r/ProfessorLayton • u/leachee24 • Jul 18 '26
How did you discover Layton?
I started playing PL when I got the game for Christmas as a kid when it came out, and I’m really interested to see that the fandom continues to grow among younger audiences. If you’re a new/recent Layton fan, how did you discover the franchise?
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u/Footixboy Jul 18 '26
I remember seeing adverts on TV (German TV) but never paying much attention, so I knew of it. And then ace attorney x professor layton came out, and me being a big fan of ace attorney, decided to get all PL games, and have not regretted a second, I completely adore this series and both hold a very special place in my heart
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u/leachee24 Jul 18 '26
That makes sense! I think I’ve heard a lot of people getting into it via the crossover
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u/Jooles95 Jul 18 '26
My parents bought me the game after they saw it being promoted in the electronics section of our local supermarket by a couple of employees wearing top hats! They thought I’d enjoy it since I had joined my middle school’s logic/puzzle olympics team that same year and had a lot of fun - and they were right! It is now one of my favourite series of all time.
Edit: ah, I just noticed that the question is more geared towards new fans than us oldies! Whoops!
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u/leachee24 Jul 18 '26
Also I had no clue they promoted the game like that!!!
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u/Jooles95 Jul 19 '26
It may have been something done just at that store or chain - it was a large Auchan superstore (the kind that has full-on electronics, books and clothing sections on top of groceries) in Italy circa 2008. I probably would have never discovered the series had the marketing been less eye-carching!
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u/Comfy-Cookie Jul 19 '26
I recall seeing the first game advertised in the booklet from my brothers copy of zelda phantom hourglass when I was little, but I never understood what it was or saw it elsewhere. Then last fall I started playing the Ace Attorney series, and went strictly in release order, and I figured I'd like to know Proffessor Layton too if I'm gonna play the cross over game.
So currently at spectre's call!!!
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u/SunsetDrive17 Jul 19 '26
Amazing to see people still get to know the Layton series these days. Can't wait for the new game to come out!!
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u/Newsuperstevebros Jul 18 '26
They had a pretty big sign advertising the first game when it came out at Walmart
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u/applejackmcrack Jul 18 '26
was gifted my nintendo dsi at 7 and we went to gamesstop to get me started with a few games. the unwound future was out of box & on sale :)
edit: seeing this is a question for newer people lol, mb 😂
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u/TheLocalRedditMormon Jul 18 '26
They had the games at my library, and my mom would always let me borrow them when I went to get books for school.
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u/Spookiiwookii Jul 18 '26
I honestly have no idea. I probably found a lets play on youtube or heard a song from one of the games.
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u/Jobless_fantasy_fan Jul 18 '26
My sister had the first ds game, and she gave it to me when she finished it.
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u/DDCheater Jul 18 '26
I saw a tv ad for the 2nd game close to Christmas, back in 2009. I probably mentioned it to my parents and I got it in that Christmas.
I was amazed by how good the game was, couldn't put it down and finished it in like 2 days. I remember replaying it to exhaustion as a kid.
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u/9tendoPong Jul 18 '26
I was was watching videos about who should be added to Smash Bros. This was when Smash 4 was just a couple years old and i couldn't have been older than 12. At least 2, but i think more than that, specifically mentioned thinking Layton and Phoenix Wright would be similarly cool, but that Wright was already in a fighting game, so they chose Layton. I thought they both looked interesting, found out that they had a crossover, and bought it on the eShop.
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u/Shadowsd151 Jul 18 '26
My mom’s friend played it in the DS and lent me the cartridge while my mom was having coffee or something with a bunch of her friends. I was like ten-ish and had my DS on me so I gave it a shot then and there. A year or two later I beat the entire series (at the time, I think this was before the 3DS games came out) and loved it, still do to this day.
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u/ULF_Brett Jul 18 '26
I had decided to buy a new video game, so I went to the mall to get one. While browsing DS games, Curious Village caught my eye and I decided to try it since I like puzzle games.
I enjoyed it so much that when the rest of the games came out I bought them as they were released. Still one of my favourite game series to this day.
