Starting earlier this year, you’ve taken up arms as a Hunter of Kamura Village, fended off the ongoing Rampages, and finally put the mysteries of the Thunder and Wind Serpents to rest. Well done, Hunters.

However, the work of a Hunter never truly ends. A new, ominous chapter is about to unfold in the Monster Hunter Rise saga: enter the monstrous expansion Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak, coming to Nintendo Switch and PC in Summer 2022.

Behold the thrilling teaser trailer we debuted today:

So, what did you think? The eerie music and the new locale come together to set the stage for that menacing monster reveal… It gave me the chills!

As the direct expansion to Monster Hunter Rise, you can expect a massive amount of content coming with Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak, including an all-new storyline with more new monsters, new locales, gameplay elements, a new quest rank, and more!

We’re keeping some of the finer details concealed in darkness until a later date. In the meantime, we have more fun game content coming up for Monster Hunter Rise (including one more Capcom collab!), so stay tuned to the Monster Hunter social medial channels (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube) for the latest news and updates on all things Monster Hunter!

Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak will launch simultaneously on Nintendo Switch and PC in Summer 2022.

Hi, everyone! It’s Janet Hsu, localization director of The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles, back again for one last blog about the history and literary culture of the Meiji and Victorian eras.

It’s been three weeks now since the release of the game – how are you all finding it so far? As some of you are wrapping up your first playthrough (of many, I hope!), I thought I’d share a little bit about the background of the era and point out a few literary references you might have missed. There might be a few small spoilers in here, but I did my utmost to avoid the big ones! Also, I’ll be using the Japanese order of surname, first name for any real life Japanese historical figures I discuss.

Finally, please remember that while The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles draws on historical events and situations, it is by no means a historical game. Many of the portrayals are only veeery loosely based in history, and even things like the names of certain treaties are different in the game to reflect the fictitious nature of our in-game world. Also, this blog article is all based on my own research, and as much as I try to be accurate, I may not hit every point exactly on the head. So, uh… no angry tweets from history majors, please…?

Now then, I guess for a lot of players the first question is: What is the Meiji era? And what does it represent to modern Japanese people?

The Meiji era was kicked off by the external forced opening of Japan to the Western powers by US Commodore Matthew Perry in 1853 and the internal political struggle that resulted in the Meiji Restoration (明治維新) or the Meiji Revolution, which culminated in 1868. One of the reasons why these events were so big is due to the technological gap that had developed between Japan and the Western powers during the long period of self-isolation known as ‘sakoku’ (鎖国 / lit: closed country), and the sense of danger to Japan itself that the Japanese felt as a result of that display of power.

During the Edo period (1603 – 1867), which started after Tokugawa Ieyasu unified all of Japan, the country closed all of its ports (with the lone exception of Nagasaki and a few other designated ports in Kyushu) to outside traders (with the lone exceptions of the Dutch, Chinese, Koreans, and the Ainu). This closure led to internal political stability and peace, but it severely limited the free trade of ideas and technology, in addition to goods and people. Japanese people were not allowed to leave to learn from other countries, and foreign nationals were generally not allowed to come into Japan to set up trade or to share knowledge. So, when Commodore Perry and his Black Ships arrived in modern-day Tokyo Bay, it was a huge catalyst for change.

Most modern Japanese people look back on the Meiji Era as a time of great social change and modernization. New ways of thinking in all areas of life were being discussed and codified. This included not only political things like their system of government, but also the legal system, which was updated to be more Western-like, and less reliant on the whims of your local daimyo (大名 / feudal samurai lord) and his interpretation of ‘the law’ (let’s just say that Ryunosuke’s joke about a samurai cutting a person down to test his blade’s sharpness is a version of something that was officially outlawed, yet was still somehow allowed if a commoner was being rude…).

Part of the reason the ruling class of Japan were so motivated to modernize was the hope that by doing so, they could raise their standing enough to nullify the unfair treaties they had been forced to sign initially. In The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles, our Japan has just signed a treaty that has been in the works for a long time (though whether it was one of the renegotiated treaties is left up to your imagination), and as Kazuma and Auchi’s verbal sparring shows, not everyone was in agreement on how Japan should proceed in these sorts of political negotiations with the West. This was one of the great internal struggles of the era.

Of course, many other areas of society were undergoing modernization as well for a variety of reasons. One of these was in women’s education. Until the Meiji period, compulsory education for boys and girls was not a thing, so one of the ways in which Japan revolutionized was to provide primary and secondary education for all children. Despite good intentions, women were unfortunately not always afforded the same chances as men, and this was especially true in higher education. The first women’s institutions for higher learning weren’t established until 50 years after their male counterparts in 1900 – 1901, and women weren’t admitted into men’s colleges until much later. Now, I’m not saying that’s exactly what Susato and her best friend’s situation was since this series takes huge liberties with history, but this backdrop shows how special these two young ladies would’ve been had they lived in our real world during that time. Certainly, to attain such high levels of education, they might have had private tutors, or in Susato’s case, we know she learned alongside her father and Kazuma.

One figure who’s especially famous and well-known in the field of women’s education is Tsuda Umeko, who spent her youth in the U.S. as a part of the Iwakura Mission and who worked tirelessly upon her return to Japan to bring women’s education up to standards with the American schools she’d attended. One of her greatest achievements was the establishment of one of Japan’s oldest institutes for higher learning for women, Joshi Eigaku Juku (modern day ‘Tsuda University’), in 1900. Her story is a truly fascinating one, and if you have the time, I highly recommend giving at least her Wikipedia page a read. Starting in 2024, you can find her gracing the front of every 5,000 yen bill (around US $50).

Another area of change was in clothing. While many men of the upper classes and certain occupations quickly adopted Western clothing, traditional Japanese clothing were still worn by women of all classes and the average citizen. Many people also mixed and matched their styles like Soseki in Episode 1 of Resolve, and as Ryunosuke and Susato’s designs show. The Western boots Susato wears stand out in contrast against the traditional hakama pants and the pink kimono she wears underneath, while Ryunosuke’s arm guard is evocative of kendo (Japanese sword fighting) and other Japanese sports against a Western-style suit.

In the field of science, the Victorians were still making new discoveries, but one of the things that Resolve touched on was the introduction of germ theory in Europe. I didn’t know how relevant some of these scientific issues would become when we were making the second game originally in 2017, but it became especially eerie when the translators and I came across lines about masks and soap just as the current pandemic was hitting its stride. The characters treating these concepts as ‘new’ ideas really makes you think about how immutable the laws of nature are, and how far our understanding of them has come.

Finally, no overview of the era is complete without acknowledging how the language and literature of the time was greatly affected by all these social changes. With gendered terms like ‘she’ and ‘he’ existing in the languages of Europe came a need to create a new word ‘kanojo’ (彼女) for ‘her’ and the reassignment of the word ‘kare’ (彼) to the realm of the exclusively male ‘he’ for translation purposes, which has since become the norm as we see in modern Japanese today. Any and all Japanese clothing, which was just ‘kimono’ (着物 / lit: things to wear), gained a new term ‘wafuku’ (和服 / lit: Japanese clothing) to go along with the equally new word ‘youfuku’ (洋服 / lit: Western clothing). If you think learning new tech words is hard now, imagine having words about anything and everything in your life constantly changing!

But the new influx of European texts also brought interesting new ideas and technology. One of the greatest cultural influences that was more broadly re-introduced to Japan at this time was Shakespeare and his plays.

…Ahem.

Shakespeare was so beloved by the people of Meiji Japan that he even gained an affectionate nickname, Saou (沙翁 / lit: Old Man/Elder Sa), though many may not have even heard of this name in modern times… until now!

