‼️ Hold it! A body has been discovered~ ‼️
I didn’t think a fangame would be the first official post on this blog, but here we are lol
“Ace Attorney: Ultimate Justice” combines Ace Attorney and Dangan Ronpa into one ultimate (pun very much intended) fangame.
I honestly came across this game by complete chance. I don’t remember how I found it, but I happened upon it a few days before this past Christmas. Information regarding the fangame, however, started back in September 2022. I watched the trailer and was instantly hooked.
Before we actually move on to where I talk about my experience with the first case, let’s chat a little about the games that were used as crossover material. First off, if there’s anything you need to know about me, it’s that I love Ace Attorney. It’s a series I’ve replayed probably an embarrassingly amount of times, and I am shameless about that lol I’m not as familiar with Dangan Ronpa (I really only know the first and second games), but it’s a Spike Chunsoft game, and I’ve played a few of their games (particularly the ones directed by Uchikoshi Kotaro). Expect future game reviews of his games lol I even got to meet him in an autograph signing session a few Anime Expos ago! ✨
ANYWAY. Back to Ultimate Justice…
Currently, there’s only one case out, with a final goal of 5 cases total. Since there will be a long wait time in between cases, I’ll be reviewing Ultimate Justice on a case-by-case basis. I may do an overall review once I’ve played through the entire game, but that will be decided when the time comes.
Now, without further ado, I’m pleased to present my review of Ultimate Justice’s first case! Links will be in red 😊
Update 10/2/24: Added a “Read More” line.
The Unlucky Turnabout
Play the case here!
When a mailman is murdered, Makoto Naegi, the Ultimate Lucky Student, is accused of the crime. With the help of Makoto’s younger sister, Komaru, Phoenix Wright faces an old enemy in court once again. Together, they’ll take down testimony and try to prove Makoto’s innocence before it’s too late.
~ Case summary taken from Ultimate Justice’s website
Like any first case in Ace Attorney, ‘The Unlucky Turnabout’ is supposed to act as Ultimate Justice’s tutorial case. Since I’ve only played one case, I can only guess that this will mostly play like an Ace Attorney game, with characters taken from both series. So if you’re new to Ace Attorney, fear not! This first case will teach you how to go through the different menus and everything you need to know to conduct your first cross-examination!
OVERALL THOUGHTS
For a first case, I thought it was okay. It wasn’t anything spectacular (most first cases aren’t, which is perfectly fine). They’re mostly there to get you prepped and ready for future cases. Some parts of the gameplay weren’t super clear to me, but I’ll just chalk it up to me being rusty and maybe my Ace Attorney glasses were a bit fogged up lol But like I said earlier, this case is supposed to act as the tutorial. It’s not supposed to be super easy, but it’s also not supposed to be super hard either. The first case’s main job is to get the player used to the game mechanics (for the trial portion, at least), and I think it did just that.
The plot of the first case wasn’t hard to follow and it flowed pretty well. The case literally tells us who the killer is and we just have to piece together the facts with the evidence and testimony we’re given. Pretty straightforward and to the point.
While I can’t say too much about the characterization of the Dangan Ronpa characters, I think they did a good job of characterizing the Ace Attorney characters (Phoenix, the judge, and Payne). This is also me being nitpicky, but their choice to use assets from games with very different art styles is a little jarring. Personally, I’m still getting used to it. I understand that it would be more time-consuming to merge the two styles together to create one cohesive style, but since this is a fangame and there are a whole bunch of other logistical things that have a higher priority (like the actual script), choosing to use assets that are readily available is totally fine. This is just me being nitpicky. However, I do appreciate that they created new reaction (and breakdown) sprites for the Dangan Ronpa characters that do take the stand (read as “the murderer”).
I was about to move on to my next segment before I remembered I haven’t even mentioned the music. But yeah, can we talk music for a sec? Holy moly, the music was fantastic! It was used with permission from the original creator, so if you want to hear a mashup of Ace Attorney/Dangan Ronpa music (among other videogame mashups), please check out Everything Fantasy on youtube! Of course, you still get the bops of Ace Attorney and Dangan Ronpa in their original goodness as you play through this case, but man, the mashup tracks hit different lol
HOPES FOR FUTURE CASES
★ It looks like this game leans more heavily on the Ace Attorney side rather than the Dangan Ronpa side. Since this is a crossover, I would like to see them incorporate some Dangan Ronpa gameplay elements into future cases. (Kind of like how the Professor Layton/Ace Attorney crossover game had gameplay elements of both in it.)
★ I would like to see new characters created specifically for Ultimate Justice and not just characters that already exist in Ace Attorney and Dangan Ronpa.
★ If there are going to be 5 cases total, my hope is that the final case has a “big finale” kind of feel to it. I would like to see Phoenix, Apollo, and Athena working together to solve it. My thoughts currently are Apollo will be getting his own case, Athena will be getting her own, Phoenix will get one more case, and then the fifth case will have all three of them working together.
CLOSING REMARKS
I believe Ultimate Justice is the first fangame I’ve ever played. Shocking, considering there are many fangames out there (including Ace Attorney ones). I remember there was talk about how people wanted a crossover game for Ace Attorney and Dangan Ronpa since they have fairly similar gameplay mechanics (trial and investigation segments). So even if it is just a fangame, I still had a lot of fun playing it. I’m excited to see how the rest of the cases will unfold and if we’ll have a sort of “big finale” as a final case. Ultimate Justice has also increased my interest in trying out other fangames that are out there (Ace Attorney or not). I was introduced to Pokemon Sweet through JaidenAnimations’ subathon last month, so maybe look out for that blog post when I finally decide to try my hand at it haha
And that’s it for first case of Ultimate Justice! I’m really excited for the future cases and you can bet your ass that I’ll be playing them as they release. I’ll be streaming my playthrough of the cases on Twitch, so feel free to hang out and play along with me! If you would like to support Ultimate Justice (or play it for yourself), you can check them out here!
Until next time! Bye bye~
🌸 Hiba
The Skylark's Treasure 