Capcom's long-running Ace Attorney game series is full of odd characters, but few stand out more immediately than Herlock Sholmes. As he's quite clearly based on Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes, it might seem easy to assume that there's little other substance to his character. However, he actually has a complex story as well as a complicated development history.
The first entry in the series, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, was released in 2001. Since then there have been several other mainline releases and various spin-offs as well as remasters of the original Ace Attorney games. The franchise has even moved to other mediums - manga series, musicals, stage plays, films and anime. Most titles fall somewhere between adventure games and legal drama adventure novels, so it shouldn't come as much of a surprise that elements from the iconic Sherlock Holmes novels made an appearance in the series.
Herlock Sholmes appears within The Great Ace Attorney games, both of which are being compiled into one release later this year. This also marks the first time the games have been localized for Western audiences. The compilation will be titled The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles, which is set to come out on July 27 for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and PC. The Great Ace Attorney entries serve as prequels to the other games of the franchise, and their localization has been long-anticipated by fans. Western players will finally be able to encounter Herlock Sholmes this summer, so here's what they ought to know about him.
Who Is Herlock Sholmes In The Great Ace Attorney?
Herlock was initially conceptualized as a homage to and borderline parody of the famous Sherlock Holmes character, and in the original Japanese language versions of the game, he even shares a name with the titular detective. However, concerns regarding copyright and potential lawsuits from Doyle's estate lead to a name change in the upcoming Western release of the Great Ace Attorney series. The character was renamed Herlock Sholmes in tribute to Arsène Lupin versus Herlock Sholmes. He was reportedly originally designed as part of a potential game in which the detective makes consistently incorrect deductions and must be corrected and guided along by the player, and aspects of this origin still shine through in many aspects of his personality.
Throughout the Great Ace Attorney games, Herlock Sholmes assists Ryunosuke Naruhodo - an ancestor of Phoenix Wright and the primary character of both titles - with his investigations. Additionally, he's aided by his adoptive daughter and child prodigy Iris Wilson. Sholmes is depicted as eccentric to the point of annoyance and occasionally clueless, giving rapid-fire deductions that sometimes don't even land anywhere close to accuracy and require correction by Ryunosuke - a quirk that makes an appearance in The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles' gameplay.
However, despite his oddities Herlock Sholmes manages to hold true to his status as a renowned detective. It's arguably even implied that his incompetence is a deliberate persona put on to encourage others to seek the truth for themselves. Herlock Sholmes is generally regarded as one of the more iconic characters in the Ace Attorney franchise, and fans can look forward to meeting him next month.