It’s hard to believe, but I’ve been blogging about wanting an Ace Attorney Investigations 2 localization for over a decade now.
(Yeah, that was back when my blog posts were sometimes just walls of text.)
After all this time, there’s still no official way to play Ace Attorney Investigations 2, or Gyakuten Kenji 2, in English, although the fan translation is quite good.
Well, some of us are still asking for it despite the amount of time that’s passed. More importantly, Capcom is aware that we want it.
In a recent interview with Siliconera about the upcoming Apollo Justice Trilogy, producer Kenichi Hashimoto was asked about the possibility of an Investigations duology including an official translation of the second game, to which he responded:
The development team is aware that fans are hoping for this. Unfortunately, we have no announcements at this time.”
I know, that’s a complete non-answer. The good old “no announcements at this time” response would be given even if they intended to announce it next week, and probably if they never intended to release it at all. But the fact that he said they’re aware of demand for it feels like an encouraging sign.
I still think the Ace Attorney series is in one of the best positions it has been in a long time. The interview also revealed that development of the Apollo Justice Trilogy began in 2021, which threw me for a loop since most of my theories were based on the success of The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles leading to it being greenlit, but that means they already considered it worthwhile by then. And as I’ve said before, even localizing The Great Ace Attorney at all is a promising sign for the future.
(That interview just says 2021, but I saw another one that specified spring 2021, which would mean it was before Chronicles even came out.)
So, what about Investigations 2?
Investigations 2 has come up more lately than it has in years. It was included in the Capcom Museum’s special exhibit about the Investigations duology. An official Capcom survey had it as an option when asking what Ace Attorney games you’ve played, even listing it as Ace Attorney Investigations 2 instead of calling it Gyakuten Kenji 2. Now this interview acknowledged that fans in the west want it.
You know what? I think it’s going to happen.
Ace Attorney 7 should still be next. With this many years having passed since the last new game and the Apollo Justice Trilogy bridging the gap for new players, it would be a shame to have another collection come out before the next game. However, I have new hope that we might see Investigations after that.
For the first time in years, an official Ace Attorney Investigations 2 localization feels like something we can realistically hope for once again.
