Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy demands a retrial with three new remasters

Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy follows in the footsteps of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy, a HD compilation of the first three games in the franchise. This original trilogy was released multiple times on many platforms over the last ten years, with the most recent being on Nintendo Switch, PS4, and Xbox One back in 2019. Since then, it looked like Capcom was going to leave the Ace Attorney series in the back room until it announced this Apollo Justice trilogy in June this year. And fortunately, we had the opportunity to get hands-on with the game at a private media event at Capcom's headquarters in San Francisco.

The name of the game

Before we delve further, though, it's best that we clarify what Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy includes. That's because Apollo Justice has only been the main protagonist for one game in the series, so a trilogy with his name on it might sound strange. This HD compilation will remaster Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Dual Destinies, and Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Spirit of Justice. In other words, it compiles the fourth, fifth, and sixth main entries in the series. In addition, it will come with all of the originally paid DLC for those three games, so you can expect extra cases and costumes particularly for Dual Destinies and Spirit of Justice.

As you can tell from the name of the titles in the compilation, Phoenix Wright is the main headliner for two of them. But since Apollo Justice is technically an important character in those two games, Capcom felt comfortable with using him as the face for this trilogy. It also helps to separate it from the Phoenix Wright trilogy that already exists. At the very least, without spoiling anything, Apollo Justice is a character that grows tremendously over the course of these three games, starting as a sweaty, fledgling lawyer and becoming a seasoned and principled defense attorney by the end.

No objections here, Your Honor!

At the media event, we were able to try the trilogy on Nintendo Switch using a Switch Pro controller. The main menu allows you to switch between all three games, while adding a fourth page for bonus content in the form of a Museum. This is one place where Capcom hopes to entice Ace Attorney fans, by including the various game soundtracks as well as new illustrations and key art. The enhanced graphics were much appreciated too, with the character sprites and cutscenes having been reworked and rendered in full HD. It’s still clear that this rendition had to work with older art at a lower resolution, but Capcom has done a fantastic job upgrading the graphics on a bigger screen.

If you haven’t had the chance to play any of these Ace Attorney games yet and don’t want to hunt them down on their original platforms (especially on Nintendo consoles since the 3DS eShop was closed in March this year), the Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy looks to be a great way to experience them. The upgraded graphics and included DLC will also give a reason for fans to be excited as well. The game is expected to release in early 2024 for Nintendo Switch, PS4, and Xbox One.

This preview is based on Nintendo Switch build as provided by the publisher at a private Capcom media event.

Nick Tan

Contributing Editor

Once upon a time, Nick's parents confiscated his Super Nintendo because he was "playing it too much." He has secretly sworn revenge ever since. Nick is now a freelance writer for various video game sites. Powered by iced green tea, he typically plays RPGs of all kinds like Shin Megami Tensei, Elder Scrolls, and Fallout. In his spare time, he follows the latest season of Critical Role.