Emio Review – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club – Nintendo as You Never Knew It

When Nintendo released a cryptic teaser titled “Who is Emio?” in July, few expected what the project would ultimately turn out to be. Instead of a horror title, it was the third installment of the Famicom Detective Club, a largely forgotten series until recently, the first two of which were released in 1988 and 1989 on the NES. However, three years ago we saw their remakes for the Switch, and Yoshio Sakamoto, who in addition to the original entries is also behind the famous Metroid series, decided to create a trio that should be the very best the series has to offer. But did the game live up to expectations?

• Platform: Nintendo Switch
• Release date: 29.08.2024
• Developer: Nintendo EPD, Magi
• Publisher: Nintendo
• Genre: Visual novel, adventure game
• Czech localization: No
• Multiplayer: No
• Data for download: 5.4 GB
• Play time: ~20 hours
• Price: 1199 CZK (Alsa)

Legend or fact?

Emio takes place a few months after the events of #1, and begins with the murder of a high school student. He appears to have been strangled, and is wearing a paper bag with a smile painted on it. Just like the one in the legends of the smiling man known as Emio. And the one that was the result of the real murder of three girls almost 20 years ago. But is there a connection, has the legend become reality, or is this just someone trying to imitate Emio?

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It’s worth saying up front that this is a detective visual novel with adventure elements, so it’s close to, for example, the Ace Attorney series from Capcom. So you’ll have to prepare for a lot of text, the nice thing is that unlike AA, in Emyo and the previous works you’ll find voice acting. It’s only Japanese, but given the setting, it doesn’t matter at all. The actors did a fantastic job, and it makes you feel even more involved in the story.

Modernization needed

But I’ll focus on the gameplay, because it was clearly the weakest part of the first and second parts. The ravages of time took their toll on it, and in the remakes, which only edited the audiovisual image, it was very easy to get into unpleasant situations where the player had no idea what to do. So I’m glad that the Emio developers worked hard on it.

On the one hand, you can highlight important information and generally get more help, but if you don’t like it, you can turn it off in the menu. At the same time, the overall experience is much more linear and you can’t move around as much, which can feel like an annoying limitation, but ultimately it helps because, with a few complete exceptions, you won’t find any frustrating moments here, and that’s the main thing.

You no longer have a ton of options when talking to other characters, so you’re actually still learning important information, and it’s not just tediously scrolling through everything. Thinking about the main character actually helps you, and there’s little risk of missing something important while exploring the environment.

On the other hand, it cannot be said that the game takes you by the hand and everything is done automatically. You always have to think and learn new information. In addition, unlike the first two parts, you will be able to make certain decisions that will affect subsequent events to one degree or another. Very often you will come across various Easter eggs, of which there are quite a few, and they are very nice, they refer both to previous parts and to other series of games. A number of them are connected to a mobile phone, with which you need to contact not only your closest colleagues, but also public numbers.

Twice as good

However, there are a few more colleagues here than in previous parts. In addition to the named protagonist, there is his girlfriend Ajumi Tachibana, who you will also play as, and there is no shortage of fragments with her. He is almost the same as her, but it is still nice to look into someone else’s mind. Of course, there is also the head of the entire agency, Ukugi, who plays a more prominent role here.

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The new characters are a trio of police detectives, namely Inspector Kamada and his subordinates Detective Kuze and Detective Kamihara. While Kuze is very mysterious from the start, closed off to almost everyone around her and completely focused on her job, Kamihara is perhaps her complete opposite: always cheerful, joking and usually not taking things too seriously. The interactions with him are some of the best moments in the entire game, which contrast sharply with the very dark story.

Unique story

The story is definitely the most important thing in the visual novel, and it certainly does not disappoint. The case gradually unravels and, in addition to several answers, a number of new questions arise. There are some great twists and exciting moments, but the main driving force of the story is the already mentioned characters, whether they are main or secondary. Above all, the way the creators handled the behavior of the high school students and their devoted teacher Fukuyama is simply superb. They have already proven that they can do it in the second part.

It must be said, however, that there are a few weak points in the story that make it feel a bit drawn out. And while some things end up being important, I still think the pace could have been a bit quicker, although its slower speed does give us some great moments with Kamihara.

In any case, the most important part is at the end. Sakamoto already said that the ending would be controversial, and while the “ending” is tense, unexpected, and well-crafted, I didn’t find anything particularly controversial about it. Maybe that’s just because a surprising amount of information was left unexplained. But then it came.

Without giving anything away, the last hour of this game is something you won’t be prepared for. While there are some rougher moments throughout the title, the game certainly earned its 18+ label mainly because of its last hour, which features one of the most daring, tragic, terrifying, and emotional stories I’ve ever seen in a video game.

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I really had to constantly make sure I had a Nintendo game in my hands, a company that gives us games for the whole family every year. I just didn’t expect it, but this episode took the game to a whole other level.

More than a visual novel

And it’s not just the brilliant story, characters and acting. Just like the remakes of the first two parts, Emio boasts absolutely superb graphics, where at times it seems that calling such a title “just” a visual novel is almost an insult. Not only are the environments and characters overflowing with detail and beautiful stylization, we once again find excellent and exceptionally smooth animation, which makes the game even more alive.

And to the point that in the game you will encounter several cutscenes that seem to have fallen out of an anime series. The films are of incredible quality and have a very strong, often dark or even terrifying atmosphere. Because yes, Emio can be creepy.

Sound plays a big role in this. And not only various ambient sounds, but also, of course, mainly music. This series is great from the first part, and here the creators did not disappoint. There are many tracks, and they can be happy, emotional, dark and disturbing.

Nintendo, how do you not know it?

Overall, Emio is a great detective game. Returning to such an old series, and in the visual novel genre at that, was a big risk for Nintendo. But I’m really glad we took it, because it gave us a great game with a bold, mature story that’s rarely seen in video games or media in general. If you like detectives of any kind, then there’s nothing to worry about. Emio will not disappoint.