Gyakuten Saiban Blog Entry 22: The Final Episode (2) (2001)

Title: The Final Episode (2) / 「最終話 (2)」
Source: Gyakuten Saiban official site (down)

Summary: In the last blog entry about the individual episodes in the original Game Boy Advance release of Gyakuten Saiban (Ace Attorney GBA), Takumi talks about that last final spurt, where he needed to wrap up Turnabout Goodbyes. He explains where the idea for Sayuri (Polly) came from, but also reminds us that his work was long from over even after writing the final episode: testing and the optional dialogues had to be done too after all of that.

The Final Episode (2)

There were two lucky breaks I had when I started writing this story. I already wrote about one of those moments, when Sugimori told me he loved the Tonosaman (Steel Samurai) episode. I was really happy with that. And one more thing. Okamoto of Development Supervision had tried out the test version we had just finished, and he told me this as he passed by: “Turnabout Sisters was exciting.”

…Exciting…

That might perhaps be the most important element to Gyakuten Saiban. There were only problems while I was working on Tonosaman, and I had my hands full on just writing. To be honest, I had forgotten that keyword for a while.

So the theme for the final episode had to be “Hot Again”. Before I started working on the scenario, I wrote down the word EXCITING with big letters on a piece of paper and hung it on eye-height.

…People who have been reading my columns until now, might already have figured out what kind of a person I am. I am really weak to what people say to me as they pass by. Whether it’s praise or criticism, these innocent words sometimes keep sticking in my mind for days (but if people tell me their opinions straight on, I always need to react).

Anyway, April 1st. I’d finally start writing. The deadline I was aiming for was… May 2nd. I wanted to finish this no matter what, before I’d stop being in my twenties. Now I look back, and I don’t think I could’ve finished it if I hadn’t been burning with passion at the start. It took so long. Soooo long. I wrote, and wrote, and wrote, and wrote, but it just wouldn’t end. By the time I started on the latter half of the story, my confidence meters started dropping again. I had used up all the ideas to make the trial parts exciting. This was a bad spot I was in. I needed a camphor injection right about now….

“When you want higher ratings, bring out the kids and animals”

I think I remember a talented TV director telling me this once. I had already used a child, so what was left…? And that’s how I came up with Sayuri (Polly). This would become something outrageous. This could work! My greatest source of energy often comes from rather silly ideas.

And so I arrived at the final part. I don’t remember anything about this part. I think I cried out about three times: “It’s… it’s over! ….. Oh, no, there’s still some left!”

And the never ending story finally ended, and the curtains of this story came down. It was long past my deadline, and I had already turned 30. I was the same age as Itonoko (Gumshoe). And I still had to check for typos and do the credits, and work on the “Examine” messages I had been pushing back… I was overwhelmed by the work I still had to do, and didn’t have the time to savor the fact I had finished the scenario. That was a bit of a shame, now I think about it.

A sudden happening, innocent remarks by all kinds of people, the personalities of the team members… The scenario of Gyakuten Saiban (Ace Attorney GBA) came to live thanks to countless of coincidences. But strangely enough, all those coincidences seem like destiny to me now.

…if I’d get another chance once again… A different series of coincidences might result in the birth of completely new kind of Gyakuten Saiban, as if it had always been intended to be like that.