B&B Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney Trilogy

Welcome to Brew and Breakdown. Let’s begin. 

Our game featured today is Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy. IGN gave this title a 7.5 out of 10.

Wikipedia states, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy is a compilation video game containing remasters of the first three games in the Ace Attorney series, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, Justice for All, and Trials and Tribulations. A compilation sequel, Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy, is set for release in 2024 and compiles the next three mainline games in the series, Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney, Dual Destinies, and Spirit of Justice. 

A high-definition version of the first three Ace Attorney games, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy HD, was released for iOS and Android in Japan on February 7, 2012, and for iOS in the West on May 30, 2013. This legacy mobile version has since been delisted, being replaced by the Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy release on iOS and Android on June 10, 2022.

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy, was first released for the Nintendo 3DS in Japan on April 17, 2014, in North America on December 9, 2014, and in Europe on December 11, 2014. It was also released for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on February 21, 2019 in Japan, and on April 9, 2019 internationally; a Windows version was released internationally on the same date.

The Ace Attorney Trilogy home console releases were first announced in an interview with news website Jiji in 2017, Capcom's COO, Haruhiro Tsujimoto, said that the Ace Attorney series was going to receive support on the Nintendo Switch, with a mainline entry, and two compilations, one of the original trilogy and one including games 4 through 6 in the series.

The game was later revealed at the Ace Attorney panel at Tokyo Games Show 2018. The trailer used in the convention was later uploaded in English on September 22, 2018, and a pre-order was made available for the game on Nintendo Switch in January 2017 exclusively in Japan, and a Steam pre-order was later made available on February 28, 2019.

Prior to its English release, a listing for the game was put up on the Australian Nintendo Switch eShop, the content of which made people believe the game was going to be released in English-speaking territories on April 9, 2019, which ended up being 5 days off.

On August 24, 2019, the option to play the game in French, German, Korean, Simplified Chinese, and Traditional Chinese was added per language. The update also added 10 additional save files per language.

The French-language version of the game accidentally forgot to remove a mention of the WiiWare controls that were in the Wii port of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Trials and Tribulations. 

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy was met with positive reviews from critics. The game's graphics were heavily praised for being HD while the legacy mobile releases were heavily criticized for poor graphics and low frame rate. IGN criticized the latest releases' graphics as being polished to "the point of being overly sterile", citing that evidence sometimes lacks more details than the original releases.

Cara Ellison of Eurogamer called the Trilogy HD port "perfunctory", saying the animations are slow at times, the high-definition graphics take away from the charm of the pixel art in earlier versions, and there is a delay after button presses.

US Gamer's Bob Mackey appreciated how the games were mostly left untouched, while giving minor improvements, such as the player being able to read the text at their own pace and not waiting for it to crawl across the screen. He said the game's graphical upgrades were hit or miss, with certain characters, including Phoenix and Edgeworth, looking great. Elements that originally had less definition, such as the judge's beard, however, were "a little wonky". Thomas Whitehead of Nintendo Life said that Capcom had done a "solid job" with the port. He appreciated the stereoscopic 3D effect and the game's faithfulness to the original; he felt, however, that the lack of an orchestral soundtrack similar to that in Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies was a minor disappointment. Crunchyroll's Daniel Dockery stated that the game was one of his favorite Nintendo 3DS games.

The Decision

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy is a cute take on being an attorney. Keeping that in mind makes this child’s play bearable. It is merely a cute way to pass time and earn some easy achievements. Brew and Breakdown gives this title, 

3.5 out of 5, Coffee Beans.  

Once again, Brew and Breakdown has come to an end. 

Thank you for tuning in to Xbox Intel. 

Intel next time.