Indeed, the reason a Shakespeare-inspired character appears in Soseki’s episodes is because even he was inspired by and was in direct competition with Shakespeare himself! As a part of his studies into English literature (and NOT the English language as our game pokes fun at!), he studied under one of the preeminent Shakespearian scholars of the time, William James Craig, who did indeed live just off of Baker Street. To this day, Shakespeare’s works continue to inspire countless stories and anime, and even inspired the mighty filmmaker Kurosawa Akira.

Speaking of Soseki, he really is the literary juggernaut he seems to be in Resolve by the end of his career (he was even on the 1,000 yen bill between 1984 – 2004). In addition to his ground-breaking novels, his paper ‘Theory on Literature’ (文学論) is still as insightful today as it ever was on the nature of literature and why people read. It digs into these issues through the lens of then-cutting-edge sociology and psychology. But, also as shown in The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles, Soseki had a pretty miserable time in London, which he describes in the forward of his paper, and he also apparently really did send a blank piece of paper to the Ministry of Education as his annual progress report.

In naming the episodes of the first game back in 2014, Mr. Takumi had wanted me to come up with their English titles as well. The Japanese title of the Soseki-centric Episode 4 made reference to his novel ‘I Am a Cat’ (吾輩は猫である / Wagahai wa Neko de aru) with the word ‘Wagahai’ (吾輩). Wanting to keep some sort of Soseki reference in the title, I suggested ‘Clouded Kokoro’ (a reference to his novel ‘Kokoro’, which heartbreakingly explores the themes of cultural shifts, and ‘traditional’ and ‘modern’ Japan in the Meiji era). Initially, Mr. Takumi thought the ‘Kokoro’ reference might bring a melancholy mood to the episode title, lest it drew attention to the real-life Soseki’s depression, but our Soseki was so different, and the concept of a ‘clouded mind/heart’ also fit well with the other themes in his episodes, so that’s what we went with.

But did you know? The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles is actually not the first crossover between the great detective and Soseki. In fact, there are a number of Holmes pastiches, including the arguably most famous one available in English, a Japanese story from 1953 called ‘The Yellow Lodger’ (黄色い下宿人) by Yamada Fuutarou where Holmes solves a case thanks to Soseki’s help. Another famous Japanese story is Shimada Souji’s 1984 novel, ‘Souseki to Rondon Miira Satsujin Jiken’ (漱石と倫敦ミイラ殺人事件 / lit: ‘Soseki and the Case of the London Mummy Murder’, which doesn’t seem to have an English translation yet(?), and is currently running as a serial manga!) sees the two solving a mystery like no other. The story is written from both Soseki and Wilson’s perspectives, and you could not read more disparate depictions of the same great detective in one story! It’s funny to think that perhaps the reason people are so easily able to imagine Soseki as a fictional character is thanks to Soseki himself – he’d actually written a series of short stories about his adventures in London where he is the star character in them! Soseki’s writings and Mr. Yamada’s ‘The Yellow Lodger’ pastiche are available in English in ‘The Tower of London: Tales of Victorian London’, translated by Damian Flanagan.

Of course, Soseki and Sholmes aren’t the only literary references in The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles. The Victorian era is known for bringing the mystery genre to the fore. People have long thought (and conducted research into this) that as police departments and detective work became more established as an institution during the Victorian era, so too did the public’s fascination with grisly tales of crime and murder grow. People wanted to read fantastical stories about the police and detectives who solved crimes similar to the ones they saw as headlines in the newspaper. In a sense, these fictional detectives were the superheroes of their time. As a reflection of his great love of the genre, Mr. Takumi included references and pays homage to quite a number of mysteries and their famous detectives from the Victorian era and the ‘Golden Age of Detective Fiction’ of the 1920s and 1930s. These homages include, but are not limited to:
・‘The Hands of Mr. Ottermole’
・Monsieur Lecoq, and his creator Émile Gaboriau
・Dr. John Evelyn Thorndyke
・Solar Pons
・the Black Widowers and the club waiter Henry Jackson
・Baroness Emma Orczy, who wrote what was considered at the time to be the rival of Holmes, ‘The Old Man in the Corner’

And my favorite reference of them all: Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective by Shu Takumi! *wink*

Basically, anything that seems awfully specific and not a pun, well… that just might be a reference to something!

In Escapade 6, we also talked about a contemporary of Soseki’s named Mori Ougai, who was a real-life contemporary and rival (but only in the sense that their approaches to life and their writing were due to their circumstances at birth). But he’s not the only literary figure to make an appearance. In fact, there’s a little hidden appearance featuring Mark Twain and his adventures in bicycling that Iris and Susato refer to…

The Meiji and Victorian eras were a time of great change and societal introspection, for no segment of life was untouched by the great internal struggle. In Japan, it was keenly felt in that push and pull that tugged at each person’s heart over the questions of how Western was ‘too Western’ and what traditions were worth keeping or were integral to the core of Japanese identity. And in London, a similar struggle was taking place due to the industrial revolution and everything it brought to the lives of the average citizen – from moving into cities from the countryside to overcrowded working conditions indoors and in mines. Regardless the period, these themes of change are always relevant, though it is felt stronger in some eras by some people than by others. Still, it seems especially relevant in today’s world to me, where technology has taken over a good portion of our lives, and some people wonder if we’ve advanced too quickly, or if the speed of technology’s advance has been allowed to dictate the rate at which society changes, for example. That’s what makes the literature of the era timeless and endlessly relatable, in my opinion, as life is never quite as static or as stable as we’d like to think it is.

And that brings me to the end of these dev blogs! I hope you’ve enjoyed reading them as much as I’ve enjoyed writing them. I hope you’ll join me in one last ‘Thank you!’ to the wonderful people who made this game possible – from the producers and the director, to the translators at Plus Alpha Translations, our recording partners at SIDE UK, and the rest of the dev team. And, of course…

Thank YOU, the fans, for all your love and support of the series!!!

Take care of yourselves and each other!
Until we meet again!

Hot on the heels of the SFV Summer Update 2021 earlier this month, Oro and Akira have now arrived in Street Fighter V! Quite fitting they are paired together: Oro being a fighting master while Akira is always striving to learn more. Both are set to teach their opponents a lesson or two by bringing different gameplay styles to the roster.

Oro and Akira come fully equipped with unique moves and quirks, such as Oro’s ability to double jump, and Akira’s Rival Schools style “Air Bursts.” We’ve already covered both characters’ move sets in-depth before, so check out the Summer Update blog for those details. Today, let’s start with talking about how Oro and Akira fit into the overall world and story setting of SFV.

Oro, the Street Fighter III Veteran, Returns to SFV!

Oro, fighting master and hermit, has made his return into Street Fighter V!Although Oro is a bit reclusive, he has been seen wandering throughout various Street Fighter V’scharacter stories. He has appeared alongside Dhalsim, given advice to Menat, and most recently, felt a strong energy presence with Rose that has called him to action. Perhaps a new challenge?

Oro’s playstyle in SFIII has been faithfully brought into SFV featuring a set of V-Skills and V-Triggers that combine older moves with new ones. I personally like his V-Trigger II, “Tengu Stone” which opens up tons of combo paths. In addition, “Tengu Midare Stone” adds even more damage and makes combos even flashier. If you prefer an in-your-face style of play, I recommend his V-Trigger I, “Manrikitan,” which gives Oro access to his command throw “Kishinriki” for a more direct approach and high damage. Unlike most other command throws, “Kishinriki” can be used as a combo ender, adding significant damage to combos.

