Gyakuten Saiban, The Meaning of Design (2006)

Title: Gyakuten Saiban, The Meaning of Design / 「逆転裁判、デザインそのココロ」

Source: Gyakuten Saiban Official Fan Book

Summary: Gyakuten Saiban Official Fan Book  was released in 2006, in the period between the release of Gyakuten Saiban Yomigaeru Gyakuten (Ace Attorney 1 DS) and Gyakuten Saiban 4 (Ace Attorney 4 - Apollo Justice). As a book aimed at fans of the series in this interim period, the book contains an interview with series writer/director Takumi, in which he looks back at the six years in which he has worked on the series until now. He talks about working on the first game and the difficulties they experienced during its development, from him not knowing how to write characters to the composer having to leave the project mid-way. He also talks about how it's almost miraculous how the three games formed one cohesive story, as he was always more concerned about making the next deadline and thus could not actually plan forward.

Surviban Planning Document (Capcom Town Excerpts) (2023)

Title: Surviban Planning Document (Capcom Town Excerpts) / サバイバン企画書

Source: Capcom Town Museums

Summary: On June 12, 2023, Capcom opened Capcom Town, a website to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the game company. In the museum part of the site, in the Gyakuten Saiban (Ace Attorney) section, they also posted 10 pages from the planning document for Surviban, the prototype game which would eventually become the first Gyakuten Saiban (Ace Attorney GBA) game released in 2001. The document was originally written by series creator Takumi Shū in 2000 and is about forty pages long in complete form. The whole document has been put on display in real-life at a few events, but they have never reproduced the whole document in publications, physical or digital. Most of the 10 pages shown off in the Capcom Town Museum have been published before in guide books. Though you can recognize the final product in the pages shown off, same courtroom mystery adventure game at heart, Surviban also has a few distinctive differences from the final product, from the game title to the exact flow of the game in the trials and also in terms of presentation. For example, one of the pages emphasizes the real-time element of the trials, which is not existent in the final product.

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

Turnabout Anecdotes and Memoirs of Two Decades (2021)

Title: Turnabout Anecdotes and Memoirs of Two Decades / 『逆転の逸話と20年の回想』
Source:  Famitsu, November 4 issue, 2021
 

Summary: Famitsu celebrated the twentieth anniversary of the Gyakuten Saiban (Ace Attorney) franchise with a special counting over thirty pages, with retrospectives on the whole franchise, from games to spin-off material and also several interviews with key staff members who have worked on the various games in these twenty years. In this article, Famitsu interviews series creator Takumi Shū, addressing points like how it was working on the original game twenty years ago, how the writing process goes, people he worked with and the way the series has grown into a multimedia franchise that is much more than just one single GameBoy Advance game. 

 

Twitter: Musical Memories (2021)

Title: Musical Memories

Source: Sugimori Masakazu's Twitter

Summary: On May 22, 2021, Sugimori Masakazu wrote a few tweets regarding his role in the development of the very first Gyakuten Saiban (Ace Attorney) game on the GameBoy Advance. As the composer of the soundtrack of the first game in the series, he was responsible for a large part of the atmosphere of the first game. In this short series of tweets, Sugimori talks about how he basically had complete freedom over the soundtrack, but what's even more interesting is the reveal by Sugimori how it was Mori Atsushi, who worked on the sound effects of the game, who made many sound-related series staples possible in the first place.

In the translation below, each paragraph is a seperate tweet. 

Creator Interview - Takumi Shū (2012)

 Title: Creator Interview - Takumi Shū / 「クリエイター・インタビュー　巧舟」
Source: Hayakawa's Mystery Magazine, March 2012
 

Summary: The Gyakuten Saiban (Ace Attorney) special “No objection to Gyakuten Saiban” featured in the March 20212 issue of Hayakawa's Mystery Magazine had essays and in-depth looks at the Gyakuten Saiban series and legal mystery fiction in general, as well as special interviews with the two main writers of the series: Takumi Shū, director and writer of the main series, and Yamazaki Takeshi, director and main writer of the Gyakuten Kenji (Ace Attorney Investigation) spin-off series. In the interview with Takumi, he talks about the mystery fiction that inspired him, how the plotting works in the Gyakuten Saiban series and what books he'd like to adapt as a game if given the opportunity.

