The Marvel Universe usually divides into four categories. The Fantastic Four (above), the X-men (Wolverine, Storm, Rogue, Cyclops, Jean Gray/Phoenix, etc.) The Avengers (Thor, Iron Man, Captain Marvel, and Black Widow. Etc.) and the unaffiliated. (Punisher, Daredevil, etc.)
So, if Fantastic Four is one of Marvel's prime teams, why did the Super Skrull get in over them?
Now, while the Skrull (and Doctor Doom) are Fantastic Four villains, look at how Super Skrull works. He uses the abilities of all four of the members.
You see, back when they were setting it up, they fully intended to put all the Fantastic Four in there. However, they ran into problems. The Thing played too similarly to the Hulk to justify putting him in. I believe Reed Richards had some gameplay problems and Susan Storm was hard to figure out a moveset. Johnny Storm was fully made and modeled.... and promptly took up way too much space and processing power on the gamedisk.
So, the team decided to just make the Super Skrull to add variety and fix the gameplay problems. In addition, this freed up 3 other spots to be used on other characters.
(As a side note, Silver Surfer was almost included but Capcom couldn't figure out how to include Silver Surfer's surfboard in his gameplay. As that is kind of a key part of him, and he couldn't be sufficiently differentiated otherwise, he was cut.)
Phoenix Wright is from the visual novel series "Ace Attorney". The most Phoenix has done in those games is a few errant punches, getting knocked out, breaking down an ancient and strong door, and falling from a burning bridge into a river that routinely kills people but he only emerges with a cold.
So, how does he work in a fighting game?
Well, they treat it like a court case. At least for him. Phoenix searches for evidence, he talks his opponent to death, and can convict Galactus himself! (As proving his client innocent in game means proving someone else guilty, it works for a defense lawyer.)
The end result is a very unique take. It fits into the world, and it still marks Phoenix as not quite in sync. After all, in his world, battles are fought in court.
And they are AMAZING.
But, well, the other games aren't as legally focused. The Marvel universe has a lot of fighting. Ryu's from a fighting game, and then we have Zero who is a bounty hunter. Oh, and Rocket Raccoon.
I'm not going to explain.
So, with the Capcom people being clever, and not using Franziska Von Karma (who uses a whip), they somehow made legal fighting work. They use evidence to shatter the opponents Psyche and therefor win.
And, that, after all, is kind of what Ace Attorney is about.
(Please note that I will be using the reasonably assumed English names not the Japanese names for the games that have yet to come out. This way everyone will know what I'm talking about. Also: a few spoilers ahead)
So, out of semi nowhere, yesterday Capcom announced Ace Attorney 5. While this is the Ace Attorney Franchise's 11th anniversary (Wow) we haven't had a main game in about five years. The first three games debuted on the GBA.
Ace Attorney 1 came out in October 2001, but only in Japan. After a surprisingly large number of imports, the game was localized and released as a DS game in 2005. The DS version has an extra case that does some set up of AA2 and AA3.
Ace Attoney 2 (Justice for All) was released in 2002 for the GBA and 2006 (Japan)/2007 (US/Europe) for the DS. This version had no extra cases for the DS.
Ace Attorney 3 came out in 2004 for the GBA and 2007 for Japan/US (Europe got it in 2008) DS versions. This one also had no special features, but did have five cases.
While it has been five years for the US, it's been around 8 years in Japan and Phoenix did not quite appear... well, not as himself.
Apollo Justice came out in 2008. (please note some parts of Europe received Apollo Justice before Trials and Tribulations) While Phoenix is in the game, he is the mentor character. Originally he was not to be in the game at all, but Capcom wanted him in.
After that, Miles Edgeworth took over. And it wasn't purely Ace Attorney.
His DS game debuted in 2009 for Japan and 2010 everywhere else. It deviated from the normal "point and click/Visual Novel" style games in that Miles, and other characters, could actually walk around the scene to examine evidence. As it was a more "Investigation" style game, it took the investigations subtitle.
Ace Attorney Investigations 2 was not localized outside of Japan (unfortunately) but was released in 2011 in Japan. (I would like to say that, this actually makes sense. While I would like to play it, the Ace Attorney games are known for their VERY good localization that takes a lot of time. By the time the localization came out, the DS would be mostly dead. I hope they do eventually localize it. It could get new life as a 3DS port or something similar. What I've found of the story hints it was VERY good. Plus we find out more about Gregory Edgeworth! That's always a plus.)
In the mean time, two side projects with the Ace Attorney squad appeared.
Professor Layton VS Ace Attorney. We know pretty much nothing, but the conference yesterday showed a video. The video showed Maya and Phoenix on a plane heading to London, but nothing else is known at this time.
Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 came out in 2011. In a spot of hope, Phoenix Wright made the cast list due to pure fan demand. While a character from the AA franchise (either Franziska or Phoenix) has been considered for a 'Vs' fighting game before (Namely Tatsunoko vs Capcom) it was scrapped due to localization difficulties. ('OBJECTION!" is longer then "IRIJI" (I hope I spelled that right)). If Phoenix made it into Ultimate Marvel VS Capcom 3 due to fan demand, maybe AAI 2 could make it over too.
Well, still no word on that, but now we have Ace Attorney 5 officially announced!
We also know nothing else. Normally, the "Ace Attorney" in question is shown pointing over the title (Yes, Miles counts. He's still an Attorney) However, the title is blank. We could be getting a new one, the Attorney could be new, or an old attorney could be getting redesigned. That still means we know nothing. But it is interesting to see where the franchise has gone, and where it could go.
