Source: Gyakuten Saiban 2 official site (down)
Summary: In the eight column on the official website for the original GameBoy Advance version of Gyakuten Saiban 2 (Ace Attorney 2 - Justice For All), director and writer Takumi talks about how he came up with the plot and ideas for the first episode in the game: The Lost Turnabout. As always, the 'normal' column is followed by a backstage column, where Naruhodō (Phoenix Wright) and Mayoi (Maya Fey) comment on Takumi's column, revealing for example the hardships artist Iwamoto had to suffer throughout this case or how Takumi came up with the iconic opening scene of this episode.
The Lost Turnabout
Have you all enjoyed Gyakuten Saiban 2 (Ace Attorney 2 - Justice For All)? I was the one responsible for the scenario, just like with the first game. I felt quite some pressure during the writing process. Considering my own personal abilities, I think the first game was done quite well. But the moment it was decided we’d work on a sequel, Gyakuten Saiban (Ace Attorney GBA) turned from “a beloved child” to “a parent we’d needed to surpass”. … I couldn’t afford to lose against it!
... Thus I made up my mind and started working on the scenario. I will introduce some behind-the-scenes stories about the four episodes starting with this column. Please read them after you’ve finished the game.
We start with the first episode, The Lost Turnabout.
I started in high spirits, but right from the start I had trouble coming up with even a fragment of an idea. It had been a year since I had last worked on a plot, so perhaps I had forgotten how to do it. “We’ll just take this slow and easy,” I thought at the time, but….
…Three completely blank days passed by, so I was quite anxious by then. I needed to broaden my imagination, so I decided to just come up with “images” I could use as a pointer.
The things I came up with were:
1. Park setting. Cause of death is a fall.
(…The first episode in the first game started in a room, so let’s go outside this time. I’d better use a cause of death not used in the previous game… a fall perhaps?)
2. The victim takes the glasses of the murderer.
(…I can’t come up with any tricks. It doesn’t matter what, I need something, anything! Oh yeah, I wear glasses. Perhaps I can use this….)
3. Naruhodō (Phoenix Wright) loses his memory.
(…I want people to get right into the game even if they didn’t play the first one. I can just have the protagonist lose his memories….)
Points 1 and 2 were really just ‘images’ I came up in my desperation, and at the moment I had no idea what to do with them. And as for 3… I came up with that the following day.
….Amnesia.
The moment I arrived at that term, all started to move forward. And with quite some speed too.
…if Naruhodō has lost his memories, how will the story develop and what will the climax be…? The plot basically wrote itself as I played with those thoughts. I also needed “a certain prop” , and when I came up with the opening scene based on a characteristic of this prop, I was convinced. “This is going to work.”
It’s my policy to always use any ideas I work hard on, how small they might be, so I also added the glasses and the fall. …And it was finally done.
So I was already driven deep into a corner by the first episode. I was really in a pinch. Next time I’ll be talking about the second episode, Reunion, and Turnabout. Look forward to it.
The Lost Turnabout (Backstage)
I started in high spirits, but right from the start I couldn’t come up with even a fragment of an idea. It had been a year since I had last worked on a plot, so perhaps I had forgotten how to do it.
Mayoi: That’s strange. You’d think that usually, it’d be easier to come up with ideas at the start?
Naruhodō: I heard TakuShū has several modes in his mind.
Mayoi: Modes?
Naruhodō: An Idea-Thinking Mode, a Writing Mode, a Don’t-Work Mode.
Mayoi: Ah, I think I get it.
Naruhodō: Once he changes gears, it starts to move. If he has enough gas.
Mayoi: Gas… you mean?
Naruhodō: Probably his whiskey.
Mayoi: Oh boy….
….Amnesia.
The moment I arrived at that term, all started to move forward. And with quite some speed too.
Naruhodō: I understand his train of thought, but hitting me with a fire extinguisher was really going too far.
Mayoi: Yeah. ...But it was for the people who had never played the series before, so there was little he could do about it.
Naruhodō: TakuShū is too easy on the players. Saying things like “The very first contradiction of the game has to be one anyone can solve.”
Mayoi: What was the first contradiction again?
Naruhodō: You know, Suzuki Mako’s (Maggey Byrde)…
Mayoi: Ah, that one. Yeah, that was really easy to find.
Naruhodō: I heard that when he first imagined the episode, a different one was to come first.
Mayoi: Oh, which one?
Naruhodō: The one with the glove. They had quite some discussions on that, I heard. Saying that was too much.
Mayoi: Hmm, perhaps they were right….
Naruhodō: The staff member who drew it had it quite difficult too.
Iwamoto: Mr. Takumi, it’s done. The illustration of the glove.
Takumi: …This won’t do. It doesn’t look like bananas.
Iwamoto: …Bananas?
Takumi: It needs to be a glove that looks just like bananas.
Iwamoto: What kind of glove is that…?
The next day.
Iwamoto: It’s done, Mr. Takumi!
Takumi: But these are bananas.
Iwamoto: But that’s what you said.
Takumi: No, no. What I need is a glove that sorta looks like a bunch of bananas.
Iwamoto: What kind of glove is that?!
Takumi: Don’t ask me!
Mayoi: Listening to them from here, it sounds both of them are kinda idots.
Naruhodō: But the glove was done brilliantly.
The plot basically wrote itself as I played with those thoughts. I also needed “a certain prop” , and when I came up with the opening scene based on a characteristic of this prop, I was convinced. “This is going to work.”
Mayoi: I really had to laugh at that big judge.
Naruhodō: Yeah. At first, that wasn’t supposed to be the judge though.
Mayoi: Eh! Really?!
Naruhodō: I have a sketch here TakuShū made on his computer. Take a look.
BGM: A majestic pipe organ toccata.
Devil: Hahahaha… I finally got you, Naruhodō Ryūichi!
Mayoi: Ah, you’re right. It says it’s the devil!
Naruhodō: At the time, TakuShū was playing a Capcom game called Devil May Cry.
Mayoi: “Devil”… and that’s why there’s a devil…
Naruhodō: He saw the opening movie of the game and thought it looked good.
Mayoi: Jeez, like with the glasses, he really just uses whatever he happens to see.
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