Nintendo’s mystery title Emio is a detective game

On a random Wednesday in July, Nintendo asked “#WhoIsEmio?” and accompanied the question with a cryptic and creepy 15-second teaser. Now, with an official announcement and a new listing on the Nintendo eShop, we know.

Emio, known as Smiling Man in the Japanese version, is not a new horror project but, rather, the latest entry in Nintendo’s Famicom Detective Club series. In it, you’ll play as — what else? — a detective tasked with solving the gruesome murder of a student who was found with a paper bag with a smiling face over his head. Contrary to the rumors that suggested The Medium studio Bloober Team was the game’s developer, Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club was actually developed internally at Nintendo, with Metroid producer Yoshio Sakamoto leading the project. Nintendo posted a short video featuring Sakamoto sharing more details about the game.

Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club is the first new game in the series in 30 years. In 2021, Nintendo released remakes of the first two Detective Club games, The Missing Heir and The Girl Who Stands Behind, which first debuted in the late ’80s.

Though Emio wasn’t featured during the Nintendo Direct back in June, the game will join Nintendo’s holiday release schedule, launching on August 29th.