Joining us in the Gyakuten Saiban 4 interview that appears in the special June 30th issue of Famitsu is, Minae Matsukawa the producer and director, Shuu Takumi who is responsible for the scenario scripts.

Minae Matsukawa joined Capcom in 2002 and works as the producer for handheld games. She started working with the Gyakuten Saiban series since the remake of Gyakuten Saiban on the DS (Yomigaeru Gyakuten, Revival Turnover).

Shuu Takumi joined Capcom in 1994 and was responsible for the planning of the first Gyakuten Saiban on the Gameboy Advance. He has worked as the supervisor and on the script for all 3 previous games. This time he will be director and again, be responsible for the scripts.

Click "Read More" for the full interview, translated by moi.

Since when did work on this new title begin?

Minae:
We began around the time when Gyakuten Saiban got released in September 15th 2005 and someone suggested we look at the next title in the series. It was really early but, in the October Nintendo conference that took place in the following month, they already announced to everyone that we were going to make it.

Was the plan for the game already made by that time?

Shuu:
Well... When Nintendo made that announcement, no planning was done at all. But a while later, maybe a few months even (Laughs), we really began putting together the plot. Not sure how long that took.

Minae:
It was really when Shuu joined the team that he really started to work on it, at around the end of October (2005) I think it was. That was when we started putting the plans together as I worked on the blog to help think about new ideas and, at the same time, was working on the overseas version of Gyakuten Saiban.

The new story takes place 7 years after Gyakuten Saiban 3. Why 7 years later?

Shuu:
It gives the story a nice omen to begin with (Laughs).

Minae:
When we decided to add a fourth title to the series, we thought we would challenge ourselves as a team and, set ourselves a goal of creating a completely new "Gyakuten" using the new DS hardware. "Yomigaeru Gyakuten" was done in a way so that that was what the GBA version of "Gyakuten Saiban" would have looked like if we had designed it for the DS. But with "Yomigaeru Gyakuten" completed, there was really nothing left in that story that we could work with so, this time the bigger challenge for our team is to discuss about the way we should make use of the touchscreen and the DS' hardware. Also, we were also considering creating something that both players of the early series of games and new players will be able to enjoy. That's how the idea about introducing a new character and setting in a world 7 years later came about.

Do any of the earlier characters make an appearance?

Minae:
Anai and Judge appears (Laughs) Is there someone particular you want to appear?

Shuu:
Oh? Are we taking suggestions?

Would you be able to add them in time? (Laughs)

Shuu:
We might be able to, you never know. (Laughs Grimly).

What kind of character is the protagonist, Odoroki Housuke?

Shuu:
Since the fourth title is a completely new story, we had the character designers give the impression that he's a very energetic and hot-blooded young man. We kind of let the main character designers create what they liked.

He's different from the original image board that was publicized..

Shuu:
At first I wanted to publicize a poster of the Judge. But then that would be putting the spotlight on the judge as if he was away on a journey.

The words "aspired by an attorney" appears on the screen with the attorney badge. Does that that mean Odoroki was aspired by a certain attorney?

Shuu:
Well... (Weak Laugh). You'll have to find out after the game goes on sale! We're still actually in the middle of writing the scenarios. That's why even as we're going through this interview now, ideas might be popping up in my mind (Laughs). Or even, "Uh-oh, I forgot about that."

So things may still change from now?

Shuu:
We don't really know how it'll turn out to be honest.

Minae:
But players will be looking forward to know about this "aspiration" so, even though the setting is 7 years later, we'll have to link up the scenarios well.

Shuu:
...Yes, you're right (Laughs)

You're redrawn the illustration of the court. Is that supposed have any particular effect?

Shuu:
7 years have passed and now that the character is new, we thought we could blend in the old with the new. The balance was harder to create than we expected.

Minae:
Yes. It's finished now but, it was only very recently. This illustration really stands out as even now, you can feel Odoroki battling it out there.

Shuu:
We still aren't familiar with the new environment so, it might end up being abandoned depending on our mood.

