Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney/Heartwarming

This page covers the first three games specifically. Take moments outside of that over to Apollo Justice or Investigations, please.

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney

• ...Lana smiles for the first time in years. I can't be the only one whose heart melted after that.
  • When she reunites with Ema after the trial, all I could think was, "Give her a hug, already!" And she does. Awwww!
  • The part at the end of the fourth case of the first game, where Gumshoe informs you that the previously awkward, repressed Edgeworth, who had treated him poorly throughout the game, stopped by the police station to wish him a happy new year.
    • Also in that same case When larry butz stopped a Fission Mailed and made his speech about how 'It's not right that they prosecute Edgey' ,it brought a tear to this troper's eye
      • Also having to do with Edgeworth, when Maya gets held in contempt for her outburst, pressing Lotta on whether she clearly saw Edgeworth fire the pistol on the lake. After that part of the trial ends, you talk to Edgeworth for a bit and tell him you're going to visit Maya at the Detention Center. "Tell her something for me. .........Tell...Tell her to watch what she says in court." SO CLOSE to an actual thank you, and even though it seemed to go right over Phoenix's head, I think every player felt their heart drop a little when he didn't say it. To top it off, later Gumshoe remarks that Edgeworth was so moved by what Maya did that, IN COURT, Edgeworth's LIP TREMBLED. That made me 'aww' like no tomorrow.
  • Ema's reunion with Lana at the end of the final case of the first game, coupled with Phoenix's touching monologue.

Phoenix: As for the sisters...I have faith. Faith that their lives... have only just begun. And as for me... I think it's time I started on a new journey of my own. A journey to rediscover myself.

• Edgeworth paying Maya's bail after she stood up for him in court, causing something of a ruckus and getting herself arrested. Made this troper go "Awww!"
• The first case in the entire series gets one, when, at the end of the trial, Phoenix points out to Larry that the late Cindy Stone did have feelings for him after all. How so? The clock statue of "The Thinker" that Larry gave her. It's quite heavy for a clock, yet she took it overseas with her anyway. Think about why she would do that.
• Edgeworth doting on Ema in 1-5, by encouraging her scientific investigation and spirit, and then giving her a fingerprinting kit and files to help with the case. <3 That, for me, was incredibly heartwarming and sweet. Particularly since it's, you know, Edgeworth. Phoenix goes to thank him, and he shrugs it off, "do as you will".
  • Later on, in court, Ema interrupts just as a verdict is about to be handed down. She begs to be heard out. Edgeworth agrees to it: "you want a minute? I'll give you three." He didn't need to do that, but still he is generous enough to let her speak.

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Justice for All

• Everything about the good ending to Justice For All, but especially Edgeworth and Franziska's conversation at the airport, where Franziska suddenly bursts into tears, and the discovery of what the fourth piece of evidence was.
  • Also where Maya finally gets to see her dead sister, Mia, again via Pearl channeling the spirit. Cut to a scene of Maya and Mia hugging each other as Maya cries out of joy. This troper almost cried seeing the moment, since Maya doesn't meet Mia when she channels her instead of someone else channeling Mia.
• This also crosses over as a Moment of Awesome for me, but this troper was just caught by the whole The Power of Trust thing going on between Nick and Edgeworth during case 4. All it takes for Edgeworth to catch on to the fact that Maya had been kidnapped and that something was SERIOUSLY wrong with the whole thing was one accidental comment made on Phoenix's part. What does he do? He immediately realizes that you need the trial to go on longer and he steps in to help you, even though he doesn't know what's wrong yet. He just knows something's not right, and he doesn't even hesitate to help Nick, even though it's hurting his own case. The revelation Nick has later on that he trusts Edgeworth, even though he's on the other side, was just sweet for me.
• A What Happened to the Mouse? Moment at the end of Case 2-4. It was revealed at the end that Gumshoe snagged FOUR pieces of evidence, not just three and that Maya drew a picture while in captivity. It goes on for a while without anyone knowing what that piece was until the very end of the credits. It's Shelly de Killer's buisness card, but with Nick's face drawn on it. Meaning that even in the worst possible time of her life, She's still thinking about him and knows that he won't fail to rescue her.
• The revelation that Gumshoe has a crush on Maggey. Which just makes it sadder that he has to testify against her in court. This makes the confetti at the end of Maggey's trial all the more heartwarming when you realize that it's Gumshoe who is throwing the confetti to celebrate her victory.

