Famicom Detective Club Sequel: A Masterful Murder Mystery?

The previously hinted “Emio, the Smiling Man” mystery has been revealed as the newest title in Nintendo's formerly inactive murder visual novel series, Famicom Detective Club, which producer Sakamoto views as the series' culmination.

Emio, the Smiling Man Unveiled as Famicom Detective Club GameFamicom Detective Club Launches New Murder Narrative After Three Decades

The initial Famicom Detective Club games, The Missing Heir and The Girl Who Stands Behind, were released in the late 1980s. They let players assume the role of a young man solving murder mysteries in the Japanese countryside. In this new entry, Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club, players will again become assistant detectives, this time at the Utsugi Detective Agency, tasked with solving a series of murders connected to a notorious serial killer known as Emio, the Smiling Man.

As announced by Nintendo on July 17, the game is slated to launch worldwide on August 29, 2024 for the Nintendo Switch and marks the first new Famicom Detective Club story in 35 years. It was hinted at the previous week via a cryptic trailer that showed a mysterious man wearing a trenchcoat and a paper bag over his head that had a smiley drawn on.

"In Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club, a student has been found dead in a chilling manner, his head covered with a paper bag with an eerie smiling face drawn on it," the latest installment's synopsis reads. "This unsettling image bears a striking resemblance to a recurring clue in a string of unsolved murders from 18 years ago, as well as Emio (the Smiling Man), a killer of urban legend who is said to grant his victims ‘a smile that will last forever.’"

In this game, you must investigate the events that led to the murder of junior high school student, Eisuke Sasaki, where clues allude to unsolved cases from the past. Interview the victim's classmates and others involved to gather leads, and examine crime scenes and locations of interest for clues.

Working alongside you on the search for the truth behind Emio, the Smiling Man, is Ayumi Tachibana, a fellow assistant detective known for her exceptional interrogation abilities. Ayumi is a recurring character in the series who was introduced in the first game. Leading your unit is Shunsuke Utsugi, the director of the detective agency, who has worked on the same unsolved murders eighteen years prior. Shunsuke appears in the second installment of the series and takes in the game’s orphaned protagonist as his assistant.

Fans Polarized Over Announcement

When Emio, the Smiling Man was cryptically teased by Nintendo, it quickly gained traction and interest among the gaming community as it was perceived as a significantly different type of Nintendo game. Unlike the company's signature wholesome games, this smiling man was anything but joyful.

While speculation grew, one fan on Twitter (X) amazingly predicted the teaser's meaning. "Insane theory: Emio is actually the antagonist of a new, darker 3rd Famicom Detective Club game following the remakes of the first two games on Switch," the fan wrote.

It seemed logical, and they were correct. While many Famicom Detective Club fans celebrated the revival of their beloved murder mystery point-and-click game, others were less enthusiastic.

Some players disliked the newly announced installment, expressing their disinterest in a visual novel game on social media. One user humorously suggested some Nintendo fans felt disappointed and angry after discovering they had to read. Another player replied that these fans "were probably hoping Emio would be a different genre, like action horror or something."

Famicom Detective Club Explores Different Mystery Themes

Series producer and writer Yoshio Sakamoto shared insights, via a recent YouTube video, on the creation of Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club. Recounting the genesis of the Famicom Detective Club series, Sakamoto said that the first two games, The Missing Heir and The Girl Who Stands Behind, were designed to be experienced like a film that you solve yourself.

The Famicom Detective Club series has been lauded for its captivating narratives and atmospheric storytelling. The original games, which were remastered for the Nintendo Switch in 2021, have had a lasting effect on fans. Inspired by the favorable reception to these remakes, Sakamoto felt driven to create a brand-new installment in the series. "I knew we'd be able to make something good. So, I decided to do it," he stated in the video.

According to an old interview with Wired, Sakamoto drew inspiration from horror filmmaker, Dario Argento, whose use of evocative music and rapid cuts influenced Famicom Detective Club. The Girl Who Stands Behind was inspired by Argento's method of connecting music and visuals used in the murder mystery film Deep Red.

In the same interview, series composer Kenji Yamamoto recalled that he made The Girl Who Stands Behind's final scene as frightening as possible, as Sakamoto had directed him to. The composer used a technique wherein the volume of the game's audio dramatically reaches its peak in the game's final scenes, replicating a kind of jump scare with the startling audio shift.

Emio, the Smiling Man, is an urban legend crafted solely for the new Famicom Detective Club game. Sakomoto, in a recent YouTube video, stated he wants players to enjoy a vibrant journey rooted in the thrill of uncovering the truth behind an urban legend.

While The Smiling Man centers on the theme of urban legends—often eerie tales and rumors about mysterious and dangerous events—prior installments in Nintendo’s Famicom Detective Club explored themes of superstitious beliefs and ghost stories.

In The Missing Heir, you investigate the mysterious demise of Kiku Ayashiro, a member of the wealthy Ayashiro family that owns a vast plot of land, passed down through generations, in Myoujin village. The village has a foreboding saying that the deceased will return to kill anyone attempting to steal the Ayashiro family's wealth. You soon uncover a frightening connection between this saying and the serial killings in the game.

Meanwhile, as a promising detective in The Girl Who Stands Behind, you must find the perpetrator who took the life of an innocent girl, Yoko, and unsettled her high school community. It soon becomes clear that Yoko was deeply involved in investigating "The Tale of the Girl Who Stands Behind," a ghost story of a bloody girl who haunts the school.

A genuine product of intense brainstorming

Speaking in an interview back in 2004, Sakamoto mentioned how he "really enjoyed horror" around the time they were developing the first two Famicom games. "And I also really enjoyed ghost stories about high school," he added. "Because of that, ideas flourished, and I wanted to create a horror story set at an academy."

In multiple interviews, Sakamoto has discussed the unrestricted freedom they had devising ideas for the Famicom Detective Club series. He said that Nintendo presented them with only the title and allowed them to lead the development. "Whatever it was you devised, they wouldn't say anything," he stated in one interview.

At the time the first two Famicom Detective Club games were initially launched in Japan, they received positive reception from critics. Both Famicom games currently hold a 74/100 Metacritic rating based on critic reviews.

Emio — The Smiling Man is the "culmination of everything my most trusted associates and I have learned and the concepts we’ve gathered from working on the previous games and their remakes," Sakomoto said. "It’s the result of many profound, creative discussions and work with the intention to go all out on the screenplay and animations."

Moreover, it appears that Emio — The Smiling Man will contain a controversial ending that the series producer hopes will be continually debated among players "for a long time to come." The game’s script "cuts right to the heart of what I had in mind from the start, so the story’s ending may be divisive for some players," Sakamoto said.