Producer Matsukawa and Director Takumi Shū talk about Gyakuten Saiban 4!! (2006)

Title: Producer Matsukawa and Director Takumi Shū talk about Gyakuten Saiban 4!! / 「『逆転裁判4』について松川プロデューサー＆巧舟ディレクターが語る!!」
Source: Famitsu

Summary: On June 23rd, 2006, Famitsu posted an interview on their site with producer Matsukawa and scenario writer Takumi Shū about Gyakuten Saiban 4 (Ace Attorney 4 – Apollo Justice), which was still in development. The interview had originally been posted in June 30, 2006 issue of Famitsu, but the online version includes parts that had been cut from the paper version due to page constraints. At this point in time, the new protagonist Odoroki Hōsuke had been announced together with his assistant Minuki (Trucy), and it had also been revealed the game was set seven years after the finale of the previous game, but little more was known at that point about the game, as this interview was also set before the bigger Tokyo Game Show presentation several months later. A lot of the interview therefore focuses on how this project got started, about Odoroki and Minuki’s roles in the game and about how the story will turn out. Interestingly, the interview title refers to Takumi as the director, even though he isn’t the director of Gyakuten Saiban 4, whereas the introduction of this article (not translated here) refers to him as being responsible for the scenario of the game.  

 

Images are taken from the source article. Copyright belongs to the respective owners.

 

 

Interviewer: When did development on this project start?
 

Matsukawa: It was around the same time Yomigaeru Gyakuten (Ace Attorney 1 DS) was released, on September 15th 2005. And it was rather fast, but we then made an initial announcement production had started on the game the following month, at a presentation by Nintendo in October.
 

Interviewer: Had you already decided on the overall plot at that point?
 

Takumi: The plot… we had nothing yet at the time of the announcement. We had nothing for quite a while. For several months actually. (laugh). I wouldn’t even know when we really started working on the story…

Matsukawa: Mr. Takumi joined the team late October 2005, or to be exact, that’s when he really got started on his work on this team. Because at the time he was also working on the blog of Yomigaeru Gyakuten, so he would write blog posts and do promotional work for the overseas release of the game while working on the story.

 

Interviewer: The story is set seven years after Gyakuten Saiban 3 (Ace Attorney 3 – Trials and Tribulations). Why seven years?
 

Takumi: Seven is a lucky number (laugh).
 

Matsukawa: The concept, or goal of Gyakuten Saiban 4 for the team was to make a new Gyakuten game on new hardware. Yomigaeru Gyakuten was a showcase of how the first Gyakuten Saiban would’ve looked like if it had been originally made for the DS. We discussed this with the team, and there were many challenges they wanted to take on: not only things they hadn’t been able to do with Yomigaeru Gyakuten, but also regarding the use of the touch screen and other challenges the hardware of the Nintendo DS offered and that’s what we focused on. We also reflected on the story, how it would need to appeal to newcomers, but also people who already played the previous games. And that is why we arrived at the idea to have a new protagonist and have the story set seven years later.
 

Interviewer: Will characters from the previous games appear?
 

Matsukawa: Auchi (Winston Payne) and the judge (laugh). Any people you’d like to see?
 

Takumi: Eh? Are you taking suggestions from the public now?
 

Interviewer: Is there still time to work in suggestions? (laugh)
 

Takumi: Surprisingly, there probably is. (Wry smile).
 

Interviewer: What kind of character is the new protagonist Odoroki Hōsuke (Apollo Justice)?
 

Takumi: 4 is a renewal of the series, so this time I asked for a hotblooded, energetic character design. This time I allowed the character design itself to be the leading factor.
 

Interviewer: He is quite different from the original image boards you released to the public.
 

Takumi: That poster of the judge, that was what I wanted to have first. The one highlighting the judge, about to journey off. I knew that was the only opportunity I’d get to have such a poster.
 

Interviewer: On the shot with Odoroki's attorney’s badge, it says something about a defense attorney he admires… Did he become one himself because he looks up to one?
 

Takumi: Well… (wry smile). You’ll have to learn about in the game! Actually, I am still working hard on the scenario this very moment. So perhaps you might see me jump up during this interview. Like, you might ask me something that reminds me I have forgotten about something important.

 

Interviewer: So things might even change now?
 

Takumi: To be honest, I don’t quite know myself at the moment.
 

Matsukawa: But we all look forward to the scenario. With someone being admired, and the setting of seven years later… Mr. Takumi will connect all of the dots nicely.
 

Takumi: …Sure (laugh).
 

Interviewer: The graphics of the courtroom have also been renewed. Anything to comment on that?
 

Takumi: It’s been seven years, so the idea was a renewal of the courtroom, just like there was a renewel of the protagonist. It was surprisingly tricky to get the balance right between presenting a new location while retaining the mood of the old courtroom.
 

