List of Professor Layton characters

Professor Layton
The logo of the Professor Layton series
Genres	Puzzle, adventure
Developers	Level-5
Publishers	Level-5 Nintendo
Creators	Akihiro Hino
Platforms	Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS, Android, iOS
First release	Professor Layton and the Curious Village February 15, 2007
Latest release	Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy November 8, 2013

Professor Layton (レイトン教授, Reiton-kyōju^?) is a puzzle adventure game series for the Nintendo DS and Nintendo 3DS developed by Level-5. The series consists of six games plus a film. A crossover game titled Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney has also been released for the Nintendo 3DS.

The first three games follow Professor Hershel Layton and Luke Triton's adventures together. The subsequent three games and the film are prequels, and focus on how Luke and Layton met, and their "original" adventures. Each title is based on a series of puzzles and mysteries given by the citizens of towns that the main characters visit. It is not necessary to solve all the puzzles to progress, but some are mandatory, and at certain points in the game a minimum number of puzzles must be solved before the story can continue.

Lifetime cumulative sales of Professor Layton games are at 10 million units sold as of October 2010. As of April 2015, the series has sold over 15.5 million copies.

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.