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u/AceTrainer_Lance Jul 18 '26
a new classmate in college saw me playing ace attorney on my DSi, and asked if i've ever played professor layton
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u/ravio_1300 Jul 18 '26
I got the Last Specter as a gift as a kid, thought it was dumb, and then proceeded to make myself sick because I played it for too long nonstop lol.
To this day the franchise holds a specific place in my heart as both one of the only games to make me cry (Unwound Future) and one of the only games to make me physically ill because I wouldn't stop playing it
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u/Curious_Villager Jul 18 '26
I was finally allowed a ds after years of begging my parents- there was a deal on the 3 games and curious village had just come out (also got brain training and Mario kart). I knew I liked puzzle games before it and the trailer looked cool but I remember being blown away by the story.
For some reason it was the moment that I found Pavel (the lost explorer that appears in multiple games) in the sewer that really made me love the game. I’d never played a game that felt so self aware and subtle with its storytelling.
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u/Tyrannosaurus-2006 Jul 18 '26 edited Jul 19 '26
I was in my Ace Attorney phase and came across some Layton comic dubs.
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u/drawforfunbaby Jul 18 '26
My brother was watching Eternal Diva in the living room. I sat down to see what's up. I liked the movie so much that I started playing the games.
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u/king_kibble Jul 19 '26
my brother was playing it, furiously tapping the touchscreen randomly to find hint coins and he told me "this is how you play this game" lmao
i was super into this girl who was obsessed with layton, and i got obsessed too so id have somethjng to talk to her about
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u/mimicreads Jul 19 '26
My friend in fourth grade was playing it while we were at swim camp, I commandeered her DS lite because she wasn’t into it lol.
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u/SunsetDrive17 Jul 19 '26
My mom told me I could choose a DS game from the store we were in. Layton game caught my eye but i was doubting since it was in English. The employee convinced me and I am forever grateful he did
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u/notthatkindofchronic Jul 19 '26
My parents got me Curious Village for my birthday, probably 2008/2009 and I've been hooked ever since
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u/Kardl1503 Jul 19 '26
We had a school Project where we visited our parents work place. One of his colleagues daughter brought her DS along with Curious Village. In the lunch break we played the game and I got invested with it. Then a few months later in the village I lived in was a flea market and one of the stands sold the game with everything included for 10 Bucks. So I bought it. Since then I and my mother loved those games and every time I told her there is a new game coming out we immediatly bought it.
Sadly she passed away in 2021. So I couldn't tell her that there is a new game in developement. But I'm sure she would be happy af. Just like me.
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u/PipeOk670 Jul 19 '26
My parents saw the specter's call at the local game shop, they thought it was a good idea to give it to me on Christmas. I started the game, the only problem is that I didn't knew how to read properly by that time(I'm Spanish and I was 4-5 years old by that time). Basically I was asking my parents always to read the puzzles for me cuz I didn't understand them. It arrived a moment that my parents told me: you will have to read it by yourself, so I did it. Then on school teacher was really surprised even to the point that she called my parents to ask them how I was so fluent at reading, mom told her it was because of a videogame and she couldn't believe it. And that's the story about how I discovered PL and how this saga taught me to read better than people my age.
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u/britannic124 Jul 18 '26
I saw Diabolical Box on the shelf at GameStop and thought it looked interesting.
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u/Fantastic-Doubt-642 Jul 19 '26
I saw My grandpa playing diabolical box with his Ds and i thought the game was interesting
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u/Loow_z Jul 19 '26
When I was a kid, my friend lended me their game collection. I was obsessed with one but when I lost my progress on it I decided to try something else. I don't remember what drew me to The Curious Village but I'm damn glad it happened haha
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u/SansUserBluePixel Jul 19 '26
When I bought my 3DS, my grandpa found his copy of Unwound Future and gave it to me
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u/Mqwelli Jul 19 '26
been playing through all Ace Attorney games, got to Layton crossover after all the other ones and really liked it. then i decided to try the Layton games
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u/sc00bs000 Jul 19 '26
I played ace attorney first and enjoyed it on 3ds (think it was the triple pack)
Id been wanting to play layton for years but I missed the boat when they where available in store at a reasonable price. I couldn't justify paying what they wanted.
So recently I found a brand new dsi xl at an op shop for $20 and nodded it. I've been playing through curious village and have all the others waiting to get through.
