Matt Engarde

CantFaketheFunk
12. Matt Engarde

Matt Engarde. It isn't until you really look back on it that you realize how fantastic a villain he is. The only reason he's down at 12 is because I love the characters above him that much more--any other series and he'd be top 3 material hands down. When you start 2-4 and you're all "Oh hey this is my client? He's sort of a flake. Stop calling me 'dude,' dude." Matt's sort of likable, but sort of annoying. And then things just start building up one by one, there's more and more stuff going on...

And then comes the psyche-lock. In a series that sort of defines itself by awesome moments, and does these awesome moments extremely well... the moment Matt Engarde reveals his true self to you still gives me goddamn chills and is probably in the top three moments in the entire series, if not the single best one. He's manipulative, he's evil, and he would have succeeded if he hadn't tried to be a bit more manipulative than was entirely good for him. Plus, it took Gumshoe, Phoenix, Edgeworth, and Franziska all working together to even have a shot at bringing him down.

I may be a bit biased because I'm in the fandom, but I also really like what you can do with the guy just by knowing his true nature. Seemingly innocuous lines and moments just become creepy as hell.

He destroyed Celeste, destroyed Juan, and almost destroyed Adrian. Matt Engarde is one evil son-of-a-*****... but really, he's more of a Magnificent Bastard than anything else.

Naye745
10. Matt Engarde

Each game has a villain that really "stands out" above the others. In Justice For All, it was clearly Engarde, who basically ruined the lives of about 5 different people. He was a self-centered, greedy, arrogant son-of-a-***** who almost got Maya killed and almost successfully blackmailed an assassin. Luckily, everything conveniently pulled together and saved the day in the end, but for creating the most tension-filled, plot-twisting, awesome damn case in all three games, he gets a top 10 nod.

WHAT IS A MAN A MISERABLE PILE OF SECRETS

SSBM_Guy
5. Matt Engarde

http://www.court-records.net/mugshot/matt.png http://www.court-records.net/screenshot/JFA/nikkelsamurai2.png http://www.court-records.net/screenshot/JFA/nickelsamuraiposingdangeriously.png http://www.court-records.net/screenshot/JFA/tomatoexchange.png http://www.court-records.net/arts/artbook/artofgs-112.jpg http://www.court-records.net/arts/artbook/artofgs-113.jpg

Case(s): 2-4

Refreshing like a spring breeze...Engarde is just awesome. Easily my favorite villain. If you were paying attention to the list, there has been a string of murderers. Dahlia at 9, von Karma at 8, Gant at 7, Godot at 6, and we end it with Engarde at the top spot...#5. Yeah, Engarde is just about as great as you can get for murderers. While he may not be the most evilest...he certainly is my favorite. And hell, he probably takes the second spot for most evilest murderer in PW, anyways. Another thing to note is that Engarde also happens to be my favorite one-case-only character. Anyways, Engarde takes the lowest spot in the Top 5 for a reason. Let's see what this reason is.

Well...first, you start off Case 2-4 with Maya getting kidnapped. The kidnapper, de Killer, orders Phoenix to take Matt Engarde's case and get him a Not Guilty verdict or else Maya will die. Yeah...this looks suspicious. However, de Killer informs Phoenix that he did not kill anyone...which turns out to be the truth. Anyways...onwards to the Detention Center. Engarde does not take Phoenix really serriously. He's always calling his manager for help, he thinks Phoenix is a salesman, and he just really doesn't care about Phoenix at all. Once Phoenix mentions de Killer to Engarde, however...Engarde starts to pay attention. Engarde plays as a clueless defendant who depends on others way too much, especially his manager. He looks and acts completely innocent. Also, he is hilarious and awesome. Yeah. I like "Nice" Engarde. He's pretty awesome. Nice Engarde alone might make my Top 30, if not my Top 20. But trust me, there's a lot more to Engarde than that.

Anyways, Phoenix asks Engarde a simple question. "Did you kill Juan Corrida?". Engarde simply replies that he hasn't killed anyone before in his life...including Corrida. And this is the truth. However...he does cause the death of several other people, including Corrida. But, of course, you wouldn't know this by now...unless you read spoilers. Anyways, Engarde does little to nothing in Investigation 1. Just tells you a bunch of random stuff...that he didn't do it, he never really cared about Corrida since he always beat him (Including the Grand Prix), always calling his manager, and other stuff. A nice little thing in Investigation 1 is if you present Celeste's profile to Engarde. Engarde will say "...Dude, I know you're my lawyer and all, but you shouldn't pry into my stuff like that." or something among those lines. He then calls a pizza store and leaves the Detention Center to get pizza or something.

