Indie Light

Game Grumps: Joint Justice is a fan-made video game, which sees the Game Grumps; Arin Hanson and Dan Avidan defend Jory Griffis (the developer and/or designer of Dream Daddy: A Dad Dating Simulator and Homebody) who is accused of stealing the 10 Minute Power Hour dinosaurs. The entire game is a parody of the Ace Attorney series, and it borrows heavily from both that, and the office and structure of Game Grumps as a whole.

The game was developed by Studio Lovelies, an independent game developer/publisher, who derive their name from a Game Grumps reference, as they call their fans ‘Lovelies’. I was actually lucky enough to secure an interview with the game director over at Studio Lovelies, Anasthera who chatted with me a little bit about the studio and developing Joint Justice, you can click here if you want to read that for yourself.

Production began in September 2019, and continued for over two years, with numerous hardworking and talented people being involved in the creation since then. It was actually played by The Grumps on the channel to celebrate the show’s 9th anniversary. You can check out their playthrough if you are interested by clicking here. 

Before we dive into the review properly, I’d just like to add that this isn’t the first fan-made game, you should check out the Grump’s Dream Course, which is a ROM hack for the SNES game, Kirby’s Dream Course which contains Grumps themed design changes as well as music from Ninja Sex Party and Starbomb.

Okay let’s begin, first of all, this game has an incredible amount of attention to detail, it’s clearly a labour of love, they include all sorts of subtle visual elements that even impressed The Grumps. Speaking of little details the character graphics and design are superb, they even included Dan’s eyebrow scar, which is such a small thing in the grand scheme of things but really adds to the overall quality of the game. I really loved everything in the background, from the posters and artwork, the 10 minute Power Hour set, it’s all super cool and I cannot believe how detailed they’ve managed to make things while still keeping to the style of Ace Attorney. 

It’s not just the design that delves into fine detail, as I mentioned this was made by fans and they make references to all sorts of fun things from The Grumps, such as the Good Boy Coins, Jory and his Dad and also Trivia Boy. Oh my god though, I loved Tutorial Boy, he’s awesome, and also slightly terrifying. Also Ross, a self admitted sadist, fulfills his destiny and becomes the ultimate villain, well more so than his Super Mario Maker levels already made him. I also liked the inclusion of Brent, I couldn’t have picked a better character for the Judge, he works really well because he’s just enigmatic enough as a member of Game Grumps for it to work, and as the manager is in a position of authority so it makes sense. Also It took literally until writing this review to really put together that Ross is wearing a Mario Maker inspired outfit. I just thought he was wearing a random outfit, but realising that makes it even cooler. 

The Grumps touched on it as well, but for being made, as far as I am aware, without any intervention by Arin and Dan, the dialogue is surprisingly spot on. It’s not just reusing past Grumps quotes either, it finds a nice balance, where they capture the style and cadence of both of their speech patterns and then translate it well to the context and reality of the game. It’s really fun as well, I especially like that they have these occasional asides during the case, which is not only reflective of Ace Attorney, but is very real to life for The Grumps as well. I like that it wasn’t cheesy either, it was very authentic but wasn’t cringey, and it was referential without being a parody. 

Overall this was a great game, excellent for lovers of both Game Grumps and Ace Attorney, a lot of work clearly went into it, and is well worth a playthrough. It’s a relatively quick game to play, without seeming too short, and about the only issue I could find with it was that when I first downloaded it I had a problem with sound, and I didn’t so much solve it as it just randomly fixed itself. But yeah, it was a really fun game to play, lots of references, great character art and a really fun plot that is easy to follow whether or not you’re a fan of The Grumps. The music is fun, the dialogue is sharp and authentic, the artwork is lovely and I’m super excited to see what the developer studio does next, whether it be another game in the series, or something completely different. So with all of that in mind I think I’ll give it a solid 5/5.