Professor Layton vs. Ace Attorney

Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (レイトン教授VS逆転裁判 Reiton-kyōju vs Gyakuten Saiban?, lit. Professor Layton vs. Turnabout Trial) is a crossover adventure puzzle video game joint-developed by Level-5 and Capcom and published by Nintendo (Level-5 in Japan) for the Nintendo 3DS. The game is a crossover between Level-5's Professor Layton puzzle series and Capcom's Ace Attorney adventure series, combining gameplay elements from both series. The game features scenario designs from Shu Takumi, the series director for the Ace Attorney series. The game was released in Japan on November 29, 2012, March 28, 2014 in Europe and March 29, 2014 in Australia. It was released in North America on August 29, 2014.

The game follows Professor Layton, Luke Triton, Phoenix Wright and Maya Fey as they attempt to solve the mystery of Labyrinthia. The game has two main styles of gameplay, Adventure and Witch Trial, which feature elements from the Professor Layton and Ace Attorney series respectively. The game features voice acting and animated cutscenes, a staple in the Professor Layton games but a first for the Ace Attorney series.

Adventure
See also: Gameplay in the Professor Layton series
During Adventure segments, players can explore various environments, conversing with characters and examining background objects in order to find clues to solving the mystery of Labyrinthia. The control scheme is similar to the one introduced in Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask, in which players navigate the environments by moving around a cursor on the screen. Investigating certain areas or conversing with certain characters reveals various puzzles, which task players with finding its solution. Solving these puzzles earn Picarats, with more earned for making fewer mistakes, which go towards unlocking bonus content. Throughout these sections, players may also find Hint Coins which can be spent to unlock hints whilst solving puzzles.

Witch Trial
See also: Gameplay in the Ace Attorney series
In the Witch Trial sections, players take control of Phoenix Wright as he cross-examines witnesses in order to defend his client. Whilst cross-examining a witness, the player can press them for more details, which can sometimes yield new information. The player's main task is to look for contradictions in the witness statements and present the evidence that contradicts their statement. If the player presents the wrong evidence at the wrong time, the player will lose a strike, with the game ending if the player loses all of their strikes. This time around, Phoenix will occasionally have to cross-examine multiple witnesses at once. Whilst pressing one witness, another may react to one of their statements, and questioning them may yield new information or evidence. In addition to the Court Record, which contains evidence on the case, Phoenix also has access to the Grand Grimoire, a book of magic spells which can also be used as evidence. Hint coins found during the Adventure segments can also be used during trials, providing hints on how the player should progress. Additional Picorats are earned at the end of each trial based on how many strikes are remaining.

Downloadable content
Level-5 announced that they would release downloadable content for the game, including a new storyline, written by Shu Takumi, which will be split up in 12 episodes. It is playable when the game has been cleared once. The downloadable content, which included new puzzles and gallery items, was released every Wednesday for 24 weeks, starting on December 12, 2012, with the different kinds of downloadable content alternating each week.

In PAL regions, the content will be offered in a similar manner, starting with a story episode on the game's release date, and then new content will be released every week until the start of September.

Source: Wikipedia, "Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney", available under the CC-BY-SA License.

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