Famicom Detective Club: The Missing Heir and The Girl Who Stands Behind (14th May 2021)

[Julius]

 

Edited February 17, 2021 by Julius

[Ike]

These are digital only?

[Sméagol]

Yeah they look like they may be up my alley.

[Ike]

Japan gets a collector’s edition.

 

[Ike]

It’s £49.99 on the eShop, honestly thought it was gonna be cheaper.

[Julius]

9 minutes ago, Ike said:

It’s £49.99 on the eShop, honestly thought it was gonna be cheaper.

Yikes, yeah, that's higher than I was expecting too, guess I'll be adding it to the wish list for now and hoping for a sale at some point. I was thinking maybe £19.99 each or £29.99 for both? 

Also, been left a little confused by the trailer, which clearly when showing the logos of the games at the end says 'Games sold separately', but I can only find them on the eShop bundled together? Small mistake I guess, but weird that wasn't picked up on by someone. 

Edited February 17, 2021 by Julius

[Ike]

7 minutes ago, Julius said:

Also, been left a little confused by the trailer, which clearly when showing the logos of the games at the end says 'Games sold separately', but I can only find them on the eShop bundled together? Small mistake I guess, but weird that wasn't picked up on by someone. 

Good catch, they are separate on the Japanese store (around £30 each, no English). Translation error?

[Julius]

1 minute ago, Ike said:

Good catch, they are separate on the Japanese store (around £30 each, no English). Translation error?

Yeah, I think you're right, it's probably a translation error. Also, around £30 each in Japan?! Man, they might be getting that collector's edition, but Japan is getting fleeced! 

Only other alternative I can really think of is that they originally had them available separately here too but decided a bundle might be best, just given how graphic novels generally perform much better in Japan than they do in the West? But that seems like a stretch I feel. 

Oh well, bit of a shame it's so high, I feel like it might put a good few people off (myself included) from picking it up at launch. Hopefully it'll be included in a sale later in the year! 

[Emerald Emblem]

I was actually very interested after I saw the games in the Direct but when I saw the price on the eshop...I also thought they were going to be £30 for the pair, so I am going to wait for a sale.

Edited February 18, 2021 by Emerald Emblem

[Jonnas]

Yeesh, full price for this? Sounds like too much. Part II is a lengthy game (I'd say... longer than Ace Attorney Case 5), but likely not worth 40€. I guess we'll see.

I do find it amusing that promotional art for this game puts Part II on the left. Likely because Part II is actually a prequel to the first game (so it might be reasonable to play Part II, then Part I).

[Glen-i]

8 hours ago, Jonnas said:

I do find it amusing that promotional art for this game puts Part II on the left. Likely because Part II is actually a prequel to the first game (so it might be reasonable to play Part II, then Part I).

Careful now, some intended prequels assume the player knows details about the first game.

You might end up spoiling yourself.

[Dcubed]

5 minutes ago, Glen-i said:

Careful now, some intended prequels assume the player knows details about the first game.

You might end up spoiling yourself.

This is true.  Release order, always.  Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

[Glen-i]

1 minute ago, Dcubed said:

This is true.  Release order, always.  Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

Unless it's Virtue's Last Reward.

[Dcubed]

1 minute ago, Glen-i said:

Unless it's Virtue's Last Reward.

Nope.  You still did it wrong and I won't hear it otherwise  

[Jonnas]

Guys, I already played Part II. It's fine, they're both standalone.

Plus, even Nintendo isn't pushing for any particular order. Can you say which is first, at a quick glance?

[Dcubed]

33 minutes ago, Jonnas said:

Guys, I already played Part II. It's fine, they're both standalone.

Plus, even Nintendo isn't pushing for any particular order. Can you say which is first, at a quick glance?

I’ve never played either, but I’m gonna go out on a limb and guess that The Girl Who Stands Behind is the second game?

[Jonnas]

32 minutes ago, Dcubed said:

I’ve never played either, but I’m gonna go out on a limb and guess that The Girl Who Stands Behind is the second game?

I take it you mean in release order, right? Regardless, the answer is...

Spoiler

Girl Who Stands Behind is indeed the prequel, story-wise

You can tell by the fact that the assistant Ayumi is wearing a school uniform there, but a professional grown up shirt in the other game.

Also, by the fact that the trailer said so  But that's not a first glance

 

[Hero-of-Time]

 

[Goron_3]

Really looking forward to this. Having just finished Raging Loop, I haven't touched my Switch but am eager for a new visual novel experience. These games should keep me occupied until the Ace Attorney games come out in July.

[Dcubed]

The production values of this remake are REALLY impressive! It actually does look and feel like you're playing a handdrawn anime!  Crazy to see a point n' click adventure get such a lavish budget in this day and age! (especially after Miyamoto himself said that getting Adventure games greenlit in the modern era is a big challenge)

Really interesting approach they've taken with the localisation here; having letters/signposts/notes etc kept in Japanese with a translator's note floating next to it.  Really stylish & cool! Really gives off an exotic "Japanese import" feel!

