Today marks the 20th anniversary of the Ace Attorney series and while it may not be as financially lucrative as some of Capcom’s other IPs, like Monster Hunter and Resident Evil, it remains one of the company’s most noteworthy and beloved franchises. While the series has suffered a couple of dry spells in its history, the future still looks quite bright for Ace Attorney fans.
This year saw the release of The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles, a duology of games that were originally Japanese exclusive and many believed would never make it to the West at all. And although there is no sign of an entirely new Ace Attorney game, Capcom is at least aware of how popular the series is and considers Ace Attorney important enough to celebrate its anniversary in some form.
As of today, an Ace Attorney 20th anniversary website is available to peruse. It’s only in Japanese so Western fans will need to rely on Google Translate or be able to read Japanese, but it essentially consists of a celebratory message from the development team, the full list of games and where to buy them, and details about a few projects Capcom has planned for the anniversary.
The first is an art exhibition called Capcom vs. Osamu Tezuka Characters, which displays art of various Capcom characters done by Tezuka Productions (the animation studio founded by Astro Boy creator Osamu Tezuka) and art of Tezuka characters done by Capcom. There will be new Ace Attorney illustrations for the anniversary, but it unfortunately is only being held in Japan.
Secondly, goods featuring new art designed by illustrator Yusuke Nakamura and art director/character designer Kazuya Nuri will be sold on Capcom’s online store. The first piece is a stylized depiction of Ace Attorney protagonist Phoenix Wright and his prosecutor rival Miles Edgeworth, with several other characters like Maya Fey and Franziska von Karma included as well. The second depicts the main cast of the Great Ace Attorney games, with Phoenix’s ancestor Ryunosuke Naruhodo front and center, surrounded by his friends and allies.
They will release on November 19th and December 17th respectively, but they are limited, and Capcom will only be accepting pre-orders for them until October 31st. On the plus side, the Capcom store does ship overseas so die-hard Western fans can get their hands on the artwork, if they’re willing to spend the necessary fees.
There is also a History section that is likely meant to cover the series’ past since it began in 2001. However, the section is incomplete and really only consists of images of Phoenix, Edgeworth, Ryunosuke, and Apollo Justice, alongside a "coming soon" message.
The website doesn’t indicate if Capcom is working on a new Ace Attorney game at the moment. However, the big Capcom leak from last year mentioned another Ace Attorney collection that bundles the fourth, fifth, and sixth mainline games, as well as Ace Attorney 7 being in development. That same leak also gave away Capcom’s plans to localize The Great Ace Attorney so fans are hopeful that the rest of the preposed Ace Attorney plans are accurate.
Source: Ace Attorney 20th Anniversary