It's strange to go back and replay this game now that I'm familiar with the characters, for example, the judge isn't the lovable goof that I know him for in the first couple of cases, although he does develop into that halfway through the game. But it's fun to see how the cast of characters met for the first time, and when Maya asked Wright if she could call him "Nick" I couldn't help but smile.
The first game sets the bar for the series quite high (and it's amazing how they end up setting it higher in further games), one of the things I like about the AA games is that they have a storyline from begging to end, and this being the first game, that connection is fairly clear, with only the third case kinda jumping out of it. The first case helps setting up the mechanics and the main character, but it's really on the second case, the iconic Turnabout Sisters, that the story really starts and we get to know Gumshoe, Maya and, of course, Edgeworth, the most famous of prosecutors.
Personally, I used to not like Edgeworth all that much, but for some reason my opinion changed throughout this gameplay, his story is interesting and have no doubts about it, the story of the first game is much more about Edgeworth than it is about Wright. That's why the last chapter is as powerful as it is.
The last cases are always the best part of each game, and the first is no exception, putting the stakes high while you discover the truth behind your old friend's past.
There's also an extra case (which I guess you could consider it the last case, as it is Chapter 5, but I really don't because the game was originally made with only 4 cases and the fifth was written for the DS release) which is the biggest chapter in the whole thing being one of the few, if not the only time there's a 4 day case in the series. The chapter itself is pretty solid, although I would say chapter 2 and 4 are still above it, but it gains points for introducing Ema Skye, which would later appear in the 3DS games to substitute Gumshoe.