Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy

Genre: Compilation / Visual Novel / Graphic Adventure

Players: 1

.

Review:

(Note: This game is included in Ace Attorney Anthology, along with Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy.)

Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy is a Compilation containing the fourth, fifth, and sixth mainline entries in the Ace Attorney series, Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies, and Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of Justice. In addition to a Nintendo DS release for Apollo Justice, all three games were previously released on mobile devices and Nintendo 3DS, which the above links lead to reviews for, if you want a more detailed breakdown of what I thought of the individual games.

For a shorter version, all three of these are excellent games that continue the series tradition of combining Visual Novel and Graphic Adventure elements with a focus on courtroom dramas where players must compare witness testimony against evidence in search of contradictions that can help you get closer to the truth of the case in question, and in turn closer to exonerating your client or proving the guilt of a suspect.

Apollo Justice is a solid take on this formula that introduces series protagonist Phoenix Wright’s titular new protege and casts Phoenix in a different light. Dual Destinies introduces new 3D character models and follows both Phoenix and Apollo as well as their new employee, Athena Sykes, who has tech that enables her to scan the emotional state of witnesses. And finally, Spirit of Justice takes place entirely within a foreign land steeped in mysticism (complete with seances to see the last moments of deceased victims) as well as a deep societal hatred for defense attorneys. Of the three games, I thought Apollo Justice was good, Dual Destinies was great, and while I liked Spirit of Justice I thought the overly-spiritual nature of the game and cartoonish hatred of lawyers both took elements that are present throughout the series and blew them up into cartoonish proportions that made it difficult for me to appreciate the game.

These games (plus two previously DLC-only episodes) have been combined together in Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy, released in 2024 on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. And just doing this much, this package presents a lot of value. While players who don’t mind playing these games on mobile devices can still get them (for about $56), but players who want to get them on a devoted gaming device would be looking to track down copies of the Nintendo 3DS versions of the games, and finding English versions of those games is no easy feat in 2025 now that the Nintendo 3DS eShop is closed, and even if you do you’ll be paying a fortune. Even then, you’ll only be getting the first two games, as Spirit of Justice was never released in a physical cartridge outside of Japan. And of course you can’t get the DLC content now either way. Contrast this with the $50 price of this bundle, and you’re getting an absolute steal here.

However, this is more than just a simple re-release. The visuals have been upgraded to take advantage of larger screen resolutions, with cleaner 2D and cel-shaded 3D visuals, all while retaining the games’ fantastic anime-style character designs and phenomenal expressive character animation. It’s a wonderful upgrade, though not a perfect one – you’ll still see a lot of nasty aliasing in the 3D environments here.

There’s additional bonus content here too, including an art gallery with production and promotional art, a music mode that includes orchestral covers of much of the games’ music, an “Animation Studio” where you can stage scenes with the games’ characters acting as you direct them in the games’ courtroom settings, and an achievement system.

Overall, it’s hard for me to find fault here – Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy is a trio of excellent Visual Novel/Graphic Adventure games (well, two excellent games and one very good game), presented at their very best with full content, improved visuals, and a decent selection of bonus content too. If you’re new to this series, I suggest starting at the beginning with Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy so you’re not jumping in at the middle of a serialized story, but if you enjoyed those games and crave more, this bundle is an absolute no-brainer.

tl;dr – Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy is a Compilation of Visual Novel and Graphic Adventure games comprising fourth, fifth, and sixth mainline games in the Ace Attorney series. This bundle is an excellent value with three superb games at their very best, with plenty of extra content. I do think you should play the Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy first, but if you liked those games, this bundle is an absolute no-brainer.

Grade: A

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