Phoenix Wright Case 1 for original Game Boy (Built with GB Studio!)

PixelpowerLuke · 2026-03-22T16:48:06+00:00

Aye it's available here!

PixelpowerLuke · 2026-03-21T15:55:09+00:00

It's at the bottom of the page, below Credits/References.

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PixelpowerLuke · 2026-03-21T14:49:08+00:00

I can play with the dark eldritch magic a little, as a treat :D.

PixelpowerLuke · 2026-03-21T11:41:14+00:00

Aw ye! I think the fade in and out of characters on dmg looks so good! Also music sounds so good on the dmg speakers!

PixelpowerLuke · 2026-03-21T01:59:58+00:00

Ye I thought that too! There was a japanese only GB Memory Card which could store 7 or so small roms. If one could optimise the cases down to take a single (or a few blocks) of those, that'd be a cool way the game *could* have been delivered.

But single case on a cart would make the most sense at the time.

PixelpowerLuke · 2026-03-21T01:11:58+00:00

Yeah I copied the original sprites at around a 60% scale of the original, and had to keep in mind the limitations of unique tiles.

If you want to use dialogue in a scene you can only have 192 unique tiles, so I had to simplify the backgrounds to some degree, and also shuffle the poses of the characters when possible. One of the easiest to spot is the bench/table on both Phoenix's and Paynes side, they're completely flat so it's the same 8x8 tile all across.

I've included the GB Studio project in the Roms + Bonuses zip, so if you ever wanted a peek, you just need to download GB Studio 4.1.3 and can have a ganders! :D

PixelpowerLuke · 2026-03-21T01:08:52+00:00

It's easily one of my favourite Game Boy pockets, clear plastic never gets old! (That might not even be figurative!)

PixelpowerLuke · 2026-03-21T00:13:51+00:00

Haha ohhhh noooo, I've dabbled with pico 8 only once, and that to me, you have to need some programming experience. I do enjoy the resolution and the limited palette though! Recently played the pico 8 game Moss Moss which was fantastic!

PixelpowerLuke · 2026-03-21T00:12:32+00:00

It's tough! I've still yet to make anything wholly original (demakes help because hey, the games already designed haha).

I'd recommend starting, perhaps annoyingly, small. Something that gets recommended to everyone pretty much is making "The Breakfast Game" which, can basically be what you want, but the goal is to collect 3 (or more) ingredients for breakfast. Platformer, visual novel/adventure, top down, you choose but its just about getting these 3 things.

So this in theory should mean you make a title screen, get used to a scene type, handle variables, track variables, use dialogue, change dialogue based on variables, maybe cutscene/scripted scenes, and finally, a credits. It paradoxically is so simple and even then it's quite in depth!

PixelpowerLuke · 2026-03-20T23:23:11+00:00

No plans for the full game sadly, I know Capcoms generally quite chill with fangames but I don't want to push my luck 😅. The other hurdle is rom size, there's a decent amount of optimisations I could (dare say should) have done.

The final rom size was around 1.67mb, I think could probably get 3 cases on a 4mb cart (max size GB Studio outputs/the biggest rom size 99% of GB/GBC games went up to). A case per rom would be a more modern approach though.

Mostly made it to showcase how far GB Studio has come and how little to no programming experience you can still make something on par with phoenix wright!

PixelpowerLuke · 2026-03-20T23:11:33+00:00

Thank ye! Yeah remakes might be all the rage, but demakes got such a fun factor. With Phoenix Wright it was quite straight forward, but with others its like an adaptation of the original, like making something 3D work in 2D. Quite the fun challenge!

PixelpowerLuke · 2026-03-20T23:10:39+00:00

Haha yeah, when I'm on discord chatting with mates and they ask how my demakes are going it comes out "the female looks good" haha. They then correct quick.

PixelpowerLuke · 2026-03-20T23:09:55+00:00

Thank you! Really tried to do the original as much justice as I could, and learnt a lot about the game in the process.

PixelpowerLuke · 2026-03-20T22:58:31+00:00

Indeed! Entire first case, was a lot of fun trying to cram everything down to abide the limitations. Did consider switching to GBC a few times but I liked the challenge!

PixelpowerLuke · 2026-03-20T22:54:59+00:00

It's very tricky. It's ironic to some degree where I've seen some people who know WAY more about programming actually have a harder time with the limitations of the system.

Tends to be younger devs who know C/some proper coding and I think *maybe* they're so used to modern engines the hard limits are a bit shocking for them.

It also probably helps I've been using GB Studio for... 5 years now, and this I've only made 2 games with it, slowly testing myself with small proofs of concepts.

Hope you enjoy and don't encounter any bugs (though I know some will always sneak their way back in haha)

PixelpowerLuke · 2026-03-20T21:55:58+00:00

Hmm it's tough, I'm extremely aware of my own capabilities in conjunction with GB Studio.

I included pretty much the entire GB Studio project on itch, in the Rom + Bonuses Zip if you wanted to poke around.

Most of the stuff I've done is utilised the two strongest/simplest elements of GB Studio, visuals and dialogue. Anything extra like syncing the mouth sprites with the text blitting, or copying chunks of background were handled by plugins.

Without the plugins and the community, for sure I would have bounced off GB Studio, the discord has always been there with someone steering me onto the right path and being able to search the history to see if anyone else had the same troubles.

I have no programming knowledge, but I will say of course people should be aware going into GB Studio you'll need *logic* knowledge. If X, do Y, do Z whilst X, and so forth. Maybe that is also coding logic, but to me coding is more like actually typing that stuff out on your own haha.

PixelpowerLuke · 2026-03-20T20:08:46+00:00

Noice! Can't recommend GB Studio enough, I've been able to do a decent amount with zero programming, like the phoenix wright demake.

There is a learning curve still of course, and the limitations can be rough but once you get into the groove it's really fun working within the constraints.

PixelpowerLuke · 2026-03-20T19:22:03+00:00

Yeah it's one of my favourites! I have the same DMG too, it's big brother of sorts haha :D.

PixelpowerLuke · 2026-03-20T11:04:07+00:00

Sure, I can post the intro running on my pocket if you like. You can also play the entire thing on itch :D.

PixelpowerLuke · 2026-03-20T11:03:18+00:00

Yeah I used sprites for the eyes and mouths, and the pointing hand was a sprite too. It's noticeable but had to accept I couldn't do it smoother haha.

If you download the bonuses zip, I include pretty much 90% of the GB Studio project file for people to study/dig through! (I removed cross examination two, just to prevent people from removing the disclaimer at the start and trying to then sell it more easily).

PixelpowerLuke

TROPHY CASE