Nintendo is, relatively speaking, a family-oriented company. Their games are aimed at kids, their parents, and everyone in between, with vivid colors, wholesome storytelling, and incredibly accessible game design. That said, there are exceptions to this rule, as in This terrifying 15-second trailer was uploaded to the company’s YouTube channel last week. A man in a trench coat, carrying a paper bag with a smile drawn on it, stares into the camera while a distorted music box plays in the background. The only additional context we were given was the hashtag #WhoIsEmio, leaving fans scrambling to figure out what exactly that implied.
Today, that mystery has been solved. Emio, also known as “The Smiling Man,” is the star of a novel game in the Famicom Detective Club series, which hasn’t had a novel entry in 35 years. The game was revealed today along with a film starring the series producer Yoshio Sakamotowho wrote the first two games and directed titles like Super Metroid and Metroid: Zero Mission. According to him, they decided to create this novel installment while they were developing the Famicom Detective Club remakes in 2021.
“In Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club, a college student is found dead in a terrifying manner, with his head covered by a paper bag with a disturbing smiling face drawn on it,” reads the press release. “This unsettling face bears a striking resemblance to a recurring clue in a series of unsolved murders from 18 years ago, as well as Emio (The Smiling Man), a killer from urban legend who supposedly gives his victims a ‘smile that lasts forever.’” Players will take on the role of a private detective and set out to solve the case and stop the killer once and for all.
Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club is coming to Nintendo Switch next month on August 29th. Let’s hope the titular killer doesn’t murder too many people before then.
Are you excited for this series to be brought back? Let us know in the comments!
