Celebrating the Release of Gyakuten Saiban 4 - A Discussion with 4 Members of the Team (2007)

Title: Celebrating the Release of Gyakuten Saiban 4 - A Discussion with 4 Members of the Team / 『逆転裁判４』発売記念　チーム４者対談

Source: Gyakuten Saiban Official Fan Book 3

 

Summary: Gyakuten Saiban Official Fan Book 3 was released in 2007 coinciding with the release of Gyakuten Saiban 4 (Ace Attorney 4 - Apollo Justice), containing several pages on the development of the game. The longest article in the book is an interview with four members of the core development team of Gyakuten Saiban 4: the series supervisor and scenario writer of this game Takumi Shū, director Endō Mitsuru, producer Matsukawa Minae and planner Yamazaki Takeshi. The four discuss how the team structure changed for the development of this game, and the difficulties that arose from this transformation. Other topics discussed are about Takumi's drinking, things they'd argue about during development and changes made to the story. This interview is noteworthy for featuring director Endō Mitsuru, as he seldom appears in promotional material for this game.

Capcom Sound Sphere 005: Gyakuten Saiban – Takumi Shū Special vol. 2 (2007)

Title: #005: Gyakuten Saiban – Takumi Shū Special vol. 2 / #005:「「逆転裁判」 巧舟スペシャル vol.2」/ 
Source: Capcom Sound Sphere (down)

Capcom Sound Sphere was an official Capcom podcast recorded by the sound teams of Capcom. In episodes 004 until 007, originally broadcast between October and November 2007, Capcom sound engineers and show hosts Sandō Yoshiki and Yamamoto Ryōji welcomed Gyakuten Saiban (Ace Attorney) creator Takumi Shū in the studio for a four part special on Gyakuten Saiban, with an emphasis on Gyakuten Saiban 4 (Ace Attorney 4 - Apollo Justice), which was released earlier that year. In the second episode of this series, which was released on 26 October 2007, Sandō asks about the three men who joined Takumi this time on the planning team of Gyakuten Saiban 4. Up until Gyakuten Saiban 3 (Ace Attorney 3 – Trials & Tribulabations), Takumi had done the planning of each game all alone, but now the planning team had been expanded with a director and two planners. Takumi tells about his merry band of comrades Endō Mitsuru, director of Gyakuten Saiban 4, and the two planners Yamazaki Takeshi and Yamakawa Keisuke and also about how their unique personalities also influenced the game in more ways than one.

This article is a full transcript of the podcast. The podcast is not available here.

Gyakuten Saiban 4 Blog Entry 13: Striking Poses (2007)

Title: Striking Poses / 「ポーズを決める」
Source: Gyakuten Saiban 4 official site

Summary: The thirteenth post on the Gyakuten Saiban 4 (Ace Attorney 4 – Apollo Justice) blog (originally posted on April 20, 2007) was posted about a week after the game was released, so director Endō Mitsuru first thanks everyone who bought the game and tells a story about witnessing someone nearby playing the game. He then moves on to explain how to create the animations of the characters, sometimes the development staff had to do the poses themselves in order to explain what they were looking for. They also made photographs of these poses, and in this post, he reveals two of these pictures that served as models for scenes used in the game itself.

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

Objection to Takumi Shū from the Developers!! (2007)

Title: Objection to Takumi Shū from the Developers!! /「開発者から巧舟へ異議あり！！」

Source: Gyakuten Saiban 4 Official Guidebook

 

Summary: The official guidebook for Gyakuten Saiban 4 (Ace Attorney 4 - Apollo Justice) features a short segment where various members of the development team finally got a chance to object to all the work Takumi Shū (as general supervisor of the game) made them do. From programmers to graphics artists, sound engineers and even the director of the game, they all have something to say to their boss who sometimes seemed only to be “bullying” his team with detailed directions regarding their work. Of course, it was all worth it to create the game. The funny segment gives a unique look into the various things the team members had to do under Takumi’s directions.

Secret Footage – Final Episode: Become Stained In The Colors of Surprise (Odoroki)! (2007)

Title: Secret Footage – Final Episode: Become Stained In The Colors of Surprise (Odoroki)!/ 『極秘動画　最終話　オドロキ色に染めろ』
Source: Source: Gyakuten Saiban 4 official website (not available anymore due to site renewal)

Summary: The official Gyakuten Saiban 4 (Ace Attorney 4 - Apollo Justice) website started posting “Secret Footage” late March 2007 in anticipation of the game’s release. These videos were dated October 2005 and were recordings of the earliest meetings of the development team. The third and final video is set a few months after the initial announcement. The design of the main character Odoroki Hōsuke is almost finished, but there are still some points that haven’t been decided on. Endō Mitsuru (Director), Nuri Kazuya (Designer) and Yamazaki Takeshi (Planning) are holding a meeting to decide on the basic colors of Odoroki’s clothes while Takumi Shū (Supervision) is in Tokyo for work. Nuri has prepared several color variations for them to pick from and it doesn’t take long for the three to decide on a color, but not everyone seems to be happy with their decision.

