduces Miles Edgeworth as the prosecutor, and one of his biggest merits as a character is his development. Which basically means that in this case he's a jerk. I hated him at first, and only started to grow to like him around Investigations 2, so he didn't exactly redeem this case for me either. Similarly, Maya Fey later becomes one of my favorite main characters, but in this case she's really gloomy and depressed (understandably so, but still), which is in complete contrast to her usual effervescent personality. Finally, Detective Gumshoe becomes one of my favorite characters in the future, but in this case, again, he's portrayed completely different. He's sided with the prosecution, like all detectives, and is working to convict Maya. All of these characters grow to be likable later in the series, but this case portrays them as different people. The development is very real and understandable, but it just doesn't make them good characters playing through this case for the first time.

If there's one thing this case did really well, it's set up Turnabout Goodbyes. By talking about the DL-6 incident so much without really explaining what it was, it set up the finale perfectly. Which means that this game had to have been in the game for the full experience.

So, what is it exactly that turns me off about this case? Well, for one thing I don't like them killing Mia off too quickly, but I can even get past that. The main gripe I have is that it shows the killer. It's fine showing Frank Sahwit as the murderer in The First Turnabout because it's the opening case of the series, it's painfully obvious anyway, and it's only one short trial in length. This case seems to drag on a lot longer than needed, consists of two court cases and two investigations, and STILL has a painfully obvious killer, and yet they need to show his face anyway. Why?! It's just not needed!

tl;dr: Turnabout Sisters isn't an awful case, it's just long, boring, it shows you the killer beforehand even though it didn't really need to, and introduces a lot of new characters, some of which are good, some are bad, and some are bad that become good later in the series. It's an important case to the overall plot though, so I totally understand why it exists, but I feel like it could have been executed better.

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#32 Miles Edgeworth Investigations

Turnabout Visitor

Ah, Turnabout Visitor. What an odd case. I don't even know if I have all that much to say about it. It's easily the most bland opener in the series, which I suppose is the best way to start off the most bland game in the series?

Anyway, the characters. Jacques Portsman (or Jock Sportsman as I like to call him) is the killer, and it shows you that in the intro. No big surprise there, anyone could have figured it out in the first few minutes of the case. It's an unnecessarily long intro, but it's not nearly as long as Turnabout Sisters, which also shows the killer, so I can let it pass. He's sort of a cool character, pretty cocky (although he's yet another "prodigy prosecutor" stereotype) and pretty cruel once you break his facade, but he's the only new character in this case other than the victim, Detective Buddy Faith. (Not counting one other person, who I'll talk about later). Maggey Byrde is perfectly integrated into the case. She's a guard at the prosecutor's office who unknowingly helps Prosecutor Portsman out with his mission to steal files from Edgeworth's room, and ends up getting framed for the murder. It's exactly the kind of bad luck that Maggey has throughout the rest of the series, and it doesn't feel nearly as unnatural as, say, SOME OTHER CAMEOS IN THIS GAME.

Ahem. My favorite part of Turnabout Visitor is definitely the reveal in Turnabout Ablaze that it was Detective Badd who tried to rob the office ahead of Portsman, which was pretty neat. The video tape featured in this case also becomes important evidence in Turnabout Ablaze as well, so I guess the connection there is strong enough for me to... not hate this case.

tl;dr: A bit of a bland opening for a bland game. However, it does have the redeeming qualities of good characters and a good connection to the finale. It's not awful, it's just not very memorable.

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#31 Justice For All

Reunion, and Turnabout

I used to really dislike this case, but I've started to like it a little bit more in the past few months. Other than Turnabout Sisters, it's the first case in the series where you get to meet and talk with the character who gets murdered before it happens. And let me tell you, Dr. Turner Grey is hilarious and has this weird obsession with hating the local weather girl.

This case also introduces a lot of great characters. Ini Miney is pretty annoying but makes the "stupid" archetype look really freaking stupid. That is, until she lifts her facade and in a twist turns out to be quite cunning. Morgan Fey is also a pretty interesting character, but Pearl takes the cake for the cutest kid in a video game everrr. She's just the best. Everyone loves Pearl, and for good reason. Additionally, Lotta Hart makes a return (this was the first "oh hey it's you again!" moment in the series other than Larry Butz in 1-4) and the recurring character of Director Hotti is introduced, who is also one of my favorites. Of course though, my favorite character introduced in this case is Franziska von Karma, but I'll talk more about her later.