Matsukawa: Yes. The image was only finished really recently. Just hot off the press. You can really feel how this will be the place where Odoroki will have his struggles.
 

Takumi: Even we, as the team, haven’t gotten quite used to it, so perhaps we’ll just decide to go with something else on a whim.
 

Interviewer: Just on a whim? (laugh)
 

Takumi: You can never tell what will happen.

 

Interviewer: Odoroki has a bracelet around his left hand. What is that?
 

Matsukawa: It was originally a wristwatch. At first, we were all fine with it being a watch, but then the character designer showed up one day saying it had turned to this.　
 

Interviewer: It has a rather mystical feeling to it…
 

Takumi: You see, when he says “Objection!”, it looked so empty on his arm when he posed like that. So we gave him something to wear, but that made it look like something important. Everyone kept asking what the bracelet was, so I felt I had to give it some meaning.
 

Interviewer: No way no way (laugh). There has to be some meaning to it, right?
 

Matsukawa: Look at the logo. Ignore it sparking for a moment. It does look like the bracelet is symbolic of something, something important to Gyakuten Saiban 4.
 

Takumi: You’d better not ask people to imagine too much about it. There are so many people reading this, if they all start thinking about it, I’m sure at least one person will get it right. (laugh).
 

Interviewer: What kind of position does Minuki (Trucy) occupy?
 

Takumi: As you can guess, she’s in the position Mayoi (Maya) had.
 

Matsukawa She’s a magician, something Mr. Takumi loves. He wanted to show off a magic trick here too today.
 

Takumi: Yeah.
 

Matsukawa: He spent all night practicing.
 

Takumi: I’m rather sleepy now.
 

Interviewer: (Laugh) So in the previous games, we had the spirit medium Mayoi as a partner, so this time a magician? Why a magician?
 

Takumi: Just felt like it. (laugh) In the first three games, the overall story structure was already ready, and something was decided that required a spirit medium. That was why she was a spirit medium. Now we have Odoroki and Minuki, but it would lack impact if his partner was someone who was just a girl who was good on the piano.

 

Interviewer: I see your point. (laugh)
 

Matsukawa: There were a lot of candidates. Like that girl who counted.
 

Takumi: Ah! She was the daughter of a family of merchants, and she’d value testimonies and things like that in monetary value.
 

Interviewer: (laugh)
 

Takumi: Like “Odoroki, that testimony right now is worth 350 yen!”
 

Interviewer: So if they were cheap, you should ignore the testimony, like that?
 

Matsukawa: And the designer wanted a ninja. But Takumi didn’t like that, as you’d have another small village in the story again.
 

Takumi: That’s what you think of with ninja.
 

Matsukawa: So they were going back and forth with ideas, and then it became a magician.
 

Takumi: Yeah. But I actually learned magic tricks at university and rumors have it I was pretty good.
 

Matsukawa: Mr. Takumi even showed off a magic trick during his job interview with Capcom, which got him hired.
 

Takumi: Yes. I had a trick ready in my pocket all the time during the recruitment process, always ready to strike when the opportunity would arise.
 

Matsukawa: People are going to think you can get hired at Capcom if you show off a magic trick.
 

Takumi: Perhaps you can? What if you spend four years at university studying magic, devoting your youth to it? I bet you Minuki is working hard too. Thanks to magic, she managed to obtain the role of the heroine.
 

Matsukawa: Devoting your life to it? (laugh)
 

Takumi: Everyone wants to follow their dreams. She’s the same.
 

Interviewer: And what about her personality? How is she on the inside?
 

Matsukawa: I think the key word for her was precocious.
 

Takumi; Precocious!?
 

Matsukawa: Yeah, didn’t we first talk about how she was a bit adult for her age?
 

Takumi: Ah, yes, sure, that was part of the image I had.
 

Interviewer: How will she help out in the game?
 

Takumi: That depends on her. It happens often that while I am writing the scenario, it’s the characters that make me decide what they’ll do. While writing, I’ll think what they would do, like that.
 

Matsukawa: But because he writes like that, it sometimes happens he’s two weeks behind on schedule or he ends up writing 200 pages more than agreed upon...
 

Takumi: 200 pages? That never happened. Or perhaps it did. Once Minuki gets moving, she’ll probably whisper to me what she’s up to. I’m rooting for her!

 

Interviewer: Where did the names of Odoroki and Minuki come from?
 