On your mood? (Laughs)

Shuu:
We're not in a position to guess what the players will like after all.

What's this bracelet that's on Odoroki's left arm?

Minae:
It was supposed to be a watch at first. I said, "We could just give him a watch," but then one day the head of the character designers suddenly said they were finished with him.

This bracelet kind of gives it that magical atmosphere...

Shuu:

Well, it's when he shouts out "Objection". When he does that and nothing's on his arm, he seems a little lonely so we thought we could make him wear this. Now that he's wearing it, lots of people thinks there's a meaning to it and asks us, "Is there a meaning to this?" Now we'll have to think of a meaning for it.

Nonono (Laughs). There has to be a meaning to it, am I right?

Minae:
If you look at the logo for this game and forget about that glint on it, the bracelet becomes kind of an important symbol for Gyakuten Saiban 4.

Shuu:
Everyone doesn't have to think about it too much. With this many people thinking about it, someone will figure it out (Laughs). Definitely.

What role will Minuki take?

Shuu:
She's a replacement for Mayoi's character.

Minae:
She's a character who uses magic, something that Mr. Takumi loves. He really wants to promote the world of magic to everyone today.

Shuu:
Yes, indeed.

Minae:
He's so keen about it, he spent all last night practicing magic.

Shuu:
I'm kind of sleepy now, actually.

In the previous titles, Mayoi was a spiritualist and Naruhodo's partner. Why choose a magician this time?

Shuu:
It was just a feeling I had (Laughs). Since the story had a spiritualist in the first game through to the third, we couldn't have a spiritualist again. When we thought of having Minuki and Odoroki instead, we thought a girl who can only play the piano would be a little too weak for a partner.

That's true (Laughs)

Minae:
We went through quite a few characters.

Shuu:
Yes! We had one that was the daughter of a great merchant who, saw everything with a price tag.

(Laughs)

Shuu:
"Odoroki-kun, that testimony costs 350 Yen!"

And then she'll say something like, "We'll forget it since it's so cheap" (Laughs)

Minae:
And the character designers suggested we make her a Ninja. But Mr. Takumi didn't want to work with a village again.

Shuu:
Well, what could we do with a Ninja...

Minae:
And while we discusses that, we decided to make a magician.

Shuu:
I was very fond of magic when I was an university student but, it's a lie when people say I'm good at it.

Minae:
Mr. Takumi performed magic during his test to join Capcom and afterwards, he got in.

Shuu:
Yes, I had all the materials hidden in my pocket. I was very eager to perform.

Minae:
Don't say that or everyone will think that all you have to do is perform magic to join Capcom.

Shuu:
No, you can't. You'll have to study in university for 4 years or so. Maybe spend your youth learning magic too? I'm sure Minuki's working hard too. Thanks to magic, she's got her role as a heroine in the game.

Minae:
Spend it all?!

Shuu:
It shows that she's continuing to persue her dreams.

What's her personality like?

Minae:
The keyword would probably be "interfering."

Shuu:
Interfering?!

Minae:
Yes. We also thought she was a girl who really pushed herself too at first, though.

Shuu:
Yes, that was the image we had of her.

What sort of things does Minuki do?

Shuu:
That would depend on how hard she works. As the scenarios the scenarios were being written, I wanted the characters to have quite a big part and she does have quite a lot of things to do.

Minae:
Writing it all might take 2 weeks or so. The scenarios ended up with 200 pages, longer than planned.

Shuu:
200 pages (Laughs)?! Well, regardless, we know that whatever she does, it will be entertaining to look forward to it!

Where did Odoroki and Minuki's names come from?