Still feels like a fever dream that we're getting these games in English! And done in such a lavish & high budget fashion! Mad!  

Edited April 28, 2021 by Dcubed

[S.C.G]

Famicom Detective Club: The Missing Heir and The Girl Who Stands Behind is out now

Now up on the main page.

Check the article for the press release and launch trailer.

- - - - -

[Dcubed]

Just finished The Missing Heir last night.  A more detailed write up will be coming later, but the short & sweet of it is that it is VERY good! Surprisingly gripping story, despite it (and the game’s) overall simplicity!

Highly recommended!  

[Sméagol]

Still disappointed by the lack of physical release for this one. I'll download it at some point.

[Ike]

Feels really weird when they refer to you by your surname. 

[Dcubed]

Right! I said that I was gonna do a more detailed writeup... and here it is!

 

The Missing Heir is NOT the first Adventure game that Nintendo made.  That would be 1987's Shin Onigashima (which was directed by Tatsuya Hishida and produced by Shigeru Miyamoto himself).  Unlike Famicom Detective Club, Shin Onigashima was designed more in the same kind of vein as western point n' click Adventure games, like The Secret of Monkey Island; it was ostensibly a game, with win and lose states, puzzles to solve and whatnot.  The Missing Heir however? This was NOT like a typical Adventure game at all, and the manner in which it was made was radically different from both Shin Onigashima, and every single other Nintendo title that had been produced before or since.  Breaking away from Nintendo tradition, The Missing Heir actually had its story developed first, before any actual gameplay design would take place.

This game's development started off with an edict from the late, great Gunpei Yokoi; who challenged his staff at Nintendo R&D1 to come up with a game idea, where Gunpei Yokoi would supply the title and nothing else.  That title, was "Famicom Detective Club" (Ok, it was actually "Family Computer Youth Detective Agency" in Japanese, but whatevs).  One staff member at Nintendo R&D1 would recklessly throw himself into the fray and nominate himself to be the main writer; and coming off of his big break, that man was Yoshio Sakamoto, the man who saved the original Metroid project and who would go on to later define the series (and its genre) as a whole.

Why am I spending so much time talking about the development staff? It's because Famicom Detective Club had a really interesting development process, that would go on to send some ripples down Nintendo history.

The Missing Heir was first written out in the form of a full novel, before work began on actually turning it into a game.  However, before this would happen, Yoshio Sakamoto was suddenly pulled from the project and asked to work on Nakayama Miho no Tokimeki High School; the progenitor of the Dating Sim.  That game was a side-project of sorts, co-developed between Nintendo and Square in the span of just 2 weeks, as a way to take advantage of the shortlived Disk Fax (basically an online network system for the Famicom Disk System).  But that game would go on to be a valuable "test run" of sorts for Sakamoto's main project, showing him how his in-development murder mystery story could potentially be converted into an actual playable game.

The game, in novel form... Well, actually, to tell the truth, this is the pre-development script for The Girl Who Stands Behind; but you get the idea!

Joining Yoshio Sakamoto (as main writer) would also be Toru Osawa & Satoru Okada as support writers, responsible for delivering screenplay dialogue.  Osawa would go on to be fairly prolific throughout Nintendo history, taking on a number of directoral & designer duties for games such as Mario Clash, For Whom The Frog Tolls and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time; before moving into more of a producer role for the rest of his career; while Okada would only have a literal couple more game specific roles (Solar Striker & Super Mario Land to be precise), before eventually moving to the hardware division of Nintendo & working to develop tools for all of Nintendo's handheld consoles up until the launch of the DS.  Of further note was the support of Makoto Kanoh & Masafumi Sakashita, under the nebulous credit of "cooperation"; two men who would go on to be key design figures for Metroid 2: Return of Samus (more on this later; because there's a lot of shared DNA here that needs to be examined).

What's also interesting is that the game was NOT programmed in-house at Nintendo R&D1! No! This game was actually fully developed by TOSE, and Nintendo's own staff only worked in a design & directorial capacity.  Even the artwork & music was not written by Nintendo themselves, instead the music credit would go to the mysterious "Hiromi"; a pen name for a, still to this day, unknown composer! (The music was written by an external composer and then translated to the NES/FDS sound chip by Kenji Yamamoto & Hirokazu ("Hip") Tanaka); while the artwork was done by Tetsuji Tanaka (a fake name for an artist working for TOSE; the famous "Ghost Developer").  While this isn't the first game that TOSE worked on for Nintendo (Kid Icarus is believed to have been programmed by them at least; which pre-dates TMH by about one & a half years), this is certainly the first one that had this level of involvement from TOSE that is currently known to the general public.  Nintendo & TOSE would go on to have a long & fruitful relationship that continues to this day, and it's clear that the success of the collaboration from The Missing Heir & The Girl Who Stands Behind was the main catalyst that sparked this long-term relationship.  Co-incidentally, THIS is why Nintendo proudly displays TOSE's name in the copyright credits & on the title screen of this 2021 Switch remake of both Famicom Detective Club games; something that is almost otherwise unheard of for TOSE (which famously conducts its business almost entierly in secret; as a ghost writer within the industry).  Nintendo are the only company that shares its copyrights with TOSE, and its thanks to the Famicom Detective Club games that their long & fruitful relationship came about.

