How do you rank the Ace Attorney games? Here's how I rate them in order of best to worst. The original Phoenix Wright has always been #1 on my list. I don't think Capcom will ever top it. Miles Edgeworth's games are also up there with PW1.


Phoenix Wright
miles Edgeworth
miles Edgeworth 2
Trials and Tribulations
Dual Destinies
Apollo Justice
Justice for All

1. Ace Attorney Investigations 2 - Five fantastic cases, great characters, great villains, great overarching story, great music, and actually really deep and emotional moments. Amazing

2. Phoenix Wright - Looking back, a lot of this comes from the bias of it being my first game. The first three cases don't hold a candle to later cases of the series and the fourth case, while fantastic, wouldn't be nearly as good if this wasn't my first game and I was familiar with how the typical story of AA cases went. However, it was my first game so the fourth case will always hold a special place in my heart and 1-5 is just perfect in my eyes (Gant and Ema certainly help)

3. Ace Attorney Investigations - I didn't like how much shorter the cases were in AJ but I also didn't like the length of them in T&T. The cases in this game are paced much better (barring...that one) and the new gameplay mechanics are great ways of keeping things fresh without getting stale. I also think Shi-Long Lang and Kay are great additions to the cast (also, Badd and Yew...amazing), and Franziska and Gumshoe are great assistants. My main complaints come from the final villain and the fact that the game doesn't take much advantage of Edgeworth being the protagonist until the second game (it really could've been some new character as the playable in this game and it wouldn't make much of a difference)

4. Apollo Justice - This one's a little weird. I like the new gameplay elements, but the game doesn't take them far enough (3D crime scenes, for example). I like the fact that the trials are shorter, but they feel too short. I like the new main characters, but they feel underdeveloped. Many of the side characters are awful, especially the defendants. Ultimately, I'd say that the game has a really good overarching story and really great ideas that do shine through at points, but a lot ended up feeling underdeveloped in the end. I also feel that had the final case stuck the landing, it would be a hallmark of the series for sure

5. Dual Destinies - Not much to say on this one. I think switching between playable characters was a fun idea and it was balanced well for the most part. The game suffers from a kind of boring overarching story and the Mood Matrix feeling a little too gimmicky. I think the writing also feels too cheesy at parts (and not the parts that you're likely thinking of). I really like the characters, though, and the mysteries are actually really solid in this one. I also love the 3D models even more than the sprites. It kind of feels like the ideal AA game is a square. Dual Destinies was a square, but then someone sat on it and made it a parallelogram. It's kind of a square, but not really

6. Trials and Tribulations - Don't like Dahlia or Godot as characters, so that definitely holds the game back. The investigations and trials also get WAAAAAAAY too long in this one. It's not even like the mystery is so big that this was necessary; it's so needless. Out of every AA game, this one has the most fluff. The mysteries get way too convoluted at parts and some parts just really drag. 3-2 and 3-4 are pretty perfect as far as middle game cases, though. 3-5 is kind of overrated, but it's still a really great case and it did its job of concluding the trilogy

7. Justice for All - Not much to say that everyone else hasn't. Great second and final cases, bad everything else. I will give the game credit; it probably has the most clever and fair contradictions of the series

8. Professor Layton - Only game in the series where I'd just flat out call the story "bad", and I hated all of the new characters, too. I liked the main quadrio and their interactions with each other, and the game does have amazing cinematics and a great soundtrack. I also really liked the second trial, though the game was too easy-going with its new innovations like the mob-examinations. The end trial nearly made me cry for how long it went...I just wanted the game to be over (my fault, I guess, because I thought the epilogue wouldn't be a standard chapter length). The ending of the game just left me feeling ugly. I understand it's easy to blame the Layton portion of the game but those games have always had something poignant attached that didn't feel forced. Something really went wrong with the script of the game by the end. The game just goes completely off the rails

Just on a whim, based on what games I had the most fun playing (except for GK2 and DD which I haven't played yet, only watched playthroughs) and think the most of afterwards, I'd say

-PW
There are probably other titles with better cases overall, but I'm too biased to be able to compare it that way. It hold a lot of nostalgia, although I also get the sense that Takumi really put his whole heart into this one. But I think it's mostly 1-4 that gives this game the top spot for me.

-AJ
Thinking about AJ makes me a little sad sometimes because it could have been so much better than it was. There are lots of flaws and it's got a rough and unfinished feeling to it. Still, I had tons of fun playing it, it felt like a fresh new start, the courtroom was creepy and I really liked that Apollo guy.

-T&T
It was hard deciding which of this and GK2 to put at this spot, but it makes a difference that I have actually played this one. It wrapped up the original trilogy nicely and I liked every case and had fun playing them. Also, the segment where you play as Edgeworth is worth mentioning as well since that's probably my favourite part of a case ever. It was perfect.

-GK2
Watching this was a bit like reading 1984 for me; I was mostly bored while doing it but I loved it when I was done. I feel like this game has the most complte and engaging overarching story, and it was well executed. The murders made sense and were supported by the story instead of the other way around. The final case was amazing. Bonus points for one of if not the best final villain ever and having a case with Gregory (even if the case itself wasn't that exciting).