When it comes to Oro, you can’t go wrong with any combo of moves! Check out the Summer Update 2021 blog for the full breakdown!

Akira Kazama Graduates from Rival Schools and Rides into Street Fighter V!

Akira hails from the Rival Schools series and, much like Oro, is no stranger to the cast of SFV.Akira and Sakura trained together back in their high school days and got to know each other through fighting. It seems like others are looking to challenge Akira too!

Akira is also unique in that she is the only character to have two voice actors provide voices for her in her Character Story! She has a slightly lower-toned voice when with her helmet on, posing as a male student in the original Rival Schools game. When she removes her helmet, she speaks with her normal voice. A very nice touch added to keep Akira true to her Rival Schools roots.

Akira also brought a variety of different outfits that are throwbacks to her attires in Rival Schools. Hardcore Rival Schools fans may notice one costume in particular that is a reference to the Japan-only PlayStation version of Rival Schools. This version contained a bonus Disc 2 called “Evolution,” and featured a Friendship Simulator where you would interact with the various characters from the game in a visual novel style. During Akira’s story, she dons a maid outfit. This outfit has been brought over to Street Fighter V as a homage to this rarely seen side of Akira!

Akira’s moveset has also been updated for SFV. Here you can see that her “Kiko Kai” is an adaptation from the move in Rival Schools.

Also, like in her alma mater series, Akira can call her brother Daigo as an assist of sorts using her V-Trigger I “Otoko No Senaka.” If ever you’re facing off against Akira using her V-Trigger I, the most important tip I can give is this: respect Daigo.

When Daigo arrives, he cannot be attacked or interrupted. You can, however, use V-Reversal or V-Shift on his attacks, so save meter wisely and choose the right time and move to get out of tricky mixups from Akira! Check out the Summer Update 2021 blog for the full analysis of Akira’s moveset.

New Stage, Mode, and V-Shift Balance

In addition to Oro and Akira dropping, there is also the brand new stage, “Rival Riverside.” This stage is available now in-store for $3.99, in-game for 70,000 Fight Money, or as part of the SFV Season 5 Premium Pass.

There is also a major adjustment to V-Shift. You can now execute the move outside of a neutral state either while moving forward or backwards. The Battle Balance team feels this will help give more opportunities to utilize the move in different scenarios. Check out the Shadaloo C.R.I. page for all the details.

We’ve refined and released Online Tournament Mode which was previously in a beta phase. With this mode, you can create and participate in tournaments made by you, your friends, and SFV community members. Check out the Online Tournament Mode blog for more info on how the mode works!

Major Sales and Free Trial!

We have discounted various SFV related versions and bundles! Alongside these sales, we also are holding a Free Trial of Season 1-4 of SFV happening now ending August 18. For more info on the sales and Free Trial, check out the Summer Update 2021 Blog.

And with that, we hope you all enjoy both Oro and Akira in SFV!Both characters are available now as part of the Season 5 Premium Pass and Character Pass, in-store for $5.99 each, or in-game for 100,000 Fight Money each.

With Oro and Akira now available, that leaves one more character left. Luke is getting revved up and ready to go for a November release. We look forward to sharing more about him with you in the future!

With the arrival of Oro and Akira also comes the long awaited Online Tournament Mode! This free mode is now available to all Street Fighter V players and will allow you to participate in player-created tournaments and even host your own! In this blog, we’ll go over the details on how to join or start your own tournament.

First up, we have a video that highlights the main features of this mode:

Creating a Tournament

To create your own tournament in SFV, start by navigating to the “CFN” menu on the Main Menu. From there, scroll all the way to the right and select “Tournament.”

From here, you’ll see a list of tournaments already created. Press the “Options” button to enter the tournament creation mode. You’ll start by determining the basic details of your tournament. Keep in mind that the name of your tournament will be your Capcom Fighter ID followed by “CUP” (e.g. a player named “Fighter01” will get a tournament called “Fighter01 CUP”).

After creating your tournament, you’ll have the option to modify the following:

• Start Date and Time – Time zone is determined based on your location.
• Max number of Players/Teams – Max of 64 total.
• Password – If you wish to limit who can enter, they will need to know the password.
• Tournament Format – Double or single elimination.
• 3^rd Place Playoff – If you wish to have a playoff match for 3^rd place.
• Character Select – If this is off, players will be defaulted to their favorite characters for online matches.

• Regulations – 1-on-1 or 2-on-2 / 3-on-3 Team Battles.
• Match Format through Throwaway Matches – Rules set for Team Battles only.
• Rounds – Number of rounds per match.
• Match Time – How long each round will be.
• Victory Settings – First to 1, 2, or 5 rounds.

• Hardware – PS4, PC, or no preference.
• Entry Preference – Open to all players or limited to nearby players only.
• League Restrictions – This applies to rank such as Bronze, Silver, Gold, etc.
• Character Restrictions – Limit certain characters only or allow any character!
  • Note: participating players can only use characters they own.
• Stage Restrictions – Limit which stages can be chosen.
  • Note: only stages owned by the tournament creator can be selected. Random Stage setting is set by default.

From here, the tournament is created and the creator can monitor who enters and they can remove any players they want. Entrants can also view the list to see who their potential opponents will be.

Tournament Creator can also live spectate matches if they reserve in advance. Participants and all SFV users can watch the replays after the bracket concludes.

Once a tournament ends, you can view the winner and the results of each match from the entire tournament.

Joining a Tournament

Joining a tournament is even easier than setting one up! Simply go to the Online Tournament Mode and see the list of available tournaments.

You can change the display order to filter tournaments out or search directly via Fighter ID (FID) or keywords. As a reminder, tournament names will be the FID + “CUP” so if you are looking to join a specific tournament, search for the creator’s FID.

If you are entering a team tournament, you can send requests to friends to join your team.

Once entered, you can view the participant list until the tournament begins. You’ll have to check in before the tournament begins, including teammates if it is a team tournament, so take note of the tournament’s date and time. From there, you participate as normal and fight to become the champion!

We hope you enjoy Online Tournament Mode and that this gets your Street Fighter V competitive juices flowing even more! For more info on Online Tournament Mode, check out the Online Manual. Also, be sure to check our Twitter and Facebook for info on upcoming tournaments!

Hi, everyone. It’s Yasuyuki Makino, the main producer of The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles. It’s been about a week since the game’s release. How have you been enjoying it so far?

So, last time, I shared a few of my thoughts and memories of the Ace Attorney and The Great Ace Attorney series with you. This time, I thought I’d talk a little about the creation of the brand new Chronicles logo in both Japanese and English. I hope you’ll indulge me in a little reminiscing.

Designing the Japanese Logo

As some of you may already know, in conjunction with the release of the Nintendo 3DS version of Resolve, we released a special limited-edition double-pack containing both Adventures and Resolve (we packaged them together into one thick box). So when it came time to think about what to do for the package and logo of this multi-platform collection, I initially thought I could reuse the old logo design since the title was going to be the same… but I quickly realized that we absolutely had to use a different design if we were to avoid any player confusion.

Knowing that we were definitely going to up-res everything, and definitely add some in-game bonuses, and definitely make some quality of life adjustments to the game, the scope of this project was going to be far greater than simply bundling the two games into one and call it a day. As I mentioned last time, this was to be a chance to re-introduce The Great Ace Attorney to the whole world, so as a producer, I approached this as a totally new title – complete with a new marketing campaign! With that intent in mind, I asked our graphics design team to come up with a few different color and design variations for the logo. Broadly speaking, I asked for designs that were reminiscent of the original, and designs that presented the game in a new light (basically, ones that went in a different direction). These are a few of their suggestions.