Now there's something you definitely don't tose(e) everyday

 

With the game's original release on the Famicom Disk System (this game never got a cartridge release... well, not unless we count its GBA Famicom Classics re-release anyway!), it was actually split across two disks; with Volume 1 released on April 27th 1988, and Volume 2 released on June 14th 1988.  The game simply couldn't fit onto one FDS disk, causing no shortage of migranes for its development team, and required the scenario to be presented as in-game chapters in order to neatly split the game in half.  Of course, this was even more of a problem when you consider that FDS disks are re-writable... and Volume 2 required you to use Volume 1 in conjunction! Better not overwrite that disk with any other game!  The NES/Famicom era was the wild west of video game design, and Nintendo were willing to take chances on weird & experimental stuff like this; but I guess it's not surprising at all that NOA looked at it and thought... no way are we even gonna attempt to localise this!

The story of The Missing Heir was largely inspired by the novels of Seishi Yokomizo; a prolific Japanese authour who penned many detective novels that would go on to become cornerstones of Japanese literature.

That's this guy

... but what was an even greater influence was Yuji Hori's (yes, the Dragon Quest guy) The Portopia Serial Murder Case; first released for the NEC PC-6001 in June 1983.  It was a detective game of a similar nature, but unlike the Famicom Detective Club games, this was a decidedly non-linear affair; with branching paths, multiple potential endings, and item & command puzzle gameplay a bit more akin to western point n' click adventure games.  That game's influence is obvious here with The Missing Heir (co-incidentally it would also go on to be big sources of inspiration for both Eiji Aonuma & Hideo Kojima; who have both cited that game as a key reason for entering the video game industry to begin with), however, unlike with Yuji Hori's seminal work, The Missing Heir is a decidedly more linear affair that takes control away from the player and pushes the player down a much more linear narrative.  If The Portopia Serial Murder Case was the birth of the Japanese adventure game? Then Famicom Detective Club was where the Japanese adventure game was pushed down the road towards becoming the Visual Novel genre that we know today.

That then brings us to the game itself.  While the modern Visual Novel is perhaps best known for being almost entierly devoid of interactivity, that's not the case with The Missing Heir.  As the player, you're tasked with gathering information and examining environments for clues that will help you figure out whodunnit and how to advance the story forward.  In terms of the gameplay experience, the best point of comparison I can think of is the investigation portions of the Ace Attorney games (a series that has taken obvious, heavy inspiration from both Famicom Detective Club titles).  Quite simply, if you enjoy the Ace Attorney games; then imagine those games without the Courtroom sections and you're on the right lines here; it's remakably similar in terms of gameplay feel (I suppose I could also compare it to Time Hollow on the DS; but come on, I'm literally the only person on this forum that has played that game!).

Now, you're no doubt assuming that a vintage 1988 Famicom game would be limited in its ability to weave a compelling & complex narrative... and you'd be right.  The Missing Heir is far from the most complex & intricate story you'll ever read, and its characters are far removed from the larger-than-life cast of whackos you'll see in the Ace Attorney series; while its plot is a far more grounded affair than the insane sci-fi brain exploding stuff you'll see in the Zero Escape series... But you know what? I really enjoyed the simpler & more grounded affair of The Missing Heir.  The cast of characters are likeable & memorable, without delving into full-on anime insanity, and the plot is surprisingly multi-layered & intricate; filled with some pretty clever & unexpected twists along the way, certainly much more than I expected.  While I had already figured out who was gonna be the big bad and what the big Shamylan Twist at the end was gonna be by about the halfway mark of the story, I still found myself pleasantly surprised by the various setbacks & smaller twists thrown in throughout.

One thing this game does very very well though, more than anything else, is sell an atmosphere of dread & mystery.  This is where I need to talk about Metroid again, and also perhaps both Yoshio Sakamoto's best quality as a storyteller, and his biggest source of inspiration... Dario Argento (The Italian film-maker who directed Susperia & Deep Red; the latter being Sakamoto's favourite film).  In a 2010 GDC presentation, Sakamoto outlined his game creation process and how he specifically draws upon 4 elements with every game he makes; directly inspired by the works of Dario Argento... Mood, Timing, Foreshadowing and Contrast.