From Surviban to Gyakuten Saiban (2017)

Title: From Surviban to Gyakuten Saiban / 「『サバイバン』から『逆転裁判』へ」
Source: 15th Anniversary Gyakuten Saiban Series Encyclopedia 2001-2016

Summary: 15th Anniversary Gyakuten Saiban Series Encyclopedia 2001-2016 includes a small section about Surviban, the prototype game which would eventually become the first Gyakuten Saiban (Ace Attorney GBA) game released in 2001. While still the same courtroom mystery adventure game at heart, Surviban also has a few distinctive differences from the final product, including the game title, the cast of main characters and the stories themselves. The article quotes from the original game proposal for internal Capcom use, and includes the character descriptions for the original five cast members. Both protagonist Naruhodō Ryūichi (Phoenix Wright) and rival Mitsurugi Reiji (Miles Edgeworth) retained their original names, but the assistant, mentor and police detective have different names from their Gyakuten Saiban counterparts and all five characters feature completely different backstories. Includes are also three proposal pages where the use of the camera in the game is explained and what the concept behind the witnesses is.

A Report on the Talk Show at Tokyo Gametakt 2019 Where the Directors and Composers of the Kamaitachi no Yoru and Gyakuten Saiban Series Spoke About Mystery Game Music (2019)

Title: A Report on the Talk Show at Tokyo Gametakt 2019 Where the Directors and Composers of the Kamaitachi no Yoru and Gyakuten Saiban Series Spoke About Mystery Game Music / 「「かまいたちの夜」と「逆転裁判」のディレクターと作曲家がミステリーゲームの楽曲について語った，「東京ゲームタクト 2019」のトークショーをレポート]
Source: 4Gamer

Summary: On the first and second of June 2019, the game music event Tokyo Gametakt 2019 was held in Tokyo. One of the events there was a special treat for fans of mystery games: Kamaitachi no Yoru X Gyakuten Saiban – Composing Music for Mystery Adventure Games featured the directors and composers of the classic mystery videogames Kamaitachi no Yoru (Banshee’s Last Cry) and Gyakuten Saiban (Ace Attorney) and had them talk about how the music on those games was composed. From the Gyakuten Saiban team, the event featured game director/writer Takumi Shū and  composers Sugimori Masakazu and Iwadare Noriyuki.

This is a translation of 4Gamer's report on this event. Images are taken from the source article. Copyright belongs to their respective owners.

Celebrating The Release of Gyakuten Saiban 123 on Nintendo Switch! Director Takumi Shū X Character Designer Iwamoto Tatsurō Special Discussion (2019)

Title: Celebrating The Release of Gyakuten Saiban 123 on Nintendo Switch! Director Takumi Shū X Character Designer Iwamoto Tatsurō Special Discussion / 「Nintendo Switch版『逆転裁判123』発売記念！ディレクター巧 舟さん×キャラクターデザイナー岩元辰郎さん特別対談」
Source: Nintendo Dream Web

Summary: On February 22, 2019, the release date of Gyakuten Saiban 123 (Phoenix Wright: Ace Attoney Trilogy), Nintendo Dream WEB posted an interview with series director/writer/planner Takumi Shū and character designer Iwamoto Tatsurō, two of the people who worked on all three games included in Gyakuten Saiban 123. The two look back at what they did on the release day of the original game, on certain characters and how they were designed for those games, but also how the franchise as a whole has grown throughout these years, from the Special Court skits to the anime and to other multi-media adaptations.

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

Takumi Shū Explains How The Scenarios and Tricks of Gyakuten Saiban and Dai Gyakuten Saiban Are Created (GCC’18) (2018)

Title: Takumi Shū Explains How The Scenarios and Tricks of Gyakuten Saiban and Dai Gyakuten Saiban Are Created (GCC’18) / 「巧舟氏が『逆転裁判』と『大逆転裁判』のシナリオやトリックの作りかたを解説【GCC’18】
Source: Famitsu

Summary: On March 30th, 2018, series creator Takumi Shū headed a presentation about the Gyakuten Saiban (Ace Attorney) series at Game Creators Conference’18. In this presentation titled “About the Scenarios of Gyakuten Saiban / Dai Gyakuten Saiban”, Takumi explained how he creates the mystery plots for his Gyakuten Saiban and Dai Gyakuten Saiban (The Great Ace Attorney) series. He explains his methods for coming up with the stories, with the trick needed to pull off the fanciful murders and how he plays with the information flow to keep the player engaged in the story. He also explains about the worldview of the games, and other things he did to make this an entertaining adventure game series for players. Takumi also explains the concept behind Dai Gyakuten Saiban and some of its key points. At the end of the presentation, there was also room for a short Q&A.

