I'll be surprised if I love Spirit of Justice as much as Dual Destinies, both because I really love Dual Destinies and because I've never been particularly into the spirit-channelling aspect of the Ace Attorney series, but I'm prepared to give it a chance! Here we go.

Phoenix being an excited tourist is pretty cute.

Phoenix barging into another country's courtroom and attempting to defend someone without the slightest idea of how the legal system works, meanwhile, is just the most Phoenix Wright thing imaginable.

There's a different judge in this game! That's going to be so strange! The prosecution changes, the defence changes, but I think we've had the same judge in every single case until now.

DEFENCE LAWYERS GET THE SAME SENTENCE AS THEIR CLIENTS IF THE CLIENTS ARE FOUND GUILTY, THAT'S SO STUPID, I LOVE IT

I'm now envisioning Apollo and Athena's reaction if Phoenix goes abroad, gets involved in this nonsense, screws up the defence and gets himself sentenced to death. I like to imagine they'd go 'Mr Wright did WHAT' and fly straight over to stage a jailbreak.

I can't get over Ace Attorney finding a way to go 'if you fail to defend your client well enough, YOU DIE.'

And I've rambled a bit, so the rest of my early notes on Ace Attorney: Spirit of Justice are under the cut.



It's a little strange that Phoenix keeps thinking he can't be executed for Maya's sake, without any mention of Trucy. Your teenage daughter would also probably have a pretty rough time of it, Phoenix!

I tried failing and getting a guilty verdict, just to see if we'd get to see Phoenix's reaction. Alas, no. (Sorry, Phoenix.)

Apollo and Athena are at Trucy's magic show together while Phoenix is away! I'm not saying it's a date, but it's definitely a date.

I feel they've toned down Athena's ridiculous colour scheme for this game, and I don't approve. Blind me, you cowards!

It's good to see some proper interaction between Apollo and Trucy! I love their relationship and I was a little sorry that Trucy had so little screentime in Dual Destinies.

'Apollo's "fine" sure has a way of really hitting you right in the heart - and in the ears,' Athena says, and I'm going to overanalyse that because I am a hopeless shipper.

I should have guessed this was leading into a case with Trucy as defendant. Athena and Apollo watching Trucy's magic show together and chatting with her was so delightful that for a moment I forgot I was playing a detective lawyer game.

I'm equally delighted by Trucy being charged, of course. These cases are always more fun when the defendant is someone we already know.

Apollo's so worried about Trucy!

I was thinking 'oh, a manslaughter case? That's new,' and then of course the charges got bumped up to murder. Nobody ever gets charged with anything but murder in this world.

Judging by his reaction to the prosecutor's name, it's Apollo's turn to have a meaningful connection to the prosecutor. I'm always slightly wary when new instalments of canon offer backstory for characters I already love. Sometimes I love it, e.g. when Uncharted 3 showed us how Nate and Sully first met! Sometimes I don't, e.g. when Uncharted 4 introduced Sam out of nowhere.

So far, though, the details we're learning about Apollo in this game are pretty fun. He used to have a pet rabbit! He can't swim! He's afraid of heights!

More importantly: he's afraid of heights, so Athena holds his hand to calm him down when they're investigating the catwalk above the stage.

Athena: Well, what are you standing way over there for? Come on over and look!
Apollo: You're not gonna try and push me off, are you?
Athena: Seriously, Apollo? C'mon, you'll be fine. Here, do you want me to hold your hand?
Apollo: Y-yes, actually... if you wouldn't mind...

I'm so pleased.

I laughed aloud at Apollo panicking and going 'T-talk to the hand! KA-POW!'

Bonny's stuttering as she speaks to me now, and she wasn't before, and from that I conclude that there are probably identical twins involved.

Trucy threatens to use one of her magic tricks to make Apollo's money vanish from his wallet, and he goes, 'Ha ha ha. My money will disappear on its own when I take you out for a treat after this trial,' and Trucy's taken aback that he's being so nice without any sarcasm, and Apollo thinks, (Huh? Did I say something wrong?), and it's extremely cute, but I still think someone urgently needs to tell these two that they're half-siblings.

I'm very charmed by Athena going 'Ow! It bit me!' when she's inspecting the clip on the clipboard.

I absolutely demand to know where Athena and Apollo hid together when Bonny and Retinz came down into the understage area, and how cramped it was. (Probably pretty cramped, given Apollo's 'My arm doesn't bend that way!' protest.)

Apollo taking strength from Phoenix's belief in him is really cute.

It didn't really occur to me at the time, but the investigation of Clay's murder must have been very strange and upsetting for Athena as well as Apollo. We already know Apollo was falling apart because he could tell Athena was lying and didn't know why, but at the same time Athena must have been worried because of her ability to pick up on the emotions in people's voices. She must have known something was wrong with Apollo. Perhaps she just concluded he was upset about Clay.



Well, I'm still having a great time so far! I've just started the first trial segment of the second case. I look forward to more of these lawyers being adorable while ridiculously convoluted murders happen around them.