And then… after listening to feedback from the game’s director, localization director, and other dev team and promo team members, we struggled through a few iterations to arrive at this. It’s a pretty bold design, really, if I do day so myself.

I chose to go with this divergent design because I thought it was more important for the logo to be eye-catching than to stick with the original design. So, we proceeded to use this logo until, one day, I received a simple, “We need to talk” from the original art director and character designer, Mr. Kazuya Nuri. I’d asked him to create a new illustration for the package art of this title, so I quickly set up a meeting for us. Wondering what could be up, I entered the meeting room, where I was immediately blown back out by an intense “What the heck is with that logo?!” In all the time I’ve worked with Mr. Nuri on various projects since the release of the 3DS version of Resolve (and even now after we’ve finished making Chronicles) I’d never been told off quite so soundly by him. But this time, I’d apparently “really gone way too far!!!!”, as he put it. After I explained my rationale to him (about how I wanted to make sure the logo didn’t look too much like the old one and how I wanted to approach the marketing of this game as a new title), he said, “All right, let me see if I can’t strike a better balance”, and took up the job of redesigning the logo himself. The final logo is the product of his hard work, and before long, Mr. Nuri also turned in his new key visual for this game’s box art. In a way, I suppose you could say that I got everything I wanted as a producer out of him. After all, I’m sure you were as dumbstruck as me when you first laid eyes on that illustration, weren’t you? This is an excellent example of how one quack producer’s rational thinking can be defeated by a super talented creator’s sensibilities through his art.

Designing the English Logos

Because of the importance of the English version to this project, we obviously had to create some English logos as well. Early on in the development, the localization director and I discussed the English title, and we quickly settled on including the word “Great” in it. As for the subtitles, our overseas offices advised us that the name ‘Naruhodo’ itself is unfamiliar to most players, so it seemed natural that we should simply go with “Adventures” and “Resolve”. With the title squared away, we asked the graphics design team to send us a few ideas based around these three concepts:

1. Must convey that this is an Ace Attorney game (similar-looking designs to the existing logos were acceptable)
2. Must convey the Victorian setting
3. Should feature a stylish steampunk aesthetic (as an extension of concept number 2)

And here are some of the initial designs we received.

Ideas in hand, it was a relatively short journey to our final designs for Adventures and Resolve, but the road to the Chronicles logo was very long and winding… You almost have to see it to believe it, but here are the initial design ideas we received. I think you can imagine just how bumpy the path must’ve been from this starting point…

Along with the graphics design team, we poured over reference materials of all sorts – fonts and typography, Victorian signage, steampunk images, and even previous Japanese promotional materials for the series. The main dev staff, the localization director, and I would send detailed feedback to the design team, and they’d send a few more suggestions our way. Back and forth we went, before finally settling on on the final version you see today. You might think that in the course of creating something, it’s only natural to iterate on a concept over and over, but the process this time was so painfully long… Still, all the pieces fell into place eventually, so let’s just say, “all’s well that ends well”!

And that’s where I think I’ll end this story. Thank you for sticking with me over two blog entries. Next time, it’ll be our localization director Janet’s turn again. I can feel this strong aura of incredible enthusiasm radiating from her desk behind me, like she’s just raring to talk about Soseki Natsume and the Meiji era for those who want to know more about the historical and cultural context behind The Great Ace Attorney’s setting. I hope you’ll join her then!

With the summer heat comes hot news with SFV Summer Update 2021! It’s hard to believe that last year we began our journey into Season 5 of Street Fighter V and now we’re reaching its end! We’ll soon be releasing Oro and Akira, and after that our fifth and final character, Luke! For now, let’s recap the news from our Summer Update event.

If you’ve missed the live stream and want to see all the action for yourselves, join SFV Director Takayuki Nakayama and Producer Shuhei Matsumoto as they dive deeper into all the reveals here:

Oro, the Hermit, comes out of his shell!

Returning from the Street Fighter III series, the wandering hermit is set to show these young kids how it’s done. Oro’s playstyle in SFIII has allowed for a variety of gameplay strategies and his SFV iteration is no different. We’ve gone over Oro before, in the SFV Spring Update, so check out that blog for a refresh of Oro’s moveset. We’ll briefly cover some more in-depth details here.

Oro’s V-System: Something Old, Something New, and Eyes Turned Blue

Oro’s V-Skills and V-Triggers are a combination of older moves from SFIII, as well as brand new moves that give Oro a variety of options for attacking his opponents. His V-Skill I, “Onibi,” is a bouncing orb projectile reminiscent of his “Yagyodama” Super Art from SFIII. This orb can bounce at three different trajectories depending on the direction held when activated and it can negate opponent’s projectiles.

Pro tip fromDirector Takayuki Nakayama: “The best time to activate ‘Onibi’ would be after knocking back the opponent with the heavy version of ‘Tsuranekeashi’ or the EX Version of ‘Nichirin Sho’, which is another projectile that chases after the opponent and is hard to avoid.”

Oro’s V-Skill II is “Minomushi,” a short hop that can be canceled off of normals and has two different follow-up attacks. The punch follow-up, “Kaki Otoshi,” is an overhead. The kick, “Eda Uchi,” is a move that closes the distance and is difficult for opponents to punish on block if you hit them with the edge of the attack.

With Oro’s V-Trigger I “Manrikitan,” his eyes burn blue and give him access to his command grab “Kishinriki” on the ground and “Kishin Kuchu Jigoku Gurama” in the air.

Oro’s “Tengu Stone,” also makes a return as his V-Trigger II. Oro pulls in three objects above his head that can create combos that weren’t possible before. Random rare objects, such as Sean’s Basketball or Blanka-chan, will add some extra damage or stun depending on which item you get.

If you hold Down while activating his V-Trigger, Oro will produce five objects instead of three. This move is called “Tengu Midare Stone,” and will drain the V-Gauge much faster… but it also opens up even more combo possibilities.

With “Tengu Midare Stone” included, all of Oro’s classic and secret moves have been incorporated into SFV, with even new hidden techniques added to the mix! All the while, he keeps his turtle friend safe in his opposite hand, maintaining his “one armed” style of fighting. Sometimes he’ll have the turtle levitate or balanced atop his head though…

We hope you’re all excited to play Oro when he releases on August 16!

Akira Kazama rides into Street Fighter V along with her brother Daigo!

New to the world of Street Fighter, Akira Kazama got her start in the fighting game world in the Rival Schools series, which debuted in 1997. The original game was a one-on-one style fighting game where players could call in teammates as assist characters.

In SFV, Akira calls upon the help of her older brother Daigo as her V-Trigger assist, similar to that of Rival Schools. Her playstyle is best when she’s up-close and personal, although she also has a few long range moves that can help keep opponents at bay. Let’s dive deeper into her moves.

Akira’s Special Moves

Akira brings her old moveset from Rival Schools alongside with some new tricks! “Kiko Kai” is a short ranged energy blast that can quickly and easily combo from normal attacks. The EX version has a longer range that can be utilized to control space.

“Urarimon” is a fast elbow strike that allows Akira to close the gap and deal a good amount of damage. She also can follow up with more attacks after landing the hit, but its best used as a combo ender.

Her “Senshubu” kick has three variations: low, medium, and high. Once you land a successful hit, you can maximize your damage utilizing the proper combo ender!

Akira’s V-System                                

Akira’s V-Skill I “Kiko Rensei,” enhances her “Kiko Kai” by adding more hits and damage to the attack. The enhanced EX version will also get a wall bounce, nullify opponent projectiles and the mid-air version gets an enhanced falling trajectory.

