Gyakuten Saiban

Gyakuten Saiban is Capcom’s original courtroom-mystery adventure for Game Boy Advance, developed and published by Capcom in Japan on October 12, 2001. This Japanese release is the first entry in the Ace Attorney series, before the later Nintendo DS version introduced the Phoenix Wright name to English-language audiences.

The player follows rookie defense attorney Ryūichi Naruhodō as he takes on clients accused of murder. His first trials establish his partnership with mentor Chihiro Ayasato and, after her death, her younger sister Mayoi, a trainee spirit medium who becomes his assistant. The four connected cases also bring in Naruhodō’s accident-prone childhood friend Yahari, police detective Itonokogiri, and undefeated prosecutor Reiji Mitsurugi.

Each episode alternates between investigation and courtroom phases. During investigations, players travel between locations, question clients and witnesses, examine scenery for leads, and present items from the evidence record to draw out new information. The trials turn those discoveries into arguments: press individual statements in a testimony for detail, spot the contradiction, and present the item that disproves it.

The cases are played in sequence, with the opening trial teaching the basic flow before the later mysteries become longer and more involved. Directional and face-button controls operate the menus, evidence record, cursor, and dialogue choices, while Select can suspend and save progress in most situations. Incorrect courtroom challenges cost the judge’s confidence; exhausting that margin produces a guilty verdict and requires the player to try again.

This cartridge contains the original four-case GBA story only. It does not include “Rise from the Ashes,” the fifth episode added four years later for the 2005 Nintendo DS version, Gyakuten Saiban: Yomigaeru Gyakuten. That expanded version also added an English-language option and DS-specific close evidence inspection and forensic interactions, so those features are not part of this Game Boy Advance release.