In Ace Attorney, Sherlock Holmes Is A Crappy Detective

The new Ace Attorney, Dai Gyakuten Saiban, is full of the over-the-top courtroom drama you know and love. But outside of the courtroom, you have to prepare for the trials — mainly by proving how terrible a detective Sherlock Holmes is.

In Dai Gyakuten Saiban you meet and befriend the world famous Sherlock Holmes. Several times throughout the game, he comes along with you to various crime scenes. Then, when he thinks he has discovered a capital clue, he shows off his deductive reasoning skills in a step-by-step breakdown of some key aspect of the crime or the suspect’s hidden motives.

There’s just one problem: He’s always wrong.

Take the first such scene in the game. The first thing Holmes hopes to prove is the true identity of this man.

According to Holmes, the first big clue is that the man has a large pair of scissors. Why? To cut off his fabulous beard.

But why would the man want to cut off such a beard? Because it is evidence.

Noticing that the man has today’s newspaper in his pocket, Sherlock surmises that his reason for cutting his beard must have to do with today’s headline story about an exiled Russian revolutionary, Dmitri Demigraski.

Therefore the man’s true identity is Dmitri Demigraski.

Holmes’ second round of deduction is about the true nature of the crime. Sherlock starts by saying “if you look over there, you can see evidence of your crime,” at which point the man glances to the side — alerting Sherlock to the location of said evidence.

Thus Sherlock concludes that the key evidence of the true crime is the man’s suitcase. But what could be inside? Sherlock says that, to him, it looks to be just the right size for a young woman to be packed inside.

After all, according to a second article in today’s newspaper, a famous Russian ballerina, Nikomina Borschevic, has gone missing. Thus he concludes that the real crime is the kidnapping of Nikomina Borschevic.

Now while Sherlock has been spinning around, snapping his fingers and making spotlights appear, Ryunosuke (Phoenix Wright’s ancestor) has been noticing the little things: like when the suspects seem more confused than surprised by the detective’s deductions.

So Ryunosuke has Sherlock run through the whole process once more — so he can point out the screw ups in the detective’s logic. The first big one is the purpose of the scissors. It’s not to cut the man’s fabulous beard, but to cut his …long flowing blond locks!

“That’s just what I was going to say,” says Sherlock, the bold-faced liar.

From there, Holmes once again states — far more nonsensically now — that the man’s true identity must have to do with today’s headline story about an exiled Russian revolutionary Dmitri Demigraski.

Ryunosuke simply flips over the paper and asserts that the man’s true identity must have to do with today’s other headline story, the disappearance of Russian ballet dancer Nikomina Borschevic.

In fact, that must be the “man’s” true identity: Nikomina Borschevic.

Sherlock acts like he actually had anything to do with figuring it out. Dick.

Then, you move onto the second mystery: what exactly the true crime is. Of course, now the idea of Nikomina being locked in the suitcase on the chair is a little less plausible than before. That doesn’t stop Sherlock from running through his theory again, however.

Once again, Nikomina glances at the evidence of the true crime. But Ryunosuke points out it’s not the suitcase she’s looking at, but rather the tiara on her desk — the same tiara, as Sherlock notes, that she was wearing in the picture used in the newspaper article.

Sherlock also remembers that said tiara is worth 20,000 rubles.

Thus, the real crime isn’t kidnapping, but theft.

Alright, give 50 per cent of that one to Sherlock for first the evidence-finding misdirection and then the correct information about the tiara. That was a good team effort.

Of course, that doesn’t change the fact that he was dead wrong the first time — and every other time this mini-game comes up for the rest of the game. So much for the world’s greatest detective.

What’s funny, however, is that later on in the game someone else tries the deduction trick: Iris Watson. And unlike her roommate,the 10-year-old genius is completely right the first time. Easy to see why they usually work as a team, isn’t it.

Dai Gyakuten Saiban: Naruhodo Ryunosuke no Boken was released in Japan for the Nintendo 3DS on 9 July 2015. There is currently no word on a Western release.