In addition to good characters, Mimi Miney has a great murder plot, it's executed well, and honestly it's quite amazing that Phoenix was able prove her the murderer. The whole thing with the face change is also really surprising and well done.

So, what is it I don't like about this case? Well, honestly, I'm not sure anymore! I used to really dislike it, but now that I'm examining the plot, it's really... okay! The worst part about the case is that it does drag on way too long, and the fact that the only two suspicious people are both involved in the crime is obvious pretty quick. But I think if you can get past the length of the case, it's still an improvement over Turnabout Sisters. (And trust me, these second cases are only going to continue to get better.)

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#30 Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney

The First Turnabout

What can I say about this case that hasn't been said a million times? It's just a classic, and deserving of that title. I think from this point onward I genuinely like every case.

The First Turnabout is exactly what you would expect the first case in the Ace Attorney series to be. A really easy to spot culprit, very obvious contradictions, and a slightly incompetent yet hilariously cocky prosecutor who doesn't really get in the way that much. It's just great. Phoenix Wright's first case is also the only case to have Mia alive through all of it, so that's cool too. It introduces Larry Butz, The Judge, and Winston Payne, all of whom become main characters later in the series. Frank Sahwit is a hilarious culprit. His animations are hilarious, his breakdown is perfect, and his changes in composure are always fun to watch. The victim in this case... wait, what was her name again?

The First Turnabout essentially sets up the remainder of the first game perfectly and teaches the player very nicely how to spot contradictions and defend someone in court. It even foreshadows a little bit why Phoenix became a lawyer and Mia's death in the next case. So, why is it so low then? Well, because it's so simple and there's not a lot of meat behind the case. Frank Sahwit didn't have an interesting motive or backstory, and neither did the victim. It's just a simple open and shut case once it's revealed who the culprit is. And you know what? That's great! It's exactly what the player wants to see from the first case, and I give them credit for pulling it off well. Unfortunately, because of that, it's not one of my favorites. I like my cases to involve a lot of characters and complicated backstories with plot twists. Still, though, it's a perfect opener for the series, I wouldn't have asked for anything better, and I like the case a lot. Next!

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#29 Dual Destinies

Turnabout Countdown

Yep, I like Turnabout Countdown. But I don't love it. To be honest, it's very clearly the worst case in Dual Destinies, and the worst opening case in the main series since The First Turnabout (my opinion). Despite that, it's still a good case that has a very important connection to the finale case.

The characters. It introduces Athena Cykes as a new protagonist, which is awesome. I love Athena, despite her not being quite as adorable as Trucy or Pearl, she's still a complex character with a lot of personality.

Next, Gaspen Payne. ...yeah, don't like this guy at all. He's like Winston if you sucked all the charm and replaced it with annoying arrogance and a lack sufficient sprite animations. His objection sounds nowhere near as funny as Winston's either. (Although admittedly the whole exchange between Widget and that "arrogant jerk" was quite amusing.)

Ted Tonate as the culprit was obvious (it shows you in the intro), but he was still a funny character. Text-to-speech typing worked really well, and I couldn't help but laugh when Tonate started "saying" things like "AWFHOFHIO@RH*@#(Y(F". Good culprit, and especially shocking later in the game that (major spoilers!) it wasn't actually him that blew up the courtroom.

Juniper Woods, I'm kinda iffy on. She's a nice character and her crush on Apollo is sheer adorable, but I can't help but wish she had more of a backstory other than Athena's childhood friend. She is a good defendant though, but I like her a lot more in Turnabout Academy than this case.

The plot of the case, is kinda eh honestly. It starts out that the victim, Candice Arme, died as a result of the courtroom bombing, but is later proven that she was murdered by Ted Tonate. Admittedly, Tonate's idea to hide her corpse in his bomb transport case was genius, but the fact that his ID could so easily be changed to "Woods" is a little far-fetched. It is a good intro to the game though, and I'd much rather have the bad case at the beginning than in the middle or the end, so I'm not too upset. Its biggest flaw is being too drawn out of a case when we already know who the killer is from the very beginning.

