A Long Interview With the Developers: The Core Truth of the Gyakuten Saiban series (2007)

Title: A Long Interview With the Developers: The Core Truth of the Gyakuten Saiban series / 開発者ロングインタビュー『逆転裁判』シリーズの真理』

Source: Gyakuten Saiban 4 Official Guidebook

 

Summary: The official guidebook for Gyakuten Saiban 4 (Ace Attorney 4 - Apollo Justice) includes a very long interview on the development of the game with three core staff members of the team: series supervisor Takumi Shū, art director Nuri Kazuya and producer Matsukawa Minae. Many questions are asked and answered, from topics regarding how the game was promoted to how characters were designed, how the story of the game was written, to Takumi's favorite mystery stories, how gameplay elements changed the way they had to work, and basically all aspects of the whole development cycle. The three are also asked about their favorite characters and stories in the series, as well as about when things didn't as initially planned. 

 

This article contains spoilers for the game.

 

Is Shin at Home a Softie for his Son? The Developers of Gyakuten Kenji 2 Answer Questions from our Readers (2011)

Title: Is Shin at Home a Softie for his Son? The Developers of Gyakuten Kenji 2 Answer Questions from our Readers / 「信さんは家では息子に甘いパパ？ 『逆転検事2』開発者が読者の質問に回答」
Source: Dengeki Online

 

Summary: In April 2011, Dengeki Online posted an article with a short Q&A with the developers of Gyakuten Kenji 2 (Ace Attorney Investigations 2 - Prosecutor's Gambit), which had been released on the Nintendo DS about two months earlier. The questions submitted came from readers of Dengeki and are about various topics, ranging from questions about the writing process of the plots to asking about details regarding the character designs or how certain characters are portrayed in the game. 

Images are taken from the source article. Copyright belongs to their respective owners. The article contains spoilers for the plot of the game.

Looking Back At Episode 3 The Rite of Turnabout with Gyakuten Saiban 6 Director Yamazaki (2016)

Title: Looking Back At Episode 3 The Rite of Turnabout with Gyakuten Saiban 6 Director Yamazaki (2016) /「『逆転裁判６』山﨑ディレクターと振り返る第３話「逆転の儀式」
Source: Nintendo Dream, October issue, 2016

Summary: The October 2016 issue of Nintendo Dream featured an article starrring Yamazaki Takeshi, director of 2016’s Gyakuten Saiban 6 (Ace Attorney 6 - Spirit of Justice). Together with the people of Nintendo Dream, Yamazaki played through part of the third episode of the game, The Rite of Turnabout. He talks about early versions of the game, the reintroduction of Mayoi (Maya Fey) in the series, the difficulties that come with writing the third episode in a Gyakuten Saiban game in general and how Gyakuten Saiban 6 serves as the culmination for the whole series, paving the way for future titles.

Beware of spoilers for this episode.

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

Looking Back At Episode 2 Turnabout Magic Show with Gyakuten Saiban 6 Director Yamazaki (2016)

Title: Looking Back At Episode 2 Turnabout Magic Show with Gyakuten Saiban 6 Director Yamazaki /「『逆転裁判６』山﨑ディレクターと振り返る第２話「逆転マジックショー」」
Source: Nintendo Dream, September issue, 2016

Summary: The September 2016 issue of Nintendo Dream featured an article starrring Yamazaki Takeshi, director of 2016’s Gyakuten Saiban 6 (Ace Attorney 6 - Spirit of Justice). Together with the people of Nintendo Dream, Yamazaki played through part of Turnabout Magic Show (The Magical Turnabout) and answered all kinds of questions regarding this particular episode. He addresses issues like the use of animated movies in the game, exploring Minuki (Trucy Wright) in this episode, how to insert game mechanics in the story, why Akane (Ema Skye) was chosen as the police detective in this game and more.

Beware of spoilers for this episode.

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

Gyakuten Saiban 123 Naruhodō Selection Development Column 1: The 54-Fold Challenge

Title: The 54-Fold Challenge /「54倍への挑戦」
Source: Gyakuten Saiban 123 Naruhodō Selection official site

Summary: In anticipation of the release of Gyakuten Saiban 123 Naruhodō Selection (Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy) on February 21, 2019 for Switch, PlayStation 4, XBox One and Steam, the official website started posting a series of columns about the development process behind this game. While many of the previous releases in this series were accompanied by developers columns on their respective sites, this is the first time one of the ports has seen such a treatment. In the first column posted on February 6, 2019, director Kodama Shinsuke talks about the challenge of preparing a game that was originally developed for the small screen of a GameBoy Advance to HD.

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.

Gyakuten Saiban 2 Blog Entry 8: The Lost Turnabout (2002)

Title: The Lost Turnabout /  「失われた逆転」
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.

Gyakuten Saiban 2 Blog Entry 5: Psyche Locks (2002)

Title: Psyche Locks / 「サイコ・ロック」
Source: Gyakuten Saiban 2 official site (down)

Summary: In the fifth column posted on the official Gyakuten Saiban 2 (Ace Attorney 2 - Justice for All) website, director Takumi talks about the new mechanic introduced in this game, the Psyche Locks. He explains why they were added, how he came up with them and the difficulties they had actually creating the system. As usual with the columns of this game, Naruhodō (Phoenix Wright) and Mayoi (Maya Fey) have fun 'backstage', looking back at Takumi's column and commenting on that.