Her V-Skill II, “Tsutenda,” is an adaptation of a move that originates from Rival Schools,where Akira launches her opponents into the air for combo opportunities called “Air Bursts.”

This move can also be utilized at the end of her Target Combo for a “Short Air Burst,” which launches opponents at a shorter height than a regular “Air Burst.”

If you’ve watched our SFV Spring Update this past April, then you’ve already seen Akira’s V Trigger I. It’s called “Otoko No Senaka” and features her brother Daigo dropping down from the sky and slamming the opponent in an energy burst explosion!

Once Daigo is on the scene, he will continue to attack even if Akira gets hit! He can even interrupt opponents if they have Akira in a combo.

Her V-Trigger II, “Haten no Kamae,” puts Akira in a special fighting stance where she can execute three different follow-up attacks. Once activated, the V-Gauge becomes a timer allowing her to execute “Haten no Kamae” up to two times.

Each follow up attack has unique attributes depending on the button press. You can add damage and hits to your combos or execute an attack that is safe on block. You can also cancel the stance at any time and go for a throw instead! This V-Trigger is great for combo extensions or setting up frame traps and mixups. 

Akira has studied up and is ready to educate anyone who gets in her way!We hope you are ready to experience the perfect merging of Rival Schools gameplay within Street Fighter V when Akira arrives on August 16!

New Stage: Rival Riverside

Rival Riverside, a Rival Schools stage near a river and near Akira’s school, Gedo High School is a new stage that will be arriving alongside Akira, on August 16. The sunset means it’s after school hours, so you might see some other Rival Schools characters hanging around too.

Online Tournament Mode

We’ve also shared more details on the Online Tournament Mode! This free mode will be launching alongside Oro and Akira on August 16 and will be available to all players. Through this mode you’ll be able to create and participate in your own online tournaments with friends, Dojo members, and anyone from SFV community! You’ll be able to tinker with a wider variety of rule sets to make your tournaments as wild or restrictive as you want. We’ll have more information on this mode very soon, including some fun tournaments hosted by us, so stay tuned!

Season 5’s Final Character has been revealed! Luke enters the ring!  

Our biggest Summer Update 2021 announcement was about the one thing on everyone’s mind since we first announced Season 5: the 5^th and final character for Street Fighter V!

Introducing Luke, a brand new character that will help expand the world of Street Fighter. Check out the announcement video:

From what we can see, Luke appears to focus on moving fast and hitting hard. His punches even shoot beam-like projectiles at an alarming speed! Luke will step into the ring November 2021, and we can’t wait to share more info about him soon!

Round 2: Fortnite x Street Fighter

In addition to all the SFV news, we also announced our second collaboration with Fortnite! Guile and Cammy will be joining Fortnite as new outfits with unique emotes, obtainable for a limited time starting August 7. Also, be sure to check out the Cammy Cup tournament hosted by the Fortnite team, happening on August 5.

Street Fighter League returns for Season 4!

New info has emerged for the upcoming Season 4 of Street Fighter League coming soon! SFL Japan returns in August with Scouting and Qualifiers and Season 3 of the SFL US will complete in September. Then in October, get ready for Season 4 of Street Fighter League! Check out the Summer Update 2021 video for all the news!

In addition, we’ve also discounted all of the Capcom Pro Tour Premier Passes!

• CPT 2016 Pack – 50% off
• CPT 2017 Premier Pass – 50% off
• CPT 2018 Premier Pass – 30% off
• CPT 2019 Premier Pass – 25% off
• CPT 2020 Premier Pass – 25% off

SFV Season 5 Pass, Free Trial, and Sales!

Now that Luke has been revealed as the final character in SFV, check out what’s updated with the Season 5 Pass, including all five characters, costumes, and more!

In addition, we’re offering a Free Trial on PS4, from August 4 through August 18, where you’ll have access to SFV Seasons 1-4!

We also have some sales going on for SFV and, for the first time, we are discounting the Season 5 Premium and Character Passes as well as the SFV:CE + Season 5 and Upgrade Kit + Season 5 Pass bundles! Check it out:

Get the following content at a discount (PS4) | (Steam):

• Season 5 Premium Pass (25% off)
• Season 5 Character Pass (25% off)
• SFVCE + Premium Pass Bundle (30% off)
• SFVCE Upgrade Kit + Premium Pass Bundle (30% off)
• SFV (60% off)
• Champion Edition (up to 35% off)
• Champion Edition Upgrade Kit (40% off)

And that wraps up another SFV Seasonal Update! Thanks to everyone who has supported us over the years, especially with the fifth and final Season 5. We’re super excited to share more with you on Oro, Akira, Luke and the future of Street Fighter. Keep fighting!

Hi Everyone! Nice to meet you! I’m the main producer of The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles, Yasuyuki Makino. I can’t believe the game is really, finally, almost here. What a long road it’s been, truly.

As we approach the launch of my first title as a producer, I thought I’d share a few of my personal thoughts and fond memories of the Ace Attorney and The Great Ace Attorney series, along with a history of my work on the series. I hope you’ll join me on this trip down memory lane.

Before I joined Capcom, I’d worked in the promotional business for about 10 years. In my last year in that field, I had the good fortune to work on the promotional campaign of a famous anime, one that I’d wanted to be involved with since my university days. So, I really gave it my all. It was then that I felt I’d done everything I wanted to do in promotions, and after the end of the campaign, I started to look towards the next thing I wanted to try in life: making a game. When I began to consider where I’d want to go, the first name that came to mind was “Capcom”.

Why Capcom, you ask? It’s because I’m originally from Osaka…although that really only accounted for 5% of the reason why. The real reason is because, more than anything, I’d always thought of Capcom as this remarkable company that consistently develops and releases game after crazy game (I 200% mean this as a compliment!). Ghosts ’n Goblins, Mega Man, Final Fight, Street Fighter, Resident Evil, Onimusha, Devil May Cry, Monster Hunter… the list of hit series goes on and on. But the one that stood out to me the most is Ace Attorney.

I played my first Ace Attorney game as an adult, and though I started with the fourth entry in the series, Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney, it managed to really surprise me in many ways. I couldn’t imagine what sort of game it would be at first from words like ‘courtroom trials’ and ‘lawyers’, but I had far more fun than I thought I would, and the game design and characters blew me away. It had never occurred to me until then that I could become a lawyer and experience a legal battle through a video game, and I bitterly regretted not picking the series up sooner. The day after I finished Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney, I rushed out to buy all three of the Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney games that came before it. Courtrooms and trials sound very stuffy and unrelatable on the surface, but as I played those games, I came to strongly feel and think, ‘It’s mind-blowing how Capcom’s taken such a boring-sounding concept and turned it into something so fun and appealing. It’s so fresh and groundbreaking… What a super creative company…’

And so, with thoughts of wanting to make (and release) an incredible series like Ace Attorney in mind, I decided to knock on Capcom’s door. Even with virtually no knowledge of how to make a game, I strongly stated during my job interview, ‘I love the Ace Attorney series and hope to have the change to produce an entry in it someday!!’ Thanks to my passionate plea (or not – I don’t honestly know…), I was hired, and from that day onwards, I was always on the lookout for a chance to work on the series.