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#28 Miles Edgeworth Investigations

Turnabout Airlines

Another mediocre case from Investigations, but I suppose this one wasn't that bad. The setting was original enough, a murder that takes place on an airplane, as its name might suggest. For whatever reason, this case and The Kidnapped Turnabout actually take place after Turnabout Visitor, and Turnabout Reminiscence takes place several years earlier and is told in a flashback. So... the case chronological order is like 4, 2, 3, 1, 5. Yeah, it's confusing, but that isn't this case's fault in particular.

So, plotline. Edgeworth, and later Rhoda Teneiro, is framed for the murder of the Borginian Interpol agent Akbey Hicks. Interestingly enough, he's killed in an elevator during some turbulence, and anyone who's played the previous Ace Attorney games should recognize the significance of that (it's even acknowledged in game). The true killer isn't introduced until the case is well underway, but it's not so late that it feels unnatural. Like every case in the game, it has a connection to the international smuggling ring that's resolved in the last case, so that's cool I guess.

As you might have guessed, one of the best parts of this case is having Franziska back in the series, and her whipping of Gumshoe and Edgeworth never really gets old. In this game she's serving as a prosecutor for Interpol and she's after the same smuggling ring that so many other characters in this game are after. Other characters include the usual Gumshoe/Edgeworth duo, the hilarious Borginian art-dealer Zinc Lablanc, the annoyingly sleepy flight attendant Cammy Meele, and the much more proper flight attendant Rhoda Teneiro. If there's one thing this case did well, it's supply some believable red-herrings. I thought Zinc Lablanc was the killer because of how suspicious he looked and how evil his theme song sounded, but it turned out he was just another victim of the smuggling ring that liked to be precise with his time and money. The captain of the iFly Airlines flight could easily have been the killer too, but he was never really introduced formally and didn't play much of a role in the plot. Having him as a character could have increased the number of suspects, but I guess it would have also drawn out this relatively brief case longer, so it's not that big of a deal.

One thing I really hate is how Edgeworth "deduces" what the "murder weapon" was. This is another one of those cases where you spend the majority looking for just what killed the victim, and it's only at the very end that it's revealed by the stupidest way possible. While he's thinking about the circumstances, Zinc Lablanc happens to tumble over the nearby railing and land on a statue, so Edgeworth deduces that while the statue wasn't there, Akbey Hicks could have been killed by being pushed. It's just rushed, dumb, and while the animation of Lablanc falling was quite amusing, I would have much rather had Edgey figure it out through more logical means than through sheer coincidence.

A lot of the cases in Investigations 1 I don't really have much to say on, and I think this is just one of them. It's not a bad case, but not particularly interesting either. I liked a few of the characters, the setting was interesting, and it wasn't nearly as bland as The Kidnapped Turnabout or Turnabout Visitor, so I can let it slide.

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#27 Justice For All

The Lost Turnabout

The only other introductory case that doesn't really have a whole lot to do with the game's overall plot, The Lost Turnabout does everything The First Turnabout does and better. Well, it doesn't exactly introduce you to the universe better, but that's not really its job. Probably the most hilarious excuse for a tutorial in video game history, this case involves Phoenix getting hit on the head with a fire extinguisher by the real culprit, Richard Wellington, and he develops amnesia. He can't remember who he is, what his job is, or how he's supposed to defend his client, which makes the case absolutely hilarious. So many hilarious lines are exchanged with Phoenix by Maggey (the client), The Judge, Winston Payne, and Gumshoe that I begin to lose count. And the murderer, while shown hitting Phoenix in the opening cutscene, has some of the most annoyingly hilarious lines in the game.

Let's talk characters first. Other than the victim, Dustin Prince, this case only introduces two new characters; Maggey Byrde, who becomes a major character in future games, and Richard Wellington, the murderer. Maggey is the queen of bad luck, which is an archetype used in other media often, but I like how Ace Attorney describes it. This isn't verbatim, but she says something like "Ever since I fell out of my apartment's 9 story window as a child, I've gotten hit by all kinds of vehicles, failed almost every test I've ever taken, and never won a single game of tic-tac-toe!" It just sounds sooo ridiculous and sooo Ace Attorney.

Richard Wellington is great too, even though I've seen some hate for him. There's nothing that makes him particularly worse than Frank Sahwit: both are hilarious incompetent murderers in first cases. Of course, Wellington has this whole arrogant air about him, but that doesn't particularly bother me. The whole "big bananas" thing is great, his ramblings are great, and his breakdown is great. Good, stupid villain for a first case.

