So I have recently obtained a 3DS and one of the purposes of this purchase was to go back and play DS games I missed. One of the franchises I've always been curious about was the Ace Attorney games but I don't know where to start. I looked at some of the screens for Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (which I'm assuming is the first?) but it looks pretty dated. Am I correct in that assumption? Does it still hold up well over time? And if it is dated is there another game in the franchise that is a good jumping off point? And maybe for bonus points, what order is it recommended that I play the games in? Thanks!

I thought the first Phoenix Wright, the one you mention, was very strong. The DS release had an extra case at the end which had objects you could rotate like in the later games. I think in terms of story, the first game has as much to offer as any of the sequels.

Pheonix Wright had a tragic storyline that astonished me, at least in the GB wiki...

You can get the first one for Ipod touch, Iphone, Ipad for $5.

The first Phoenix Wright is still probably the best starting point. I've never noticed the sequels looking any better.

@SethPhotopoulos said:

You can get the first one for Ipod touch, Iphone, Ipad for $5.

It's also a terrible port. DS version is the way to go.

@AlisterCat said:

@SethPhotopoulos said:

You can get the first one for Ipod touch, Iphone, Ipad for $5.

It's also a terrible port. DS version is the way to go.

It's actually pretty decent. But yeah if you're just gonna play them all, grab all the DS ones, starting with the first, since there isn't really any other points to "jump in" to the story.

@XII_Sniper: I found the framerate to be absolutely awful, on my iPhone 4 at least.

Just get the first one and go from there. I kinda thought Apollo Justice sucked, but apparently the Edgeworth games are alright.

Get the first one, it's the best one.

Yeah, start with the first. The story's pretty important in this series, and even so the first one is still probably the best.

The reason it looks dated is because it was originally a GBA series released only in Japan that they later ported to DS. The first one built specifically for the DS was Apollo Justice, where the sprites look A LOT cleaner.

The story is the series. You can't jump in anywhere but from the start.

You have to start from the beginning. The first game sets up what is going on in the setting, while the later games don't really do much to get you up to speed on what you've missed so far.

Another alternative to buying the DS games, if you want to save some money, is that the first 3 games were all ported to WiiWare, and are $10 each, which is pretty much guaranteed to be cheaper than whatever the DS versions cost online these days. Something to consider if you have a Wii.