This is a translation of the report of this presentation posted by Famitsu on April 3rd, 2018. Images are taken from the source column. Copyright belongs to their respective owners.

This is how the characters from the popular game Gyakuten Saiban were born. An interview with illustrator Iwamoto (2009)

Title: This is how the characters from the popular game Gyakuten Saiban were born. An interview with illustrator Iwamoto /「人気ゲーム「逆転裁判」シリーズのキャラクターはこうして生まれた。イラストレーター 岩元氏を直撃インタビュー」
Source: Wacom (article down)

Summaruy: On February 4th, 2009, Wacom, known for its graphics tablets, posted an interview on its official website with Iwamoto Tatsurō, one of the main character designers of the Gyakuten Saiban (Ace Attorney) franchise. In this interview, Iwamoto tells about how he first got into drawing, why he became a freelance illustrator after working at game developers, the thinking process behind creating characters like the ones we know from Gyakuten Saiban and of course, how the drawing tablet plays a work in his life as an illustrator.

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

Forty Questions and Forty Answers As Told By The Staff (2005)

Title: Forty Questions and Forty Answers As Told By The Staff / 「スタッフがココまで語った40問40答」
Source: Gyakuten Saiban Fanbook

Summary: In this segment in 2005's Gyakuten Saiban Fanbook, series director Takumi and character designer Iwamoto answer no less than forty questions asked by the fans. While some of the questions relate to the development process, a great number of them are also questions you'd normally never seen in an official interview, that pertain to the story and characters, for example a question about whether detective Itonokogiri (Dick Gumshoe) can get married, what his salary is, or whether Mayoi (Maya Fey) goes to school. Note that this article was published in 2005, right before the release of the first DS port of Gyakuten Saiban (Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney DS) and some of the elements mentioned here eventually found their way in later Gyakuten Saiban games.

Twitter: Box of Memories (2017)

Title: Box of Memories
Source: Takumi Shū 's Twitter

Summary: On October 11, 2017, Takumi tweeted that his extended leave after finishing Dai Gyakuten Saiban 2 was now over, and that his very first job was to move offices. Takumi made use of the occassion to clear up some of the boxes with all kinds of files and other things related to his projects, and he decided to tweet photographs of some of those documents, including the original notebook he used to plan the very first Gyakuten Saiban (Ace Attorney) game in, but also the initial scenario plots he had for Gyakuten Saiban 2 (Ace Attorney 2 - Justice for All). Reading those notes shows how Takumi's plots take shape, as these prototypes are quite different from the final product

In the translation below, each paragraph is a seperate tweet. Images are taken from the source tweets. Copyright belongs to their respective owners.

The Return of the “Playable Mystery Novel”. Overturning The Norm – Gyakuten Saiban (2017)

Title: The Return of the “Playable Mystery Novel”.　Overturning The Norm - Gyakuten Saiban / 「“遊ぶ推理小説”復権　常識覆した「逆転裁判」」
Source: Sankei News

Summary: Sankei News posted an article on the Gyakuten Saiban ("Ace Attorney") series on September 8, 2017. While it is mostly an introductionary article for people not too familiar with videogames in general, it features a couple of direct quotes from series supervisor Takumi and series producer Eshiro on how the games and its plots are developed.

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

Game Designer Dreams Vol 3: Dai Gyakuten Saiban 2’s Takumi Shū on “What He Wants From Entertainment” (2017)

Title: Game Designer Dreams Vol 3: Dai Gyakuten Saiban 2’s Takumi Shū on “What He Wants From Entertainment” / 「Game Designer Dreams VOL.3 『大逆転裁判２』巧舟が語る「エンタメに求めるもの」」
Source: Spice

Summary: Entertainment website Spice posted an interview with series creator Takumi Shū on August 22, 2017 as part of their Game Designer Dreams series. In the interview, taken on the day before the release of Dai Gyakuten Saiban 2 - Naruhodō Ryūnosuke no Kakugo (The Great Ace Attorney: Resolve) is not only asked about how he first created the Gyakuten Saiban (Ace Attorney) series, but also about how development on Dai Gyakuten Saiban 2 went, as well as about Takumi came to work in the game industry in the first place. As part of the series, Takumi is also asked about his views on the future of the game industry, especially in relation to the uprise of social/casual games lately.

