Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club review — Through death comes a bitter smile

I am not exaggerating when I say this. Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club is one of the greatest games Nintendo has ever made. This is coming from someone who was not fond of the Famicom Detective Club remakes released back in 2021. They were neat time capsules to the early days of adventure games, ones I would appreciate more as relics of gaming history, rather than compelling stories. Thus, while I was expecting Emio to be an improvement over its 30-year-old predecessors, I didn’t think it would be anything exceptional. Oh, how Nintendo and developer MAGES proved me wrong.

This latest entry of Nintendo’s long dormant IP has all the makings of a great murder mystery visual novel: A complex mystery filled with compelling characters, the exceptional production values from the remakes, and refined adventure gameplay. But I was not prepared for the level of emotional complexity the writing team managed to instill through its devastating narrative. Emio – The Smiling Man is not just one of the best Nintendo Switch games ever made, but a haunting yet meaningful fiction that demonstrates the importance of the family friendly company’s values. 

The game opens with the corpse of a student being discovered at a pump station. The crime scene bears a chilling resemblance to a series of murders that occurred 18 years ago, where victims would be strangled to death and have a smiley-faced paper bag put over their lifeless bodies. It is a premise filled with mystery, intrigue, and a descent into disturbing truths. Despite Emio being the first M rated title from a Nintendo IP, developer MAGES is no stranger to crafting gruesome murder mystery visual novels. While Emio doesn’t remotely reach that level of gore and violence, what it does excel at is demonstrating the pure, despicable depravity of the killings. How each tragedy is laced with gut wrenching irony that is heartbreaking to watch unfold. It never reaches a strong semblance of horror present in the initial teaser, but the heavy atmosphere only thickens as the story progresses. 

Yet, this misery never feels spiteful or dark for the sake of cynical shock value. In many ways, Emio embodies the core values of what defines Nintendo as a brand. An emphasis on creating experiences kids can look fondly back on and smile. Experiences that connect generations of family and friends through joy and laughter. Famicom Detective Club’s latest entry embraces these values not in spite of its grim subject matter, but because of it. It is a tragic tale about how the youth grow more jaded, having their childhood innocence forcibly torn away from them, quite literally slaughtered. A Mature rated title about how the road to maturity can be tainted. And, most prominently for the returning protagonists from the previous entries, how it is imperative for those values to be protected.

The game masterfully weaves each of its mysteries and characters around this central idea, making every narrative element feel meaningful through powerful parallels. More than ever, Famicom Detective Club integrates the “Detective” part of its name to the themes of the story, the investigation lending opportunities for the leads to uncover the different dimensions of the cast, inserting themselves into the most vulnerable time of each character’s life. To be a support system and give some semblance of hope to people who are hurt and grieving. It gives every personal conflict a much-needed humanity and depth the first two entries lacked. 

That’s not to say the whole adventure is all doom and gloom. Emio shockingly has a hilarious script that made me laugh out loud on numerous occasions. Sure, there are eccentric characters to meet with funny scenarios and recurring gags, but they are utilized to provide levity to a grim situation. To give a shade of earnest humanity to characters trying to find hope in a pit of darkness. The switch between tones never feels forced, nor compromises the serious moments with an out of place joke.

While a stellar cast and emotional narrative share the heavy lifting in what makes a visual novel great, the moment to moment pacing and game flow is what dictates how engaging it is to unravel the mysteries. These were the two aspects I was concerned about going into Emio, as they were what the first Famicom Detective Club entry and, to a lesser extent the second entry, fumbled. I was hoping that the 30 year gap between games would polish the many rough edges present in those earlier titles, and I am happy to report that this is very much the case. 

At its core, The Smiling Man follows the same gameplay structure to its predecessors. A command box displays the various actions the player can perform to progress through their investigation. There are the usual options in adventure games such as asking witnesses questions about specific topics, or bringing up a cursor to investigate for clues scattered around the environment. A convenient new addition is the notebook, allowing players to sift through regularly updated information pertaining to each character.

Moreover, the red underline beneath important notes strikes a fine balance between highlighting quirky flavor text, and ominous foreshadowing. I used this function often; almost every time a new revelation was revealed I attempted to apply the new notes added to see if they would line up with any theories I had about the overarching mystery. The notebook plays into the summary segments, where the two leads return to the office to discuss their findings at the end of each chapter. It is an interactive way to recap and organize information learned through multiple choice and fill in the blank questions. 

But the biggest improvement Emio has made compared to its older counterparts is the streamlined nature of its progression. The detectives’ inner monologue at the end of every exchange typically nudges the player towards the next option to progress. If the player still requires more guidance, the returning “Think” option in the command box often gives a more specific clue just shy of the actual answer. The specific of each hint is typically highlighted in yellow text. “Think” and yellow text aren’t anything new for Famicom Detective Club, but the difference lies in the execution. Where the older games’ hints were cryptic to the point of being incomprehensible, Emio is often explicit on what to do next. Even on occasions where text isn’t highlighted, it is still easy to interpret what the solution is.

