I remember perfectly the day I opened my Nintendo DS and inserted a game for the first time that came highly recommended but of which I knew practically nothing: ‘Phoenix Wright.’ Just with the initial case, I was already completely immersed in a story of contradictions, evidence, illogical logic, camaraderie, and extravagance that has survived over eleven games. A marvel from Capcom… that was almost not made.
I object!
Let’s go back to the beginning. Year 2000. Shu Takumi has just finished his work on ‘Dino Crisis 2,’ and his boss at Capcom gives him six months to find another project that excites him. The creator had a clear idea: a mystery and adventure game for Game Boy Color about lawyers. That was the great opportunity to leave his mark as a creator. The problem? He had no idea how the law worked.
Not that it was going to stop him, of course. In a short time, he had already planned some cases for ‘Ace Attorney’ (the original title of the game in Japan), which received… the disdain of his colleagues, who believed that people would reject it for not having legal inaccuracies. It was then that, while writing several documents about the game’s design, he received a call from his producer with advice: ‘Let it go.
That’s right: the advice given to Shu Takumi was to completely abandon his idea and dedicate himself to something else. Of course, neither his colleagues nor his producer knew that the game was going to be eccentric and full of iconic characters. Everyone was convinced that it would be a solemn and serious story, more concerned with technical requirements than focusing on pure fun.
Fortunately for everyone, ‘Ace Attorney’ was released for Game Boy Advance, had a remake for DS that eventually made its way out of Japan as ‘Phoenix Wright.’ However, it was almost named ‘Roger Wright,’ which sounded much more heroic. It was saved simply because they were afraid people would associate it with ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit?’. Happy coincidences. There you go!
