Phoenix Wright (Nintendo vs. Capcom)

Phoenix Wright is the protagonist of the Ace Attorney series, beginning with his debut in the 2001 Nintendo DS title of the same name. As a child, Phoenix grew up alongside his two friends, Larry Butz and Miles Edgeworth; the trio forming after a civil classroom incident in which Miles defended the scapegoated Phoenix against a crime he didn't commit. Despite this, Miles was fatefully stripped from the group after the horrific events of the DL-6 incident took the life of his father and led to his adoption by the feared district prosecutor, Manfred Von Karma. With his friend now enslaved in Karma's estate, Phoenix moved on with his life secretly wishing for another chance to confront Miles, the opportunity finally arriving during his later college years. Seeing in headline articles that his childhood friend was slowly transfiguring into a corrupt prosecutor under Von Karma's unorthodox and illegal methods, Phoenix resolved to drop his art major and attend Law School to become a defense attorney. During the short time he trained under Mia Fey and partnering with her sister Maya Fey, Phoenix's growth as a lawyer proved to be an exceptional beacon for his prosecuting rivals and defendants alike; keeping a perfect record of victories against seemingly impossible cases. Becoming a legend around the time of Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations, Phoenix had become renowned as a mastermind of the law: utilizing the aid of spirit mediums alongside physical, hardcore evidence; his combination of tactics provided little leeway for the truly guilty. In the events of Apollo Justice, it was shown Phoenix was disbarred from his law practices due to a malicious, grand-scale trap formed by defense attorney Kristoph Gavin; and though he was no longer permitted to practice law, Phoenix found loopholes to re-introduce the jurist system; completely revolutionizing the due process of the courtroom law to convict Kristoph and reinstate his attorney license.

Team Nintendo's invasion procured yet another case for Phoenix, the similarity of his cross-dimensional rival's reality caused a seamless, unnoticeable transition in molding a new Los Angeles comprised of both realities. Now having to defend a new client known as Louis DeNonno on charges of organized murder, Phoenix is certain of another victory in his records, that is until a stranger breaks into the courtroom mid-trial and issues a statement, completely turning the case on its head.

Phoenix's rival in this cross-dimensional war is Kyle Hyde

Rival
Name: Kyle Hyde

Reason: Phoenix sees reason to turn the case against Kyle, knowing that he swore an oath to see justice be delivered to the end, Phoenix makes his case to convict Kyle of his crime despite the evidence suggesting murder was not committed. Disgruntled at the sudden crack in his defense, Phoenix presses onward. Kyle interrupts Louis's trial to announce he is the one responsible for Bradley's "murder" but insists that he is alive, keeping a sour attitude towards Phoenix due to the case being reopened and trying to figure out the reasons for his unexpected travel through time.

Connection: Phoenix and Kyle's respective games are strictly-handheld, mystery / suspense visual novels that focus on using keen detective work to discover the "truth" of the controversial situations they are thrust into, crippling the fake personas of the witnesses / accused people they run into. Both Phoenix and Kyle have strong ties to the Law and are firm believers in evidence speaking all, utilizing many tools and factual artifacts to discover the motives and thought processing behind each situation. However, Phoenix and Kyle also have a bold poker face when bluffs are needed to psyche out their aggressors, as they improvise their way through the corners they get backed into. Both Phoenix and Kyle live in a fictitious Los Angeles, albeit in different time periods, having sought after their beloved friends / partners and made significant career changes as a result; Phoenix searched for his childhood friend and present day prosecutor Miles Edgeworth for decades, forcing him to give up his dream of being an artist and taking up Law School to be a defense attorney while Kyle searched for his partner on the police force Brain Bradley for many years, forcing him to hang up his badge and take on the life of a travelling salesman.