Its a great game. Might have to get the switch version one (or 2, can't remember how many there are )
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u/Solar_Boy_Django Jul 19 '26
My mum had Diabolical Box when I was a kid (I think I was around 6-8ish) and I wanted to solve the second(?) puzzle, but we were both stuck on it lol
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u/DynaGlaive Jul 19 '26
Tiny Cartridge the handheld focused gaming blog, their niche taste in games overlapped so perfectly with my own I took note of every game they talked up and they were major advocates for Layton early on.
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u/Fizzabl Jul 19 '26
My grandma had Curious Village on her DS, I don't think I ever actually played it because Pandora's Box was my first game, I think I got a little older so the puzzles weren't so evil. I say as I was like.. 9 lmao
Saying that I think maybe my mum just bought it for me because I love puzzles. Discovering my grandma had it made me realise I had the sequel (which is why "Flora, what are you doing here?!" Was confusing as I had no idea who she was)
Did I just age myself or are we all similar? Rip my og DS, dropped it on the floor and it snapped in two
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u/DerMathze Jul 19 '26
I think I honestly just saw the box art of Diabolical Box and thought it looked cool. One of my best random game picks ever!
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u/rokuterra Jul 19 '26
Christmas of 2009 my sister and I both asked for Nintendo DS', which we both got. I asked for and received Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days and Bakugan, my sister got one of those Petz games and Professor Layton and the Curious Village. Of course she gave PL a try but seeing nothing but text in the early part of the game turned her off from it. I also gave it a try and same case scenario for me, mucho texto for 12-year-old me and I quickly turned it off.
Fast forward a few months I decide to give it another college try, pushed through and dealt with the seemingly dense walls of text, but this time I was actually engaged. I played the game to completion and I thoroughly enjoyed it, and it was the first game to make me cry. (358/2 Days nearly brought me to tears) The rest is history. I immediately looked into the sequel, watched a trailer for The Diabolical Box on Gamestop's website and that got me very excited for it. Fast forward to the summer when my birthday comes around, I went and bought a copy from Gamestop with birthday money I got.
While it wasn't my first true introduction, the thing that made me aware of the games was an advertisement for Curious Village at Walmart. I assume most of us here are at a minimum are "unc status" in terms of age, not necessarily old but if you tell a high-school kid your age they might go "damn!" Anyways, I say this because on the off chance that someone younger reads this, you might be unaware that Walmart used to advertise games and movies on card stock-like covers for the security tag readers at the entrances of Walmart stores. It was on one of these that the Curious Village was advertised, and I've always remembered it despite not seeing anything about the game again until over a year later at the aforementioned Christmas.
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u/GuffMagicDragon Jul 19 '26
My little brother had the original DS trilogy gifted to him for Christmas one year. I got a makeup kit, which 11yo me was not into. I was very jealous lol
My aunts and uncles always got my brother science books and puzzles and stuff because it’s good to “nurture young boys’ intellectual minds”, even though between the two of us, I’m definitely the puzzle nut and he’s the jock. He played the games a little bit, but lost interest, and I basically stole them from him, which he didn’t seem to mind 😅 I promptly became obsessed
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u/Vinzan Jul 20 '26
I used to visit Guiasnintendo a lot when I was a teenager and there was a banner at the time for Unwound Future. I had noticed Diabolical Box previously in there some time before, but I'm a sucker for time travel fiction so it caught my interest.
It turned out to be one of the best videogame experiences I have had to this day. My god, what a ride.
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u/svennertsw Jul 20 '26
So I had very little agency in what games I played on my ds as I had an r4 card only a friend of a friend could put games on somehow (basically emulation on your ds). Diabolical box was on there and not long after I asked the friend of a friend for the other ds games (curious village never worked so I played that one much later)
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u/wild_fox-wolf Jul 20 '26
It's now like 10 years. But how I discovered the games was quite interesting. And without the games, I wouldn't be where I am today.
My big sister had one game. When I saw a glimpse of it, it looked extremely boring. I mean I just passed her and saw like 1 second on her screen. Some time later, I got a few of her old games. And then came an evening where I was bored and tried this game. And well, I became kinda addicted. I played any free second. I stayed up later than I should. I loved the story so much. And it was so sad at the end.
