After Ace Attorney Chronicles, I shouldn’t be surprised by this release, but it’s great to see Ace Attorney Investigations Collection being released in the west, because it means we can finally play some of the previously unavailable parts of the series. Another major version launched. Thanks to Capcom for early access, I’ve been playing a preview of Ace Attorney Investigations Collection on the Steam Deck and Nintendo Switch, and my early impressions of both games have been very positive. I’ll go over how Ace Attorney Collection feels on both platforms, and how this new version compares to the original version of Ace Attorney: Miles Edgeworth.
If you haven’t caught up yet, the Ace Attorney Collection includes two adventure games: Ace Attorney Miles Edgeworth and Ace Attorney 2: Prosecutor’s Gambit, as well as quality-of-life improvements, galleries, and a new remastered HD look. , story mode, sit back and relax, and more. Both games are spin-offs from the main series. Ace Attorney: Miles Edgeworth debuted in the West on the Nintendo DS in 2010, with a mobile version coming about seven years later. Ace Attorney 2: Prosecutor’s Gambit debuted on the Japanese DS back in 2011, but wasn’t released in English (or released outside of Japan) until this collection. Japanese iOS and Android versions were also never introduced.
When I first played Ace Attorney: Miles Edgeworth, it felt like a big change of pace from the mainline game that I enjoyed. It’s always nice to see developers try different things in spin-offs, and Ace Attorney Investigations focuses more on the investigation aspect than the courtroom elements, making it a great companion to the main game, especially since it has so much Many characters that we all like. Sadly, the sequel was never localized, and that was the main appeal of Ace Attorney Collection, aside from being able to play the first game with its high-definition visuals and well-arranged soundtrack. This preview only gives me an early look at both games, so I’ll save my full thoughts on the story for review before release. So far, Capcom has done a better job than I expected to make the Ace Attorney Investigations game shine on modern hardware.
In preparation for the remastered version on Steam Deck and Switch, I revisited Ace Attorney: Miles Edgeworth on iPhone and iPad, and I was pleasantly surprised by the visual upgrades in this version. The visuals have been nicely upgraded in the latest Apollo Justice Trilogy, but the games feel like they would have expanded well regardless. I wasn’t sure what to expect with Ace Attorney: Miles Edgeworth. I ended up trying the HD and pixel art visual options to see how I felt. I stuck with the HD option because using the pixel art option created some visual disconnect in some early locations, and I didn’t like how the edges of the characters were handled. It’s not at all as bad as Sonic Origins’ launch mess, but I hope Capcom can fix the way the pixel art style is rendered for those who want to play that option. Maybe I need more time to get used to it, but for now I’m sticking with the HD version.
The PC version of Ace Attorney Investigations features full keyboard and mouse controls, with options to change how you use the mouse (click or drag), cursor lock options, and key rebinding options. It supports resolutions from 720p (which I use on my Steam Deck) to 4K. When I connected it to a monitor, I played at 1440p on the monitor and it ran without any issues. I also tested in 4K and found that it sometimes dropped from 144fps to about 130fps when moving, but there are some camera issues with free movement in this series, where the camera moves at a lower frame rate. Not a big deal, but noticeable.
Speaking of Steam Deck, Ace Attorney Investigations has passed Steam Deck verification, and I have no complaints about its visuals or performance on Valve’s handheld console. It just works. It also feels and looks great on the Nintendo Switch OLED and Lite.
My only real complaint about Ace Attorney Investigations Collection so far is the lack of touchscreen support. I loved playing the previous version on the Switch almost entirely with touch controls. As of this writing, Ace Attorney Investigations Collection does not support touch screens. I hope it can be patched. mouse.
See the comparison below to see how the collection looks cropped and scaled on Switch (left) versus the iOS version (right):
So far, Ace Attorney Collection will be another win for Capcom, finally giving us a game we’ve never had an official release outside of Japan, Ace Attorney 2: Prosecutor’s Gambit. I can’t wait to dive deeper and continue replaying Ace Attorney: Miles Edgeworth. I’ll also be trying out the home console version to see how it scales, but for now, Ace Attorney Investigations Collection feels like it’s well worth it.
With Ace Attorney Collection, we have the complete series on modern platforms, not counting Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright, which is currently only available on 3DS. Hopefully Level-5 and Capcom will eventually work towards this goal as well. Until then, Ace Attorney Investigation Collection will be available on Nintendo Switch, Steam, Xbox One and PS4 in September, so stay tuned. In my full review, I’ll also cover the game on Xbox and PS5 when I can.