I do have a few issues with this case though, although they are minor and don't really warrant me disliking it. The main thing is, though, how did no one, including Gumshoe or anyone at the police department, notice that Maggey's name was spelled wrong in the dirt? Also, why the heck did Wellington testify about a "banana" falling with Dustin Prince?

Regardless though, it's a great opener with a lot of good lines, marks the return of some great characters (Payne and Maya), and the introduction of Maggey. Solid first case, although I still prefer the ones that contribute to the game's overall plot more. (Except Turnabout Visitor)

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#26 Justice For All

Turnabout Big Top

Yes, Turnabout Big Top. That case that everyone seems to hate for some reason. I didn't absolutely love it, but I didn't have too many issues with it either, and I don't think it deserves the bad rep that it's gotten.

Turnabout Big Top was a unique take on an Ace Attorney case in that it's the only case before or since to involve a killer that killed the wrong person accidentally, and openly regrets the crime. The irony of this is that Acro, the killer, was essentially raised by the victim, Russell Berry, so his death was like the loss of his own father. This is a really interesting and sad concept that makes the case stick out from a lot of the other ones, where the killer was completely despicable and killed for revenge, spite, and other motives. Here I sympathize with the killer and he turns out to be a very likable character.

Now onto the whole premise. Russell Berry is basically found dead hunched over a box, with no murder weapon in sight and no other footsteps but his own. Quite a conundrum. It's an intriguing setup that pays off well towards the end, especially the whole bit with Max Galactica "flying" and stuff. Acro's method of murder was ingenious, even if he was intending to kill Regina instead.

The characters in this case are awesome. I know most people hate them, but I really like them a lot. Ben and Trilo are hilarious to watch, their lines are amusing, and their personalities are excellent. Regina is your stereotypical sheltered princess who almost kills someone and doesn't even realize she did it. Acro is your nice guy murderer, as I've already discussed. Max Galactica (or "Billy Bob Johns") is your arrogant defendant who is kind of likable despite being a bit of a jerk. Moe the clown get a lot of hate, but I attribute that mostly to his overly-happy and constantly laughing personality and the annoying cross examination of him where you're penalized for pressing. Personally neither of these two really bothered me that much, and I thought some of his jokes were funny (if just for the "so bad it's good" effect).

Someone once told me that Turnabout Big Top has a great setup but a poor execution, and while I don't entirely agree on the last part, I can sort of see why some people might not like it because of its quirky characters and tedious trials. I like the case definitely because of its unique setup, but also because I thought the characters were endearing and the plot was strangely sad and dark for a middle game case.

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[SlowPokemon]

ah... are 31-26 supposed to be empty?

[blueflower999]

Yes, I'm just filling them in at my own pace. I didn't want something to happen to my internet or my computer and lose the whole write up.

[Yugi]

why is 2-1 not rock bottom

[SlowPokemon]

why is 2-1 not rock bottom

HEY NOW. 2-1 is my favorite first case of any of the games.

[blueflower999]

why is 2-1 not rock bottom

Because I liked it, of course! 

[SlowPokemon]

The victim in this case... wait, what was her name again?

Judge: "Who is the victim in this case?"
Phoenix: "Oh, um, wasn't it Ms. Block? Ms. Cinder Block?"
Judge: "The person in question was a victim of murder, not ill-conceived naming, Mr. Wright."

I really enjoy reading this they're great fun

Also about Turnabout Countdown, you're right; the funniest thing for me is Gaspen's initial conversation with Widget/Athena. "What was it you called me? Elegance at work?" *Athena makes her ridiculous dramatic shocked face* "(actually it was arrogant jerk...)"

I thought Phoenix mistaking Gaspen for Winston was also pretty hilarious because that's what the entire fandom did when they first showed a picture of Gaspen, they just thought he was Winston with yet another hairstyle

[blueflower999]

Top 34 Ace Attorney Cases (25-17):

#25 Apollo Justice Ace Attorney

Turnabout Serenade

Turnabout Serenade is an underrated case (just like all of Apollo Justice, but we'll get to that later). There are a few issues with it, and at times it can drag on a little, but overall I think it's at the very least a unique concept for a case with an acceptable to good cast of characters.

