Nintendo Announces Emio – the Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club a Week After Eerie Teaser Trailer [IGN]

Last week, Nintendo puzzled fans by uploading an unsettling and cryptic teaser trailer for an unannounced game. We no longer have to wonder what this game is, as the company revealed today that it is the latest entry in the Famicom Detective Club series, due out on August 29 for Nintendo Switch.

In a new video published on YouTube, Famicom Detective Club lead scenario writer and series creator Yoshio Sakamoto revealed he is the producer for the latest entry in the franchise in 30 years: Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club. Sakamoto revealed that while the team was remaking the first two games, The Missing Heir and The Girl Who Stands Behind, he felt Nintendo needed to continue the series beyond just those two entries.

“This is the first new Famicom Detective Club game in 30 years, and I was involved in everything,” Sakamoto explained. “[F]rom the foundations of the plot to small details of the script and cutscenes.”

In Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club, players control an assistant private investigator who is looking into the murder of a student who fell victim to Emio, the Smiling Man, according to the product listing on Nintendo’s official website. In addition to a brand-new story, Ayumi Tachibana, the protagonist from The Missing Heir, returns as a playable character in certain sections of the game.

Emio – The Smiling Man is the first new Famicom Detective Club game in over three decades, and follows the Switch remakes of the Famicom Detective Club: The Missing Heir and The Girl Who Stands Behind, both of which were announced and released in 2021 on Nintendo’s hybrid gaming console.

Taylor is a Reporter at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.