Way back in 2023, I had gotten hyperfixated on the Ace Attorney fandom, which led to me getting the Platinum for the Phoenix Wright Trilogy, a collection of the first three games starring our favorite spiky-haired defense attorney. I loved it, and I always planned on one day playing the prequel games, which had been released on console in 2021. However, I also felt a bit of sadness at the thought that I might never get to actually play any of the other games in the franchise, since they were all trapped on old handheld consoles...
...until literally one year later, when all the remaining games got ported to console with updated HD graphics! I was super excited and I bought both the Apollo Justice collection and the Ace Attorney Investigations collection, but somehow I didn't actually play either game...
...until now! Where I have decided I was finally going to get all of the remaining Platinums in the franchise - starting with Ace Attorney Investigations!
Ace Attorney Investigations is a collection of two games, both spin-offs of the main Phoenix Wright series. These games, however, put you in the shoes of the prosecutor of all prosecutors himself - Miles Edgeworth! With his days as the "Demon Prosecutor" far behind him, Miles instead has devoted himself to finding the truth above all else and using the law to save innocent people from false accusations. Teaming up with his new sidekick, a wannabe master thief named Kay Faraday, and some old friends - bumbling but loyal detective Dick Gumshoe, and Miles' overcompetitive adopted sister Franziska - Miles must use the power of logic to find the truth and bring forth true justice!
I decided the most reasonable path to the Platinum for this game was to play both games one by one, completing the whole story, and then going back and cleaning up any miscellaneous trophies I may have missed. So of course I started with the first Ace Attorney Investigations games, appropriately subtitled "Miles Edgeworth". This game sees Miles getting wrapped up in several seemingly random murder cases that turn out to all be connected in some way to an international smuggling ring, culminating in a final face-off with the ring's leader in the final case.
I really enjoyed this game for the most part, especially the introduction of Miles' rival, Shi-Long Lang, an Interpol agent who hates prosecutors. He was hilarious and also very hot. I also really liked Kay as the sidekick, and I enjoyed her and Miles' banter. My only critique of this game is that the final case dragged on way too long, but I really enjoyed this first jaunt in Miles Edgeworth's shoes. When I finished the game, I had a total of 15 trophies.
1/30: Everything Old is New - Play the game with HD chibi characters.
2/30: Doing Things My Way - Successfully make a connection during Logic without using Story Mode.
3/30: Objection! - Successfully present the correct evidence during a Rebuttal without using Story Mode.
4/30: Turnabout Visitor - Complete Episode 1 of Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth.
5/30: Friendship...or Pity? - Listen to Gumshoe talk in the hallway about where he thinks "Jim" came from.
6/30: A Prosecutor's True Passions - Examine Edgeworth's seat while investigating with Gumshoe.
7/30: Turnabout Airlines - Complete Episode 2 of Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth.
8/30: The Blue Badger's Daddy - Meet the creator of the Blue Badger in front of the Gatewater Land Main Gate.
9/30: Wright Over Here! - See a familiar face in the distance from the bridge in front of the Main Gate.
10/30: The Kidnapped Turnabout - Complete Episode 3 of Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth.
11/30: Turnabout Reminiscence - Complete Episode 4 of Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth.
12/30: Promises 6 and 7...? - Present Kay's Promise Notebook to her.
13/30: Behind Each Bench - Examine all three benches in the courtroom.
14/30: Turnabout Ablaze - Complete Episode 5 of Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth.
15/30: Lang Zi Says! - Examine both the sword and shield on the Primidux Statue with Agent Lang.
Now it was time for the second game in the collection: "Prosecutor's Gambit"! I was very excited to play this one; unlike the first Investigations game, this is the first time the sequel has ever gotten an official English release. I say "official" because the game was famously translated into English by a team of fans in 2014 under the title "Prosecutor's Path".
Let me tell you, when the game first came out, it was kind of hilarious to see so many people complaining online about how all the characters' official names weren't the same as their fan-translation names. Because like, no shit the official names are different? What did y'all expect? Lol.
This game was phenomenal. I genuinely think this may be the best game I've played in the entire franchise so far. I enjoyed every single case, I loved all of the new characters, and I thought this game had the best writing of any Ace Attorney game I have played. The plot of Prosecutor's Gambit sees Miles and Kay investigating a seemingly isolated incident of an attempted assassination that quickly spirals into a wild conspiracy, all while Judge Verity Gavèlle, leader of the Committee for Prosecutorial Excellence, seeks to remove Miles from his role as a prosecutor and replace him with the charmingly incompetent rookie Eustace Winner. All the ensuing mayhem forces Miles to reflect deeply on what it means to be a prosecutor...and I loved every second of it!
Finishing this game earned me another 13 trophies.
16/30: Checkmate - Successfully checkmate an opponent in Mind Chess without using Story Mode.
17/30: Fond Memories, Detective - Examine the signpost on the left-hand side of the Spectator Area.
24/30: Glasses Battle - Listen to Ema Skye talk in the Storeroom about how her studies abroad are going.
25/30: A Turnabout Forsaken - Complete Episode 4 of Ace Attorney Investigations 2: Prosecutor's Gambit.
26/30: Turnabout for the Ages - Complete Episode 5 of Ace Attorney Investigations 2: Prosecutor's Gambit.
27/30: Wright Over There! - Examine the side gate twice to see a familiar face.
28/30: How Could You, Sir!? - Say the worst possible thing to Eustace during his Mind Chess match.
With both games in the collection completed, all I had to do was open up the Gallery to confirm I had unlocked all characters and images, and BOOM - I had myself the Platinum trophy!
29/30: A Well-Worn Organizer - Unlock everything in the Gallery.
30/30: Miles Edgeworth: Ace Investigator - For being awarded all other accolades.
I really enjoyed this collection of games! I will say that, after I finished Prosecutor's Gambit, I definitely felt like it was a MUCH better game than the first game, but overall, I definitely recommend that any Ace Attorney fan play the Investigations series!
The reason why I was doing Battle of the Airwaves in the vid and image was because my game's adventure progress reseted at one point (in 2023 I think?), so I had to re-do basically everything (I previously did this same task before the reset).
Sadly newer players (the ones who played the game after the 2024 shutdown) cannot obtain the platinum as of now, due to the online trophies being unobtainable, unless they use private servers to obtain those said trophies.
