Ladders have played a surprisingly pivotal role in all sorts of different video games, from AAA shooters and action-adventure titles to visual novels and cosy life sims.
In our Ladders in Video Games series, we spotlight some of our favourite video game ladders – and today we're looking at the ladders (or should that be *step* ladders?) that pop up in just about every instalment of Capcom's Ace Attorney series.
In the Ace Attorney games, you play as a defence lawyer (normally the hedgehog-haired Phoenix Wright, although other characters get to share his spotlight later on) who is fighting to clear his client's name. Virtually every case involves a murder and a wrongly-accused individual, and it's on you to spot the flaws in the prosecution's seemingly airtight case.
Gameplay alternates between 'investigation' segments – which are spent checking out the crime scene, talking to key witnesses, and gathering evidence – and 'trial' segments that take place in the courtroom. The trial section tends to be everyone's favourite bit because that's where you get to shout 'OBJECTION!' and 'TAKE THAT!' while the bizarrely-dressed prosecutor du jour drops withering put-downs and/or threatens to kill you.
But we're not interested in the courtroom antics today; it's the investigation part we want to talk about.
Where do ladders come into it?
Just about every Ace Attorney game (and Capcom have released quite a few over the years, even if you don't count all the spin-offs and team-ups) contains at least one moment like this:
You're investigating the crime scene, or another location that's related to the case at hand. The idea is to look around and click on points of interest – a blood stain, a handprint, a mysterious scrap of paper – that could help you to identify the true culprit. But you're not limited to examining actual clues; you can click on just about any object you see, and Phoenix will discuss it with his faithful assistant Maya Fey.
Being a diligent sort, you end up clicking on absolutely everything because you want to be armed with as much information as possible when you eventually enter the courtroom. You spot a step ladder folded up in the corner of the room – it has no apparent connection to the murder, but you click on it anyway, just to be sure.
This triggers the following conversation:
MAYA: Oh look, it's a ladder.
PHOENIX: That's actually a *step* ladder.
MAYA: So? What's the difference? You need to stop judging things based on narrow-minded cultural assumptions!
The fine details vary, but no matter which Ace Attorney title you pick up, you're pretty much guaranteed to come across a version of this exchange at some point. It has become one of the franchise's best-known running gags.
I don't get it.
Look – the Ace Attorney video games are Japanese, so when you're playing them in English, you're playing a translated version. The translation work is consistently stellar, but the ladder / step ladder joke does make more sense when you consider that 'ladder' and 'step ladder' are two completely different words in the Japanese language.
The Japanese word for a ladder – i.e. a thing with rungs that leans against a wall – is はしご (hashigo).
But when referring to a step ladder – i.e. a set of steps that can support itself – Japanese speakers use the word 脚立 (kyatatsu) or 踏み台 (fumidai).
We English speakers tend to think of the freestanding A-shaped step ladder as a specific type of ladder, just as the polar bear is a type of bear; but the Japanese writers who worked on Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney and its sequels probably consider leaning ladders and step ladders two completely different items.
Pictured: a ladder (left) and a step ladder (right).
Maya's reference to 'narrow-minded cultural assumptions' suggests that the English localisation team were probably aware of this difference in how Eastern and Western people think about ladders. In fact, this is actually discussed in The Great Ace Attorney 2, when Phoenix Wright's ancestor Ryunosuke Naruhodo is chatting with Iris Wilson, child prodigy and assistant to the great detective Herlock Sholmes
(Yes, Herlock Sholmes. These games can get very silly at times.)
IRIS: Oh! That's a funny place for a ladder...what? Is something wrong?
NARUHODO: No. It's just that, in Japanese, we have a totally different word for a ladder that folds in half like that.
IRIS: We do in English too, you know. It's a step ladder, or just 'steps'. So be careful of making assumptions about other cultures!
READ MORE: What's the Difference Between a Ladder and a Step Ladder?