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations

• When Phoenix discovers in the third game that his former first love, whom he had thought was just using him, was actually someone else... someone who really cared for him. And that person was his evil ex-girlfriend's twin sister, who actually pulled a Twin Switch with her.

Iris: I hope one day you can forgive me... Feenie.
Phoenix: You really are the person I always thought you were. Even after Dahlia Hawthorne was found guilty, I still believed in you.
Iris: ......Thank you.

• Godot's "tears" always chokes up this troper, especially since Godot is really Mia Fey's boyfriend Diego. After all, "The only time a lawyer can cry is when it's all over," and this is technically the last game in the series arc.
• Same trial--every last bit of Maya's testimony. The way she's just so torn is adorable and sweet.
  • Definitely, though This Troper found that more heartbreaking than heartwarming.
• Just... this, at the very end of the trial.

Godot: How many cups of darkness have I drank over the years? Even I don't know. The only thing I do know is... Right now, this one here is the greatest cup I think I've ever had. Don't you think so... Phoenix Wright?
Phoenix: * Holding a mug of coffee and drinking as well* Yeah. I think you're right.

• • Is there any better way to give closure to Godot's story?
• When Phoenix recovers from his cold and regains the reigns on the case, one of the first things he discovers is that both of the Fey girls are missing. Charming, sophisticated, adorable little Pearl has disappeared amongst a ton of calamity. To make matters worse, his former opponent Franziska von Karma has decided to follow him around. Eventually the two cross the repaired bridge and run into none other than Pearl. After being completely deserted on this freezing, unfamiliar, ominous, extremely high mountain cliff, Pearl finally sees a friendly face. Cue the waterworks, from both her AND the player.
• Despite how much they care for each other, it's not very easy to find such moments for Phoenix and Edgeworth, seeing how they bury their concern under awkward silences and so on. But the bit in Bridge To The Turnabout where Edgeworth decides to take the risk of impersonating a defence attorney, and his sole condition for doing so is that Iris tell the truth to Phoenix to let him "truly recover" from his pain... This Troper has always found that incredibly sweet.
• And from the same case (the heartwarming quality is reduced by Edgeworth's inability to say "thank you", but still quite touching):

Edgeworth: Is that your attorney's badge? Interesting. I never imagined I'd ever see you wearing one of these, Wright.
Phoenix: It's because of you that I became one, Edgeworth.
Edgeworth: ...
Phoenix: Not that I have any regrets. I really don't.

• • In the epilogue of "Bridge To The Turnabout", the characters open the talisman locket owned by Maya's mother. It's a special treasure, that the Master of the Kurain Tradition is never meant to remove until the day she dies. So, now that it's all over, Maya is able to open the locket, and do you know what was inside? What her mother carried next to her heart until the day she died? A photograph of Mia and Maya. Even when she vanished for 15 years, she always had her daughters with her. Always.
    • What's even more heartwarming is the fact that the urn was broken before Pearl broke it, supposedly, the first time. Proves that you really can fix anything that's broken...
  • A smaller one occurs at the end of "The Stolen Turnabout". The entire reason that Ron became a thief was to support his wife's spending habit, terrified that she was going to leave him if she found out he was running out of money. After he's arrested for theft he is also terrified Desiree will leave him because of her hatred for criminals. If you present the Kurain Urn to him after the trial, Desiree shows up to congratulate Ron on being declared innocent. Maya asks if she's going to leave him.

Desiree: * as the [=Mask* DeMasque=] theme kicks in* Why would I want to leave such a wonderful man?

• • In the middle of the same case, this troper could not get over how utterly adorable the story of Ron and Desiree's meeting was. Desiree was held hostage by two thugs, and Ron, despite being positively terrified out of his mind, shaking, and with tears streaming down his face, still did not hesitate to shout at them and charge them, successfully scaring them away from her. Just knowing how timid Ron is and how heart-wrenchingly afraid he was and how it still didn't stop him from being an absolute hero made this troper melt.
  • Edgeworth referring to Phoenix as his "partner." Shipping reasons aside, this is utterly squee-inducing: their strong bond, the near-absolute trust between them, and their shared destiny summed up in one word, from emotionally-repressed Edgey no less!

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