Shuu:
Naruhodo's name came from "Naruhodo (I see)" and is a word I like using. Whenever I say something that people don't really understand, they still say "Naruhodo". And also find that it's an important word used in mystery novels which I enjoy reading. That's the meaning behind the name, "Naruhodo". But this time, I had to come up with a new name and none of the ones I could think of could compare with "Naruhodo". Once I came up with "Ikinari (Suddenly)" but, that felt like it came from some newspaper Manga (Laughs). Then I did a little more thinking and went back to looking at mystery novels. That's when I thought "Odoroki (Surprise)" in mystery novels was also something very important. So when I asked the team, "What about Odoroki?" they all agreed it was the best.

Minae:
As for his first name, Housuke, Mr. Takumi came up with it when everyone agreed Odoroki was a good name. Even the character designs the main designer came up with matched the ideas that Mr. Takumi had.

Shuu:
Yes. So that was Odoroki's name decided but, we had a hard time thinking of what Kanji to use with it. And that's when...

Minae:
I suggested the character "Doro (Mud)" (Laughs). Since we were stuck about what other characters we could use, we decided to discuss it with the team. They came up with the characters "Ou (King)" and "Ki (Joy)" to create "Odoroki" but, since both of those characters give the idea of something shining, using the character for mud with them just wasn't going to work.

Shuu:
There was just no way around it because we simply couldn't turn the "king" into "mud".

(Laughs)

Minae:
So there we were stuck at a hurdle.

Shuu:
We decided to leave it for a while since we would probably be able to come up with something once we calmed down a little. That's when we brought out a magazine.

Minae:
And it forced us to go on thinking.

Shuu:
Since we were getting Uyamuya (unsure/hazy) about the name... We thought maybe we could call the protagonist Uyamuya instead.

Minae:
But that won't do (Laughs). It's going to be an avatar of the player after all...

Shuu:
So we can't have the character "mud" in it either.

Minae:
If you looked at the Kanji for mud in a good way, I thought maybe it could show how the player grows up from his experiences from the game.

Shuu:
If the mud can be taken off you.

Minae:
Get it taken off?! (Laughs)

Shuu:
I don't know if it can be taken off.

Are the voices done by people within the company?

Shuu:
There was quite a lot of people who wanted to do the voices.

Minae:
Yes, there was a lot of talk about auditions and making demo tapes (Laugh).

Shuu:
Lately, some people said that I should do the voice because I sounded good saying "Objection!" But people who wanted to perform the voices should really do it. To be honest, I was the one that done the protagonist's voice in the first game and didn't want to pass on the role but, if I done it, players would be confused about who's who. This is where I held back my tears and let someone else be the main character. We don't have much of a budget so we had to let someone within our team to it.

Minae:
No, not much of a budget (Laughs)

There's some new tricks and interesting things in store for the Nintendo DS this time, isn't there?

Minae:
Our team is working hard everyday going through trial-and-error trying to find a new way of investigating. Something that's different from "Yomigaeru Gyakuten". Since they were the ones who worked on the DS remake, they have gained some experience from it and want to make use of the new features the DS has. I think they're aiming to make this fourth title a completely new experience by building on what they've done in the previous 3 Gameboy Advance games and for the remake.

About the new lawyer Mr. Maruyama you're working with to create Gyakuten Saiban... What work is he involved in with this latest title?

Minae:
We'll be discussing various things with him at this moment of time. The Gyakuten Saiban series has been supported by many players and reviewed by many in the games industry. Many find the names too rigid or, there's too much mystery and others find the cases too hard to solve so, this is where we'll be working with him to do something about the mysteries. We'll also be discussing about how to promote the Gyakuten series.

Finally, what message do you have for the readers?

Minae:
We have new members in the team including Mr. Takumi and designers. Together we're working hard to bring a new Gyakuten Saiban 4 to everyone, bringing out some familiar characters. Please do look forward to the game.

Shuu:
The main goal is a completely new experience so, because we're trying all sorts of things at the moment, we don't know how the game will turn out. After taking this interview, I'm now even more excited about the game. The whole team is working happily everyday making the game but, at the same time they're worried about how it will all turn out. So please, continue looking forward to this game everyone and expect more news about our days or joy and worries (Laughs).

Related Links: Official GS4 Site, Famitsu.