The Great Ace Attorney Makers Explain How They Created Phoenix Wright’s Ancestor

Series creator and The Great Ace Attorney director Shu Takumi got together with producer Shintaro Kojima to reintroduce us to the game’s protagonist, Ryunosuke Naruhodo in a recent YouTube video. Below, you can find a summary of all the interesting stuff they said.

Takumi explains that at the beginning of the story in The Great Ace Attorney, Ryunosuke is not yet an attorney, but a university student. After getting involved in a certain incident, Ryunosuke becomes determined to be an attorney, which is how the story starts.

The name “Naruhodo” is the Japanese version for “Wright,” and as you may already know, Ryunosuke is the ancestor of Phoenix. The Great Ace Attorney will tell the tale of how the first attorney of the Wright family came to be, and how it carried on after.

Since The Great Ace Attorney takes place in the Meiji Period of Japan, back when “defense attorney” was still a new concept, you’ll see plenty of people dressed in more traditional garments.

Takumi then talks about Runosuke’s designs. At first, they decided to give him the sharp look of a university student, which was no problem, but it was designing his hairstyle that was a little more on the tough side, as it took a long time. Takumi says that he wanted something recognizable from a silhouette, but given the time period, most people had simple haircuts, and they wouldn’t have wanted to give that to the protagonist.

As for the name “Ryunosuke,” it was decided on within ten seconds. Since Phoenix’s name in Japanese is “Ryunoichi,” they began writing a list of names they could use, and the very first one was Ryunosuke, which the development team ended up keeping until the end.

The concept of Ryunosuke’s character came from the idea of how Phoenix would act and speak if he were living in the Meiji Period, and it didn’t take too long until they came up with the Ryunosuke we know of today; however, since he’s not exactly a proper attorney, you’ll see Ryunosuke display a little nervousness and inexperience, which adds to his character and the setting.

The Great Ace Attorney will release in Japan on July 9, 2015 for Nintendo 3DS.