Then...comes Investigation Day 2. That's when things get really interesting. First off, Engarde leaves you a note to tell Phoenix to feed his cat, Shoe. There was really no reason for Engarde to tell Phoenix to feed his cat, Shoe. In fact, going to Engarde Mansion led to knowing where de Killer kept Maya. So, the only reason Engarde told Phoenix to feed Shoe is because he simply cares about Shoe. Yeah. Shoe is probably the only thing Engarde cares about aside from himself. And I can see why, because Shoe is awesome. ...Ahem! Anyways...the main thing about Investigation Day 2...is Matt's Psyche-Lock. Yeah. Once you get the bear/spy camera/transmitter, things get really suspicious and Engarde looks guilty once more. So...Phoenix decides to confront Engarde and ask him about it. How does Engarde respond? ...With a Psyche-Lock. 5 of them. Yeah...this is one huge secret he has here. And it also leads to one of the best scenes in PW...let me get a video to show this Psyche-Lock.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=1vsrW8UR9xo

Yeah...that's right. Once you finally solve his Psyche-Lock, Engarde does a complete personality change. He admits to doing it and says..."Hold on a sec. I'm gonna consult myself, OK?" Yeah...he calls himself and says that "he" is ready. Then...one of the most spoiler-ish and completely weird animations in PW history...Engarde flips his hair and shows his scars. He pulls a glass of wine out of nowhere and just looks completely evil. Compared to his innocent look from before, this new look just looks completely evil. When I saw this, I was just "...Whoa.". I saw Evil Engarde before playing 2-4 (Damn you, Court Records!) and I was still in complete shock from seeing this. This is the only time where your client was guilty...and you had no choice but to prove him innocent. One of the best PW moments right there. Your feelings for Engarde probably completely changed. Yeah...hell, I get goosebumps just talking about this. And this sets it up...Evil Engarde. The main reason why Engarde is this high.

Yeah...music change. From the awesome music to...this awesome music. The music just completely fits Evil Engarde. Shame that they overused this theme so much in PW3. It should only be used when mentioning Evil Engarde, really. Anyways, Evil Engarde shows off his true colors. Yeah, he hired de Killer to kill Corrida. Why? Because he wanted to. He knew that he was going to reveal how Engarde really acted like. That would completely destroy Engarde's image...that's something Engarde doe not want. So he kills off Corrida. And just for good measure...he decided to video tape the murder. That way, he can blackmail de Killer to do his bidding. Engarde doesn't care about de Killer either. After all, Engarde thinks of people as things that should be used and thrown away. And just for good measure...he tells de Killer to kidnap Maya. That way, he can force Phoenix to give him a Not Guilty verdict. A simple plan, really. Not all the complicated. But damn, it's brilliant. He has de Killer and Phoenix eating out of his hand. He has complete and utter control over both of them and they can't do a single thing.

So, Phoenix has a choice here...he can either get a Not Guilty verdict for Engarde...thus making a murderer innocent and having someone innocent taking his place in jail. ...Or he can get a Guilty verdict for Engarde, but Maya will die if that happens. Yeah, it must suck to be Phoenix at that time. However, Phoenix pulls off a miracle and manages to get Engarde guilty while making Maya live. How? Simple. He made de Killer realize that Engarde was going to blackmail him...thus, ending the contract between the two. And now, Engarde wants to be guilty...so he can stay away for de Killer for a while. Yeah. This wouldn't have happened if Engarde didn't get so arrogant. If Engarde never told Phoenix that he was going to blackmail de Killer, he would have gotten away. That's pretty damn good of Engarde there. Not to mention that even with that...it took the combined efforts of Dues Ex Machina Mia, Phoenix, Edgeworth, Gumshoe, Franziska, Maya, Pearl, and de Killer to finally take down Engarde. Damn. And with that...you're awarded with Engarde doing the epic face scratch.

So...that concludes Engarde. Easily the best villain in PW...well, maybe not the best...but one of the best. And he is also my favorite. Also, Engarde happens to be the Nickel Samurai. And the Nickel Samurai is just awesome and badass. Plus, all the women want the Nickel Samurai. aww yeah Engarde being a womanizer is confirmed. I think it's pretty simple why Engarde is this high. An excellent villain with a simple, yet genius plan...an awesome personality when acting innocent...and being a complete badass womanizer when acting as the Nickel Samurai. That should be more than enough to make Matt Engarde get the #5 spot...as well as having the honor of being my favorite villain...as well as my favorite one-case-only character.

transience
12. Matt Engarde

- argh this guy's pretty lame, why am I defending this tool, what's up with the arm phone, stop calling me "dude" you little pissant, good god WHOA HEEL TURN - top 5 moment right there - Engarde is pretty awesome from there on, the only problem I have is that you don't get to cross-examine him. here's this disgusting, pathetic man that you want to just strangle and you never get a chance to do so. the only thing you get is AS ALWAYS, THE DEFENSE PLEADS NOT GUILTY!, which is awesome, but it's only one moment as opposed to being able to wrap the evidence around his neck.