The setup is cool enough. Trucy and Apollo are invited to one of the Gavinner's concerts by Klavier. While backstage, a murder occurs in one of the dressing rooms, and Apollo and Detective Ema Skye are the first to discover the body. Romein LeTouse, the manager of Borginian singer Lamiroir, has been shot dead. Interestingly enough, the defendant accused of the crime, Machi, Tobaye, is *blind and doesn't speak English*

Well, later on you learn that he actually can see and speak a little bit, but the point is that the authorities for some reason thought that he couldn't and arrested him anyway. Weird choice. Anyway, through some fairly tedious trials, Apollo is able to convict Detective Daryan Crescend, the guitarist for the Gavinners, for the crime. He also learns through cross examination that the murder actually occurred during Lamiroir's song, not the Gavinners' performance as was originally thought.

There are some pretty clever plot points in the last trial, and I'm rather fond of the whole Borginian cocoon-smuggling business, especially the part how Klavier managed to unknowingly smuggle a cocoon in his guitar case to America. Machi Tobaye is a very forgettable character for me, and easily the worst defendant in a game with a lot of really bad defendants. On the contrary, Daryan is a a great, if a bit generic, Ace Attorney villain. Lamiroir is a good, strong female protagonist that I'm also very fond of, even more so in the last case. This case also shows a bit of a meaner side to Klavier, which I think works rather well at depicting him when he's having a bad day. Finally, this case introduces probably my favorite character in Apollo Justice besides Apollo and Trucy: Valant Gramarye. More on him in a future case.

So, what's not to like? Well, not as much as I thought. The whole premise is ridiculous and a bit implausible at times, yes, but I enjoyed it enough for what it was worth. The investigations are a little annoying, and at times certain parts of the trials become tedious as well, especially those which involve watching the clips of the Gavinner's concert. Overall though, I don't really mind this case too much. It's just the worst in one of my favorite games.

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#24 Trials and Tribulations

Turnabout Memories

From this point on, I'm incredibly fond of pretty much every case.

Turnabout Memories started quite a few trends that continue on in the series. First of all, it's the first opening case that has an effect, and even a little bit of foreshadowing, for the rest of the game, which is the same for every opener afterward. Secondly, it's the first case where you don't play as Phoenix (ignoring a small scene in Justice For All). Instead, Phoenix is the defendant, and you see Mia Fey's second case defending him in court for the murder of Doug Swallow. It's a great premise, and as soon as you see young Phoenix's face in the opening cutscene as the "killer", you know you're in for a great one.

The characters are phenomenal. Mia Fey is her usual self, although much younger and lacking in the experience that she shows in The First Turnabout. One of my personal favorite aspects of Turnabout Memories is how it brings back Marvin Grossberg, an often forgotten character from the first game, as Mia's mentor. The lines regarding his hemorrhoids never ceased amusing me.  And then there's Phoenix. Oh, Phoenix, how I adore you. You see, Phoenix goes through several distinct personality phases in the Ace Attorney series. There's middle age Phoenix that's sarcastic and inexperienced (at first) who later learns what it means to be a lawyer. Then there's cunning and planning Hobonix who is almost a completely different character. And then there's young Phoenix, who's an adorable dork with a huge crush on his girlfriend, Dahlia Hawthorne. He has this ridiculous habit of sneezing constantly (especially when asked questions that he does not wish to answer). As weird as it sounds, I got so many laughs out of this Phoenix that I might consider him being my favorite incarnation of the famous protagonist.

Dahlia Hawthorne. Oh boy. I sort of knew going into this case that she would be the killer (because it obviously can't be Phoenix and there really isn't anyone else it could have been either), but I didn't know that she'd be *this* bad. More on how awful she is later, but my gosh she tries to kill Phoenix through poisoning his cold medicine. *Nobody tries to kill Phoenix. Nobody.*

And of course, as all openers go (except for Turnabout Countdown), this case is graced with the amusing character of Winston Payne. Only this time, Turnabout Memories starts the hilarious trend of giving Winston a new hairstyle in every appearance. The case ends with Phoenix being declared NOT GUILTY (of course) and Winston's hair blowing off in a totally out of nowhere but hilarious "breakdown". Oh Winston, how I adore your incompetence.

The case itself isn't ridiculously complex or anything, but it does a fantastic job of introducing Dahlia and foreshadowing the events of the finale with the death of Diego Armando. Throw in a few pop culture references to famous songs and you've got yourself a great opener that sets the standard for all future first cases.

