When you normally think of video games, you don’t necessarily think of games based on lawyers. That sounds like something for law students to practice and study with. Surprisingly, there have been interesting lawyer characters in video games, and even games based completely around them and their courtroom antics. This list shares the 10 best video game lawyers for your amusement.
Albert Cole – Fallout
Albert Cole goes all the way back to Fallout 1 as one of the three starting characters you can choose from. Each of the three starting characters had particular strengths, and Albert’s were high Speech and Barter skills. He’s basically a smooth talker.
As you can see from his bio, he’s a charismatic leader who purportedly was good enough to be considered a lawyer. Unfortunately, no matter how good of a lawyer Albert could have been, players were advised to steer clear of this character since his skills were nearly useless in the tactically-driven combat game he was put into. There was no talking his way out of that.
Sae Nijima – Persona 5
Sae is one of the bosses that the Phantom Thieves must eventually face off against in Persona 5, and pictured here is her revealed supervillain form.
Normally, she charades as an interrogator who questions the Phantom Thieves about their motives in a unique parallel narrative that jumps back and forth between the current timeline and the past. She might not be a true courtroom lawyer, but her tactics and lies set her up as one. And her villainous nature left the Phantom Thieves ready to defeat her, no questions asked.
Judge Dredd
Judge Dredd hails from British publisher IPC Magazines through their 2000AD comic magazine. In his story, Judge Dredd is in a future city known as Mega-City One where he’s the chief judge, jury, and executioner. He constantly states, “I am the law.” That would also make him a lawyer by definition.
There have been numerous video games based on the franchise that span multiple systems. And all action styles have been explored from top-down third-person gameplay to first-person shooting mayhem. With this guy as the chief judge and lawyer, we don’t want to know what the clerk, interpreter, and bailiff are like…
Takayuki Yagami
In Judgement, a spin-off of the classic game Yakuza, Takayuki Yagami is a lawyer who gets dishonored when a client of his is convicted of murder. As Yagami, players get to explore a sprawling underworld in one of Tokyo, Japan’s fictional districts Kamurocho. Although you don’t spend any time in a courtroom, there’s plenty of detective work and beat-’em-up action to enjoy in this outing. Good to know Japan’s got some tough lawyers working the case.
Makoto Naegi – Danganronpa
The Danganronpa series has been popular in Japan and made its way to America eventually, and Makoto Naegi is one of the more memorable characters. In the vein of survivor battle royales, he wakes up with a group of high school students who have all lost their memories and are forced to kill one another until only one survives.
What makes this game lawyer-esque is how the format has you finding clues after every murder and participating in a courtroom trial to prove someone guilty or innocent of the murder. Hopefully, this isn’t based on some true horror story about Japan’s law school graduation process…
Harvey Birdman
Harvey Birdman has odd origins beginning as a character created by Hanna-Barbera who was later revived by Cartoon Network as part of their Adult Swim lineup. The show went on to provide adult humor and poke fun at retro cartoons from Hanna-Barbera.
Eventually, Capcom helped put out a Nintendo Wii game similar to Phoenix Wright, with the same courtroom questioning formula, but was obviously made to be humorous and not to be taken seriously. The game had charm and would be a fun game to either re-release on the Switch or make a sequel for. Maybe someone can help make a case to convince Nintendo?
She Hulk – Marvel Comics
She-Hulk is the cousin of Bruce Banner aka the Hulk and has enjoyed a rise in popularity through her comic book years and the Disney+ series. As a testament to gender equality and girl power, Jennifer Walters is an intelligent lawyer by trade and a superhero who kicks bad guy butt. She’s the complete package.
For fans of this green powerhouse, she’s appeared in numerous video games throughout the years. The most prominent was Ultimate Marvel VS Capcom 3 where she was too powerful and had to be nerfed. She’s also in many mobile games, and Marvel titles, spanning pinball, puzzles, Lego, RPGs, and action games. Sounds like she’s busy helping Marvel get the green.
Kazuma Asogi – Ace Attorney Series
Kazuma Asogi is a true fan-favorite character who enjoyed popularity thanks to his personality and tragic story. Voted as one of the top 5 Ace Attorney characters of all time on numerous polls, it’s sad that he can no longer be included in any more games.
In the Ace Attorney Series, he was a student at Imperial Yumei University studying law while practicing as a defense attorney. Eventually, he decides to travel with his best friend to Great Britain and study abroad which leads him into adventure… and inescapable danger. Case open and closed.
Apollo Justice
After the Phoenix Wright saga concluded, Apollo Justice was the lawyer worthy of taking the mantle for Capcom and got his own franchise. Apollo was even taken under Phoenix’s wing at one point in his career, and eventually established his own successful firm to help bring back the proper justice and law his country was missing.
Just as popular as Phoenix and unique in his own right, Apollo succeeded where many fail, to not only live up to his predecessor, but prove to be different and appealing enough to stand on his own, and step out of his former mentor’s shadow into the spotlight. Good for you Apollo, don’t stop pointing that finger!
Phoenix Wright
Ah, what can be said about the legendary Phoenix Wright other than he’ll probably always be the most popular lawyer character in video game history. Phoenix will always be the first true lawyer with a fun and engaging courtroom-style game that brings the charm of anime into the world of legal drama and criminal intrigue.
When this title was first announced, there was plenty of doubt about a game centered around being a lawyer. Well, we’re glad Capcom stuck to their guns… or gavels, and kept this amazing series going for so long. Hopefully, Phoenix Wright will make a return one day with an original title, with no arguments to be had.
That does it for our list of the 10 best video game lawyers, but make sure to check out our many other fantastic top 10 lists because Twinfinite always puts out stellar content, and there’s plenty of readers who can testify to that!
Published: Mar 15, 2023 09:00 am