Gyakuten Saiban 3 Blog Entry 15: Infinity Born From "Restrictions" (2004)

Title: Infinity Born From “Restrictions” / 「“制限”が生む、無限大」
Source: Gyakuten Saiban 3 official site (down)

Summary: The fifteenth column for Gyakuten Saiban 3 (Ace Attorney 3: Trials & Tribulations) has director Takumi talking about what the limited storage space on a Game Boy Advance cartridge means for the development of these games. While you would think that restrictions would be a bad influence on that, Takumi points out that being forced to come up with ideas is not a bad thing per se, and indeed, many of the elements thought "typical" of this series, were simply results of the team having to cope with storage restrictions.

Dai Gyakuten Saiban - The Adventure of Designing (2015)

Title: Dai Gyakuten Saiban - The Adventure of Designing / 「大逆転裁判 デザインの冒險！」
Source: Capcom

Summary: In the 35th entry in the Capcom Legends column on the Capcom site, where they interview Capcom staff members, designer Nuri Kazuya is invited to talk about his career and about Dai Gyakuten Saiban (The Great Ace Attorney: Adventures), where he worked as the character designer and art director. In this interview, dated July 2015, Nuri talks about the games he worked on before he came to work on the Gyakuten Saiban series, about his favorite characters and about the thought process behind the designs of the main characters in Dai Gyakuten Saiban.

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

3DS Gyakuten Saiban 5 Special Long Interview (2013)

Title: 3DS Gyakuten Saiban 5 Special Long Interview / 「3DS「逆転裁判5」特別ロングインタビュー」
Source: Game Watch

Summary: In this interview by Game Watch with producer Eshiro and scenario director Yamazaki, the two talk about Gyakuten Saiban 5 (Ace Attorney 5 - Dual Destinies), the first new Gyakuten Saiban game in six years. The two had previously worked on the Gyakuten Kenji (Ace Attorney Investigations) series, but this time they'd be working in a game in the main series, and one fans had been waiting for a long, long time. The interview was published on July 27, 2013, a few days after the release of the game, but done a few days before the release. In this interview, Eshiro and Yamazaki talk about how they came to work on Gyakuten Saiban 5, about the characters, about working on a new game in a beloved series, on getting the look of the game just right, and much, much more.

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

Dai Gyakuten Saiban - Special Discussion With The Developers To Celebrate Completion & Release (2015)

Title: Dai Gyakuten Saiban - Special Discussion With The Developers To Celebrate Completion & Release / 「大逆転裁判　完成＆発売記念　開発人特別鼎談」
Source: Dengeki Nintendo, September Issue, 2015

Summary: In this long post-release interview published in the September 2015 issue of Dengeki Nintendo, producer Kojima, director Takumi and art director Nuri talk about their recently released Dai Gyakuten Saiban (The Great Ace Attorney: Adventures). Now the game is ready, the team is free to talk about all kinds of things, like how smooth development actually went. They talk about the earlier days of the project, about the length of the original scenario of the game, about voice acting, about overall art design, motion capturing and character modeling and even the marketing campaigns in Japan.

Gyakuten Saiban 6 Blog Entry 9: The Faraway Kingdom of Kurain (2016)

Title: The Faraway Kingdom of Kurain / 「遙かなるクライン王国」
Source: Gyakuten Saiban 6 official site

Summary: In the ninth blog post on the Gyakuten Saiban 6 (Ace Attorney 6 - Spirit of Justice) website, posted on June 20, 2016, background artist Ishikawa tells about how the Kingdom of Kurain (Kingdom of Khu'rain), the new setting in the game, was designed. Ishikawa had previously worked on Gyakuten Saiban 5 (Ace Attorney 5 - Dual Destinies), but because the Kingdom of Kurain was a completely new setting, it was almost like starting from scratch all over again. Included are some of the earlier designs of the kingdom.

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

Gyakuten Saiban 6 Blog Entry 4: Working on Game Effects (2016)

Title: Working on Game Effects / 「エフェクトのお仕事」
Source: Gyakuten Saiban 6 official site

Summary: The sixth blog entry for Gyakuten Saiban 6 (Ace Attorney 6 - Spirit of Justice) was posted on June 2, 2016 and was written by Akitsuki Chieko, who worked on effects in the game. Ever since the first game, the Gyakuten Saiban series has been praised for its attention to lively presentation, and effects are of course an important part of that. Akitsuki first runs us through her other task in the team (keeping the snack table stocked), and then explains about how effects are used in the water mirror for the Spirit Channeling Vision (Divination Séance) system. She also discusses (and shows images of) a few of the rejected design ideas for spirit channeling, which were quite different than the one we got in the final product.

Gyakuten Saiban 6 Blog Entry 13: Working on Event Cuts (2016)

Title: Working on Event Cuts / 「イベントカットのお仕事」
Source: Gyakuten Saiban 6 official site

Summary: Artist Fujii Norihide is the host in the thirteenth blog post on the Gyakuten Saiban 6 (Ace Attorney 6 - Spirit of Justice) website, originally posted on July 4, 2016. He writes about how the characteristic "event cuts" are made for this game: the 2D illustrations often used in the series to not only show off dramatic scenes, but also in more mundane ways like in photographs. Fujii walks the reader through the process of creating a crime scene photograph.