| “ | Hold on a sec, I'm gonna ask my manager, OK? | „ |
| ~ Engarde's catchphrase when adopting his innocent façade. |
| “ | How do you do... Mister Lawyer? I'm Matt Engarde. | „ |
| ~ Engarde revealing his true colors. |
| “ | Let me tell you something. I'm not like Adrian. I don't depend on anyone. People are simply things to be used. Used and thrown away. Put on a sweet, innocent face, and people will swallow anything you feed them. Adrian fell for it. The assassin too. Oh, and how can I forget. Even you fell for it, Mister Lawyer! Everyone, all working their butts off for me! | „ |
| ~ Engarde revealing that he was manipulating everyone. |
Matt Engarde (王都楼 真悟 Shingo Ōtorō) is a major antagonist in the Ace Attorney franchise, serving as the main antagonist of the 2002 visual novel Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Justice For All, the second main installment.
He is the actor who plays the Nickel Samurai, as well as a defendant in the murder of his rival Juan Corrida. Initially, Matt seems to be a ditzy yet good hearted celebrity; however, it turns out that he is the mastermind behind the case, forcing Phoenix to defend him through blackmail.
In the anime, he was voiced by Yasuaki Takumi (in Japanese) and Dave Trosko in (the English dub). He was also portrayed by Yuji Abe in the film. In the play, he's portrayed by Ota Motohiro in the original run and Hirose Daisuke in the rerun.
Biography[]
Sometime before the story, Engarde had dated his old manager, Celeste Inpax. After some time, they broke up and Celeste became the manager of his rival, Juan Corrida. The two of them eventually fell in love and planned to get married. Engarde, who hated both his rival and his old manager, told Corrida that he used to date Celeste. This leads to Corrida breaking up with Celeste and Celeste committing suicide, which causes Corrida and Adrian Andrews, who was Inpax's protoge, to conspire to ruin Matt Engarde's life.
The two of them make a plan to reveal Celeste's suicide note when Matt least expects it to ruin his reputation. However, Matt discovers the plan and hires Shelly de Killer to assassinate Corrida. Wanting some extra leverage, he secretly records the assassin as blackmail, so he can force De Killer to keep quiet about his involvment.
Despite Shelly's efforts, Matt is arrested for the murder of Corrida due to the evidence forged by Adrian, who saw Corrida's body beforehand. Shelly De Killer kidnaps Maya to coerce Phoenix inot defending his client. upon taking the case, Phoenix believes Matt to be innocent, since no Psyche Locks (which appear when someone has a secret to hide) appear when he is asked whether he killed Corrida.
After Phoenix successfully stals the first day and manages to put some blame onto Adrian, Edgeworth finds a De Killer calling card, revealing that it was an assassination and not a murder. After investigating the murder scene, Phoenix finds a camera that he knows Matt had placed due to evidence found by Gumshoe. He realizes that Matt ordered De Killer to murder Juan and confronts him. Matt reveals his true nature to him, telling Phoenix that he manipulated everyone and blackmailing Phoenix into keeping quiet.. Phoenix is forced to continue defending him, otherwise Engarde will order De Killer to kill Maya.
After some back and forth with Edgeworth, De Killer uses a transceiver to testify to the court and lies about Adrian being the one who hired him. However, Franziska von Karma arrives with some evidence that Phoenix is allowed to present to De Killer. It includes the disk where De Killer was filmed murdering Corrida.
In the bad ending caused by presenting the wrong evidence to De Killer, Matt gets away with his crimes, getting Adrian convicted in his place. Phoenix gives up being an attorney and never sees Maya again, though he is sure that De Killer would have released her.
If he presents the right evidence, Phoenix reveals to De Killer that Engarde intended to blackmail him, to which the assassin swears that he will hunt Engarde down to the ends of the earth to exact revenge and releases Maya. The Judge, who has no idea what is going on in the trial anymore, asks Phoenix to give the verdict. If he declares Engarde not guilty, a terrified Engarde will object, pleading guilty so that he will be safe from De Killer in prison. If Phoenix declares him guilty, Engarde loses it due to his own lawyer betraying him for his awful actions, devastated by the blemish on his spotless reputation. Either way, he is arrested and convicted for all of his crimes, with Edgeworth mentioning that Franziska will be giving him "a full-course meal of whip leather".
However, given De Killer's mastery of disguise and infiltration, Engarde might not be as safe in prison as he thinks...
Breakdown[]
Regardless of whether Phoenix declares him guilty or not guilty, Engarde's breakdown remains the same, scratching new scars on his face as he continuously screams that he is guilty.
Personality[]
Matt Engarde initially appears to be a ditzy and weak willed young man who relies on his manager, Adrian Andrews, to do anything outside of his acting. He is clearly very forgetful and doesn't seem to take things seriously, even when everything seems dire, such as when he is accused of the murder of his rival, Juan Corrida, and his response is to offer to take Phoenix and Pearl out for pizza. The only things he seems to care about are wine, women, money, cars, his fame and his beloved pet cat, Shoe.
However, that is just a facade, since when Phoenix confronts him, it is revealed that he is nothing but a cold-blooded and manipulative psychopath. He believes that people are just tools to be used and tossed aside when no longer needed, and that the only person worth looking out for is himself. He takes pride in causing his ex-girlfriend's suicide, and shows no guilt in ordering the death of his rival Juan Corrida; in fact, his lack of Psyche Locks when denying killing Corrida indicates that he considers himself completely innocent of the murder simply due to not carrying out the deed himself. He places his trust no one, as shown by that fact that he planned on blackmailing Shelly De Killer, and spends most of the trial manipulating Phoenix; the latter example ultimately proved to be his undoing.