 

It's also during this GDC presentation, that Sakamoto outright stated that Famicom Detective Club was where he solidified this approach to game development.  These four elements are absolutely what Sakamoto does best; much moreso than a complex plot or dialogue writing, what Sakamoto really excels at is creating atmosphere with his storytelling, writing & directing.  He is really great at creating a convincing mood and is fantastic at foreshadowing & contrasting events (for all that can be said about how much of a trainwreck the writing is in Metroid Other M; he does a superb job of foreshadowing future events to come in Metroid Fusion (like with how the frozen Ridley ends up disappearing in Other M if you decide to go back and try to visit him post-game!).  The plot & writing in The Missing Heir isn't especially complex, but it does a fantastic job of selling a compelling narrative through establishing appropriate mood, timing, foreshadowing & contrast.  THIS is where this game really shines with its storytelling; and its easy to see how this game would go on to influence not only his future works, but also those of his contemporaries...

...  let's go back to Metroid 2.  Now, remember that I just so happened to make a post about this in the Your Gaming Diary 2021 thread?  Well that was convinient that I just so happened to have played that recently... because I was really surprised at how many elements it shares in common with the Famicom Detective Club games! Metroid 2 was Nintendo R&D1's next major work after Super Mario Land, and both Makoto Kanoh & Masafumi Sakashita came fresh off of the Famicom Detective Club titles.  Mood? Check.  Timing? Check (hard not to have the crap scared out of you when you suddenly encounter a Metroid!).  Contrast? Oh defo; the Metroid Hive alone is one of the most dread-inducing moments in gaming history! And Foreshadowing?

Hell

Yes

 

Without Famicom Detective Club, there would've been no Metroid 2 or Super Metroid.  We may not have even seen the likes of Ace Attorney, or the rise of the Visual Novel genre.  Gaming history owes a LOT to this little niche title, much more than most people realise.

 

 

...

 

 

So how does The Missing Heir hold up today in its shiny new Nintendo Switch remake form? Honestly? I think it holds up very well!  It feels surprisingly contemporary, despite its fairly  simple plot.  And that really comes down to those four elements, which absolutely sell the game's atmosphere.

The Missing Heir certainly wears the hallmarks of 80s Adventure games.  The way in which you have to often have to choose the same dialogue options multiple times in order to get people to spill the beans & advance the story is clunky, frustrating & unintuitive.  Sometimes the solution to a given roadblock can feel a bit nonsensical...

Spoiler

like in one chapter where you have to select the x-ray photo on the wall to get Kumada to look at the autopsy report for you.

You definitely need patience, and some persistance, to get through The Missing Heir; and a fair bit of tolerance for unintuitive dialogue choices... though that being said, there was ONE unintuitive dialogue choice that I thought was very very clever...

Spoiler

where you have to select Quit Investigation to get Zenzou to snap out of his depression

The remake's presentation is also absolutely top-notch, it does look & feel like you're playing an anime! Really excellent stuff.  What also surprised me is how faithful it is to the original game in terms of look & feel, and the music & visual update is done in a very tasteful manner that respects the original vision very well.

Oh? Did I mention that this game is surprisingly graphic & gory? Well it is! I was pretty surprised to see a first party, internally designed Nintendo game feature so much graphic violence! After finishing the game, I went to look at the original FDS version to see how faithful some of those death scenes were, and...

Spoiler

Yeah, it's pretty faithful!

Also... random aside...

Spoiler

yeesh! The body count in The Missing Heir is really something! Wasn't expecting the entire Ayashiro family to end up snuffing it while your incompetent arse scurries about! Everybody's Dead Dave indeed.

The way in which the game sells the atmosphere in these scenes is really well done though; even little things like changing the colour of the text boxes is surprisingly effective at selling that unsettling & dread feeling that these scenes are going for.  Much moreso than the actual story itself, the mood setting is the most effective part of the game's overall storytelling.

Overall, I think The Missing Heir is an excellent little detective murder mystery game; even in 2021.  While its plot isn't particulary complex, and its characters not necessarily the most fleshed out, it does a brilliant job with its actual storytelling; with an air of mystery, suspense, contrasted expertly with levity.  This game really shows that it's not about what story you're telling, but HOW you tell it that really matters.

It's a fascinating piece of Nintendo history that I feel blessed to have finally been able to experience; one that you can see the ripples of in MANY of Nintendo's later works, and in the works of many a Japanese visual novel/adventure game since.  Go in understanding that there is some annoying clunkiness to its dialogue choices that feel often restrictive & unintuitive, but that it's well worth the trouble of powering through this.  It's a Nintendo classic that absolutely deserves the reverence it has in the land of the rising sun; and playing it will no doubt give you a newfound appreciation for Nintendo's later works.

Edited May 21, 2021 by Dcubed