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It's only natural for living creatures to fight to protect their own lives. But what makes us human is that we fight for others. But who do you fight for? How hard must you fight...? That's the true measure of what human life is worth. We defense attorneys are warriors who are constantly challenged by that question. Even when the battle is over, and the bonds that connect us are severed... We always return... Time and time again. - Phoenix Wright
Phoenix Wright is the main protagonist of the Ace Attorney franchise. He is a veteran defense attorney who heads the Wright Anything Agency. Mostly involved in criminal trials, he is known for his ability to turn seemingly hopeless cases around. He is an only child who faced the most transformative incident in his early years during fourth grade. He got accused of stealing the lunch money of a classmate in the form of Miles Edgeworth. However, Wright was found not guilty. Wright, later on, went to Ivy University to study art and law. He saw a newspaper that had an article that showed the prosecutor Miles Edgeworth was involved in the article. He did try to contact Edgeworth, but the latter would be forced to meet him in court as Wright could confront and help him see the error of ways. At one point, Wright got accused of the murder of Doug Swallow thus letting Wright get a lawyer named Mia Fey who is a rookie attorney. Fey inspired Wright to pursue law full-time and was able to get his law degree which made him the defense attorney he is today.
Why He Rocks
- Phoenix is a pretty easy-going man who allows his relaxed persona leads to his friends leading him around or taking advantage of his good nature.
- As a man who works as a lawyer, he is so loyal that he refuses to back down once he is made up. It has shown to be the most valuable asset to him as it has been used as a translator (figuratively speaking) for his job to defend and believe the innocence of his clients. He even risks his career and life for his friends and clients on several occasions like Turnabout Succession where he was calm yet concerned about the fate of Zak Gramarye.
- Compared to most of his friends, Wright is typically seen as the one who is more mature.
- When he became a lawyer, Wright did depend on Mia Fey a lot for advice (even after Mia dies due to the spirit channeling of Maya and Pearl). Even his morality has been challenged in Farwell, My Turnabout. Later on, he is more self-confident and resistant to intimidation by his opponents. Even more resistant compared to Apollo Justice, Athena Cykes, and the judge.
- Another instance of character development: He used to be a fool, but became a great attorney at law. Then he eventually becomes a brilliant owner of his own law film. When Dual Destinies existed in the first place, he becomes pretty legendary.
- Has a very close relationship with Trucy as if it was more of a father and daughter thing. Phoenix takes good care of her and even claimed that she helped him during his disbarment period. Even also understands that he should not worry too much about Trucy as she's more than capable of handling herself. Not to mention that his trust towards Trucy also results in having her depend on Apollo and Athena.
- He's known for having such tactics and determination in the courtroom thanks to Mia Fey. When he's in the court, he comes up with unpredictable claims that turn out to be true such as observing clues from convoluted plots and conspiracies. His tactics are even useful in that he has cross-examed animals even though it sounds bizarre yet truthful. And let's not forget that he can troll witnesses into implicate themselves for the crime in the form of a question.
- With that said, he can win cases that are unwinnable at first. His record for winning cases is impressive as most defense attorneys would struggle in their job just to win. He defeated Manfred von Karma and Franziska as well.
- He's pretty expressive as his in-game models and sprites show how entertaining it can be due to the tone of the series he comes from.
- He also has some funny moments as well. Even to the point where it becomes meme-worthy somehow. For example: "WHAT!? NO! Do we need to review Courtroom Manners 101 again?" or "Should I be happy this coffee is only hot enough to give me first-degree burns?"
- His backstory is pretty though. He has gotten accused of bad things as stated in his bio. If you would get accused, what would you do?
- In Justice for All, Phoenix treats all prosecutors are out to get the defendants. Ends up reconsiders the idea when he has to defend Matt Engarde in order to save Maya's life. Even Miles and Franziska had to help him in this situation.
- After the events of Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney, Phoenix gets back into the game as one of the 3 playable defense attorneys simply by retaking a bar exam. He even hires a new lawyer in the form of Athena Cykes who specializes in analytical psychology.
- In Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, he is somehow capable of fighting since the game is a fighting game. He starts off as somewhat limited but improves exponentially during the course of the fight when he's in Turnabout mode.
- Compared to many prosecutors Phonenix has faced, Miles is by far his worthy and iconic opponent. Just put the two across from one another in a courtroom and they will cause so much chaos with their logistic duel in play until only the single truth remains.
- With the Magatama in hand, he can use it to see if a person is making stuff up from him in the form of big locks. He will then force the person to reveal the secrets. With that said, he rather would hear the truth instead of lying.
- Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney depicts Phoenix as a homeless man who is stuck with a piano-playing job. Ironically enough, he had enough power to bring the true culprit to the court to indict the culprit.
- He's a good mentor to Apollo and Athena during the events of Dual Destinies. He would give advice on cases and investigations and even took over when they are not able to continue their case. He even became a Mia Fey-like figure to the two characters.
- He seemingly did not have any grudge regarding the loss of his badge.
Bad Qualities
- He's pretty harsh when it comes to being a critic at art. Even going as far as mocking his friends' art pieces.
- Sometimes his loyalty has gotten some judgment on him. He at one point attempted to cross a burning bridge to save Maya despite Larry Butz's warnings only for the bridge to break.
- His personality in his university years portrays him as a childish naive crybaby.
- Has gotten into a disbarment period at one point.
- Has terrible handwriting, is bad at math, and is awful at the piano.
- In Apollo Justice, he lost his attorney badge because he presented evidence that was forged (it was unknown to him).
- Has had a habit of telling mostly bad jokes and gives cryptic advice.
- He gets mocked by almost everyone in the games. This makes him a butt monkey somehow.
- When some cases are not going his way, he sometimes gets down to the dumps.
- He had done a few hypocritical moments like he called Apollo "unreliable" to Maya despite Phoenix being the one using Apollo to carry out his plans. He got upset at Apollo for going off on his own to solve Clay's murder yet Phoenix did the exact same thing due to Maya's hostage.
- Despite how expressive he is, he can look pretty uncanny at times with some of his expressions in the games.
Trivia
- His Japanese surname, "Naruhodō" (成歩堂), comes from the Japanese expression "naruhodo", which roughly translates as "I see", "I understand", or "indeed". It is usually used to agree with other people's ideas.
- His Japanese given name, "Ryūichi " (龍一), originated from Ryuichi Sakamoto (坂本龍一), a Japanese composer, singer, writer, and actor, whom Shu Takumi deeply respected. When a character named Furio Tigre came into existence, "Ryūichi" alludes to the dragon, while "Toranosuke" alludes to the tiger. The two animals are said to be natural enemies in Eastern mythology.
- "Phoenix" is a reference to the Phoenix, a mythological bird that revives itself by rising from the ashes of its own death.
- "Wright" is likely meant to have a similar effect to his Japanese surname (with lines such as "Isn't that right, Wright?") and/or as a reference to his righteous nature and sense of justice (i.e., doing what is right). The surname itself is an occupational one originating in England that comes from the Old English "wryhta" or "wyrhta", meaning "worker" or "shaper of wood". During Turnabout Memories, Wright introduces himself to Mia as being "Wright... Like the flying brothers", referring to the Wright brothers.
- His hairstyle is used as a unique look.
- During production, the name "Souka Naruhodō" (which translates to "Oh, yes, I see now") was suggested but quickly dismissed. It was decided to settle for just "Naruhodō".
- In official art for the original Game Boy Advance release, Wright has brown eyes, with his eyes appearing black in-game. However, in the official art created for the DS release onwards, he has blue eyes. His eyes are black in Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy HD and the current Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy on 3DS, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch & Steam.
- Shu Takumi has speculated that the reason Wright was studying art at college was to become a Shakespearean actor. However, character artist Kumiko Suekane prefers to think that Wright was studying to become a manga artist.
- His design in Dual Destinies had different ideas before being finalized. He had potential ones that had him wear glasses, wore his pendant, wore a sweater that was knitted by Trucy, or even had a small goatee. It was decided that it was important that he should be well-dressed in a suit, but even the design of said suit had many variations. In the end, the game's art director Takuro Fuse settled on making him a little older-looking, altering his suit design slightly, and allowing a single lock of his hair to hang in front
- In the Japanese version of the games, almost all characters address Wright by his surname or a corruption of it. In Japanese parlance, one's first name is only used by family members, lovers, and extremely close friends. In Wright's case, however, even close friends like Larry Butz and Maya Fey still use his surname. The only characters in the entire series to call him by his first name are Dahlia Hawthorne / Iris (while they were dating), Desirée DeLite, Sasha Buckler, and Ponco.
- The anime adaptation of the Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy adds a couple of pieces of information about Wright that are not mentioned in the games, but also do not contradict them.
- Wright uses a bicycle as his main method of transportation.
- He is said to have watched the entire run of The Steel Samurai: Warrior of Neo Olde Tokyo for information that could help him with the defense of Will Powers.
- In The First Turnabout, when asked for evidence to prove why the clock was running slow if Wright presents anything other than Stone's passport, the judge will challenge him, who then thinks, "D'oh! That wasn't it!" "D'oh!" is a catchphrase often used by the fictional character Homer Simpson from The Simpsons.
- At one point in Reunion, and Turnabout, Phoenix gets interrupted by Franziska then sarcastically thinks "Well, excuse me, Princess." as a reference to Link in The Legend of Zelda TV show.
- He and Franziska were going to be playable in Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars.
- During Turnabout Big Top, when he asks Regina Berry about Benjamin Woodman only to realize that she has no idea that Ben and the puppet Trilo are the same guys, Wright responds "Like sand through the hourglass, so are the Days of the Circus" as a nod to a soap opera called "Days of our Lives"
- In Farewell, My Turnabout, he accuses Adrian Andrews of being a murderer saying "Ms. Adrian Andrews! I choose you! You are Mr. Corrida's killer!" as a nod to Pokémon. Phoenix also said in the same episode, he said "Zoinks! It's the alien". Zoinks is a reference to Shaggy Rogers from Scooby-Doo.
- In The Stolen Turnabout, Godot presents the DeMasque's Broach. Wright replies with an "Uh-oh... Phoenix, we have a problem" as a reference to the 1995 film adaptation of the 1970 Apollo 13 lunar mission.
- In Recipe for Turnabout, he meets Lisa Basil and claims that she "looks more like a ghost in a shell" as a reference to the anime series Ghost in the Shell. In the same episode Basil responds to Phoenix presenting irrelevant evidence, Maya said "SuPer Admin Restricted Desktop Access password-protected!? What!? This is madness!" while Wright calmly states: "No, Maya. That is SPARDA. She won't tell us unless we say the right code word". This is a reference to both the movie 300 and Sparda on the other hand is a reference to Devil May Cry who happens to be both the son of Dante and Vergil and the grandson of Nero.
- In Turnabout Academy, Wright says to Cykes, "Nice work, Athena. Your face only turned five shades of pale. I was expecting fifty." This is a reference to the title of the novel Fifty Shades of Grey.
- In The Cosmic Turnabout, Wright thinks to himself, "As long as we aren't punished in the name of said moon..." as a reference to Sailor Moon.
- When examining the shark cannon, Athena said about seeing sharks flying and whirling through the skies with Wright thinks to himself "A tornado full of sharks? Not even Hollywood could conjure up something that insane" as a reference to Sharknado.
- In the English versions of his games, he was going to be named either Cole or Wilton.
- Gave us the OBJECTION meme.
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