Professor Layton (universe)

Professor Layton (universe)
Developer(s)	Level-5
Publisher(s)	Level-5, Nintendo
Designer(s)	Akihiro Hino
Genre(s)	Puzzle, Adventure
Console of origin	Nintendo DS
First installment	Professor Layton and the Curious Village (2007)
Latest installment	Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy (2013)
Article on Wikipedia	Professor Layton (universe)

The Professor Layton universe (レイトン教授, Professor Layton) refers to the Project Dream series' collection of characters, stages, and properties that hail from the puzzle-based series by Level-5.

Franchise description

Professor Layton was a direct result of Akihiro Hino's childhood love of Akira Tago's popular Atama no Taisou series of puzzle books, which have sold more than 12 million copies to date in Japan.

The main character in the Professor Layton games is Professor Hershel Layton, a renowned archaeologist and a well-mannered gentleman. He is called to solve various mysteries in different places. Professor Layton is always accompanied by his apprentice Luke Triton, a cheerful and curious boy who brings a touch of humor to the story of Layton. According to Hino, Layton is partly inspired by the character of Phoenix Wright of the Ace Attorney series. Wanting to improve over what he saw as "bad points" in Phoenix's character, he was able to develop Professor Layton.

The game is essentially a collection of puzzles with exploration sections between them. The player (as Professor Layton, Luke and other characters) explore their environments in a point-and-click adventure game fashion using the DS's touchscreen. This can be used to talk with non-player characters, learn more about the environment, moving between different areas, or to find hint coins that are used during puzzles. Often, when interacting with a person or object, the player will be presented with a puzzle, valued at a number of "picarats", a type of currency within the game. Solving the puzzle correctly will earn the player that many picarats, but a wrong answer will reduce the value a small amount on subsequent attempts down to a minimal picarat number. In order to progress the plot, the player is required to solve specific puzzles, or to solve a minimum number of puzzles or gain a minimum amount of picarats. When the player leaves an area due to progression of the plot, puzzles they have yet to find or solve are collected and placed into a "Puzzle Shack" owned by a fictional character known as "Granny Riddleton", where they can return and attempt to resolve later. Curious Village contains 135 puzzles, Diabolical Box contains 153 puzzles, Unwound Future contains 168 (the later two having another special puzzle obtained via the use of codes found in the previous game), Last Specter contains 170 and Miracle Mask contains 150.

The puzzles take the form of brain teasers and are only loosely tied to the plot. All puzzles were created for this series by Akira Tago, who is famous for his best-selling Mental Gymnastics series. They take the forms of math problems, logic puzzles, mazes, sliding-block puzzles, and brain teasers. The games give the player the opportunity to bring up a translucent memo screen they can write on using the stylus to work out their answer before submission. If the player is stuck, they may spend one hint coin to receive a hint. Each puzzle has three hints available, and within Unwound Future, the game introduces "super hints" that nearly solve the puzzle for the player but which can only be bought with two hint coins and after the three other hints have been revealed. The puzzles are not timed, though for puzzles such as mazes or sliding blocks, the player may be challenged to complete the puzzle in a limited number of moves.

Each game features an additional set of three unique meta-puzzles that can be accessed at any time through "Layton's Trunk". These puzzles generally require the player to complete specific puzzles in the game to receive items to use within the meta puzzle; for example, The Curious Village gives the player furniture as a reward for some puzzles, which then must be placed within a set of apartments to Layton's and Luke's exacting desires in the meta puzzle; the meta puzzle cannot be solved completely until all the furniture has been collected. Completing the game also opens a number of series of more difficult puzzles to be solved, including one that involves a curiously heavily-locked door that the player may encounter during the game. Until its cancellation in 2014, the games could use the DS Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection features to connect to Nintendo world network and unlock additional puzzles for play for a number of weeks after each game's release.

In Super Smash Bros. Dream

Stages

• 
  Monte d'Or: The main city from Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask appears as a playable stage in Super Smash Bros. Dream.

Music

• Professor Layton's Theme
• Carnival Night
• The Masked Gentleman
• Inside the Circus Tent
• Akbadain Ruins
• A Time For Battle
• Airship Chase
• Move
• Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Main Theme
• Objection!
• Pursuit ~ Cornered
• Objection! 2012
• Cornered ~ Spell-breaker
• Professor Layton's Theme (Fighting Remix)

Trophies

• Professor Layton
• Luke Triton
• Emmy Altava
• The Masked Gentleman

Media with elements from or in the Professor Layton series

Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask

Monte d'Or, the main city from the game, appears as a playable stage in SSBD. In addition, the songs Carnival Night, The Masked Gentleman, Inside the Circus Tent, Akbadain Ruins, and A Time For Battle all play on the Monte d'Or stage.

Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy

The songs Airship Chase and Move play on the Monte d'Or stage.

Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney

The main theme, the second variation of Professor Layton's Theme, Objection!, Pursuit ~ Cornered, Objection! 2012, and Cornered ~ Spell-breaker all play on the Monte d'Or stage.