Nintendo’s Emio: The Smiling Man Gets a Free Demo On the eShop This Week

Emio: The Smiling Man – Famicom Detective Club is a bit of a different game for Nintendo, and to go along with that, it’s getting a bit of a different demo on the Switch eShop.

On August 19, Nintendo will release a free demo for Emio: The Smiling Man , which includes the Prologue and Chapter 1. It doesn’t stop there, however, as the demo will be updated twice, adding Chapter 2 on August 22 and Chapter 3 on August 27, before the full game releases. That might be a little confusing, so here’s everything laid out with the exact times.

• August 19 (6pm PT) – Prologue “A Face” and Chapter 1 “The Urban Legend”
• August 22 (6pm PT) – Chapter 2 “Disappearance”
• August 27 (6pm PT) – Chapter 3 “The Language of Flowers”

It’s a pretty smart rollout for a visual novel like Emio , giving players a chance to get invested in the mystery before they decide if they want to purchase the whole game.

Emio – The Smiling Man brings back a legendary and surprisingly unknown Nintendo franchise. Famicom Detective Club was a duology of adventure games released on the Family Computer Disk System (Nintendo Entertainment System in the West) in 1988. Both games, The Missing Heir and The Girl Who Stands Behind , follow the Utsugi Detective Agency as they unravel dangerous and potentially paranormal mysteries.

Famicom Detective Club was never released outside of Japan until the surprise Nintendo Switch remake in 2021. Now Emio is the series’ first new game in over thirty years, bringing back the Utsugi Detective Agency and carrying on the story. Here’s an overview of the new game from its eShop page ,

“Student Eisuke Sasaki has been found dead in a chilling fashion, with a smiley-faced paper bag over his head. This unsettling visage bears a striking resemblance to a recurring clue in a string of unsolved murders from 18 years ago—as well as the urban legend Emio, a.k.a. the Smiling Man, a serial killer said to grant his victims “a permanent smile. Does the Smiling Man really exist…or is a new culprit continuing his legacy?”

Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club launches on August 29 for Nintendo Switch.