Why Neal is psyched to get the first Ace Attorney games on his 3DS this December.

The Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy is coming to 3DS on December 9 and despite the fact that I've played two of the three games already, I'm actually incredibly excited for this collection to come out.

One barrier for the Phoenix Wright series that I've discovered over the years is that sometimes the games can be hard to find. I know I had to track down my copy of the original across several stores in my area, I only played the sequel because I had a friend who I could borrow it from, and I never played the third one because I couldn't find it cheap enough. Years passed and I just fell off of the Ace Attorney series altogether (though I did review Ace Attorney Investigations, which is fantastic).

It dawned on me while messing around with the Ace Attorney Trilogy demo at New York Comic Con that this collection of the first three Ace Attorney games is potentially spectacular. At the end of the day, it's just a slightly upgraded collection of three old games, but it's also an easy-to-buy collection of three usually hard-to-find games.

I'm also at a point where enough time has passed since I played the first two Ace Attorney games that replaying them would be more like re-reading a beloved book then laboriously going through the motions of a linear video game. I forgot how goofy and endearing the initial Larry Butz trial was in the original while playing the demos.

I know people might complain about the price or that there isn't a physical version, but to me, the $30 price point is fine considering that, even now, you'd have to drop about $45 to get all three on DS. Plus, the eShop version ensures that players can always get their lawyer fix whenever they discover Phoenix and company.

I hope I’m not alone in my anticipation for more Phoenix Wright games. Now let’s hope that crazy one with Sherlock Holmes in it makes it over quickly…

Note: Subsequent research shows that it looks like Capcom reprinted the original three Ace Attorney games on DS. I don't think I'm totally insane; those games were very hard to find in like 2007/2008. Also, I know they're available on iOS and junk. I just would rather play it on my DS/3DS.