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#23 Trials and Tribulations

The Stolen Turnabout

This case is a very unique entry to the third game. Come to think of it, the third game has some really good ideas for cases, doesn't it?

Anyway, 3-2 is a rollercoaster ride all the way to the end. At first you're led to believe that, *FOR ONCE*, you're not working a murder case. The episode centers around Mask*DeMasque, a newly-famous thief that steals valuable objects after leaving a calling card beforehand. The case also marks the return of a lovely character from Farewell, My Turnabout in the second game (I won't say who it is in case someone reads this who hasn't played 2-4, but if you have, you know who I'm talking about).

Ron DeLite, the defendant, is accused of being Mask*DeMasque, and it's Phoenix's job to prove him not guilty against a new and mysterious prosecutor known as Godot. I'll talk about him more later, but he's one of the best new characters in the game, easily. Anyway, the first trial ends with Ronnie getting a Not Guilty verdict, which fools the player into thinking the case is over. In actuality, Ron is immediately accused at murdering a man named Kane Bullard, and it just so happens that Phoenix's defense proved him to be at murder scene rather than at the scene where Mask*DeMasque struck that same night!

To make matters worse, the man Phoenix indites of being the real Mask*DeMasque, a private detective named Luke Atmey, in the first trial confesses, to give himself an alibi for the murder that he committed. Yeah, it's complicated, but the overall plot is genius and one of the most creative in the series.

The Stolen Turnabout also introduces about three great new characters, all of which I'm pretty fond of. Desiree DeLite, or Dessie as I like to call her, is my least favorite of the three. She's not a bad character, and I do like her, but her role in the case is largely indirect as Ronnie's wife who spends a lot of money, forcing him into the thievery business. Ronnie, however, is significantly better. In any other situation, he'd be a jerk character. He's a thief, he sold secrets from his old employer to earn some extra cash, and he commits perjury (like every other Ace Attorney witness ever). But he all does it for his wife, and this plus his incredibly harmless and adorable demeanor makes him a really endearing character. Finally, Luke Atmey is by far the best character in the case, and he's almost good enough to get into my Three Best Ace Attorney Murderers. He's a classic example of a murder with an amazing theme song and a hilariously eccentric and narcissistic personality who comes up with a genius scheme and is only caught by a minor and perfectly understandable slip-up in court.

Whew! Yeah, the Stolen Turnabout's great. Throw in some extra moments with classic characters like Maya, Pearl, and Gumshoe, and you've got yourself the best second case in the original trilogy. Too bad I got super sick playing it for the first time and then got super sick again when my sister played it a few weeks ago, but oh well.

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#22 Miles Edgeworth Investigations

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#21 Miles Edgeworth Investigations

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#20 Dual Destinies

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#19 Investigations 2

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#18 Investigations 2

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#17 Apollo Justice

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[blueflower999]

Let the Christmas marathon begin!!!

Super Smash Bros. For 3DS:

Seeing as how I've spent much more time with the 3DS version than the Wii U version as of writing this, I think it would be more appropriate to review the former. Plus, they're more or less the same game anyway, so the Wii U version would only maybe a few tenths of a point higher than the 3DS version due to better control options and lots of bonus features.

Gameplay: 9/10 Traditional smashing at its best. The Smash Brothers series hasn't changed all that much from its conception on the Nintendo 64. Some characters still have virtually the same moveset from back then, with the addition of a Final Smash, of course. Now, I can't say to be an expect in the franchise or anything because I only own Brawl and the fourth installments, but the gameplay in Smash Bros for 3DS is everything you'd expect it to be. While the multiplayer online is pretty laggy, and I know that this is a big peeve of a lot of people, it doesn't really bother me all that much. It still amazes me that a Smash game can work on a handheld console at all, so I'm not too picky about lag or any features that the game might be lacking. Smash Run is pretty lame, admittedly (Smash Tour is a lot better, in my opinion), but all the solo modes are great and local multiplayer works really well. There's an abundance of trophies, a heaping load of characters, and a good selection of stages. My biggest complaint is that the circle pad is the only option for character movement. Part of me wishes that the D-Pad was a choice because my Circle Pad was broken before I bought the game, and at times it's very difficult to control the characters. However, despite this, the game still manages to be easily the best in the franchise (along with the Wii U version, of course).