This article is a full transcript of the video. The video is not available here.

Secret Footage - Episode 2: The Night Before Odoroki Hōsuke‘s Birth (2007)

Title: Secret Footage - Episode 2: The Night Before Odoroki Hōsuke‘s Birth / 『極秘動画　第2回　王泥喜法介　誕生前夜』
Source: Source: Gyakuten Saiban 4 official website (not available anymore due to site renewal)

Summary: The official Gyakuten Saiban 4 (Ace Attorney 4 - Apollo Justice) website started posting “Secret Footage” on March 30, 2007. These videos dated October 2005 were recordings of the very first meetings of the development team. In the first meeting, the team was told they had to have an illustration for the game ready by next week for use during the reveal. In the second part of the series, designer Nuri Kazuya shows off the sketches he worked all night on to the rest of the core members, being Endō Mitsuru (Director), Matsukawa Minae (Producer) Takumi Shū (Supervision) and Yamazaki Takeshi (Planning). Together they have to decide which sketch to use for the public announcement of the game on October 11, 2005.

This article is a full transcript of the video. The video is not available here.

Secret Footage - Episode 1: The First Face-to-face Meeting Was A Cruel Trap (2007)

Title: Secret Footage - Episode 1: The First Face-to-face Meeting Was A Cruel Trap / 『極秘動画　　第1回　初顔合わせは苦いワナ』
Source: Gyakuten Saiban 4 official website (not available anymore due to site renewal)

Summary: On March 30, 2007, “Secret Footage” was posted on the official Gyakuten Saiban 4 (Ace Attorney 4 - Apollo Justice) website. The video gave a very rare glimpse at how meetings go within the development team of the game and was the first in a series of three that would reveal how the protagonist of the game, Odoroki Hōsuke (Apollo Justice), was created. This first entry is dated October 2005 and shows the first very face-to-face meeting of the core members of the development team Endō Mitsuru (Director), Matsukawa Minae (Producer) Takumi Shū (Supervision), Nuri Kazuya (Designer) and Yamazaki Takeshi (Planning). They don’t have time for formalities however, as the producer has an assignment for them already: they have to decide on their protagonist for this by next week due to planned promotion events.

This article is a full transcript of the video. The video is not available here.

Gyakuten Saiban 4 Blog Entry 3: About The New Features (2007)

Title: About The New Features / 「新要素について」
Source: Gyakuten Saiban 4 official site

Summary: In the second post on the Gyakuten Saiban 4 (Ace Attorney 4 – Apollo Justice) blog (originally posted on March 23, 2007), director Endō Mitsuru writes about two new features in this game. First of all: himself, as he is new to the development team, and he talks about how he got himself in the development team. He also talks about an actual new feature in the game: Perceive. The sketch Takumi made is a must-see.

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

Gyakuten Saiban 4 Blog Entry 9: All we need is IMPACT? (2007)

Title: All we need is IMPACT?
Source: Gyakuten Saiban 4 official site

Summary: Gyakuten Saiban 4 (Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney)'s planner Yamazaki, who would later become the main director of the Gyakuten Saiban (Ace Attorney) and Gyakuten Kenji (Ace Attorney Investigations) games, writes about some scrapped ideas for Gyakuten Saiban 4. 1) Doing the witnesses in 3D 2) A scrapped idea for an animation of the protagonist Odoroki (Apollo Justice. 3) A scrapped idea for Minuki (Trucy), heroine of the story. Some of these ideas are actually reused in later games. We also get a glimpse of director Endō drawing skills. The post was originally posted on April 10, 2007.

Images are taken from the source article. Copyrights belong to their respective owners.

Gyakuten Saiban 4 Blog Entry 8: Return to the Crime Scene (2007)

Title: Return to the Crime Scene / 「犯行現場に戻れ」
Source: Gyakuten Saiban 4 official site

Summary: A blog post posted on April 6, 2007 by Gyakuten Saiban 4 (Ace Attorney 4 – Apollo Justice)'s director Endō Mitsuru. This game was the first time in the series that Takumi did not act as the director of the game. Endō is known to have an interest in mystery fiction, which he shares with Takumi, so it was not that strange the two of them paired up. In this entry, Endō reveals he was the person who came up with one of the more memorable methods of presentation in the game.

Images are taken from the source article. Copyrights belong to their respective owners. The works.