Takumi: The “naruhodo” (TN: I see) of Naruhodo-kun (Phoenix Wright) is a word I like. We don’t really know where it comes from or about its etymology, but we all use it. That’s what I like about it. And I am a fan of mystery fiction, and the most important aspect of mystery fiction is that it makes you think “I see." That is why it became Naruhodo’s name. So Naruhodo was the best name possible for me, but now I had to think of a new name, but I couldn’t come up that could equal Naruhodo. At one time, a name candidate was Ikinari (TN; suddenly). It’s like a name you’d see in some four-panel comic in the newspaper. (laugh) But then I gave it some more thought. So then I reconsidered mystery fiction again, and realized the most important aspect of mystery fiction is “Odoroki” (TN: surprise). I asked the team about the names, and Odoroki was considered the best.
 

Matsukawa: When Mr. Takumi suggested the given name Hōsuke, everyone liked it, so that was quickly decided. The same happened with the design actually. The concept of the character as thought of by Mr. Takumi really worked well with the designs from the main character designer, so it didn’t take long for us to decide on the complete character.
 

Takumi: Yes. Oh, and the name Odoroki came up rather quickly, but it was pretty hard deciding on the kanji. You see, this person here…
 

Matsukawa: I really had my doubts about using the kanji “Doro” (TN: Mud) … (laugh) It kept looking me in the face, so we talked it over with the team, and eventually, we decided that it was “mud” was alright as it was sandwiched between the kanji “O” (TN: King) and “Ki” (TN: Joy).
 

Takumi: There really were no other kanji options. If she didn’t like it, I even threatened I’d change the “O” to the kanji “O” meaning “Dirty.”
 

Interviewer: (Laugh)
 

Matsukawa: So it was partially blackmail.
 

Takumi: First she was like “We’ll leave it like that for now” and “you’ll change your mind later” but then that name appeared in the magazines with those kanji…
 

Matsukawa: Because you had blackmailed me…
 

Takumi: So she had agreed, reluctantly (uyamuya). Perhaps that’s a good name? Uyamuya.
 

Matsukawa: No. (laugh) You see, Odoroki is an avatar of the player…
 

Takumi: With the kanji for mud in his name.
 

Matsukawa: In the good way, Odoroki’s still all muddy and coarse. He’ll grow up together with the player.
 

Takumi: Hopefully he’ll get rid of the mud eventually.
 

Matsukawa: That’s possible? (laugh)
 

Takumi: I don’t know.
 

Interviewer: Are the voices once again done by people in Capcom?
 

Takumi: There are a lot of people who want to do the voices.
 

Matsukawa: Yes. We were talking about having auditions in the team, or have people send in demo tapes.
 

Takumi: Lately, there have been a lot of people who said “Objection!” to me. Of course, I’d like people who really want to do the voices to do them. I did Naruhodo’s voice in the first game, but that was partially because I didn’t want to give the role of the protagonist to someone else. But I can’t also do the new protagonist, that would be confusing. So with tears in my eyes, I have to give up on the role this time. Are we going to do a team audition? We don’t have the budget for something else.
 

Matsukawa: We sure don’t have the budget. (laugh)

 

 
Interviewer: With the new game being released on the Nintendo DS, do you have interesting ideas waiting for us, like new feats of trickery in the stories?
 

Matsukawa: Each day, we are all trying new kinds of ideas as a team, to bring new ways to play like scientific investigations in Yomigaeru Gyakuten. The team itself is also growing in their experience and they see a lot of appeal in the hardware of the DS. Gyakuten Saiban grew and was perfected on the GameBoy Advance throughout 1 – 3. We feel we have to use the lessons we learned from Yomigaeru Gyakuten to bring a perfected experience with 4.

Interviewer: The attorney Maruyama was chosed as the attorney for Gyakuten Saiban. In what manner is he involved with the game?
 

Matsukawa: At the moment, we are discussing a lot of things with him. The Gyakuten Saiban games have been supported by a lot of gamers and is a title well regarded in the industry. But there are still a lot of potential players who don’t quite understand what the games are about, who think the title makes it sound like a very serious game or that the mystery solving is very difficult. So I hope Mr. Maruyama can help relieve those worries from people who are still hesitant about the games. We hope to use him in the marketing campaign of the game and perhaps other projects too. 

 

Interviewer: Could I ask you for one last message for our readers?
 

Matsukawa: We have a new team now, with both new members joining us but also Mr. Takumi and Nuri, the character designer of Yomigaeru Gyakuten. They are working on a brand new Gyakuten Saiban 4, but which will also have some familiar faces. We will continue to bring you updates through Famitsū, so please look forward to more news to come.

Takumi: This time, we are making a game with “renewal” as the theme, but even I don’t know exactly how the game will turn out. This interview has given me food for thought. But this feeling of not knowing what’s coming is also what drives the team. It might be scary, but we all do our best. The future can be scary sometimes, it can be fun, but I hope everyone will look forward to the game even when they don’t know