My first chance came with the first game, The Great Ace Attorney: Adventures for the Nintendo 3DS. My job back then was to assist in the promotion of the game, so everything I did was behind the scenes. I picked and adapted 100 difficult brain teasers and created the web assets for the ‘The Great Ace Attorney 100 Quiz Questions Challenge’ by myself, worked to make hands-on demo events happen, came up with ideas for the ‘Ryunosuke Naruhodo’s Seven Days of Sin’ videos, and various other promotional activities. I even had the chance to play up to the climax of the story (and only up to the climax, which is connected to the tragedy that’s to follow). I thought the characters and the game’s world were the most charming of the entire Ace Attorney franchise, and the mysteries themselves! They were incredibly intriguing as well! The Dance of Deduction and Summation Examination systems were also really well made, I thought, as I waited with great anticipation for the day when players would get the chance to enjoy it for themselves.

… and then, it was launch day. ‘Ooh, looks like everyone is really loving it! This is great!’ I thought over that first weekend, and by Monday, there was a sea of online stores reviews. Players brought up all sorts of things, but the one that kept coming up was, ‘This game is the worst of the worst because it’s incomplete.’ Even though I wasn’t directly involved in the game’s development, the storm of terrible reviews was heart-breaking. My boss at the time told me to document all the reviews I could. So, with tears in my eyes for a game that I loved and a dev team I respected, I read each review one by one and collected them into a report. It was so hard, and I was so miserable that it really brought me down. After that, I began my work on a different title, so I wasn’t able to help with the 3DS version of the second game, which came out two years later.

Even though I wasn’t directly involved with Resolve itself, stories of how the dev team was burning the candle at both ends to complete a ghastly amount of work reached my ears. After the game’s release, I had the chance to better know some of the dev team members and work with them a little. It was then that I learned even more of their tale. To a dev team member, I’m kind of like an outsider looking in, but I think I just might be the most knowledgeable outsider there is about what the team was really going through at the time. Happily, Resolve was tremendously well-received by the fans, and I think perhaps players could even sense through their game screens the incredible pains and hardships the dev team went through behind the scenes. But the team had stayed strong through it all. To be able to feel the creators’ immense dedication and strength simply by playing their game is a really rare thing, I think. As for me, I’m pretty sure that the only Capcom game I’ve ever shed a tear over as the credits rolled was Resolve. I don’t mean to brag for the team, but it really is an amazing game.

As all you fans have said so many times, I really do think that Adventures and Resolve together forms one complete ‘god-tier game’. In fact, I’d go so far as to call it one of the best pieces of mystery entertainment in the world. Which is why I was so sad that we couldn’t bring it out in the rest of the world, and sad for the people who didn’t pick up the second game, and really, really sad for those who didn’t even pick up the first game. I guess it’s unusual for someone who wasn’t even a part of the original dev team to feel this incredibly sad over something, but that’s how I felt.

As I said, I had chosen to come to Capcom because of my love for Ace Attorney, and after a great many talks with the original dev members, I began to believe that perhaps it was my calling to try to re-introduce The Great Ace Attorney to Japanese players, and finally introduce it to the rest of the world. I’d worked on a few games by that point and gained some experience as a producer, so one day, at a meeting with my boss (the one who told me to write up all those reviews into a report), I boldly proposed, ‘Let me start a project to bring the two games together and port them to current gen platforms! I believe it will absolutely sell, so please give me the chance to show you!’ And…to my surprise, he simply answered, ‘I see… Well, I won’t say no just yet, so why don’t you try and come up with a plan first and we can go from there…’!!! In that moment, I could hear the doors to The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles project creak open.

The original dev team was unbelievably uncompromising when they created the 3DS version (to the point where the quality of things like the character models were far beyond what was necessary for that platform, lol), making me want to be equally as uncompromising on Chronicles! So I made all sorts of unreasonable requests of this game’s team and had a lot of new features developed and implemented. I really can’t blame our game director, Mr. Kougou, for grumbling about it all in his blog entry, but I joined Capcom for the chance to work on this series, so he was just going to have to put up with me. *laugh*

Adding features like the Special Contents section and Story Mode – I felt that we had to do whatever it took to bring this game out to the world, no matter what! So that’s what we did. I believe the dev team this time has made the game even more beautiful and even easier to play than before, and carefully packaged it all in one highly polished collection. I just want to say, ‘Great work, everyone! And thank you!’

It is truly my greatest wish for as many people as possible to play The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles, a game that was made with such love and care by so many dev team members.

I think I’ll stop here for today. Next time, I’ll be talking about the creation of the game’s logo in Japanese and English. I hope you’ll join me again for that. See you then.

Brain Teaser Answers

1. ‘500’ for the 500 yen coin – the symbols on the right represent the shape of the actual coins, so the monetary value with the mistaken representation is the 500 yen coin, which has no hole in the middle.
2. ハツゲンニイギアリ – this puzzle is based around the Japanese syllabary and the position of the letters in the traditional layout relative to the phrase (riddle) ひつぜんなきがかり, and then writing the answer in katakana instead of hiragana. (Traditional layout)

The day has finally arrived. Steel your resolve and prepare for adventure, because Ryunosuke Naruhodo is about to step into a Western courtroom for the first time. The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles is available now on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Steam!

First up, a little bit of history for those not already in the know. The Great Ace Attorney: Adventures begins Ryunosuke’s journey, and was originally released in Japan in 2015 as Dai Gyakuten Saiban: Naruhodo Ryunosuke no Boken. Featuring Ryunosuke, ancestor to famed blue-suited attorney Phoenix Wright, the game was set a little over a century before the events of the original Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney at the turn of the 20^th century. Its sequel, The Great Ace Attorney 2: Resolve – or Dai Gyakuten Saiban 2: Naruhodo Ryunosuke no Kakugo – was released in 2017 and picked up the story shortly after the end of the first game. For the past several years, neither of these games has been officially available in English… until now.

The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles brings both of these games together in one collection, providing dozens of hours of gameplay across ten compelling cases, all set against the backdrop of early 1900’s Japan and London. A grand story of Ryunosuke’s adventures, resolve, trials, and tribulations awaits you! From his very first steps as a nervous student who can barely say “Yes!” in the courtroom to a confident defense attorney who shouts “OBJECTION!” like no other (except his descendant, maybe), you’ll watch Ryunosuke change and grow throughout each novel adventure he embarks on. And it’s not as though he’ll be all on his own, either.

As Ryunosuke travels from his native home of Meiji-era Nippon (what Japan was typically called in English in the early 1900’s) to Victorian-era London to defend clients in the famous Old Bailey courthouse, he’ll be joined by Susato Mikotoba, a diligent judicial assistant who not only helps Ryunosuke during his investigations, but also takes an active role in helping the fledgling lawyer understand England’s legal system to better make their case in court. Outside of the courtroom, you’ll also find assistance from London’s own Ace Detective, the inimitable Herlock Sholmes, as well as the young doctor, author, and inventor, Iris Wilson. During investigations, Herlock will often offer up his “assistance” in deducing the truth of the matter via the “Dance of Deduction”. As Ryunosuke, you’ll need to find the holes in Herlock’s… over-eager deductions about people and places involved with the crime scene in order to find the truth of the matter. You’ll also meet plenty more of a colorful cast of characters along the way, including the famed – and perhaps cursed? – poet and author, Soseki Natsume; Lord Chief Justice of London, Mael Stronghart; pickpocket Gina Lestrade, and many more.

Standing across from Ryunosuke in court trials, however, will be the ruthless Barok van Zieks, a prosecutor who’s been dubbed with the distressing title of “Grim Reaper of the Old Bailey” due to the mysterious circumstances that seem to befall those he prosecutes. Throwing another wrench into things is the addition of multiple witnesses to the stand and a jury that can influence the outcome of the trial! Regardless of each juror’s stance, Ryunosuke will have his moment to conduct a “Summation Examination”, asking questions of the jury and pointing out flaws and conflicting statements in their logic. Help Ryunosuke sway the jury in the defense’s favor to secure a victory in court!

