Something I find interesting in the HD version of Apollo Justice: some fine details that were painted that had no chance of showing up in the downsampled artwork, like Vera’s eyelashes.
The artwork was painted at high resolution, and scaled down to DS resolution back in 2008. Looks like they touched up some details when they were scaled down... https://awoo.space/media/hc8zjDexcmoFd4zzcfs https://awoo.space/media/RI6X_DSFQk8AD2EmEhI
Something else I was wondering how they’d deal with in Apollo Justice HD: the flashback scene. There’s a case which takes place around the time of the original three games, and it deliberately reuses backgrounds and sprites from those games.
They very clearly don’t have high-res assets for the graphics from those three games, since they had to redraw all of them for the “Phoenix Wright HD trilogy” rerelease. But the art in that is a) not very good, b) doesn’t match Apollo Justice’s art style.
To my surprise, the answer is… they redrew it all, again! Both backgrounds and characters got redone, and they match the Apollo Justice art style pretty nicely. I’ll post a few samples - sorry that not all of the comparisons show the *same* scene.
Might as well start with Phoenix himself. From left to right: GBA; DS; HD trilogy; Apollo Justice HD.
The outlines in AJ HD match the original sprite better, but they also have a shading style that looks nicer to me. https://awoo.space/media/Kb7bvOXLpdvMahXADHI https://awoo.space/media/o8hAuO0seZRn9rNbf_c https://awoo.space/media/FMPNdR8y8NXOAt9Gcc4 https://awoo.space/media/8ovivpT5L8ObpgEoyuY
The outlines of the background are a little more different between the versions; you can tell that the HD trilogy version is traced, while AJ HD is redrawn. The trilogy version is just such a blurry, awkward mess though.
I hate that so much of the art from the HD trilogy is traced so lazily like that. :/ They had an opportunity to do something well and they wasted it.
Next, the prosecutor stand. Sorry we can’t compare prosecutors - Klavier isn’t in the classic games, and I couldn’t find a good screen of this scene in AA DS.
Order, again is: GBA; DS; HD trilogy; Apollo Justice HD. https://awoo.space/media/WDJwbNCky1rgjMvwbL8 https://awoo.space/media/YIQB-MWua2RosqPZJqE https://awoo.space/media/TyE8DsSzhMNnqZrlrIw https://awoo.space/media/6yuvZ69oM901LN91GDE
The details in the witness stand are really interesting to me. Those flags have always been abstract scratches; in Apollo Justice HD, they chose to interpret them as being the court emblem, something that doesn’t appear in any other version.
Left to right: GBA; DS; HD trilogy; Apollo Justice HD. https://awoo.space/media/lGs8qrIBfp96EHAEaBU https://awoo.space/media/pZjAUvP2XnyZCNABzzk https://awoo.space/media/UY-oLBUF9RTvbkAQZV8 https://awoo.space/media/C1iNaAFmlz6w5EYaxM8
Gumshoe had one of the most “okay” sprites in the HD trilogy; the harsh contrast lines on his face still bug me though. The shading and line style in Apollo Justice HD matches the native artwork in Apollo Justice better, and also looks nicer to me.
The judge is another character whose harsh outlines bug me in the HD trilogy. His beard is also really blurry.
Apollo Justice HD took some liberties with the outline of the wood detailing in the background, but it looks good to me.
Left to right: GBA; DS; HD trilogy; Apollo Justice HD. https://awoo.space/media/i6WbZc3Vi0gRlYV92ZI https://awoo.space/media/Iib3tb-ubvhuLOC5W84 https://awoo.space/media/VNaP_5HYaAmHpi0y0lY https://awoo.space/media/bijbHueScREx275MpfA
You might notice that the GBA screenshots I showed have very different backgrounds! The court backgrounds were redrawn between Ace Attorney 1 and 2 on GBA; all three DS ports kept the backgrounds from 2 and 3, so those old ones have never been seen in English.
(Sorry for all the spam. 😅 I find this stuff interesting.)
@dog Don’t apologize; so do I!
@dog is the HD Trilogy the 3DS one?
@tom Yeah, 3DS/iPhone/Android.
@dog ah! I played that on 3DS and tbh the harsh outlines aren't very apparent on its rather low-res screen. I can def. see how they're annoying in the smartphone versions though.
@dog and AJ HD looks /a lot/ nicer, obviously
@tom Yeah, being scaled to 3DS res probably helped a lot. They're not great on phones, lol. I wish the iPhone/Android versions let you switch back to the DS graphics.
Finally, the defendant lobby is the one other scene that reappears, so it was also redrawn. Apollo Justice left out some details, like the guards at the door - maybe because it only shows up briefly. Too bad to lose them!
Left to right: GBA; DS; HD trilogy; AJ HD. https://awoo.space/media/woUhUiyw4AqtrusdK_s https://awoo.space/media/3B6ihTINqF6lrfod7Kc https://awoo.space/media/krp4lMvbvh5YjKEuGZs https://awoo.space/media/oCO-GICudClbiJA8_2s