Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club producer surprised how smoothly Nintendo approved the project

According to Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club producer Yoshio Sakamoto, getting the project approved wasn’t too big of an issue.

Famicom Detective Club had been a dormant franchise for Nintendo until the Switch remakes of the original titles back in 2021. Then last August, Emio – The Smiling Man launched on the console. That was the first new Famicom Detective Club story in 35 years.

Sakamoto spoke about the new game in an interview with Inverse, stating that the approval process with Nintendo went smoothly. He told Inverse:

“I was honestly surprised how smoothly this project was approved. I was convinced that if we approached this theme sincerely and conveyed the message we truly wanted to convey, that would be the best way to live up to the expectations of Nintendo, who gave us the go-ahead, and that motivated us to do our best.”

Kaori Miyachi, the game’s assistant producer, also said that Emio was an “ambitious game for Nintendo in many ways.”

Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club is out now on Nintendo Switch. Check out our review here.

Thanks to Inverse for the news and Greatsong1 for the tip.