It’s about time Apollo Justice got his dues

2023 has been an incredible year for video games, but as I look forward to 2024, there’s one thing I’m particularly thrilled about: the chance for Apollo Justice to, perhaps, finally get the credit he deserves.

Apollo is like… I don’t know, Rey? In the same way that following on from bloody Luke Skywalker as a protagonist is pretty much impossible, so too is following on from Phoenix Wright. Over the course of three text-heavy games dense with characterization for its lead, Phoenix stole the show. And that meant, when Apollo arrived back in 2007, he had a mountain to climb.

It always felt to me like he never quite managed to summit it, too. Phoenix is still a huge part of Apollo’s story – a little more rugged and out-of-action, the old protagonist, now a veteran, trains the new. His adopted daughter becomes Apollo’s sidekick, filling in the Mia role. Ultimately, the main mystery of Apollo’s first game is tied up in learning about what happened to Phoenix between the the end of his trilogy and the start of Apollo’s.