It turns out Emio is… the first new Famicom Detective Club game in over 30 years, and the director of Super Metroid is back to make it

Last week Nintendo teased something related to Emio, and it turns out it’s not the survival horror game we were expecting.

In a rather strange marketing move by Nintendo, a teaser featuring a man wearing a smiling paper bag mask was released last week, with no other context. Now, a week later, Nintendo has unveiled that the full game is titled Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club, marking the return of the series after more than 30 years. If the series sounds familiar, it’s because the original games were remade for the Nintendo Switch in 2021. However, this new title brings back Yoshio Sakomoto, the designer of the NES titles and director of games like Super Metroid.

“It’s the first new Famicom Detective Club game in 30 years, so I did everything from the plot, to the script and the cutscenes, even all the smaller details,” Sakomoto explained. “Emio – The Smiling Man is an urban legend that we made up for this game about a man who appears in front of crying girls, and in exchange for their lives gives them a paper bag with a smile on it.”

In the game, players will assume the role of an assistant private investigator tasked with solving a case involving a student murdered by Emio. The official description of the game raises questions about whether a serial killer has returned or if this is the work of a copycat, inspired by the Smiling Man story. While the game presents a new story, the protagonist from The Missing Heir, the first game in the series, will make a return as a playable character in certain parts of the game.

The game is set to be released on August 29, so fans won’t have to wait long to dive into this new mystery.