To the layman, video games and reading don’t appear to overlap much. One is viewed as lazy and mind-numbing, while the other is seen as intellectual and mind-nourishing. However, there is a niche where these two art forms overlap – the visual novel.

A visual novel is a subgenre of games characterised by interactive text boxes, minimal animation and often an element of choice by the player. This is comparable to the more traditional media of a picture book or choose-your-own-adventure book.

Perhaps one of the most notable examples of the visual novel genre is the Ace Attorney series. An idea conceived by Capcom’s Shu Takumi, the game series puts the player in the shoes of defence attorney Phoenix Wright as he pieces together clues and examines testimony in the pursuit of finding the case’s culprit. One of the central mechanics of the game is cross-examination, whereby the player compares a witness’ testimony to gathered evidence to piece together the truth.

As such, this concept lends itself to the visual novel genre; the main storytelling medium is words. Yet Ace Attorney manages to disguise some sizeable stories behind the exterior of a detective-esque video game. In fact, the original trilogy of games contains around 570,000 words, more than some versions of Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace.

Word count isn’t the only area where the Ace Attorney games prompt comparisons to traditional novels. The original Ace Attorney trilogy contains 14 individual ‘turnabouts’ (chapters) which each have their own phases of set-up, investigation and eventual satisfying conclusion. In each of the games in the trilogy, these chapters form an overarching story, like the way chapters in a book form the bigger picture. From a larger perspective, each of these chapters can fall into a set-up, buildup and conclusion of the main story.

Further to this, there is a clearly established story that runs throughout the trilogy. Put together, these stories form larger and larger stories akin to those created by books. Many of these stories can fit into the traditional seven-point story structure, as first developed by Dan Wells, with multiple high and low points, revelations and developments relevant to each part of the story at all levels, from chapter to trilogy.

It’s no wonder that people underestimate the narrative intricacies of a game series which originated on the Nintendo DS. Within all of this, the Ace Attorney series explores themes of disillusionment within the legal profession, haunting childhood trauma, guilt and deep-rooted manipulation.

All this plot is wrapped up in a colourful art style, humorous dialogue and loveable characters. Despite being tarred with the brush of being a ‘brain-rotting’ video game, Ace Attorney does what a lot of traditional media fails to do these days: make reading cool. After all, War and Peace doesn’t have a character called Wendy Oldbag.

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