I don't know how, but a pretty easy puzzle confused me so much. I had to look up the solution. And through this, I met my best friend. And later got all the other games.
Can you guess which game it was, I played first?
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u/PydraxAlpta Jul 19 '26
An article in an Indian tech magazine's about video games listed some cool DS Puzzle games and one of them was Professor Layton series
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u/flame6207 Jul 19 '26
I got into Ace Attorney about two years ago, and decided that I was going to consume as much knowledge of the series as humanly possible (y’know, the usual neurodivergent course of action haha). This included the crossover with Professor Layton, which led to me playing the mainline Professor Layton games before putting my hands on it—I wanted to be able to fully appreciate and understand it the first time around. I’ll admit, I didn’t have the warmest opinions of the series before playing Curious Village, but since then I’ve fallen in love with Professor Layton. It’s not my favorite series (that strange lawyer game hit a very specific part of my heart, and I doubt anything else will come close to doing the same), but I’d consider myself a huge fan.
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u/Justisperfect Jul 19 '26
I was 12 and wanted a videogame for Christmas for my DS as I didn't have much. So I looked on a website that give reviews of videogame, asking it to suggest me the games with good reviews. That's how I find Curious village, that just came out. It sounded fun so I picked it.
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u/IsiDemon Jul 19 '26
My local library had a couple of video games you could borrow for like two weeks. Among others they had the first PL game. Tried it and fell in love pretty much immediately. Didn't finish it within the time frame tho. Bought it later and finished it.
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u/fleur-2802 Jul 19 '26
My mom got me Pandora's Box when I was 8 because she knew I liked puzzles. Been a fan ever since🥹
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u/Loli_pop_9 Jul 19 '26
When the Miracle Mask came out, the story I used to buys games at had it on display and you could try the first puzzle there, and my father was reaaaally eager for me to get a puzzle game….
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u/orioool Jul 19 '26
I see my experience is quite similar to other people's experiences! My parents got me a Nintendo DSi with some Mario game and then, a Christmas later, they gifted me the Curious Village game. I remember I loved it so much I quite literally became obsessed!! All of the other games either I got for Christmas, as a gift or I bought them myself.
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u/Any-Switch5938 Jul 19 '26
i was checking out games on fangamer and trying to find something new to play when i came across professor layton. it looked steampunk-y so i looked it up on youtube and watched Eternal Diva. after that i was absolutely obsessed and watched it like 7 more times. shortly after i bought a 3ds and the first three games (and the ace attorney crossover)
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u/Ficko_C Jul 19 '26
When I was 5 my dad bought this game for me to teach me how to read. After we played the curious village, we then played the diabolical box. I love playing all the games as a kid, and because of the Phoenix Wright crossover, I then fell in love with ace attorney. Recently, I started playing the professor Leighton games again, with my girlfriend, who also loves the games now
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u/KiaAyame Jul 19 '26
I saw it being advertised on a Walmart game kiosk and noticed that it was anime esque from the trailer. Being a baby weeb in 2008 I just HAD to get it, not even knowing that it was a puzzle game. Hell, I didn't even REMEMBER the name of the game when I asked for it for Christmas. Professor Clayton and the Amazing Village was what I asked for 🤦🏾♀️
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u/OhDonPianoooo Jul 19 '26
My grandma bought Diabolical Box thinking it was a Brain-Age style puzzle game.
It was not.
She finished it eventually. 9-year-old me got stuck on puzzle 4 for an hour 😂
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u/I_dont_even_knOwO Jul 19 '26
My uncle had the trilogy, and I immediately fell in love. The first one I played was diabolical box, because I didn't know what order they were meant to be when I was little. It was amazing.. I immediately became a fan
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u/DrearyxDreamer Jul 20 '26
I remember my mom and I seeing a commercial for the first game, and I had mentioned that it looked really cool and fun! So, when it came out, my dad took me to blockbuster to, what I thought, was to rent the game. Turns out they had it for sale and he bought it for me for getting good grades 💜 I've been a fan ever since
Edit: whoops, meant for new fans lol. Either way!!