-JFA
I think this game is very underrated. It's a bit shattered, but I actually like that. Four different cases, just keeping on the route that PW started. In my opinion, it's a worthy sequel and doesn't have to bring tons of new stuff. It's a good game, no more and no less.

-AAI
I still haven't really decided in which order to put this and DD. I had fun playing through this, but it's not that memorable. It's like it hasn't got an identity of its own so to speak, and overall it's a bit... flat. But it's the first and so far only investigations title I've played, and although I'm not too fond of the what-the-heck-are-they-called... the conversations. With rebuttals and shit. Anyway. I did have fun investigating and using logic and that kind of things. From what I can recall.

-DD
It's hard to talk about the experience of playing it as I've only watched it so far, but I can't not bring up the handholding in this one. Also, I think it tries a bit too hard to be grand and epic. It's not a bad game though, absolutely not, and sometimes I feel like I'm too harsh on it. Still, something sits wrong with me when I really think about it. The soundtrack is great though, to end on a positive note.

-PWvsPL
Wah, sorry. I want to like this more than I do. I had a really good time playing it, it was cool, blabla, Takumi, Maya, Luke etc. But the story wasn't as engaging as the other ones (AAI excluded, that wasn't that engaging either) and sometimes it just dragged on... and on. And on. Especially the "epilogue". It also has far too many problems for me to look over, but I did like it, I really did.

---

Trials and tribulations is my favourite (and I really like the title as well). It's the most "even" one according to me, as well as having the highest number of cases that I really, really enjoy. I love case 2, 4 and 5 (I must admit that I have a huge soft spot for the final cases, despite its flaws), and it has a lot of characters that I love (I really appreciated the return of Adrian, Godot amuses me immensely - apart from the sexism - and the "teamwork" in the last case was great). I also appreciate how case 1, 4 and 5 were tied together.

Phoenix Wright must be my second choice, despite case 3, a very mild berserk button (perhaps I should give it another chance, but I was so, so bored while playing it). It was great to get to know the characters, and case 4 is the best case in the series according to me - that's why I put it above Justice for all.

Justice for all, well, I actually enjoyed it quite a lot. The first case was silly (yet fun), Wellingon amuses me, and I love case 2 and 4.

Then it gets harder to pick and choose. I remember having a lot of fun playing Ace Attorney Investigations - more fun than I had playing Apollo Justice - but was that because the game was better, or was it because I was in a bad mood when I played the latter? I must give Apollo Justice another shot before I can tell for certain. And Dual Destinies - another game I thought was great fun even thought it lacked in many areas.

I have yet to watch a playthrough of the second investigations-game (oh, I wish I could play it!) and it seems promising - I've barely watched two cases, but so far it seems very enjoyable. We'll see. As for the Layton and Wright-game, I think I'll actually play some Professor Layton before playing that one.

---

I think I'd rank them AA>T&T>>DD>>AJ=JFA=GK2>>AAI

The first one is still the best for me. Maybe I'm biased because it's the first, but I think it's mostly because it has two awesome final cases and I'm a sucker for final cases (All of them have that intesity that always gets to me).

T&T manages to close the trilogy perfectly while still being a decent standalone on its own. This and AA are the two best games in the franchise by far IMO.

DD is an interesting case. I like the individual cases a lot more than I like the overall game. Probably because the whole dark age of law thing was forced, made no sense and fell flat. The handholding and oversimplified gameplay don't help, either. Still, the individual quality of the cases (mostly the first three, because I put 5-5 in the low tier of final cases) push the game up to a solid third position.

AJ had a lot of problems. The new characters were underdeveloped and Phoenix inclusion, even if forced, could have been done better. I could forgive that the story was about Phoenix. What I really can't forgive is that completely unsatisfactory ending. But this game had also a lot of great things. I like the story and the new mechanics it had. I'd say it's the best game gameplay-wise in the franchise so far.

JFA was more on the 'mah' side. As opposed to most people I don't see a lot of super-awesome things or a lot of super-horrible things in it. The game was...well, fine, I guess.

The investigations series will never be the same as the main series in my eyes (I just like more the classic setting) but GK-2 was great enough to at least join this tie in the fourth position.

Although I enjoyed AAI a lot (like the rest of the games) I need to point out how superior GK-2 is to it. Most of the characters in AAI were plain and boring (not the recurrent ones, fortunately), and the final case drags way too much. I'm a fan of long final cases, really, but revealing the bad guy so soon doesn't help to hold the player's interest.

PW: AA
DD
GK2
T&T
JFA
PLvsPW
AJ
GK1

---

- Trials and Tribulations
- Dual Destinies (let down by Case 2, which I couldn't stand. Otherwise it'd be top)
- Ace Attorney
- Apollo Justice
- Justice For All (in spite of it's incredible 4th case)

I've not played the AAI games, so I can't rank them, nor have I played Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright. But given the general consensus from most people, I don't think I'll be picking it up anytime soon.

---