Addictiveness: 8/10 The addictive factor of this game highly depends on whether you either have a good internet connection or have easy access to a lot of other people who have the game. If you have the former and a desire to become good competitively, then you'll probably be playing the game until the fifth game comes out, because it really is a great game for people who like competitive fighting as a genre. If you have the later, then you'll probably play on and off again with them and slowly stop playing by yourself after you've unlocked as many of the achievements as you choose. Regardless, even if you don't have internet at your house or don't have any friends (), I guarantee you at least 50 hours unlocking all the characters and trying all the modes and stages until you get board.

Story: 0/10 No story mode in this game, or the Wii U version either. Subspace Emissary was excellent, but it looks like Smash is no long about that sort of thing, which is acceptable I guess. I wouldn't mind having another campaign in the future though.

Music: 9/10 The Wii U's music collection is easily 10/10, but the 3DS's is slightly worse. Granted, it's still very impressive and most of the remixes are very good. However, there's a bit too many songs that are just copied and pasted from their previous games. This is fine, but there aren't that many songs in the game to begin with, so I'd much rather see remixes over the original songs. That being said, I can't fault the game on this, because the choice of music is very good, the remixes are as high of quality as I expected, and the game couldn't really handle that much more content on a portable console.

Tortimer Island Medley

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Air Man's Theme

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Spark Man's Theme

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You Will Know Our Names

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I find myself really liking this song even though I haven't played Xenoblade.

Magicant/Eight Melodies

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Running/Countdown

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Character Design: 10/10 Granted, the only characters that the game really designed for itself were... actually, I can't think of any. Master Hand and Crazy hand were both in previous installments, and obviously all the fighters were as well. Anyway, that doesn't matter, because the game includes some of the best video game icons ever made. They're all very fleshed out, have great move-sets that reflect their own personalities, quirks, and origins, and are very faithful to their own franchises. Let's take Mega Man, for instance (I've wanted to rant about this for a while, so here I go!). He's what I would call the best example of character-to-Smash-fighter in the game. Every single aspect of his character is taken directly from one of his games. Now, all characters have influences from their games, of course. For instance, Mario can throw fire balls, use F.L.U.D.D., and do his signature jump. However, what a lot of characters do is have specials drawn from their game but regular attacks just based on appearance. For example, a lot of Mario's regular A-button attacks are just generic punches and kicks, and most of Link's are him swinging a sword. But with Mega Man, every single one of his special AND physical attacks is directly taken from a weapon that he uses in the franchise. Pure genius.

Humor: 4/10 Most of the game's humor comes from trophy descriptions, and most of it is in-jokes that non-video game players wouldn't really understand. A lack of cutscenes makes for a lack of humorous content, which is a shame honestly. I remember laughing like crazy at some of the moments in Subspace Emissary!

Difficulty: 6/10 The game is about as hard as you make it. Unlocking all the characters requires a certain level of practice and skill (Dark Pit, Lucina, and Duck Hunt are quite the challenge!). Getting all the achievements requires a lot of time and effort, and I'll probably never be able to complete that. Smash Bros. is the best kind of game difficulty wise, though, because it lets you choose the difficulty levels of the A.I.s you battle, so the player is in almost complete control of how hard each match will be.

Other Memorable Features: Lots here, oh where to begin. Home Run Contest is the same mindless record-beating fun as before. Trophy Rush and Trophy Shop are both great ways for all those fans that want to complete their collection to do so. Classic mode is a big improvement on Brawl's Classic mode. The sound player feature returning is a great feature, and I'm so happy that they list who composed or arranged each track. My personal favorite feature in Smash Bros however, is the victory themes. While many of them are reused from Brawl ( ) all of the new ones are really good, especially Shulk's and Pac-Man's.

Overall: 9.3/10 Screw Melee, this is the definitive Smash.

[SlowPokemon]

FANTASTIC review and I wholeheartedly agree with this--I would have lost countless hours on the 3DS version (or at least more than the 15 I did) if it weren't for two major factors:

A) that damn issue I had: the nagging feeling that Smash was destroying my system.
B) the issue of no local multiplayer opportunities (save for separate screen matches with friends) and a very shaky online multiplayer system.

So yep, that's an accurate score, but from the few hours I've spent on the Wii U version so far, it's basically a perfect 10/10.

[Maelstrom]

This may sound weird, but I found most of the extra modes lacking in polish. It wasn't as bad in the Wii U version though.
And, Blue, when will you be finishing your AA case list?