It is likely too soon to be writing off the Ace Attorney series as a thing of the past. The last game was released in Japan less than three years ago. There was a longer gap between games four and five of the series, and as long a gap between games three and four. That said, the series has gone pretty much dormant in the West since the release of Spirit of Justice in 2016 and I am not especially hopeful that we’ll ever see more of it. However, I was recently reminded that both of the 3DS Ace Attorney games, Dual Destinies and Spirit of Justice, had downloadable cases that I had never played. With the 3DS dead, and the Ace Attorney series absent, I decided it was high time that I played those dlc cases. The Dual Destinies one had been available for nearly seven years, there really was no excuse for me to have not played it.

One thing that has changed since the last Ace Attorney game was released that was guaranteed to change how I saw the series; I went to law school. Oddly enough, it didn’t make that much of a difference; if anything I find the legal nonsense more plausible now, even though I know just how far it is from reality.

Dual Destinies’s dlc case is Turnabout Reclaimed. It is a kind of goofy, classic case. It has a small role for the whole cast of the game, it is really a Phoenix showcase in a game that, if I recall correctly, tended to lose him for large stretches as he slipped into more of a mentor role than protagonist. The rest is about as silly as the series got, with a pirate themed aquarium and an orca accused of murder. The case, as they tend to do, twists around like a snake, but the whole thing builds to one moment: Phoenix Wright cross examining an orca.

The game teases it, pretending it is going to have Nick call the orca to testify, before pulling back. Finally, near the end the inevitable happens. It is worth the wait. Turnabout Reclaimed is a fun case; it feels more like the second case of the game than something that should have been dlc, but that doesn’t make it any less fun.

Spirit of Justice’s Turnabout Time Traveler is the one that really caught my attention. That is because given its cast, it caused special feelings for this longtime fan of the series. Turnabout Time Traveler starts with Larry Butz bursting into the Wright Anything Agency with a new case; saving his bride from a murder conviction. It is soon revealed that Larry is wrong about pretty much everything, but Phoenix is still on the case. The title promises time travel, and while the case does bring that up, and summarily dismisses the idea with such fervor that you expect it to twist back around to being real, there is some time travel involved. That is for the player. This case goes all the way back to the original Ace Attorney, with Phoenix partnered up with Maya and going against Miles Edgeworth. The only person missing is Gumshoe. This case hit the nostalgia hard.

I don’t know if it feels more like a reunion or a farewell. Maybe it’s both. This is the case that got me thinking that we are not going to see any more of these characters. The reunion aspect is obvious. Phoenix never fully left the spotlight, but Maya disappeared for two games and Edgeworth was relegated to his own spin off series. This case has Phoenix and Edgeworth facing off for the first time since the first game, and those two together with Maya for the first time since the end of the third game. Still, I feel a farewell in all of this. The game is kind of acknowledging that there really isn’t anywhere else for these characters to go. At least, nowhere that the game is willing to acknowledge. There are some oblique hints at romance between Maya and Phoenix, but the game wisely leaves that alone. Otherwise, these characters are fully formed now. Maya is spunky and determined, Edgeworth is stolid but kind-hearted, and Phoenix is dedicated and quick thinking. They are a fun trio, but the series has gotten pretty much all it can out of them. They could, theoretically, crank out cases of the quality of Turnabout Time Traveler forever. I would play them; they are fun interactive murder mysteries. But that is not really forward momentum for the series. If this is the last we see of this trio, or any part of the trio, I am glad we got it. It makes for a good send off.

I really miss this series. Maybe a Switch port or compilation would drum up enough interest to get things going again. Still, we got 8 great games in America and for that I am glad.