This guide covers the best order to play the Ace Attorney games, as well as other timeline and release information.
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Table of contents
You are watching: The Ace Attorney Timeline – What Order Should You Play the Games?
Recommended play order for the Ace Attorney series
Image via Reversal WiiWare
With ten entries in the Ace Attorney series, it can be confusing as to where to start (and end) playing the Ace Attorney series. The recommended playthrough of the Ace Attorney games differs from their chronological order, timeline order, or the order in which they were originally released. The following table lists the best playthrough order for the Ace Attorney games:
| Recommended game order | game name | Related Collections |
| 1 | Ace Attorney: Phoenix Wright | Ace Attorney 3: Ace Attorney Trilogy |
| 2 | Ace Attorney 2: Justice for All | Ace Attorney 3: Ace Attorney Trilogy |
| 3 | Ace Attorney 2: Challenges and Tribulations | Ace Attorney 3: Ace Attorney Trilogy |
| 4 | Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney | Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy |
| 5 | Ace Attorney 2: Ace Attorney Dual Destinies | Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy |
| 6 | Ace Attorney: Spirit of Justice | Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy |
| 7 | Great Ace Attorney: The Adventures | Ace Attorney Case Files |
| 8 | Ace Attorney 2: Resolve | Ace Attorney Case Files |
| 9 | Ace Attorney Investigation: Edgeworth | Ace Attorney Investigation Series |
| 10 | Ace Attorney 2: Prosecutor’s Strategy | Ace Attorney Investigation Series |
Recommended play order for the Ace Attorney series of games
As you’ll see in the story timeline below, the Ace Attorney Grand Adventures games take place before the two Ace Attorney trilogies. Still, it’s worth saving this great duology for the end of your lawyer adventures. Due to their more complex mysteries and storylines, it’s easy to tell that they’re the newer entries in the series (as mentioned in the release timeline section).
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You can play the Ace Attorney Investigation series before Ace Attorney: Great Ace Attorney, but Ace Attorney Investigation doesn’t have any courtroom battles, instead focusing on debate and investigation, as the name implies. If you don’t want to switch between different game mechanics while playing the series, saving the Ace Attorney series for last is the best option. It’s especially worth doing so if you want to save taking down one of the best main villains in the series for last.
How about playing a Professor Layton crossover?
Crossover game Professor Layton vs. Ace Attorney is currently only available in physical form on the Nintendo 3DS in English. Copies of the game are currently difficult to obtain. For those who can afford to play this unique crossover game, it is recommended to play it after playing Ace Attorney: Ace Attorney – Trials & Tribulations and before playing Ace Attorney: Apollo Justice. This is a great way to end the first round of Ace Attorney adventures before entering the Apollo Justice trilogy.
Ace Attorney series story timeline
Image from the “Great Ace Attorney 2” CD
While the games themselves don’t explicitly give a year number, there are enough details in the game boxes to give fans a rough idea of the year the game takes place. Even without an estimated year, the games have a clear story order. The following table lists the Ace Attorney games in chronological order, story order, and the approximate year the game takes place:
| game name | Approximate Year |
| Great Ace Attorney: The Adventures | Early 20th Century |
| Ace Attorney 2: Resolve | Early 20th Century |
| Ace Attorney: Phoenix Wright | 2016 – 2017 |
| Ace Attorney 2: Justice for All | 2017 – 2018 |
| Ace Attorney 2: Challenges and Tribulations | 2018 – 2019 |
| Ace Attorney Investigation: Edgeworth | 2019 |
| Ace Attorney 2: Prosecutor’s Strategy | 2019 |
| Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney | 2026 |
| Ace Attorney 2: Ace Attorney Dual Destinies | 2027 |
| Ace Attorney: Spirit of Justice | 2028 |
Ace Attorney series timeline
This timeline can get a bit complicated when you consider that some games have “flashback” cases (most notably Agent & Grind), and some games involve past cases that the protagonist wasn’t involved in. If you really want to play the games in story order rather than release date or recommended order, think of this timeline as the order in which you would play the games.
Where does the Professor Layton crossover fit in the timeline?
Professor Layton vs. Ace Attorney: Phoenix Wright takes place at a point in the history of the Ace Attorney Trilogy and Ace Attorney Investigations. This game is not “canon” to the Ace Attorney series, and as such, the inclusion of this “timeline” is primarily concerned with Phoenix Wright and Maya’s appearance and character behavior compared to how they appear and behave in the main games.
Ace Attorney Series Release Schedule
Image from “Ace Attorney 10th Anniversary”
The Ace Attorney games were released in a different order in North America than they were in Japan. Sometimes, they weren’t even released on the same consoles, such as the original Ace Attorney trilogy which was first released on the Game Boy Advance in Japan, but on the Nintendo DS in North America. The following table lists the original Japanese release order of the Ace Attorney games (including the Professor Layton crossover):
| game name | Japan first release date |
| Ace Attorney: Phoenix Wright | October 12, 2001 |
| Ace Attorney 2: Justice for All | October 18, 2002 |
| Ace Attorney 2: Challenges and Tribulations | January 23, 2004 |
| Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney | April 12, 2007 |
| Ace Attorney Investigation: Edgeworth | May 28, 2009 |
| Ace Attorney 2: Prosecutor’s Strategy | February 3, 1011 |
| Professor Layton VS Ace Attorney | November 29, 2012 |
| Ace Attorney 2: Ace Attorney Dual Destinies | July 25, 2013 |
| Great Ace Attorney: The Adventures | July 9, 2015 |
| Ace Attorney: Spirit of Justice | June 9, 2016 |
| Ace Attorney 2: Resolve | August 3, 2017 |
The order in which the original Japanese versions of the Ace Attorney series were released
The following table lists the Ace Attorney games in order of their North American release date, with the Japanese release numbers included for comparison:
| game name | North American release date | Japanese Release Order No. |
| Ace Attorney: Phoenix Wright | October 11, 2005 | 1 |
| Ace Attorney 2: Justice for All | January 15, 2007 | 2 |
| Ace Attorney 2: Challenges and Tribulations | October 23, 2007 | 3 |
| Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney | February 19, 2008 | 4 |
| Ace Attorney Investigation: Edgeworth | February 16, 2010 | 5 |
| Ace Attorney 2: Ace Attorney Dual Destinies | October 24, 2013 | 8 |
| Professor Layton VS Ace Attorney | August 29, 2014 | 7 |
| Ace Attorney: Spirit of Justice | September 8, 2016 | 10 |
| Great Ace Attorney: The Adventures | July 27, 2021 | 9 |
| Ace Attorney 2: Resolve | July 27, 2021 | 11 |
| Ace Attorney 2: Prosecutor’s Strategy | September 6, 2024 | 6 |
The order of release of the Ace Attorney series in North America
It may have taken 13 years for fans to officially play the English version of Ace Attorney 2, but now all of these games are easily playable on current consoles – with the exception of Professor Layton vs. Ace Attorney: Phoenix Wright, the possibility of its re-release is completely unknown.
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