But… maybe you’re more interested in the story, and simply want to brew a cup of tea, put your feet up, and let the story unfold in front of your eyes. Maybe you want to share the game with your community without having to worry about the puzzles during investigations, or spending time on finding just the right statement or evidence to move things along in court. No matter what kind of player you are, don’t worry – we’ve got you covered!

The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles also includes a brand-new feature to the franchise: Story Mode! Just what it says on the tin, this mode lets you kick back and enjoy the story while the game takes care of finding items, solving puzzles, and pointing out inconsistencies all on its own. You can enjoy the game just like it’s a visual novel or even a TV show! This mode is completely optional and can be turned on or off at any time, too, so it’s also great if you just need a little nudge to get past a section that’s stumping you. A standard text auto-advance is also included.

There’s an incredible amount of extra features packed in as well. A gallery full of illustrations and commentary from the Art Director, plenty of music tracks with commentary from the Music Director, voice clips, and anime cutscenes from the story await you. There are also eight additional “Escapades” mini-episodes that are separate from the main story, two “Special Trial” videos, thirteen video clips from “Ryunosuke Naruhodo’s Seven Days of Sin”, and three alternate costumes that can be used in The Great Ace Attorney 2: Resolve. Oh, and there’s also a toggle to switch between English and Japanese voices.

Purchases before August 31^st, 11:59 PM EDT on Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 and purchases before September 1^st at 9:59 AM EDT on Steam will also receive the “From the Vaults” DLC, which includes additional, never-before-released illustrations and music that any fan of Ace Attorney – and any fan of excellent music –  is sure to enjoy.

From Ryunosuke to Phoenix, being an ace attorney really does run in the family. On behalf of everyone at Capcom, I want to say thank you to all the fans who have been patiently waiting for this day. The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles is now available both digitally and physically on Nintendo Switch, and digitally for both PlayStation 4 and Steam!

And with that, I trust nobody has a – say it with me now –

Hello, everyone! I’m Masakazu Kougou, the director and game planner of The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles. So far, we’ve heard about this game’s English translation, voice recording, and music recording sessions from each section’s leader, so I think I’ll start today off by talking about how the new ‘Story Mode’ feature came to be.

Story Mode

Originally, we had only planned to implement that staple of the modern visual novel genre, autoplay mode, into the game. But that doesn’t mean we didn’t have anything like Story Mode at all. Rather, we had a debug function that did basically the same thing.

Note: To “debug” something is the process by which we look for errors in the game and fix them, and “debug functions” are helpful tools that assist in the debugging process.

One day, a request came down to me from one of the producers.

• The Conversation:

I want you to add a new feature that we can use as a selling point.

N-Now? At this juncture?! Um… Let me check the project schedule…

By the way, how much additional time do we get to implement it?

Zero.

Huh?! Then…do we get more peopl—

No extra money means no extra staff. That will be all. I look forward to the results.

This is insanity…

*The producer wasn’t really as intimidating as Lord Stronghart, I swear!

I suppose anyone who’s worked in games, or in any other field for that matter, has come across this kind of situation before. But the producer wasn’t doing it out of spite, of course. He only brought this topic up to us, the dev team, after discussing it with a bunch of other divisions and determined that it was a truly necessary feature.

Still, I was suddenly tasked with this mission to find something worthy of being a selling point. But without extra time, money, or staff, the range of things I could suggest was severely limited and anything we’d want to do would be difficult to implement under such circumstances.

That’s when the producer approached me and asked about formally implementing that debug function.

• The Conversation:

As I recall, there’s a debug function that goes through the game all by itself, correct?

Yes, we’re not done making it yet, but it’s in the works.

I want you to put that into the main game.

You what? I mean, it’s just a tool. It’s not that simple to turn it into something usable for actual players…

Hm, in that case, I suggest you get going and talk with your team.

B-But, putting an auto-clear mode into a game like this is…

We have neither the time nor the money, so we will use whatever we have on hand.

Mr. Producer… sir!

It’s time for my next appointment. Confirm what you must. I expect a report next time we meet.

… understood.

*The producer wasn’t really as intimidating as Lord Stronghart, I swear! Again!

Yes, we did have a debug ‘auto-progression’ tool, but the steps required to turn it into a proper game feature were many. First, we had to check with our QA division to see if implement such a feature into the main game would cause any problems, and confirm what sorts of adjustments we would need to make. From there, we had to adjust our development schedule and talk amongst ourselves to iron out the logistics. Finally, after many more discussions with the QA division, we were finally able to implement the feature into the game.

Thus, the new Story Mode came to see the light of day. I have nothing but deep gratitude for the dev members who worked so hard to make it possible.

… if only we could’ve had just a little more money or time – or even personnel – we could’ve implemented any of the numerous other features I’d thought up, including a hint system instead of a straight up auto-clear mode, but that’s life, I suppose.

As a side note, before Story Mode got its name, we used to call it ‘Auto-Clear Mode’, but our overseas branch offices informed us that that name may not go over so well in the West, so we were asked to change it. Here are just a few of the other ideas we had:

・‘Great Ace Attorney Mode’ – in which Ryunosuke would never make a mistake in solving the case
・‘Assist Mode’ – in which the game would help players along
・‘Guiding Sword Mode’ – in which the game would help players and have a name more in line with the story’s setting

I sent these and a few other names along, and after many talks between the producers and our overseas branches, we settled on the one we know and love today. But personally, I’m also very fond of ‘Great Ace Attorney Mode’.

Special Contents

Now, I’d like to talk a little about the Special Contents section of the game.

Some of you may have noticed this already, but the Japanese name of this section, 特別付録 (tokubetsu furoku / lit. ‘special supplement’), comes from the original name of the Nintendo 3DS version’s add-on contents section, 電信付録 (denshin furoku / lit. ‘telegraphic supplement’). In this Special Contents section, we’ve included a selection of items from the original 3DS version’s The Randst Magazine DLC along with the special costumes from the second game. To this, we’ve added other goodies like Accolades and Moving Pictures, along with the credits for The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles.

• Accolades

Like PS4 Trophies and Steam Achievements, we’ve created a similar feature for this title dubbed ‘Accolades’. We did this because we couldn’t stand the thought of Switch players being left out of the fun after we’d worked so hard to create them for the other platforms. So, we created a special screen within the game from which you can check them out.

Even if you’ve played The Great Ace Attorney before, I really hope you’ll consider replaying this and trying your hand at getting every Accolade!

You can even check your progress on the more complex ones!

• Gallery – Portraits

For Chronicles, we’ve taken all the main characters’ illustrations from the original issues of The Randst Magazine and organized them by character. For the side characters and other standalone illustrations, we’ve brought them all together in the Miscellany section under their own separate headings. In addition, we’ve redone the layout of each illustration so that they’re bigger and easier to look at than before. We accomplished this by moving Mr. Nuri’s comments into text windows that you can show or hide at the press of a button.

The first screenshot is from Chronicles, while the latter is from the 3DS version. The reason the 3DS version looks yellower overall is because the 3DS screen is bluer in tone than a regular PC monitor. So, to compensate, the original dev team placed a yellow filter over their illustrations and textures to create the actual colour they intended onscreen.

• Gallery – Moving Pictures

This is another section that wasn’t in the initial plans. And this, too, was another producer request that came sometime before Story Mode.

• The Conversation:

I wish to include some videos in this title, as a selling point.

Huh? Um, well, let me check the project schedule.

Please do.

And what if we need to extend the schedule…?

No extensions, and no extra staff. I look forward to the fruits of your struggle.

… I’ll certainly give it my all.