He is shown to be quite cowardly as well, panicking when De Killer promises to get revenge on him for trying to blackmail him and even declaring himself guilty in one of the possible endings to escape De Killer. He doesn't seem to be the best planner either, only making it as far into the trial as he did due to Maya's kidnapping and De Killer's testimony. Overall, Engarde is one of the cruelest and most personal villains that Phoenix has had to face over the years, often being compared with some of Phoenix's biggest threats due to the danger of having Maya killed if Phoenix doesn't get him acquitted.
In the Play[]
In the stage adaptation of Farewell, My Turnabout, Engarde's rolw is relatively similar, with some major changes. He was still a rival of Corrida, who was actually and honest and caring man and the only life partner of Celeste. Their engagement, in spite of Corrida's strict agency, was celebrates by the public, but Engarde was furious at Corrida for his publicity. He called Celeste to lure her to an alley, where a paid goon forcibly kissed her and took photos to make her look like she cheated on Corrida.
Corrida wanted to reach out to her, but his agency cut him off, and the public hated Celeste so much she killed herself. Corrida was believed to have built his popularity back up again to read Celeste's suicide note and garner sympathy. In truth, only he knew the note he hid in a wooden puzzle bear was his speech to take all the blame for Celeste's disgrace and death. Engarde never knew this, so that's why he made de Killer murder Engarde and take the bear with the note. Adrian was Celeste's cousin, and she managed Engarde to get revenge on him and Corrida at the right time, as well as destroy the note. When she found Corrida, she still wanted Engarde punished and stabbed Corrida with Engarde's dinner knife.
The story relatively plays out the same, de Killer kidnapping Maya and Engarde looking like a victim until his spy camera is found. But when the note is read to reveal the speech, it changes the direction of the trial entirely. De Killer personally arrives to take the judge hostage and force a guilty verdict on Adrian. But as she knew how to open the puzzle, since Corrida gave her an identical one, she was proven innocent due to not having opened the one with thennote due to never knowing what was written on it. When De Killer still planned to kill Maya, Engarde was brought out in the event an acquittal was forced for him. Franziska arrived with the DVD of the murder Detective Dick Gumshoe found during his raid of de Killer's lair. De Killer turned on Engarde and, withholding himself from shooting Engarde, he left and promised Maya's return. With the risk of de Killer murdering him, Engarde screamed and hit the floor while desperately insisting he take the guilty verdict. He was then taken back into custody.
Quotes[]
| “ | Phoenix: ...Matt Engarde. Engarde: ...! Phoenix: Even though I am a lawyer, I cannot make your crime disappear. I think a guilty verdict is appropriate here. Engarde: M-Me!? My wonderful self...!? G-Guilty!? Phoenix: Even if you got an acquittal, the instant you set foot outside the detention center, your life would be in danger. No matter which way you look at it... You can't run away from your crime anymore! Engarde: ... Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! Guiltyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Guuuuuilty!!!GGG--Guuiiillltyyyy!!!GGGUUUILLLTYYY!!GUILTY!!!GuiLTy!!guIIIltYY!!Guil--guilty!guilty!GUilTY!GUILTY! |
„ |
| ~ Engarde and Pheonix should the latter choose a guilty verdict |
| “ | Phoenix: Congratulations, Mr. Matt Engarde. Engarde: ...! Phoenix: Please make sure to savor every moment of what little time you have left. Your Honor! As always, the defense pleads not guilty. Judge:Very well. This court finds the defendant, Matt Engarde... Engarde: Hold it! P-Please wait... Judge: What's the matter? Engarde: If... If I get a not guilty... I'll... I'll be... killed... Judge: ...? Engarde: I... I'm... I'm... ... Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! Guiltyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Guuuuuilty!!!GGG--Guuiiillltyyyy!!!GGGUUUILLLTYYY!!GUILTY!!!GuiLTy!!guIIIltYY!!Guil--guilty!guilty!GUilTY!GUILTY! |
„ |
| ~ Engarde and Pheonix should the latter choose a "not guilty" verdict |
Gallery[]
.png "Matt Engarde (Post Reveal).png (5 KB)")
.jpg "Matt Engarde's Defeat (Anime).jpg (8 KB)")
Trivia[]
- Matt is the only main antagonist not to have an impact on any of the previous cases in the game, only impacting the one he is in. This is due to Justice For All lacking an overarching storyline unlike every other game in the series.
- In the original Japanese version of the game, Engarde talks with a rough, cocky style of speech after revealing his true self, leaving the impression of an arrogant thug or gangster. In the English localization, Engarde instead talks in a more pseudo-polite, condescending manner, instead coming across as a scheming mastermind.
- While title of the case he appears in, "Farewell, my Turnabout", can be named that due to Miles Edegeworth saying goodbye to Franziska von Kamra (like how Wright said goodbye to Maya in "Turnabout Goodbyes"), it can also refer to how Engarde is actually guilty but Wright still has to defend him.
- Matt is a rare example of a villainous defendant in the Ace Attorney series, the only others being Terry Fawles, Ron DeLite, Machi Tobaye, Zak Gramarye, and Magnus McGilded. However, while Fawles, Delite, Tobaye and Gramarye are innocent of the crimes they're accused of, Engarde and McGilded are not.
- Matt appears in the end credits for the 2012 Ace Attorney live action movie.
- Matt is the youngest of all the final antagonists of the Ace Attorney series.
- Matt Engarde is also one of five main antagonists that aren't Pure Evil with the others being Godot, Simeon Saint, Magnus McGilded and Mael Stronghart.
- Matt is the second villainous defendant of the franchise following Lana Skye.
External Links[]
- Matt Engarde on the Ace Attorney Wiki
- Matt Engarde on the Near Pure Evil Wiki
