This guide goes over the best order to play the Ace Attorney series games, as well as other timeline and release information.

Recommended Videos

Table of Contents

  • Ace Attorney Series Recommended Play Order
    • What About Playing the Professor Layton Crossover?
  • Ace Attorney Series Story Timeline
    • Where Does the Professor Layton Crossover Fit Into the Timeline?
  • Ace Attorney Series Release Timeline

Ace Attorney Series Recommended Play Order

Image via Gyakuten Saiban WiiWare

With ten entries, it can be confusing where to start (and end) with the Ace Attorney series. The recommended order to play the games in the Ace Attorney series isn’t the same as their chronological, timeline order, nor is it the same as their original release order. The following table lists the best order to play the games in the Ace Attorney series:

Recommended Play OrderGame NameAssociated Collection1Phoenix Wright: Ace AttorneyPhoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy2Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Justice for AllPhoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy3Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Trials and TribulationsPhoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy4Apollo Justice: Ace AttorneyApollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy5Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual DestiniesApollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy6Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of JusticeApollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy7The Great Ace Attorney: AdventuresThe Great Ace Attorney Chronicles8The Great Ace Attorney 2: ResolveThe Great Ace Attorney Chronicles9Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles EdgeworthAce Attorney Investigations Collection10Ace Attorney Investigations 2: Prosecutor’s GambitAce Attorney Investigations CollectionRecommended play order for the Ace Attorney series games

As you’ll see below in the story timeline, The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles games take place before the two Ace Attorney trilogies. Still, it’s worth saving this great duology for near the end of your attorney adventures. It’s easy to tell they are more recent entries in the series (as explored in the release timeline section) due to their more intricate mysteries and storytelling.

You could play the Ace Attorney Investigations Collection before The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles, but Ace Attorney Investigations does not feature any courtroom battles and instead focuses on arguments and, as the name suggests, investigations. Saving the Investigations series for the end is the best choice if you don’t want to jump between different gameplay mechanics as you play through the series. It’s especially worthwhile if you want to save taking down one of the series’s best main villains for last.

What About Playing the Professor Layton Crossover?

The crossover game Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney is currently only available in English as a physical release on the Nintendo 3DS. It is very difficult to get a copy of the game as of now. For those with the means to play this unique crossover title, it’s recommended to play it after Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Trials and Tribulations and before Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney. It serves as a nice way to wrap up Phoenix’s first set of adventures before moving on to the Apollo Justice trilogy.

Ace Attorney Series Story Timeline

Image via Dai Gyakuten Saiban 2 CD

Although no year numbers are explicitly given in the games themselves, there are enough details in the games’ cases for fans to get a rough approximation of the year(s) the titles take place. Even without the guesstimated years, the games have a clear story order. The following table lists the Ace Attorney games in their chronological, story order, as well as the approximate year(s) the games take place in:

Game NameApproximate YearsThe Great Ace Attorney: AdventuresEarly 1900sThe Great Ace Attorney 2: ResolveEarly 1900sPhoenix Wright: Ace Attorney2016 – 2017Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Justice for All2017 – 2018Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Trials and Tribulations2018 – 2019Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth2019Ace Attorney Investigations 2: Prosecutor’s Gambit2019Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney2026Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies2027Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of Justice2028Ace Attorney series timeline

This timeline gets a bit more complicated when considering some games have “flashback” cases (most notably, Trials and Tribulations), and some involve cases from the past that the main cast wasn’t a part of. Think of this timeline as the order you would play the games in if you really wanted to play them in their story order rather than release date or recommended order.

Where Does the Professor Layton Crossover Fit Into the Timeline?

Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney takes place at some time during the Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy and the Ace Attorney Investigations Collection. The game isn’t meant to be “canon” to the main Ace Attorney series, so this “timeline” inclusion is mostly relevant to Phoenix and Maya’s appearances and character behavior compared to how they look and act in the main games.

Ace Attorney Series Release Timeline

Image via Ace Attorney 10th Anniversary

The Ace Attorney games were released in North America in a different order than they were released in Japan. Sometimes, they weren’t even released on the same consoles, such as how the original Ace Attorney trilogy was first released on the Game Boy Advance in Japan, but on the Nintendo DS in North America. The following table lists the Ace Attorney games (including the Professor Layton crossover game) in their original Japanese release order:

Game NameInitial Japanese Release DatePhoenix Wright: Ace AttorneyOctober 12, 2001Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Justice for AllOctober 18, 2002Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Trials and TribulationsJanuary 23, 2004Apollo Justice: Ace AttorneyApril 12, 2007Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles EdgeworthMay 28, 2009Ace Attorney Investigations 2: Prosecutor’s GambitFebruary 3, 1011Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace AttorneyNovember 29, 2012Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual DestiniesJuly 25, 2013The Great Ace Attorney: AdventuresJuly 9, 2015Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of JusticeJune 9, 2016The Great Ace Attorney 2: ResolveAugust 3, 2017The original Japanese release order of the Ace Attorney games

The following table lists the Ace Attorney games in their North American release date order, and includes the Japanese release order numbers for comparison:

Game NameInitial North American Release DateJapanese Release Order NumberPhoenix Wright: Ace AttorneyOctober 11, 20051Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Justice for AllJanuary 15, 20072Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Trials and TribulationsOctober 23, 20073Apollo Justice: Ace AttorneyFebruary 19, 20084Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles EdgeworthFebruary 16, 20105Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual DestiniesOctober 24, 20138Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace AttorneyAugust 29, 20147Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of JusticeSeptember 8, 201610The Great Ace Attorney: AdventuresJuly 27, 20219The Great Ace Attorney 2: ResolveJuly 27, 202111Ace Attorney Investigations 2: Prosecutor’s GambitSeptember 6, 20246The North American release order of the Ace Attorney games

It may have taken 13 years for fans to get to officially play Ace Attorney Investigations 2 in English, but the games will all be easily available on current consoles now—save for Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, whose potential for re-release is entirely unknown.

Ace Attorney Ace Attorney Investigations Collection Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy