Now we’ve gone and done it. Ema just admitted to murdering poor Prosecutor Marshall, albeit unintentionally. But this trial isn’t over yet, and there are still mysteries we have left to uncover.

It’s easy to see why Edgeworth is one of the most popular prosecutors in the franchise. Not only is he the first, but he has perhaps the best character arc of anyone in the series, going from a man who will do whatever it takes to win, to someone whose primary purpose is to expose falsehoods using whatever power he has access to. Though both him and Phoenix sit on opposite ends of the aisle during this trial, they’re both on the same side.

There’s probably a legal issue with that, but for a character-focused crime drama, it works.

As the sole living witness to the death of Neil Marshall, we’re asking a lot from Ema to testify about it. But we must, for the case of the murder of Bruce Goodman rests upon the events of that day.

That little gimmicky minigame where we need to rearrange the pot to match the picture of the Blue Badger is one of the most infamous from this case. As you can see, it’s very finicky, even when we know what the correct orientation is supposed to be. I’m just grateful it didn’t take as many tries as I feared it would.

Next time, this case will be closed. If we have time, we’ll even start the next game I have planned.

I think we’ve finally obtained enough evidence to close the case. Now, we just need to ask a few more questions. Then, the final trial begins!

What I love most about this case is how it demonstrates the profound impact that Turnabout Goodbye had on Edgeworth. It would be easy for him to accept the guilty plea and wash his hands of the case, but he’s not that person anymore. Because he’s not fully convinced that he’s proven the defendant is guilty, he chooses instead to prolong the trial and use it as a vehicle to expose deeper corruption.

Even better is the way that he bounces off of Phoenix, and the cast of witnesses and suspects that all wish to see him fail. It gets to him, but at the end of the day he still recognizes that he has an important job to do.

It’s strong character growth that continues into future titles.

We need to find a way into Damon Gant’s office. But who is gullible enough to let us in- Oh hey Gumshoe!

I apologize to Future Emma for introducing her to libertarianism. I can only hope she grows out of it when she becomes a scientific investigator.

As for the case, the full picture still eludes us, but we have the big details sorted out at this point. With the evidence we’ve found in Gant’s safe, we should almost be able to take this all the way.

Our client dropped a bombshell on both us and Edgeworth during the last trial. She confessed, openly and publicly, to using forged evidence to pursue a conviction.

Devastating a blow that might be, it did buy us one more day to investigate the murder of Bruce Goodman.

Fair warning, never trust an organ player with a cross-shaped necktie and an ominous theme song. It’s always trouble with those types.

But despite that, this case is quickly arriving at its conclusion. As with most cases in this series, the current one has to do with the circumstances of an entirely different case worming their way back into the modern day. This time, it’s the Joe Darke killings from two years ago.

And its clear that whatever truth we find at the end of this road, Damon Gant will be at the center of it.

We’ve done it. We’ve proven, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Detective Marshall was the one who broke into the evidence room, disguised as Detective Goodman. Now, we just need to know why.

And just like that, this case has grown even deeper and more complicated. But what does it all mean? Hopefully next time, we’ll find out in Rise from the Ashes.

Oh no. Edgeworth’s cunning has returned in full force. He’s taken everything we’ve proven and spun it around right back at our defendant.

But we’re the Turnabout Terror. This trial isn’t over yet.

I wonder how much playtesting went into these games when they were being developed because what impresses me most about them is how well they guide the player to the conclusions that want to be drawn without ever explicitly saying them until they’re certain said player has already figured it out.

While you don’t need to “be” smart to play these games, they make you “feel” smart for making the deductions on your own, even if you were being led to them all along.

It’s a mark of skill in game design that the development and localization teams can consistently pull that off.

The trial begins, and now we can finally shed some light on this supposed “second murder”.

This part of the case, where we need to point to the discrepancy in the video, is one of the infamous parts of the game. While it is truly impossible to get a game over, since we’re never given a penalty for making incorrect guesses, we are subjected to one of the most irritating background noises while making our selection.

Furthermore, though I don’t have any issues with mouseclick, most of the people who played this game did so on the DS. They were making their selection on touchscreens, which only compounded the number of misclicks.

Unfortunately, this isn’t the last time we’ll see this footage. Except more of it in the next few episodes.

We’re significantly closer to determining the cause of our “second murder” in the police department. With a bit more legwork, we should be more than ready for tomorrow’s trial.

One of the things that jumps out to me most, playing Rise from the Ashes in its current incarnation, is how easily many of these 3DS gimmicks are adapted to a standard gaming controller. Sure, it’s obvious enough that these were intended to be used with a touchpad and microphone, to immerse the player into the proceedings better. But even knowing that the current control scheme is sufficient to pull off the job.

It makes one think back to all of the “revolutionary” gimmicks that have been introduced to gaming over the years, and how most of them ultimately still pale in comparison to a good controller. There’s wisdom somewhere in that, though I can’t seem to place it.

At last, we finally have clearance to step into the evidence room. There must be something in there that we can use in our upcoming trial. We just need to find it.

If it wasn’t obvious from the luminol spray or the evidence inspection before, we have yet another use of the DS touchscreen here to remind when this case was written. Thankfully, the puzzle attached to it is pretty easy, so even my exhausted mind could figure it out.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t quite up to the task of staying awake, so we had to cut the stream off a little early. Next time though, I’ll do my best to be more awake and alert.