[3DS] Professor Layton vs Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney ROM

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, what we have here is a wolf in sheep’s clothing: a combination of two of the most mentally demanding game series on the 3DS. The Ace Attorney series has had quite a few things change throughout its lifetime, but who knew that old Phoenix would team up with a top-hat wearing British puzzle solver? Yes, Ace Attorney has a crossover of two popular puzzle game series, and it was a resounding success.

Story and the Combination of Two Worlds

The story begins with a young girl named Espella Cantabella being chased by witches. Oh, alright. Then, the person she was with turns out to be Carmine Accident, one of the Professor’s students, who had wrecked his car. But Espella escapes with a letter from Carmine saying he knows who she is. So, Espella seeks out the Professor and Luke and tells them about what’s happening to her, but they are hard to believe, and that’s fair. I mean, someone comes knocking on your door saying “I’m being chased by witches,” you’d probably think there’s some crazy person. “There’s a witch chasing me, do you think you can help warn them off, Professor?” “There’s another person knocking. Tell them to get lost, Luke, they’re interrupting my tea time and puzzle solving!” So, Luke accidentally lets a witch in, and then he and the Professor lead Espella to safety and repel the witch. But then, the Professor and Luke get sucked into the book Espella is carrying, and we don’t see them for a while.

And this is where Phoenix Wright comes in. As usual, you have a fairly straightforward case where you defend someone and usually find the true culprit in the process. While most of Phoenix’s trials are about murder, this one is assault and robbery. However, Phoenix only came to study London’s court system, not to defend anyone, but gets sucked in anyway, and the client is Espella. “Espella, weren’t you somewhere else?” So, you go through the trial with the usual Ace Attorney trappings: a few witnesses, who turn out to be the true culprit, and the familiar Winston Payne or in this case his British counterpart, prosecutor Flinch, who mocks Phoenix in court, just like Payne usually does. After Phoenix helps Espella get acquitted, he and Maya get sucked into the same book as Luke and the Professor had been earlier.

Then, you go back to playing as the Professor, where you learn that you have somehow been transported to a medieval town called Labyrinthia, where the populace is ruled by the Storyteller, where it seems that what he writes comes true. The Professor and Luke then find Espella, who introduces them to Phoenix and Maya, who are toasting bread. Then later that night, Phoenix is summoned to court to defend Espella from being accused of being a witch. “A witch?” So, you go into witch court and then fire execution. I’ve already gone through this shock, so let’s just do a more condensed version: “Oh no, she’s being thrown into a pit of fire! Pain and burning!”

As usual, the second case introduces you to a new prosecutor, or in this case, an inquisitor, and this time we have Zacharias Barnham. As always, it’s about defending the wrongly accused client and finding the true culprit at the same time, but since this is witch times we’re talking about, if someone is defending a witch, you’re going to be at a complete disadvantage. Phoenix actually tries to prove his client’s innocence in each of the witch trials. The trials involve Espella being accused of burning two people in the middle of a forest, Maya (of all people) turning the Professor into gold, and Espella casting a giant fire dragon to kill her father. As the story progresses, you’ll find out the truth behind Labyrinthia and unravel everything for all its citizens. In short, it was a government experiment for people who were tired of their old lives. The story makes pretty good sense, and the storytelling isn’t bad either.

Good Gameplay

Gameplay, gameplay, gameplay. Given that both of these series are visual novels, where most of the fun comes from its writing, gameplay is something they shouldn’t have too much trouble with. The great thing is the Layton formula doesn’t really change at all: go from place to place, talk to people, pick up hint coins, and solve puzzles. Puzzles are an enjoyable part of the game, and they take up most of your playtime. Seriously, the puzzle theming is fantastic. But what we’ve always loved about the Ace Attorney series is that they always seem to add some new form of gameplay to each installment, and this game is no exception as it introduces cross-examination of multiple witnesses and then seeing who has an issue with what the other witness says. It’s really cool, and this element has also been brought back in Dai Gyakuten Saiban. Also, any hint coins you find playing as Professor Layton can be used in the trials to help you if you’re a bit confused. Overall, Layton doesn’t do much but also doesn’t need to do much, and as such, it feels quite pleasant.

Conclusion

Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright is not a weak attempt to cash in on two big names in the handheld space, as it has done a good job as an engaging puzzle game on the Nintendo 3DS. This game can be seen as a gift for fans of both series, and even if you’ve never known them before, this is still a good puzzle game that you shouldn’t miss.

• All files have been compressed by us in 7zip format, so you will need to decompress them. We recommend using 7zip or Winrar.
• The ROM file after decompression is in *3ds format. You can use a suitable Nintendo 3DS emulator to play it. We recommend Citra Emulator or Panda3DS for Windows, MacOS, and Mobile. -> Check Guide Here
• All game information in the ROM Info section is taken from the first file we uploaded. Some games have multiple releases for different markets such as Europe, America, Japan, Korea, etc. Most of the content is the same except for the language pack. You need to pay attention to the file name to distinguish them.