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Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Dual Destinies, known in Japan as Gyakuten Saiban 5 (逆転裁判 5?, lit. "Turnabout Trial 5"), is an adventure video game published and developed by Capcom for the Nintendo 3DS. It is the seventh total game in the Ace Attorney series, excluding cross-overs, and the fifth installment of the main lineage. It was formally announced with a partial logo in Japan on January 29, 2012, alongside Gyakuten Saiban 123 HD as part of the Gyakuten Saiban 10th Anniversary Event.

It is the first in the series to be released on the Nintendo 3DS. Phoenix Wright returns as the main protagonist. The game was released in Japan on July 25, 2013. The game was released as a digital-only release in North America and Europe in October 24, 2013. The game was also only localized into English for the European release.

The development team is the team responsible for Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth and Gyakuten Kenji 2. Scenario director Takeshi Yamazaki replaced the role of series creator Shu Takumi, who reportedly was already busy with Professor Layton vs. Ace Attorney at the time. Takuro Fuse took over art duties for Kazuya Nuri.

Characters

PW DD Art

Promotional art.

PW DD OST Art

Playable protagonists

  • Athena Cykes - The new playable protagonist, partner character and newest addition to the Wright Anything Agency's defense team. She has a great drive to win, distinguishing her from Wright's original assistant Maya Fey. She can examine witnesses' emotions using a computer on her necklace, the "Mood Matrix".

New main characters

  • Simon Blackquill - The game's rival prosecutor. A pale man with black eyeshadow and a feather in his mouth, he was ordered to stand in court despite technically serving a murder sentence; made quite clear with the large pair of handcuffs connected by a chain on his wrists. Blackquill also carries a hawk named Taka on his right shoulder. Blackquill uses psychological manipulation techniques. He also has his own interjection in court, which is "Silence!".
  • Bobby Fulbright - A hot-blooded detective with the catchphrase "In justice we trust!". He has worked with Simon Blackquill many times and is paired up with him in court. The detective hopes to help the prosecutor redeem himself, and he seems completely oblivious to Blackquill's attempts to manipulate him. Bobby has such a strong sense of justice that he is compelled to intervene to help those in trouble, and he will even help defense attorneys if it will lead to a fair trial.

Returning characters

  • The unnamed judge who has presided over most of the cases in Ace Attorney series.
  • Trucy Wright - Phoenix Wright's adopted daughter and Apollo Justice's former investigative partner. A young magician from a well-known family of magicians, she is still working at the Wright Anything Agency and continues to aid the lawyers in their investigations.
  • Klavier Gavin - Rival prosecutor to Justice in Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney and former lead vocalist and guitarist of the rock band "The Gavinners".
  • Pearl Fey - A member of a Fey clan branch family and the younger cousin of Phoenix Wright's old assistant Maya Fey.

Story and episodes

Story

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies takes place roughly one year after Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney. By this time, Phoenix Wright has regained his attorney's badge. The plot has a darker theme than previous games in the series, in accordance with Wright's warning in the fourth game, "A dark time is coming for our legal system. We have to set it right". However, it has the same overall light tone of the other games in the series.

Episodes

It was stated by the development team that the game has roughly the same amount of content as Trials and Tribulations and would take 25-30 hours to complete.

  • Turnabout Countdown - Phoenix Wright takes on Winston Payne's younger brother Gaspen, in the case of a high school girl named Juniper Woods, accused of planting a bomb to destroy one of the courtrooms at the District Court. This episode introduces Athena Cykes as Wright's co-counsel and the new "Mood Matrix" game mechanic. Phoenix is the playable lawyer for the case with Athena as co-counsel.
  • The Monstrous Turnabout - The Wright Anything Agency is invited by Trucy Wright's friend Jinxie Tenma for a celebration at the Nine-Tails Vale village. The festivities are abruptly interrupted however, when the mayor of Nine-Tails Vale is found with a spear through his chest and Jinxie Tenma's father is arrested as the main suspect. This episode introduces the convict prosecutor Simon Blackquill and the justice-obsessed police detective Bobby Fulbright. It also features the return of Wright's adopted daughter Trucy Wright. Apollo Justice is the playable lawyer for the case with Athena as co-counsel.  
  • Turnabout Academy - The third case takes place at Themis Legal Academy during a culture festival. Apollo Justice and Klavier Gavin face off in a mock murder trial at the school, but when the murder becomes real, Athena Cykes steps up to the plate to represent Juniper Woods (who set up the mock trial and finds herself as the defendant in a real trial) against Simon Blackquill. This episode features the return of prosecutor Klavier Gavin who reprise the mock trial with Justice in order to gain more insight into the real murder. Athena is the playable main lawyer for the case with Apollo as co-counsel. 
  • The Cosmic Turnabout - Apollo's best friend Clay Terran turns up dead right after a spaceship that he was on blows up. Right before witness Candice Arme comes to the stand, the courtroom bombing from Turnabout Countdown occurs. Apollo decides to take a leave of absence to investigate the case on his own, so it is up to Phoenix Wright and Athena Cykes to defend Clay Terran's mentor, Solomon Starbuck.
  • Turnabout For Tomorrow - A crucial piece of evidence appears implicating Athena Cykes on the murder of Clay Terran. This case might involve an incident from seven years prior to the start of the game.
  • Turnabout Reclaimed - Downloadable extra case. This is Phoenix Wright's first case since regaining his attorney's badge. The case takes place at an aquarium, and the defendant is a Killer Whale named Al (エール, lit. "Arru").

