Summary
Ace Attorney Investigations Collectionis the triumphant return ofAce Attorneyon the Switch. At first glance, it may seem like a natural follow-up to Capcom’s otherAce Attorneyremasters. However, there is more to this duology than meets the eye. Behind the series that stars one ofAce Attorney’s most popular characters is the series' most troubled past.
Ace Attorney Investigationsis in fact the only remaining pair ofAce Attorneygames that Capcom hasn’t released remasters for. Even whenThe Great Ace Attorneygot its remaster, the community didn’t have high hopes aboutInvestigationsreceiving the same treatment for a number of reasons. The return ofInvestigationsis a huge deal, especially for anyone who has been keeping track of the franchise’s history.
Ace Attorney Investigations Collection Breathes New Life into an Old Dream
Ace Attorney Investigations Has a Troubled History
Ace Attorney Investigationspromised to shake things up by departing from the strictvisual novel format of otherAce Attorneygames. A year after its initial release in Japan, internationalAce Attorneyfans got the opportunity to playAce Attorney Investigationsin 2009. Unfortunately for the future of the spinoff series, not many people took that opportunity.
Ace Attorney Investigationshad lackluster sales, leading to a worry that Capcom may consider the game just another spinoff franchise dead on arrival. Thankfully,Investigationswasn’t considered a failed experiment, and wasn’t left completely by the wayside just yet. Unfortunately, future efforts proved similarly fruitless.Ace Attorney Investigations' lackluster launch meant few copies remained in circulation long after its release. This rendered the game essentiallytrapped on the Nintendo DS, with no other way of trying to reach it. Fans who had the hope of experiencing this story would have to sell an arm and a leg.
Capcom likely noticed this issue, and seemingly attempted to correct it by givingAce Attorney Investigationsa worldwide re-release in the form of amobile game port. This occurred in 2017, seven years after the last global release ofAce Attorney Investigations. Though it preserved as much of the game as possible, playing the game on a phone simply wasn’t a strong enough substitute.
Ace Attorney Investigations Makes an Unexpected Comeback
Ace Attorney Investigations 2 Has Never Been Accessible
Ace Attorney Investigationsmay be caught up in a strange purgatory, but its sequel met an even worse fate than that. While efforts to bring its predecessor to a global audience continued to fail time and again,Ace Attorney Investigations 2never received this support in the first place.
To date,Ace Attorney Investigations 2has never received a global releaseof any kind. The game received a mobile port just like the prior entry in the series, but this port was never released globally either. The situation became increasingly concerning for the cult following that began to surroundInvestigations.Ace Attorney Investigationswas by no means a resounding financial success for Capcom, and everyone that hoped for more knew that. Now, many wondered ifAce Attorney Investigations 2was simply being held back as a result.
It’s very possible that the financial disappointment ofInvestigationsmeant its sequel was seen as too great a risk to release. That could have been the end of things, if not forCapcom’s recentAce Attorneyremaster collections. Despite the revival of other games that had never seen a global release, the troubling truth remained thatInvestigations 2didn’t seem on track to get the second chance it deserved.
WhileAce Attorney Investigationshas been difficult to obtain for years, playingInvestigations 2in any legitimate fashion is pretty much impossible.Investigationsis an expensive collector’s item, butInvestigations 2is an obscure relic that only exists internationally in the form of fan translations. This dynamic is at the heart of why the upcomingAce Attorney Investigations Collectionis such a huge deal: it will be the first time players everywhere will have the opportunity to experience both games, and in higher fidelity to boot.
Capcom is Paying Attention to Ace Attorney Fans
Ultimately, this latest effort shows that Capcom is paying very close attention toAce Attorneyfans. The remasters of the original trilogy andApollo Justicesequel trilogywere both welcome, with the latter being a natural follow-up after the former.The Great Ace Attorney Chroniclescame as a pleasant surprise to remaster a region-locked game many thought would never see the light of day.
Ace Attorney Investigations Collectionwas another game many players cried out for while never expecting a response in the first place. The failure of previous efforts was seen as too great, and frankly, too consistent. Yet, after a long wait and a lot of disappointment for fans and Capcom alike, thedemand for moreAce Attorneywas answered.
Ace Attorney Investigations Collectionis a combined effort of localization and remastering that shows even more love forInvestigationsthan many fans had any reason to expect. This, combined with the potential quality the collection is promising so far, impliesCapcom was listening toAce Attorneyfans the whole time.
Likewise, it seems to suggest a commitment to renewing interest inAce Attorneyas a whole. WithAce Attorneydefinitively finishing its series of remasters, perhapsInvestigationsis setting the stage for anew mainlineAce Attorneygameto finally arrive.
Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy
WHERE TO PLAY
Apollo Justice’s Legal Journey Begins Anew!Join rookie attorney Apollo Justice and his mentor, the legendary Phoenix Wright, in this collection of 3 games! This title features the 14 episodes of “Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney”, “Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Dual Destinies”, and “Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Spirit of Justice”, and the 2 previously DLC-only Special Episodes for a total of 16 episodes!Also included is a mountain of extra goodies that’s sure to satisfy any Ace Attorney fan!Orchestra Hall - Listen to the in-game background music and select orchestral arrangements!Art Library - View illustrations, design specs, commissioned pieces, and even the special Spirit of Justice Prologue anime!Animation Studio - Play around with character animations and recreate your favorite scenes!This collection supports Japanese, English, French, German, Korean, and Traditional and Simplified Chinese. Mix and match to play in whichever languages you’d like!Immerse yourself in this beautiful collection as you shout “Objection!” in these newly renovated halls of justice!Some of the contents of the games in this collection are presented as initially released to preserve the games as originally created.
