Dream Smashers – Phoenix Wright

Phoenix Wright’s series of origin is “Ace Attorney”, and the series symbol is the gold flash which appears in the logo to all of the games in the series. This also is seen in Phoenix’s moveset.

Phoenix Wright holds his thumb and index finger of his right handup to his chin in a check mark position. He uses his left arm to hold his right elbow. This is taken from Marvel 3; however, Phoenix is usually smiling in his Smash moveset. A good lawyer smiles no matter how bad it gets.

Phoenix Wright switches hands, rubbing his index finger back and forth with eyebrows raised and his eyes looking upwards and to the right, indicating thinking. Whenever Phoenix needs to find a connection, he’s sure to take his time thinking about it.

Phoenix performs his forward walk from Marvel 3, looking forward and moving his arms with fists clenched.

Phoenix runs fully extending his arms and legs, each producing something close to a right angle. He does not move from step to step very quickly when running, allowing the pose to be out slightly longer for the player to see.

Phoenix has out both arms and legs while spinning around. It is important to note that he stays in this pose, even when spinning around as he falls to the ground after being launched. His eyes are closed during this animation.

While balancing near the ledge with both feet like Samus, Phoenix holds his hand behind his head using the arm on the side of the stage.

In his shield break animation, Phoenix stands up, but slouched over. He gets a sweating, concerned expression. He keeps his hands down to his sides the whole time. His upper body does not spin around during this animation in order to have the animation better resemble his original game. However, he still possesses the same sound effects, stars above head, and pulsing red visual effect as the rest of the cast when they are in their respective headache animations.

This side tilt takes inspiration from light Paperwork (High), and like that move, it hits the opponent three times. The upwards axe kick arc allows for the opponent to be more easily caught in multiple hits, as the hitboxes move upwards with them. This move launches the opponent very similarly to Ryu’s heavy side tilt, and has nearly identical starting and ending lag. The attack is larger than in this reference photo. When performing this move, Phoenix says “Please, take a look!”

In this move, he extends his left arm with his finger pointed outward, creating blue energy resembling his hand that acts as a large hitbox. This move launches mostly horizontally like Pac Man’s side smash, and has a lot of knockback. It is one of Phoenix Wright’s most reliable KO moves. The move has about as much starting lag as Pikachu’s side smash, and extends a little less distance than Corrin’s side smash, though it has a very large amount of ending lag. There is not a sweetspot on the finger. When performing this move, Phoenix will randomly say “Contradiction!”, “That’s illegal!”, or “See you in court!”, though the same statement can never occur more than twice in a row.

Phoenix gets on his knees, searching the ground for evidence. He wipes away dust with both hands to find a possible clue. In this game, there is a visual effect of dust being wiped away and into the air when he performs this move. This move is functionally a bit similar to Bowser Jr’s down tilt if it was more hard hitting. It is also a three hit move and has a similar hitbox. However, it starts up just a few frames later, the move has a bit more knockback, and it launches a bit more upwards. Each hit of the move has a decent amount of freeze frames. Phoenix says “Something suspicious…”

The courtroom’s defense podium appears as Phoenix slams his both of his hands down. This move is very similar to Charizard’s down smash in terms of starting lag, power, and knockback angle. The desk is visible while charging the move, and the animation is Phoenix slamming his hands down. This move does not possess a pitfall or stun effect.

With both hands, Phoenix holds the infamous statue “The Thinker” over his head. Though this was the murder weapon in both “The First Turnabout” and “Turnabout Sisters”, Phoenix does not use it as a blunt object, but rather holds it up as if presenting it as evidence. This move is very strong and has high vertical knockback, but takes about as much time to start up as Ike’s up smash. This is to give the item weight to it. In addition to this, the hitbox of the move is rather small, as the statue is about as wide as Phoenix’s head.

Another important thing to note is that unlike many up smashes, such as those of Pac Man and ROB, the beginning of the move does not possess any hitboxes on the left or right side to pull the opponent in, and Phoenix holds it straight above his head and not in front of him. Phoenix quickly exclaims “Ha!” when he holds up the statue, more as a statement than a sound.

