The Ace Attorney Timeline – What Order Should You Play the Games?

contain it ! These timeline contradict each other !

This guide goes over the best order to play the Ace Attorney series games , as well as other timeline and release info .

Table of Contents

An illustration featuring many different Ace Attorney characters together.

Ace Attorney Series Recommended Play Order

With ten entries , it can be confuse where to start ( and remnant ) with the Ace Attorney serial publication . The recommended order to encounter the games in the Ace Attorney series is n’t the same as their chronological , timeline order , nor is it the same as their original loss parliamentary law . The following table lists the best order to dally the games in the Ace Attorney serial :

As you ’ll see below inthe tale timeline , The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles game take situation before the two Ace Attorney trilogies . Still , it ’s worth saving this large duology for near the end of your lawyer risky venture . It ’s easy to differentiate they are more recent entries in the serial publication ( as explored inthe spill timeline section ) due to their more intricate closed book and storytelling .

You could play the Ace Attorney Investigations Collection before The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles , but Ace Attorney Investigations does not feature any courtroom struggle and instead centre on logical argument and , as the name suggest , investigations . Saving the Investigations series for the end is the unspoiled selection if you do n’t want to jump between different gameplay mechanics as you playact through the series . It ’s peculiarly worthwhile if you require to save read down one of the series ’s good chief villains for last .

Image via Gyakuten Saiban WiiWare

What About Playing the Professor Layton Crossover?

The crossover plot Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright : Ace Attorney is presently only available in English as a strong-arm release on the Nintendo 3DS . It is very hard to get a transcript of the secret plan as of now . For those with the means to encounter this unequalled crossover title , it ’s recommended to play it after Phoenix Wright : Ace Attorney – Trials and Tribulations and before Apollo Justice : Ace Attorney . It serves as a dainty way to wrap up Phoenix ’s first arrange of adventures before go on to the Apollo Justice trilogy .

Ace Attorney Series Story Timeline

Although no yr number are explicitly given in the game themselves , there are enough details in the games ’ cases forfans to get a crude approximation of the year(s ) the titles take place . Even without the guesstimate age , the plot have a clear fib orderliness . The following table lists the Ace Attorney game in their chronological , tale order , as well as the approximate year(s ) the game take piazza in :

This timeline gets a bit more complicated when considering some secret plan have “ flashback ” cases ( most notably , Trials and Tribulations ) , and some involve case from the yesteryear that the principal cast was n’t a part of . Think of this timeline as the order you would play the games in if you really want to play them in their write up order rather than release date or recommended order .

Where Does the Professor Layton Crossover Fit Into the Timeline?

Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright : Ace Attorney takes position at some time during the Phoenix Wright : Ace Attorney Trilogy and the Ace Attorney Investigations Collection . The game is n’t meant to be “ canon ” to the main Ace Attorney series , so this “ timeline ” inclusion is mostly relevant to Phoenix and Maya ’s appearances and character behaviour compare to how they bet and act in the main game .

Ace Attorney Series Release Timeline

The Ace Attorney secret plan were free in North America in a unlike order than they were turn in Japan . Sometimes , they were n’t even released on the same console , such as how the original Ace Attorney trilogy was first released on the Game Boy Advance in Japan , but on the Nintendo DS in North America . The following table lists the Ace Attorney games ( including the Professor Layton crosswalk biz ) in their original Nipponese release order :

The travel along table list the Ace Attorney game in their North American release date order , and admit the Japanese release order numbers for comparison :

It may have taken 13 years for fans to get toofficially play Ace Attorney Investigations 2 in English , but the games will all be easily available on current consoles now — save for Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright : Ace Attorney , whose potential for re - liberation is entirely unknown .