One of the most well-known and beloved aspects of the long-running Ace Attorney series is the over-the-top breakdowns. A breakdown is a unique animation that signifies either the defeat of a character after their lies are exposed or that a character is facing a truth that they're not mentally capable of handling.
Breakdowns usually give closure to cases as comeuppance once the true culprit is taken down. But they are sometimes used wholly for comedic or tragic effects. And while every one of them is satisfying in their own right, some are far more memorable than others.
10 Uendo Toneido
This was a very unique breakdown as it involved a witness rather than a culprit. Uendo has Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) where a person develops separate entities known as alters. Uendo has four alters. This was the key to his excellent rakugo as he switched between these alters to envoke unique performances.
After Uendo was forced to consume an alcoholic manju in court, he became drunk and rapidly switched between his three main fronting alters until he passed out. At this point, his fourth alter Owen appeared -- a five-year-old child. The entire spectacle was dramatic, well-animated, unique, and oddly poignant.
9 Matt Engarde
Matt was already an engaging villain, pushing Phoenix Wright and his allies to their limits. So naturally, his final breakdown was just as entertaining and dramatic to watch. Once Phoenix exposed his guilt, Matt realized his days were numbered.
Whether you left Matt to his fate of being charged for first-degree murder or let him go free to be hunted and killed by Shelly de Killer, he became consumed with despair. This drove him to scratch his own face repeatedly, then faint from the shock. Woof.
8 Kristoph Gavin
The overarching villain of Apollo Justice and the one directly responsible for Phoenix's disbarment, he had two very satisfying breakdowns over the course of the game. The first was a shorter animation after the end of the first case in which he lowered his head, rose, and banged his fist against the stand. This caused items floating behind him to crash down.
The second breakdown, at the end of the final case, was an incredibly overdramatic animation in which he screamed as his hair flares up like fire, his arms crossed, and his eyes turned white.
7 Florent L'Belle
This was an incredibly vain and selfish man who murdered for his own greed. He constantly sought out fame and money, making deals that would catapult his image. He even created his own beauty line called "Je suis L'Belle!" which, despite borrowing money to promote, ended up hogging the products and plunging him into debt.
Once you finally proved his guilt in court, he applied so much perfume that it revealed his white hair and aged face. Then, to make things even more hilariously over-the-top, he received a series of phone calls through the cellphones on his shoulders that revealed worse and worse news, culminating in a $100 million lawsuit.
6 Terry Fawles
Unlike the other examples on this list, Terry's breakdown was simple and subdued yet had vast consequences for both his defense attorney Mia Fey, as well as for events years to come.
It turned out that Terry had swallowed the poison that he and Dahlia buried previously, as penance for "betraying her" by retaining a lawyer and nearly getting her rightfully charged with murder. Just as he's set to testify, he refused. A thin line of blood poured from his lips and drips down his chin. He then falls over, dead. It's a quiet, horrifying moment that traumatized Mia and was sure to haunt players' memories.
5 Roger Retinz
A famous TV producer, he murdered Manov Mistree and then worked with Trucy's fellow performers to frame her for it. It turned out that he was originally a part of Troupe Gramarye before being cast out, and had sought revenge ever since.
After his entire scheme was outed, Retinz gave one final magician's performance. He flared his cape, revealing a mask representing each Trope member before it burned up. However, in a twist of karma, when he tried to summon a Trucy mask, a mask of his own visage repeatedly appeared. The bright stage lights that illuminated his performance blinded and disoriented him.
4 Aristotle Means
Posing as a kind and knowledgeable professor of the prestigious Themis Legal Academy, he's actually ruthless and callous. Living up to his motto "the ends justifies the means," he murdered a fellow professor and then pinned the blame on a student.
His breakdown was quite the show, as he tried to plead for alternate punishments once his guilt was exposed. Each suggestion he wrote on a chalkboard was more severe than the last, and when he struggled to write "Guilty" he could barely write two letters before his clenched jaw completely shattered his teeth.
3 Damon Gant
The boisterous and larger-than-life district chief of police seemed to be a passionate and caring man. But he's eventually revealed to be calculating and murderous, with the entirety of his heinous actions laid bare by the end of the long and entangled case.
He had two separate breakdown animations, with the main one that saw him "struck" by lightning to envoke the Zeus imagery. His final breakdown was his most infamous one, in which he grinned and clapped slowly at first then sped up rapidly. The clapping sounds ramped up as his powerful theme played in the background, a simple animation with an incredible presence.
2 Mael Stronghart
In many ways, Mael from The Great Ace Attorney and Gant played similar roles in their respective games, as both held high law enforcement positions and controlled many from the shadows to cement their power. As such, it's fitting that each of their breakdowns started with that same disturbing clapping.
From there the breakdown evolved past Gant's. He broke his cane on the judge's bench and fell to the juror's seats. Six guilty verdict flames collected on the scale, which detached it and caused it to fall, eventually burning the entire courtroom around him. A poetic and cinematic end to his tyrannical reign.
1 Dahlia Hawthorne
Dahlia is the overall villain of both Trials and Tribulations, as well as one of the major villains of the trilogy itself. She was a deeply manipulative and evil woman who caused much suffering and death throughout the trilogy. Her first breakdown was dissatisfying as she got away with her previous crimes. Which made her eventual downfall and breakdown so delicious in the final case of the game.
After Mia reminded her that she had never succeeded in a plan and would have to live with that humiliation, she clutched her head as flashbacks of her crimes played behind her. Her spirit rose from Maya in despair and screamed before being banished, with a Magatama of blue flames appearing in her place.