Phoenix slips, falling forward on his butt. As he falls, he flies into the air, extending his arms and legs outward with a shocked expression. This dash attack has high starting lag, similar to Ike’s dash attack, as the hitbox occurs when he hits the ground. However, Phoenix barely moves forward at all during this dash attack, which when combined with its starting lag, justifies its very high power and knockback, allowing it to even be used as a KO move at high percents.

Phoenix rubs the sides of his head with both arms with a concerned, sweating expression. This is a single hit move that launches at a low horizontal angle; Phoenix grunts in frustration when performing this move.

With his right arm, Phoenix holds a paper outwards, using the left arm to point at the paper (though this is the opposite in the image). This move has somewhat short range, a little bit less than Luigi’s forward air. If the player can land this first hit on the opponent, then pressing the button once more will trigger another attack, like Bayonetta. In this second hit, Phoenix extends his right arm which is holding the evidence straight outward, slightly turning his body (head still facing forward) and with his left arm kept back (unlike in Marvel 3) to further show the visual difference between hits one and two. His arm is somewhat angled downwards in this second hit.

Further establishing the difference in range between hits one and two is that in hit one, the flat side of the paper is facing Phoenix, while in hit two, the flat side of the paper is facing toward the camera, creating a larger hitbox. Phoenix says “Look at this!” during the first hit, and “Explain this!” during the second. There is no sweetspot on the paper. This move is very similar to Bayonetta’s forward air in starting and ending lag, freezeframe count, damage, knockback, and that each hit landed causes the player to jump a little bit, though the two hits each have a few more active frames than in Bayonetta’s forward air.

However, unlike Phoenix’s side tilt, the papers in this move create a bit more of a circular arc, very similar to Samus’ forward air. Because of this, Phoenix turns downwards a little bit as he releases the papers (like Samus), but does not completely spin around on his way back. This move is unique in that it is a ranged back air that moves in a downward axe kick arc. Phoenix Wright exclaims “More evidence!” during this move.

Phoenix sneezes downwards in mid air, with the sneeze acting as the hitbox. This is done at a diagonal angle downwards. Like Luigi’s down air, the starting place of the sneeze at the very beginning of the move is a sweetspot that causes a meteor smash, and the move also has about the same starting lag as that move as well. The ending lag is a bit higher, however, since the hitbox is very large. When the sneeze appears, the whole thing appears at once. He makes a very audible “Achoo!” during this.

The one Psyche Lock will begin to crack. Because they must crack more and more each time, Phoenix can only perform three pummels maximum, and the the opponent is automatically let go afterward. Because of this, each pummel does a bit more damage than most others in the cast. During this, the chains do not move at all. To show Phoenix doing something, he taps a piece of paper with each pummel. Phoenix is looking downwards at the paper, which consequently means that the paper is not as high up as in his jab animation. Phoenix can pummel at the same frequency as ROB.

Phoenix extends his left arm with papers in hand. This hits the opponent, sending them forward. Like most forward throws, the knockback is neither high nor low, making it not optimal in most scenarios. Phoenix says “You’re lying!” when he performs this throw.

Phoenix holds up the Magatama necklace, an item given to him by Pearl Fey allowing him to see the lies of others. The Magatama glows more and more until reaching a burst of light, resulting in the opponent being launched backwards. This move is very powerful, and has as much knockback (same angle as well) as Ness’ back throw. However, unlike most grabs in the game, this does not turn the opponent around due to them being trapped with Psyche Locks, so it may take just a few percent higher to KO with this move compared to Ness’ back throw. When Phoenix Wright performs this move, he says “Power of truth!” as he reveals the Magatama.

In this move, the opponent is instantly broken from the chains and is placed lying directly under Phoenix, like the animation of Ness’ down throw. Phoenix sneezes (which looks practically identical to his down air), launching the opponent straight upwards. This move has just a little more knockback than Mario’s down throw, easily allowing for a follow up at most percents.

In this up throw, the Psyche Lock begins to rumble, then breaks. Any cracks from pummels the player may have performed before disappear at the start of this animation. As this happens, Phoenix points straight up with his left hand similar to Greninja’s up throw animation, launching the opponent straight upward. There are minor details to show the difference between this move and his pummel so the player can easily tell which is which. This move launches straight upwards and has about as much knockback as ROB’s up throw, making it kill at around 150% or so.