Additionally, the game often locks the player into the current location, which means there are a limited number of options to perform to progress. It is much more streamlined compared to the previous games, which allowed players to traverse through multiple locations at once without being clear where the player must be. Those types of segments are present in the late game, but are significantly less obtuse. As a result, even when Emio still has plenty of moments where I would mash through every option twice in the hopes of triggering a new exchange, the trial and error never felt frustrating or a waste of my time. It was breezy enough where finding the correct solution was just around the corner. And when all else failed, clicking on a witness’s face usually was the correct answer. 

As for the contents that come from the investigations, I already gushed about the narrative significance on display, but the actual pacing of its story is immaculate. Almost every chapter is less than an hour long, jam packed with exciting revelations to uncover and somber character moments to flesh out the cast. Emio – The Smiling Man isn’t the longest visual novel out there, only taking me around ten hours to finish, but the snappy pace kept me glued to my Switch for hours on end. It is mostly all killer, no filler. Granted there are some scenes that drag out for a few minutes too long, overemphasizing points in a repetitive manner, but these are just minor exceptions in the grand scheme of the whole package. 

Presentation-wise, MAGES once again delivers a top-notch visual and auditory production. Takeshi Abo composes one of his best scores yet, emphasizing the usage of pianos to ground the player in an analytical, detective mindset. A calming vibe as an opposition to the atrocities that have been committed. Best of all, Abo’s signature style of having tracks be a variation of the main theme (otherwise known as leitmotifs) is on full display for the ears to feast on. It familiarizes the player to an already stellar track, morphing the emotional significance of its music depending on what tone its motif is presented in. 

From a visual standpoint, MAGES knocked it out of the park refining the sprite based movement style present in Anonymous;Code and the Famicom Detective Club remakes. Characters have expressive facial animations, and the way their hair and shoulders subtly shift to signify breathing brings so much life to the various idle poses. While some of the grander animations do have body parts fading in and out when making drastic position changes, it’s still impressive how much movement MAGES was able to rig onto each character. This level of detail even extends to background characters, whether it is a man enjoying a drink by a nearby store or a pair of drunks happily swaying together.

Furthermore, Emio utilizes various angles and character positions within a scene to make the world feel akin to a three-dimensional space, rather than static sprites occupying a flat background. And once again, these moments are also animated. For a visual novel, seeing multiple characters having full body walk cycles in certain scenes was a delight. It makes me eager to see how MAGES can further evolve this visual style in future projects. As for the art itself, it’s a small step up from the already stellar Famicom Detective Club remakes. Individually Emio doesn’t look too different, but comparing them side by side shows polish in the character sprites, on top of having gorgeous lighting that excels at displaying the warmth of sunset or the dirty, grunge of a crime scene. 

The only disappointing attribute of the game’s presentation is the UI, which is nearly identical to the remakes. The text boxes are simple black rectangles with text over them. I understand it is meant to mimic the visual style of adventure games from the era of the original games, and the no nonsense style makes navigating through options readable and efficient. I just wish some of that MAGES’s visual magic made it over to the UI as well.

Staying on the topic of the user interface, it baffles me that MAGES has made yet another VN on the Switch with no touchscreen support. The Switch is a cozy platform to play visual novels on, so I was disappointed how this Nintendo first party title didn’t utilize an aspect of its handheld console. Although one pleasant surprise in its control method is how the entire game can be played with just a singular Joy-Con. VNs don’t exactly have the most intensive button usage, thus I found the casual nature of its control options to be a welcome addition. 

Ultimately any nitpicks I have with Emio – The Smiling Man are just that, nitpicks. These minor gripes were further made insignificant when the final moments unfolded, all the pieces of the mystery were put into place, and every shade of the complex cast was revealed. Words cannot begin to fully describe the intensity of emotions I felt witnessing the finale. It is beautiful yet haunting, meaningful yet crushing. I sat there sobbing at my Switch utterly shocked, heartbroken, angry, hurt, and a whole slew of feelings that all swirled into a devastating pit in my stomach. Yet I also felt a resonating, hopeful call to action to make the lives of those around us brighter.

I am still stunned at everything Nintendo and the team at MAGES were able to accomplish, and it is a finale that will stick with me for years to come. Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club constructs a cautionary tragedy about the importance of protecting and listening to the youth of today. To provide them with hope and love so they don’t become the lost souls of tomorrow. And for a company whose entire mission statement revolves around shaping childhoods by bringing joy to kids and families, I can’t think of a more impactful celebration of that legacy.

Unless otherwise stated, the product in this article was provided for review purposes.

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