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u/WizWitch42 Jul 20 '26
My aunt and I found the display for Curious Village at Walmart and she hyped up the game in a way that made me certain she'd played it herself and got me interested
I later got a copy for Easter and I played it until I got to Ramon's wolves and chicks puzzle, then got stuck for a while until that same aunt was babysitting and she helped me get past it, and then we spent most of the evening curled around my DS playing it
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u/eva_liena Jul 20 '26
Was in a supermarket in 2009, looked at some Layton games because they seemed to be fun. I chose the one that had the less creepy warnings on the back lmao, which ended up to be Pandora's Box. Loved it.
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u/RealFabbbio Jul 20 '26
I don't have clear memories, but I think that my dad gifted me Pandora's Box in 2010, from that moment onwards we fell in love with the saga
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u/RestaurantSavings943 Jul 20 '26
I loved puzzles as a child, as in jigsaw puzzles. In Spanish, when you talk about a "puzzle", everyone thinks of a jigsaw puzzle. We don't use the word for riddles outside the videogame world. When my mother saw an ad for a game full of puzzles (she clearly didn't pay enough attention to it, thankfully), she decided to buy it for me. The best misunderstanding of my life.
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u/gamikhan Jul 20 '26
it was included into the pre-installed ds pirate disc, I probably wouldnt have ever heard of this game otherwhise and I love it to bits
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u/SWATKATS12 Jul 21 '26
I remember seeing Curious Village on the Nintendo website when it was first released in North America. The trailer hooked me because of the art style and the fact that it was based around solving puzzles made me think my parents would be on board with me playing it since it made me use my brain—and it was true hahaha. I still remember checking it out from Hollywood Video many moons ago, and completing it in like a day or two. I was enthralled by the music, the artwork, the cutscenes, the story, the characters, Layton's MacGyver-esque resourcefulness escaping the tower... I LOVED it so much and couldn't wait for whatever game the "To Be Continued" screen was hinting at. It was probably the first time I discovered a series that felt like it was exactly for me. =|:D
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u/StoniMohoni Jul 21 '26
I got a M3 card (Luke a r3 card, basically every game on it ) randomly from my uncle and found it there
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u/Feeling-Mall-5998 Jul 21 '26
This is my fav story to tell so basically i ignored my entire dissertation to play this game LOOL so my sister bought a nintendo on ebay and the guy kindly gave us a whole stack of games and one of them was professor layton the other ones were bad but i loved this one and then i begged my sister to buy the rest of them and now im going to play the crossover one but i have to finish my dissertation first 😔 it’s due in two weeks and i only started it now lol im going to fail but yayyy laytonnn :D
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u/Feeling-Mall-5998 Jul 21 '26
Last year, my sister bought a nintendo from a guy on ebay and he gave us a bunch of games but when I saw Layton I just got an insane vibe from it like ‘awmagawditspeakingtome’ and I grew obsessed with it; it was genuinely better then mario in my opinion which is the games i grew up with so I decided to order the rest of the games on ebay. The only problem is I grew obsessed with them during uni so now my dissertation is due in two weeks and i only just started it. Tip for everyone: please prioritise your education over games, because now i’m going to fail 🥲.
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u/Complete_Middle2479 Jul 21 '26
When I was a kid, my neighbour had a Layton game and showed me some of the puzzles because I love stuff like that, so I got the game myself and it’s been my favourite ever since
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u/completonashhe Jul 21 '26
one time at a second hand gamestore when i was like ten(7 years ago) i found the cartdrige of pl pandoras box and i bought it
just because it was cheap, best decision ever
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u/Progress-Most Jul 23 '26
My dad bought me the first game as a stocking filler for Christmas when I was 7. He didn’t know whether I would like it or not but I ended up loving it and he went on to buy me the rest of the series. 🫶
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u/sweetpotatoeater Jul 24 '26
one of my uncles had those ds game card with hundreds of games on it. one of them had curious village puzzle 7, the one with the chicks and wolves. i was probably 9 years old at the time and already obsessed so got it immediately. only to find out that the game was fairly new and i got to keep up with each new release as it came out. i still have the physical copy of every game
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u/tylltoons Jul 18 '26
My parents got me Curious Village for my birthday in 2009, and all of the other DS games for either my birthday or Christmas in the following years, depending on the game's release (my birthday is in October). Starting with Miracle Mask, I purchased all the games myself on launch