“Objection!” This move is Phoenix Wright’s trademark, properly represented in his neutral special. This move functions similarly to a Falcon Punch, a large physical attack with a significant amount of startup time and even more significant knockback and power. However, the player can’t perform this move at just any time. They need evidence, and more evidence means a larger “Objection!” bubble with more power and knockback (though they all at have at least a decent amount of both). When the player performs this move, all of their evidence is used up completely. This makes raising an Objection a risk that must be done at the right time and place, but yields major rewards. Because of this mechanic, the move has noticeably less starting lag than a Falcon Punch, though still enough for it to not be able to be thrown out at any time. The amount of starting lag is always the same, since it is crucial for the player’s understanding to be able to get a feel for it and reliably land it.

There are four levels. Having one piece of evidence will create a small objection bubble about the same size or a little bit less than an uncharged side smash from Mega Man, two pieces will create a medium objection bubble about the size of a fully charged Charge Shot from Samus, and three pieces will create a very large bubble a bit larger than Mega Man’s fully charged side smash. Because of the appearance of the Objection bubble, these are not perfect circles and extend a bit outwards to the side. Each level has slightly more freeze frames than the last. The fourth state is when Phoenix has no evidence at all, in which he tries to object, but then fails. When this happens, he becomes embarrassed. Phoenix fully extends his left arm pointing, and the “Objection!” box appears just beyond that with a tiny bit of space in between. Though this greatly increases the range of the move, Phoenix’s arm does not have a hitbox, so it is important to space it correctly. It is important to note that the “Objection!” box is shown at the height of Phoenix’s point, which cannot be angled, so it may be possible for characters such as Kirby to duck underneath his level one Objection. The “Objection!” still goes straight forward even when used in the air. It is absolutely critical that the size of the Japanese and American word box are the same, and this applies to moves involving the “Hold it!” and “Take that!” bubbles as well. The bubbles are taken directly from the original game art and are not given a new makeover.

In this special move, Phoenix becomes able to use the evidence that he has found and highlighted in his evidence below in the Player UI (how he finds evidence is explained in his down special). He will step forward holding the selected piece of evidence straight up with his right hand. This move has low starting and ending lag. Depending on the piece of evidence he uses, it will issue a different type of projectile attack. The player can use each piece of evidence once, and similar to when throwing Pikmin as Olimar, using a piece of evidence will then automatically move to the next one so it can be used afterward, in addition to the player being able to manually change evidence. Since each piece of evidence can only be used once, the player must cleverly use them in the right situations to their advantage. When this move is performed in the air, it will stall Phoenix for a moment, like Fox’s Shine. When Phoenix presents the evidence, there is a very quick visual flash of a flame coming from that piece of evidence, which will be the same color as that specific projectile.

Presenting the knife creates three light blue bursts with visual similarity to Falco’s lasers, but with a bit less length. These also have a pointed design at the front. One burst launches straight forward, and the other two launch at minor upward and downward angles. These all come out at the same time, have moderate priority, and launch at about the same speed as a heavy Hadoken. The projectiles do not travel especially far.

Presenting the cell phone creates three small dark green fireballs above Phoenix, one directly above and two angled diagonally in front of him in a circular arc, though all three remain mostly above him. After a second, they all at the same time move towards the nearest opponent caught within its range, like Palutena’s Auto Reticle. They do not have a hitbox until this may happen, and will disappear after a moment if they do not find a target.

Presenting the photo creates a fast moving, long range dark purple beam very similar to ROB’s Laser. However, this cannot be angled, does bounce off walls, and has a travels a little less distance. In addition to this, it has low priority and can collide with other projectiles, cancelling it out, unlike ROB’s Laser. This move is multi hit, hitting the opponent three times. The move still has about the same amount of knockback as ROB’s uncharged laser, launching the opponent straight upwards, though it does less percent damage.

Presenting the folder creates a red proximity mine a little bit larger than Samus’ fully charged Charge Shot directly in front of Phoenix. If an opponent comes into contact with it, it will have an effect like Zero Suit Samus’s Paralyzer, allowing Phoenix to go in during this time and utilize it more as a zoning tool more than just a simple projectile. It also deals a large amount of percent damage.

