Summary
A brand-newDetective Pikachugame has made its way to the Nintendo Switch five years after the original title’s release on the 3DS.Detective Pikachu Returnsbrings back Tim Goodman and his talking, coffee-loving Pikachu partner for another adventure of solving cases and mysteries around Ryme City. The more players discover the closer they get to an overarching series of crimes by a few textbook bad guys,similar toPokemon’s usual villain teams, and the longer the cases they get become.
WhileDetective Pikachu Returnsmay be one of the newest games to follow a formula of looking for clues and interrogating suspects, it is far from the only one. In fact, as the mystery-solvingPokemongame remains rather simplistic for its ‘E for everyone’ audience, it ends up offering what almost feels like an easy version of Capcom’s ownAce Attorneyseries. TheAce Attorneygames also feature a section of gathering evidence and finding clues before Phoenix Wright heads into a courtroom, which meansDetective Pikachu Returnsfans should make the jump with ease.
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Why Detective Pikachu Returns Players Should Follow the Games with Ace Attorney
Not many fans would expect aPokemongame to be similar to anAce Attorneygame, but upon closer inspection,Detective Pikachu Returnsand its predecessor almost seem like a sort ofAce Attorney-likein that they follow many of the game gameplay conventions and patterns. Tim and Detective Pikachu start off their day just like Phoenix and his assistant do, head out to a location and either stumble into a mystery or crime, and end up trying to deduce what happened to solve it.
From there, players need to discover evidence to piece together the full picture. In both games, it involves looking around the location to find the clues they seek and interviewing any passersby and witnesses they happen to come across to takecriminals like Yanni Yogiinto custody. Once all the clues are put together, they need to be looked at to understand the bigger picture to solve even more puzzles, often leading to even more exploration, to solve the case at hand. The only difference is thatDetective Pikachu Returnsserves as training wheels comparatively.
Why It’s Good Ace Attorney Won’t Hold the Hands of Detective Pikachu Returns Players
At first glance, many gamers would likely seeDetective Pikachu Returnsas a rather basic investigative adventure game for kids rather than all ages, and in many ways, they’d be correct. While the game gives players all the basic details to understand its cases, players are only made to come to these conclusions at the pace that Tim and Pikachu do. This usually means letting them talk the entire thing out, answering one multiple-choice question that’s been made obvious, and lettingDetective Pikachuand Tim handle it from there.
Capcom’sAce Attorneyseries is different, however, in that while the characters players view the world through voice their understandings of the evidence, the case, and the story, they allow and encourage fans to figure it out in their own time. Eventually, theAce Attorneygames get to where if players don’t understand the case themselves, then they won’t be able to present evidence when asked in the courtroom.
Unfortunately, this sadly comes with its own catch, asAce Attorneyis similar toDetective Pikachu Returnswith cases being very on-rails, having the evidence needing to be presented in the correct order or else fans will be penalized for even being ahead of the case at large. Still, if players are looking for something more challenging after completingDetective Pikachu Returns, then there are plenty ofAce Attorneygames on Switch.
