Summary
Emio - The Smiling Manwas first announced on Jun 05, 2025, via a mysterious teaser trailer published to the official Nintendo YouTube channel. Showcasing a mysterious trenchcoat-clad man with a bag over his head, it was an uncharacteristically disturbing video for the Japanese gaming giant to publish to its official YouTube channel. Shortly after the teaser dropped, Nintendo released a longer video with more information about the project. Set to be Nintendo’s first M-rated game, and a revival of a cult-classic franchise that many thought was long dead,Emio - The Smiling Manis Nintendo’s first real foray into horror in almost 30 years.
Immediately following the teaser trailer’s surprise drop on the Nintendo YouTube channel, the internet was abuzz with speculation. The hashtag #WhoIsEmio briefly trended, and theories ranged from a secretBloober Team / Nintendo co-productionto a newHotel Duskgame. Eventually, more information emerged, including a video interview with the game’s lead creative, Yoshio Sakamoto.Emio - The Smiling Manwas revealed to be the fourth entry in Nintendo’sFamicom Detective Clubseries — the first new installment sinceYuki ni Kieta Kako(‘Past Snuffed-Out in the Snow’), an episodic spin-off adventure released for the Super Famicom in 1997 via Nintendo’s Japan-exclusive Satellaview system.
TheNintendo Satellaviewwas a satellite modem released for the Super Famicom in April 1995. Using the Satellaview, players were able to download exclusive Super Famicom games and DLC, many of which featured CD-quality soundtracks and voice acting broadcast to the system via satellite.
Emio - The Smiling Man is a Brand New Famicom Detective Club Game
The mainlineFamicom Detective Clubgames consist of a duology of old-school adventure games released in 1988 and 1989 for the Nintendo Famicom. The brainchild of Nintendo icon Yoshio Sakamoto — the director ofSuper Metroid,Metroid: Zero Mission, andMetroid Fusion— theFamicom Detective Clubgames are investigation-based visual novels notable for their intricately written mysteries, complex characters, and mature themes.
Tasking the player with solving a series of serial murders, the games take influence fromthe films of Dario Argento. In particular, Sakamoto’s focus on combining music and visual elements was inspired by the filmDeep Red. Beyond Dario Argento, Yoshio Sakamoto took narrative inspiration from Seishi Yokomizo’sKosuke Kindaichinovels — a number of which were adapted for the screen by legendary Japanese filmmaker Kon Ichikawa. The games’ visual styles were inspired by manga, withThe Girl Who Stands Behindtaking direct visual influence from shoujo manga of the 80s and 90s.
Emio - The Smiling Man Is Nintendo’s First M-Rated Game and Shows It’s Still Willing to Take Risks
Despite its family-friendly reputation, Nintendo has published and co-produced a number of M-rated games, as far back as the Nintendo 64. What makesEmio - The Smiling Manunique is that it’sNintendo’s first M-rated projectdeveloped fully in-house, by one of the company’s most well-known designers. The Australian Classification Board confirmed thatEmiowill feature cruelty, domestic abuse, violence, and suicide, among other undisclosed ‘strong themes.’
It remains to be seen how Nintendo will take advantage of this M rating. But with the previousFamicom Detective Clubgamesalready touching on dark themes — and project lead Yoshio Sakamoto’s primary inspiration being the notoriously violent murder mystery films of Dario Argento — it seems likely thatEmio - The Smiling Manwill be something unprecedented for the 134-year-old company.
Whether this will open the door to moreM-rated gamesin the future remains to be seen. But, if nothing else, it’s a welcome surprise to see Nintendo risking damage to its family-friendly reputation to allow one of its developers to pursue a dark, adult-oriented passion project.
WhileNintendo is no stranger to publishing horror games,Famicom Detective Club’s giallo genre inspirations, violent storylines, and explicit desire to disturb the player make the games a notable outlier in Nintendo’s catalog. For players interested in the series, the originalFamicom Detective Clubduology received a modern remake in 2021, and is currently available on the Nintendo eShop.
