My week in the Famicom Detective Club

I should have played these games a lot sooner. I originally thought Famicom Detective Club looked too generic of a game for my taste with its old school adventure gameplay and its slice-of-life setting. However, upon completing the entire series this past weekend, I am sad that the journey is over and can see what makes these games stand out amongst the rest of the detective/visual novel genre.

It all started when I got into the Kosuke Kindaichi books, with cases like The Honjin Murders, the Devil’s Flute Murders, and the Little Sparrow Murders. But I only got into this book series because I stumbled across the recently-released video game adaptation to Kindaichi’s first case: The Honjin Murders. 

Seishi Yokomizo’s fictional detective, Kosuke Kindaichi is a very prominent character in Japan, but did not see any english translation until very recently here in the States- starting with The Honjin Murders, a locked room murder mystery. This is Kindaichi’s first case and I would say it’s okay. Maybe less than okay.

I’ve read the book, I’ve played the new game, even watched the movie from the 70’s- and I think I can accept not liking Kindaichi’s first case.

The book is not very long but I found it to be a real slog to get through despite being less than 200 pages. The video game adaptation is also not that long and seemingly takes inspiration from another indie game, No Case Remains Unsolved, where the gameplay consists of sorting through testimonies from the story’s various suspects and characters. I would say I probably prefer the game over the original book- just because I don’t think the book is written in a particularly interesting way anyway- and the murder itself is pretty misogynistic too. The movie adaptation, Death at an Old Mansion, is alright but as much as I love Akira Nakao, I don’t think he really fit into the Kindaichi role as well as the later adaptations with Koji Ishizaka who perfected the stammering detective on-screen with the Kon Ichikawa adaptations.

Kon Ichikawa directing Koji Ishizaka as Detective Kindaichi

Detective Kindaichi himself is a character I am interested in following. He stammers, he wears the same scrappy clothes, and he can get on rich peoples’ nerves. Very Columbo-esque.

Famicom Detective Club Remake Duology (2021)

So how does all of this tie into Famicom Detective Club?

While I had a fun time following the adventures of Kosuke Kindaichi, I could not ignore the elements that kept me from fully enjoying the books I’ve read so far- like Yokomizo’s misogyny in The Honjin Murders and the way he handles adult themes without an ounce of sensitivity (I’m looking at you, Devil’s Flute Murders).

Famicom Detective Club was exactly what I needed to water down the taste and funny enough, these games were partially inspired by Yokomizo’s work with Kindaichi.

Famicom Detective Clube - The Missing Heir couples a compelling murder mystery with an absolute banger of a soundtrack- something that all of these games have in common. The Missing Heir has you playing as a teen detective with amnesia, tasked with uncovering a series of murders of a wealthy family. It’s a lovely first entry in the series, and a mystery devoid of all the issues I had with Yokomizo’s books.

My only gripe with the first one is how tropey it is with the protagonist having amnesia and how the gameplay is really just about brute forcing your way through exhausting every single dialogue option. Nonetheless, The Missing Heir was a good time and left me with warm fuzzy feelings inside by the time the credits rolled.

From there, I moved onto Famicom Detective Club: The Girl Who Stands Behind. This one, just like the first one, also has an absolute banger of a soundtrack and serves as a prequel for The Missing Heir. As a game, it’s more of the same stuff, just with a mystery more interested in urban legends and having a high school as the backdrop for the entire story.

I found it enjoyable and had no issues playing it back-to-back with the first game due the well-paced narrative across both games. These are the perfect games to push through in a single weekend with a cup of coffee in one hand and one joycon in the other (we need more single joycon games like this)

So that brings me to the third and latest installment in the Famicom Detective Club series: Emio - The Smiling Man. I think Emio’s sole existence is fascinating in of itself because I assumed that the original duology was remade for the Switch and that would be the end of it- but to have a new entry in 2024? (So is Nintendo saying Hotel Dusk fans have a chance?)

Anyway, I have a lot to say about Emio - The Smiling Man but I won’t say it here just because I feel like that game deserves its own post/video. I will say it is easily one of the most heartbreaking a tragic games I’ve ever seen from Nintendo and I’m happy to have finally played it after hearing so much buzz about it last year.

All of this is to say I just wanted to touch upon the journey I’ve been across Japanese Detective media and maybe I can channel this hunger for visual novels into my pile of Ace Attorney games I’ve been hoarding.

With that said, I would like to give a shout out to the following soundtracks for helping me break through my writer’s block: