Interview: Shu Takumi - From Phoenix Wright to Ghost Trick
The Capcom genius debates the secrets and future of [i]Ace Attorney, Ghost Trick's profile and the Nintendo 3DS.[/i]

Shu Takumi arrived at Madrid to share his amusing stories of spirits, dinosaurs and lawyers. He delivered them between his notable interventions during iDÉAME 2010, but he also had some moments to talk with us. He shared with Revogamers a lot about the current status of the Ace Attorney series -his most acclaimed creation-, the hot topic that is the Nintendo 3DS, and Ghost Trick, his latest refreshing contribution to the Nintendo DS... after [Ghost Trick's] producer, Hironobu Takeshita, had just finished sharing his vision with us.

Here is the full interview:


Revogamers: Ghost Trick seems like a way to get the Ace Attorney formula off your chest. Is this so?

Shu Takumi: Yes. The Ace Attorney series started in 2001 and ended in 2004. I then started thinking about Ghost Trick, with the [Ace Attorney] series now finished. But then the Nintendo DS came out, and there was a decision to port the Ace Attorney chapters to that handheld. So the Ghost Trick business was a bit stumped, but when the job was done I could finally shift to Ghost Trick.

RG: From Ace Attorney, we love the humor and the characters' personality. Can we expect something like that from Ghost Trick? Does it have a similar writing team?

Takumi: I've written for all the Ace Attorneys, and also for Ghost Trick. I'm sure the humor and type of characters will stay in line, and people who liked one may like the other one. The difference is that now we have this tiny sprites, with a lot of animations, which give them a lot more personality and depth. You'll most probably find a lot of funny situations, even more than before.

RG: So then you stopped Ace Attorney in 2004, and then you had to tuck these new games in. And that was it? Obviously, we need to tell the fans where it's going. We guess there are plans with it, with so many fans around the world; besides, the development of a fifth installment was once mentioned...

Takumi: It's a hard question to answer. For me, Ace Attorney ended with the fourth game. I think everything I wanted to do and everything that should have been done in the series was done with the last installment. With Ghost Trick, I've had the chance to speak directly with the series' fans, at E3, in Japan, outside of Japan... even now [at iDÉAME] I'm listening to a lot of people telling me they want a fifth game. Direct contact with fans is making me stop and think... I really felt that I had ended the series, and I'm loving what I'm doing now with Ghost Trick, and I want to go this way. So, I'm debating myself between do options: what should I do? Because I want to go on with this, I don't want to go back, but people want it, meaning that doing it could be a good thing... this is a moment when I can't say 'I'm going to do a fifth game' nor 'I'm not going to do it'.

RG: This one's also a must-ask, and we've asked it to your teammaate Hironobu Takeshita the same way: everybody was talking about the Nintendo 3DS at E3; we'd want to know if you see Ghost Trick as one of the Nintendo DS' last jewels, what you think of the 3DS, and how do you think this two series' gameplays can be explored [considering the 3DS' features].

Takumi: We started creating Ghost Trick two years ago, and by then nobody could imagine that they would announce the 3DS. Now that you mention it, it's possible for it to be one of the last 'jewels', yes. The 3DS has appeared, and it'll be the beginning of a sytem and the end of the previous one, and I think that with this game we've taken all the advantage you can take from a DS. We're certain that this will be our last DS game, and possibly one of the last ones to be marketed, and with one of the highest levels [of quality]. Regarding the 3DS, as soon as I saw it my head started working, and of course our next games will be for 3DS, and we're starting to try juicing the new features as much as possible.

RG: Can you be specific if it's for this series or not? Can you give us an example of those ideas for the Nintendo 3DS?

Takumi: I can't say what will happen with these series yet. What's inspiring me the most of the system are the 3D camera and the gyroscope. Using this 3D camera and the handheld's positions, I'd like to exploit that in the games.

RG: As writer for Phoenix Wright, where do you draw all that inspiration from? Crazy ideas, the ability to mix lawyers and ghosts, far-fetched plots...

Takumi: Since I was young, around 10 years-old, I've read a lot of mistery books. It's a topic that I've always loved, and I probably wouldn't have such good scripts or such funny games with other themes. I get a lot of ideas and a lot of inspiration.

RG: Here at iDÉAME a lot of ideas are talked about, but mostly about accessible, downloadable, very gameplay-driven games. How do you feel, being a king of the script, surrounded by examples where gameplay is first?

Takumi: First of all, when I was invited I didn't even know what kind of event it was or what I would find (laughs). I was a bit worried, it's the first time I come to Europe, and I was doing my game in Japan for that audience, without really knowing how it was received outside. I came asking myself if they'd know who I am, if they'd know my game... now I've seen a lot of people waiting to get their game boxes signed, and I was very pleasantly surprised. I'm super happy. I still haven't been able to perceive that feeling between script and gameplay during this event, as I feel 'in there', but I can say that I love having being able to come to Spain and find out that people here like my games.

RG: We understand that you voiced Phoenix in the japanese version... how did you think of that? (laughs).

Takumi: (Laughs). Well, we did the first Phoenix Wright between five people. It was a very small group, thinking 'let's see what comes out'. For the voices we grabbed seven people who gave theirs, and as director I decided which one was the best. And thes best was mine (laughs).

RG: Lastly, we wanted to know if any Ace Attorney character is Shu Takumi, and which one is your favourite, as weird as they might be.

Takumi: The main character, Phoenix. When I'm writing the script I try to write quickly, without thinking too much, so the words, the phrases, the way they act, is the one that flows out of me, so it's possible that it sounds like me. I also really like magic, so it's possible that the [male] magician [Max Galactica] is a parody of myself. Then, my favourite characters are Phoenix and Edgeworth, and mostly Godot.