History
The series, game by game
Six main-line games from 2007 to 2013, a 2012 crossover, a 2017 spin-off with Katrielle, and three mobile ports of the first three games.
Six main-line games, one crossover, one spin-off, and a remake on the way. Every date below comes from LEVEL5's own product list or the Layton series site's news archive, which is why there are no gaps in the table: if a row is here, the publisher printed the year.
Read it as a timeline of a series that keeps restarting itself. Three DS games in three years, then a second trilogy that goes backwards in time, then a handover to a new lead, then a long silence.
Six main-line games
| # | Game | Platform | Japanese release |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Professor Layton and the Curious Village | Nintendo DS | 2007-02-15 |
| 2 | Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box | Nintendo DS | 2007-11-29 |
| 3 | Professor Layton and the Unwound Future | Nintendo DS | 2008-11-27 |
| 4 | Professor Layton and the Last Specter | Nintendo DS | 2009-11-26 |
| 5 | Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask | Nintendo 3DS | 2011-02-26 |
| 6 | Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy | Nintendo 3DS | 2013-02-28 |
The first three shipped within twenty-one months. The second trilogy starts earlier in the timeline than the first - Last Specter is a prequel, set three years before Curious Village - and ends with Azran Legacy closing the story.
Miracle Mask Plus, a download-only expanded version of the fifth game, followed on 3DS on 2013-02-06. A version, not a seventh entry.
Crossover and spin-off
| Game | Platform | Japanese release | What it is |
|---|---|---|---|
| Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney | Nintendo 3DS | 2012-11-29 | Crossover with Capcom's Ace Attorney series |
| Layton's Mystery Journey: Katrielle and the Millionaires' Conspiracy | Nintendo 3DS, iOS, Android | 2017-07-20 | New lead: Layton's daughter Katrielle |
| ... DX | Nintendo Switch | 2018-08-09 | Switch port with extra content |
| ... DX+ | Nintendo Switch | 2021-07-08 | Further expanded Switch version |
The spin-off is the one that changed the series' shape: Katrielle took over, the game released simultaneously on 3DS and mobile, and the Switch versions followed in 2018 and 2021. The most recently released Layton title before this one.
Three mobile ports
The first three games were ported to iOS and Android in high definition, and all three are documented in the series site's news archive:
| Port | Release |
|---|---|
| Curious Village EXHD | 2018-06-08 |
| Diabolical Box EXHD | 2018-12-05 |
| Unwound Future EXHD | 2020-07-13 |
These are how a lot of people met the series in the last few years, and they are regularly discounted - the series site's news feed carries sale notices for them going back to 2017.
Three patterns in the run
Three things stand out.
First, LEVEL5 has never taken this long between a new main-line announcement and release. The game was announced in February 2023 as a Switch title, and it arrives in December 2026 across four platforms - a span that includes one publicly announced window change.
Second, the platform spread is new. Every previous main-line entry launched on a Nintendo handheld; this one launches on Switch 2, Switch, PS5 and Steam together, with the package release limited to Japan.
Third, the puzzle design changed hands. The early games were supervised by Akira Tago, the author of the "Atama no Taisou" puzzle books; the official pages for the first four still credit him as puzzle supervisor, and the remake of the first game credits him as overall puzzle supervisor, describing him in the past tense. This game's puzzles are by QuizKnock.
Catching up before December
The first three are the ones the pre-order soundtrack draws from most heavily: five of its eleven tracks come from Curious Village, Diabolical Box and Unwound Future. The mobile ports are the cheapest way in, and they run on anything.
The second trilogy matters more for tone than for continuity - Last Specter is where Luke and Layton meet, which is the relationship this game picks up nine years later.