Presenting the watch creates an orange fireball about the same size as Mario’s Fire Orb custom special. This then launches straight outward at a little less than the top speed of Samus’ non-tracking green Super Missile, though this maintains a constant velocity the entire time, and moves straight forward. This also launches similarly to Samus’ Super Missile, but with less knockback, making it not a reliable KO move. This move has reasonably high priority, but can be ducked under by characters like Jigglypuff and Kirby.

Presenting the vase creates a fast moving bright yellow fireball that comes out in a very large arc. If it hits, the opponent will be launched about as much as Lucas’ PK fire, though at a more upwards angle. This move also does decent percent damage and has relatively high priority. The projectile stays throughout the whole arc, so it can be used to edgeguard opponents who are below Phoenix. The arc is slightly more representative of an oval than a circle. For visual effect, the fireball has a visible trail behind it. When using this move, it is important that the player spaces themselves out properly, because hitting an opponent with it from far away may be difficult due to its large arc. This move cannot be angled.

This move has two different functions depending on whether the player taps the button or holds it down. If the player holds the button, Phoenix gets on the ground and finds a piece of evidence, which he holds up with his right arm for the player to see. At the moment the piece of evidence has been revealed and the sound effect plays, it will be added to the evidence, and will become the equipped item in

the corner of Phoenix Wright’s health, like Shulk’s Monado Arts. This move is very quick, and takes just a bit longer than Olimar’s Pikmin Pluck, allowing it to be done in rapid succession. When performing this move, the evidence will fill one of the three available spaces. Trying to perform this move while all three evidence spaces are filled will do nothing, not even perform the alternate action instead. This will teach the player to internalize to hold to investigate and tap to switch. The piece of evidence a player will receive is completely random, unlike Olimar’s Pikmin order in Smash 4. This is acceptable since Phoenix’s moveset does not rely on evidence nearly as much as Olimar’s does on Pikmin. The same piece of evidence cannot be found a second time if it is already in Phoenix’s inventory.

This stepladder is taller than the standard one, but does not have any hitboxes. Phoenix moves at the same pace when on this stepladder.

Phoenix Wright lets out an “Objection!” slightly larger than the level three objection. . They are then brought into a final smash cinematic, which takes place in an empty, landmarkless location, like the final smashes of Shulk and Mega Man (Like Mega Man’s, this one is dark blue). In this, Phoenix appears on the left side at his desk (he will be on the left side no matter which side he was facing when he landed the initial hit) and confront the opponent. First, he will slam his desk, and point at his opponent, complete with a white flash and sound effects faithful to the Ace Attorney series. He says “The one who actually committed the crime… was you!” The camera then moves over to the opponent, who is directly facing it, like the witnesses in the games. Each piece of evidence they have will deal an extra 10% each here, in addition to the damage already dealt in this part. When the camera pans back to Phoenix there is a white flash. Phoenix slams down his desk, with another white flash, and then makes his final point, with a large gold flash from earlier on his finger with sound effects and another white flash. “It’s time to pay for your crimes!” The camera moves to the opponent, and a “Take that!” bubble covers the majority of the screen while Phoenix also says it, dealing more damage to the opponent. The cinematic then ends as the opponent is launched with incredible knockback, and it goes back to the normal fighting screen.

This final smash removes all evidence from Phoenix’s evidence bar once it is finished.

Phoenix confidently drinks coffee from a white mug in his left hand, with his right arm on his hip. This is inspired by Prosecutor Godot. He is facing forward when doing this.

Phoenix, facing toward the camera, has his head slightly down with both of his eyes closed. He is holding the Magatama necklace, both arms holding the lace, and the Magatama in the middle. The Magatama then glows green, though there is no sound effect. This is heavily inspired by Zelda’s side taunt.

Phoenix looks to his left, then his right before scratching the back of his head with an embarrassed face. Meanwhile, Maya is jumping behind him to his left and right. Phoenix says “Looks like I won the case, Maya!”

Phoenix slicks back his hair (if wearing a Dual Destinies costume, one strand will come back) and is about to say something when Maya barges in from the left side of the screen, vertically holding a white banner with “Victory!” written on it. Like the “Objection!”, “Hold it!”, and “Take that!” bubbles, the japanese version may change the written message, though the size remains the same. Phoenix is then surprised and annoyed by this. This is a reference to the ending of Turnabout Goodbyes from the first game.