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

Gyakuten Saiban Special Court Seminar Report - Part 1 (2017)

Title: How Was Gyakuten Saiban Born, As Told By Mr. Takumi and Mr. Eshiro - Gyakuten Saiban Special Court Seminar Report - Part 1 / 「『逆転裁判』は如何にして産まれたのか、江城元秀氏と巧舟氏が語る――『逆転裁判』特別法廷セミナーレポート・前編」
Source: Inside

Summary: On June 4, 2017, series producer Eshiro and series director Takumi held a "Special Court Seminar" on Gyakuten Saiban (Ace Attorney) the Akihabara, Tokyo location of the Human Academy The two discussed how the game series was first created and the core concepts behind it. The two also discuss how the spin-off series Dai Gyakuten Saiban (The Great Ace Attorney: Adventures) was conceived. This is a translation of part one of Inside's two-part report on the Special Court Seminar. A translation of the second part, which delves into the topic of Dai Gyakuten Saiban 2 - Naruhodō Ryūnosuke no Kakugo (The Great Ace Attorney: Resolve) and localization of the series is available here.

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

Iwamoto Column Entry 8: Little Jokes And I (2004)

Title: Little Jokes And I / 「ボクと小ネタ」
Source: Gyakuten Saiban 3 official site (down)

Summary: In the eighth column for the official Gyakuten Saiban 3 (Ace Attorney 3 - Trials & Tribulations) website for the Game Boy Advance, character designer Iwamoto Tatsurō writes about hiding little jokes and other stuff in the background images for the games. Because the images are first drawn on a higher resolution, and later shrunk down for the Game Boy Advance, a lot of these jokes were hard to see when they were originally released, though more recent HD releases have changed this.

Gyakuten Saiban Blog Entry 25: Finale (2001)

Title: Curtains /「終幕」
Source: Gyakuten Saiban official site (down)

Summary: The final column for the official website of the Game Boy Advance version of Gyakuten Saiban (Ace Attorney GBA) has director and writer Takumi looking back at what the game means to him at a pesonal level. He also reveals a bitter childhood memory, which inspired the class trial featured in the backstory of this first game.

Gyakuten Saiban Blog Entry 24: Family (2) (2001)

Title: Family (2) / 「ファミリー (2)」
Source: Gyakuten Saiban official site (down)

Summary: The penultimate column for the official website of the Game Boy Advance version of Gyakuten Saiban (Ace Attorney GBA) has director and writer Takumi continue his two-part series on how he named the characters in the main cast of the name, this time talking about  Mitsurugi Reiji (Miles Edgeworth) and Itonokogiri Keisuke (Dick Gumshoe). He also reveals the problems with his own (real) name, which is a combination of two fairly rare names.

Gyakuten Saiban Blog entry 23: Family (1) (2001)

Title: Family (1) /「ファミリー (1)」
Source: Gyakuten Saiban official site (down)

Summary: In the twenty-third column for  the official website of the Game Boy Advance version of Gyakuten Saiban (Ace Attorney GBA), director and writer Takumi explains how he came up with the strange names for the members of the main cast. In this first part, he discusses why he gave Naruhodō Ryūichi (Phoenix Wright) and the Ayasato (Fey) sisters their names.

Gyakuten Saiban Blog Entry 15: Advertising Campaign (2001)

Title: Advertising Campaign / 「宣伝活動」
Source: Gyakuten Saiban official site (down)

Summary: In the fifteenth column for the official website of the Game Boy Advance version of Gyakuten Saiban (Ace Attorney GBA), director Takumi talks about another 'contradiction' in his project. To sell the game, he needs people to know about it. But as it's a mystery game, he doesn't want people to know about it, so they can be genuinely surprised by what the game has to offer. The pros and cons of the advertising campaign is always a problem for this series, as many years later, the director and producer for Gyakuten Saiban 6 (Ace Attorney 6 - Spirit of Justice) would also have frequent fights about what they could say and could not say as part of the marketing.