*The producer wasn’t really as intimidating as Lord van Zieks, I swear!

And that’s how you end up with more and more work to do. But compared to Story Mode’s implementation, this feature wasn’t as big of a deal. However, there was the problem of deciding just how much memory could these videos take up. We had to calculate the total size of the game itself (but because we were still in the process of making it, we could only come up with a rough estimate), and then figure out how much of the remaining space we could devote to the videos. We strove to use every last byte available because if we were going to include these videos, we wanted them to look nice at the very least. So, we played around with the resolution, and with the help of the video production team, even adjusted the frame rate to keep their quality as high as possible.

• Auditorium – Instrumentals

There are three tabs in the Instrumentals section: Music, Miscellany, and From the Vaults (DLC). The Music and From the Vaults tabs are filled with background music, while the Miscellany tab houses sound effects and some special voice tracks. Background music tracks are set to automatically loop as they do normally in-game.

Initially, each tab was quite the mess, with some tracks looping automatically while others would stop after one playthrough. In trying to bring some order to the madness, we decided to make background music tracks loop and sound effects play only once.

… but honestly, aside from trying to make things more consistent, there were a few people on the team who reeeally wanted to listen to the new tracks in the From the Vaults tab over and over, so that’s the other reason why we ended up with looping background music tracks. Both ‘Baker Street Ball – Waltz for Chronicles’ and ‘Partners (Arrangement)’ are fantastic pieces, so if you’d like to hear them on loop forever and ever as well, I hope you’ll consider pre-ordering or purchasing this game as soon as possible!

• Art and Music From the Vaults Bonus DLC

Actually, this is yet another feature we hadn’t planned on implementing at the beginning of the project. This was around the end of the game’s development cycle, after the whole back and forth regarding Story Mode. Game development very rarely goes as initially planned, does it?

• The Conversation:

I wish to include an early purchase bonus for this title. Don’t you?

At THIS point in the project?! We never had any plans for a DLC, so I’m afraid I’ll have to check the schedule and…

Hmph. Then you’d best get started on your inquiry, wouldn’t you say?

Oh, and of course, you won’t be getting any additional staff, or money, or time.

…Right. Let me look into it, sir.

*The producer wasn’t really as intimidating as Lord van Zieks, I swear! Again!

If it happens once, it’ll happen again and again… and again. I honestly couldn’t believe he’d come to us at such a late stage with such a request, but the dev side seemed capable of handling it, and Mr. Nuri and the sound team were also able to provide us with the assets and commentary we required, so we started down the road to implementing this bonus DLC.

It was a very last-minute request, but thanks to the dev team’s hard work and Mr. Nuri and the sound team’s cooperation, we were able to pull it off somehow and bring it into the world. Especially with Mr. Nuri and his comments, he had so much to share that he consistently went over the page limit we’d set, so we had to quickly figure out how to add more text window pages to each illustration. All Janet (who had to translate that huge volume of text) and I could do was laugh wryly as we failed to contain his enthusiasm. *laugh* So if there’s one thing you can look forward to, it’s pages upon pages of art commentary from Mr. Nuri.

• Auditorium – Voice Recitals, Tailor, Escapades

These three sections are also taken from either The Randst Magazine or the second game, The Great Ace Attorney 2: Resolve. We had wanted to make it so that you could use the special costumes in the first game as well, but the character models are just a little different between the two games. Sadly, the cost of adapting the models to work for the entire first game was so prohibitively high that no amount of tears could make it happen…

We even considered making new costumes or letting people play as Inspector Sholmes or Ryutaro, but, as with the other costumes, these ideas fell by the wayside due to a lack of time and money…

• Credits

You can see the names of all the people involved in The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles here in the credits. The background music is a new piece commissioned specifically for this game entitled ‘Baker Street Ball – Waltz for Chronicles’! You can’t help but listen to it, even when you’re not looking at the screen. The little Shrewnosuke and friends that appear during the credits also take part in some memorable moments from Adventures and Resolve. I hope you’ll give it a look!

The main credits at the end of each game are basically the same as the original versions. But the English version is actually a little different in the way it presents people’s names, so please check those out, too!

Even though I only talked about Story Mode and the Special Contents section, it looks like I somehow wound up writing quite a bit… There are a lot more of these little backstage stories to share, but I’ll have to save them for another day.

Thus, ends my short run here, but there are still a lot more dev blogs to come! Especially noteworthy are the ones from our localisation director, Janet. Her blogs are chock full of information, so if you’re interested in what goes into a localisation, definitely give them a read!

Thanks for sticking around until the very end!

Hi, everyone! My name is Yasumasa Kitagawa and I’m the music director and lead composer for The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles. I’m thrilled to be here today to celebrate this game’s release on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Steam.

Working closely with the game’s director, Mr. Shu Takumi, and my fellow composers, Mr. Maeba and Mr. Terayama, we gave birth to the soundtrack’s distinct sound through a lot of trial and error. In deciding the musical direction of this title, I first researched the Meiji era itself to get a sense of the background that would serve as the setting of the story. Unlike the mainline Ace Attorney games, I refrained from creating anything that would sound too digital or synthesized (and when I did employ such sounds, I made sure to use them in a way that would pair well with the surrounding analogue instruments), and used mostly period instruments in the instrumentation. I then add the finishing touches by making sure the pieces conformed to Ace Attorney music standards; which is to say, more than their musicality, I worked to fine tune each track’s ‘game music’ elements in order to make sure the songs would work properly as gameplay background music.

Beyond each track’s value as a song, the music of Ace Attorney must first and foremost serve the overall function of ‘game music’. In other words, they must fit with the feel of the game’s world and draw the player further into it. After clearing that benchmark, I would then focus on ensuring that the pieces would perfectly portray the key aspects of each moment or situation they are used in. For example, the Dance of Deduction piece must give the impression of two people making a series of deductions, and the Pursuit piece must instill the thrill of the chase within the player. Without this solid foundation, the pieces would fail to pass muster as The Great Ace Attorney music. In fact, Mr. Takumi was especially uncompromising on this particular point.

As for character themes, they required a different approach when composing them. Gameplay segments such as trials or a Dance of Deduction require that the background music prioritizes the overall mood of the piece. But for character themes, the real challenge is in how well I can capture the full breadth and depth of each character’s zany personality – something I can’t do through the overall mood of the pieces alone. So, to accomplish what I must, I highlighted the many facets of each character’s personality by distilling them into their own signature sounds. The tap, tap, tap of Sholmes’s shoes, the drip, drip, drip of Iris’s experimental solutions – and for Madame Tusspells, I gave her the skritch, skritch, skritch of a stick rubbing over a washboard. It may seem like a no-brainer that a listener should be able to instantly envision which character’s theme they’re listening to, but it was something I had to pay great attention to and be very disciplined about as I wrote.

Following these methods, I was able to create a rich musical soundscape for The Great Ace Attorney. I’m very happy to have received so many positive comments from players who’ve already played the game. I’m truly grateful for all your feedback.

This time, I’ve composed a few new pieces for Chronicles, including an arrangement of ‘Partners – The game is afoot!’, which is only available through the Early Purchase Bonus DLC. Featuring Mr. Akihisa Tsuboy on the violin and Ms. Yuka Fujino on the accordion (who also performs the The Great Ace Attorney pieces at every Ace Attorney Orchestra Concert), the hot fire of their passionate playing really brought the whole exciting arrangement together. Nothing would make me happier than for you to enjoy it as much as the rest of the music from the game itself.

And with that, I hope from the bottom of my heart that you’ll look forward to the release of The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Steam with great anticipation (and an ear out for the music)!