Gameplay

The classic courtroom gameplay of the Ace Attorney series returns with some changes. The game world has transitioned into 3D with fully orchestral music, allowing for dynamic camera angles and more freedom in animations while retaining the 2D "touch" of the characters by taking measures to maintain the sense of speed and sharpness from the 2D games. The 3D transition also allows the player to look at rooms from different angles during investigations. In addition, the game features animated scenes by the anime studio Bones, similarly to Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (which also has animated cutscenes from the same anime studio). The various sound effects common to the series have also been modified for the transition to the 3DS.

Dual Destinies also makes use of special powers possessed by the protagonists. Phoenix Wright's magatama and Apollo Justice's bracelet return from previous games, although unlike in Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney, the bracelet is mainly used in investigations rather than trials. Athena Cykes employs the "Mood Matrix" to examine the emotions of a witness and find contradictions between their emotional state and testimony. Another new gameplay mode is "revisualization" in which the player character reviews the known facts and builds up a train of thought to reach a conclusion. The player is presented with a series of facts of many kinds, such as items and evidence connected to the case, and must choose the correct one to advance the reasoning towards a final conclusion.

Changes to the formula

Dual Destinies includes several new features and modifications to existing features to make the fundamentals more accessible. A backlog function that allows players to review previous dialogue can be viewed at any time with a touchscreen button or the "Y" button. The fast-forward function, previously only available when going through repeated dialogue, can now be used to go through any dialogue. The game also shares some features with Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, including a touchscreen button that takes the player to the save menu, a function previously accessible only through the "Start" button. Also like the crossover, multiple save files can be recorded into a single game copy, though in this case only two files can be made. Additionally, scenes being examined remain on the top screen, and the touchscreen functions as a trackpad to move a cursor around the scene (the circle pad can also be used).

The court record has also undergone an overhaul. In addition to the evidence and profiles, an investigation memo titled "Notes" lets players keep track of tasks that need to be fulfilled during investigation segments. All three are accessible as folder tabs at the top of the touchscreen, and they can be scrolled through with the shoulder buttons. The evidence and profile folders show the overview from the Nintendo DS games at the bottom of the screen, and a detailed view of a cursor-highlighted item appears above the menu, removing the need to select an item explicitly in order to view its basic information.

The penalty system is only used in trial segments of the game. When the penalty health bar depletes, rather than having to start over from a save point, the player has the option to continue where he or she failed, with the health bar fully restored. Moreover, if the player incurs three penalties or is forced to restart during a cross-examination, the player can press the "Consult" (X) button that appears, at which point the game indicates which segment of the testimony to examine.

Downloadable content

Free downloadable costumes were available in Japan until a month after the game's release. The costume pack includes the Old-School Suit, Phoenix Wright's old suit and appearance from the first three games; the Stylin' Street Clothes, a new casual outfit for Apollo Justice by character designer Kazuya Nuri; and the Themis Academy Uniform, a sailor fuku for Athena Cykes.

In addition to this is a downloadable extra case called Turnabout Reclaimed. This content is also available for the American version of the game. If the game was bought from the eShop from October 24, 2013 to November 7, 2013, the player will get access to the outfits for free.

Another downloadable costume is the old outfit Wright had worn during Turnabout Memories. The outfit is a reward for completing the extra quiz DLC. In the English version, this outfit will be unlocked upon the player completing the DLC case, Turnabout Reclaimed.

Music

The music used in Dual Destinies is almost entirely from the Gyakuten Saiban 5 Original Soundtrack. That is, almost every music track used in the game is either original or a new version of a track from a previous game. Even "Suspense", which survived unaltered through all six games in the series prior to Dual Destinies, was replaced by a "Suspense 2013". However, Dual Destinies uses "Guilty Love" and "Surging Eyes" from Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney's soundtrack.

Trivia

  • Capcom USA’s Senior Vice-President, Christian Svensson, cited difficulties with ensuring retail support for physical releases of Ace Attorney games as a reason for the game's download-only release in the West.
  • Excluding the European box art for the original game (which only has Phoenix Wright on it), Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies is the first game in the Ace Attorney series to have voiced speech bubbles for all the characters featured on the front cover of the box art.
  • Dual Destinies is also the first game in the series to have these distinctions:
    • It has no female culprits.
    • It feature more than five cases (if the DLC case is included).
    • It has the first case take more than one day to resolve.
    • It has neither of the previous English and Japanese lead directors (Ben Judd and Shu Takumi, respectively) involved in production in any way.
    • It has none of the victims encountered by the player prior to their deaths.
    • It is the first game to receive a ESRB rating of M, compared to the T rating used in past titles (however, the ACB retained the PG rating it had applied to the previous titles).
    • It does not feature Dick Gumshoe or Winston Payne, although the latter is at least mentioned in passing.

Box Art and Merchandise

External Links

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