The graphic novel adventure genre hasn’t seen its fair share of mainstream releases in quite some time. Now relegated to the depths of doujin releases and the odd retro fan translation, titles like Gyakuten Saiban (Phoenix Wright) are fast becoming the only examples of what the genre can truly be when done right. Almost 20 years ago, unbeknownst to the American gaming community, perennial market leader, Nintendo, began a series for the Family Computer, that was very uncharacteristic of the company we know today.
Called the Famicom Detective Club, the game was a graphic novel adventure game in the vein of Snatcher (MSX, PS1, Saturn, Sega CD), or Déjà vu (Famicom), directed by acclaimed Nintendo designer Yoshio Sakamoto (Balloon Kid, Metroid, Super Metroid, Wario World, Wario Ware). Both titles in the series had moderate success, eventually earning them a place in the Famicom Mini collection for Game Boy Advance a few years ago, and a trophy in Super Smash Bros. Melee. The second title in the series, which roughly translates to “Famicom Detective Club II: the Girl In Back,” even received a remake on the Super Famicom.
While most graphic novel games today ask only to further the text with a single button press, and sometimes offer a simple decision to be made, Famicom Detective Club was a full fledged murder mystery that asked players to interrogate witnesses, search for clues, and collaborate with the police the find the real killer.
The series became known for its dark subject matter, despite being Nintendo developed, and for its horror undertones that took notes from typical high school horror movies of the time. American gamers might liken the story to that of Nancy Drew, or Hardy Boys, which would be fair, considering the setting and the game’s title.
Famicom Detective Club 2 is the poster child for the unrecognized classic. Never receiving a translation in the states, the game remained fairly unknown to most gamers. After moving to Japan this past April, I took it upon myself to search for a copy of the game, along with a laundry list of Japan only must-plays. When I finally found and played the game, I was surprised to find that the final product, while having aged, left an impression so deep, that I thirsted for another murder to solve, long after it was over.
The story of Famicom Detective Club 2, begins with the main character, a young junior high graduate who goes to a Japanese city in search of his birth parents. While there, he encounters Utsugi, a private detective with a lot of sway in the town. With few options on where to go on his search, he joins up with Utsugi, eventually becoming his pupil, and fellow detective. Shortly after joining the Utsugi Detective Agency, the body of a young high school girl by the name of Yoko Kojima is found washed up on the side of the local river.
While much of the game’s investigations tend to center around Ushimitsu High school, the player will travel all over the city, from the main drag downtown, to the homes of high school alums. Players have their wits at their disposal, asking questions to squeeze more information out of each character, as well as the ability to present evidence and clues that may help open new dialogue choices.
Unlike games like Gyakuten Saiban, where merely knowing the right thing to say will further the story, Famicom Detective Club 2 suffers from the same problems as a game like Snatcher. Often times, players will reach a dead end, and will have to exhaust every single option at their disposal, and then exhaust them a second time to move on. Many times, interrogation topics will be met with an aggravating “…”, but going through each dialogue topic, and then using the “Think” function, will force the main character to happen upon serendipitous discovery. Sadly, the discovery sometimes has little to do with the dialogue topics you previously exhausted, making it that much more aggravating that before asking each question, the “Think” function did nothing at all.
One gameplay quirk that players will have to get used to early on, is that a witness’ account is sometimes split between multiple dialogue trees, or between multiple clicks of the same dialogue tree. Too many times, I would click a dialogue tree, and get a partial testimony. Thinking to myself “Wait, that`s it?”, I clicked the same topic again, just to get the rest of the testimony. Why the entirety of the testimony could not be contained within a single click is a sign of artificial game time extension.
The game’s story itself, which in any adventure game is one of the paramount cornerstones, is surprisingly compelling. While the murder may seem very clear cut from the outset, the game delivers compelling plot twists that will keep you guessing who the murderer is until the very end. I remained certain that a specific character was the murderer for much of the game, but those assumptions were dashed many times. Like any good murder mystery, the game kept me guessing.
While the story itself is a traditional murder mystery, the writers masterfully tied it to a high school horror story, called “The Girl In Back.” While the main character starts to unravel the murder at hand, he starts to uncover secrets about the school that soon begin to connect to this ghost story more and more. What the game achieves is a story that plays out much like a traditional “whodunit,” but with periodic insertion of horror movie elements. Even though the game is almost 20 years old now, it still managed to send a chill through me. I wager that’s because instead of scaring the player with visceral frights, it instead attacks the player’s fear of the unknown head on, allowing the mind to wander wildly. More than a few times, I was chilled by simple internal monologue from the main character: “Why do I get the feeling something is watching me?”
Understandably, considering the game`s age, both the graphics and sound present will only appeal to fans of old games. Even to fans of retro games, I would recommend playing the Super Famicom release of the game, as the redone sprites, animation, and colors lend so much more to the story than the original release ever did. The sound in the Super Famicom version is still noticeably lo-fi, which actually unintentionally lends a certain air of creepiness to the horror-inspired sections of the game.
Character design for girls is traditional anime styled, while male characters range from anime to downright caricatures. The fact that each of the characters lack any realism in their features creates an interesting juxtaposition. Despite the rather mature nature of the story and the game world, the main character happens upon such visually exaggerated characters, that the rather serious subject of murder doesn`t stop the script from being occasionally quite funny. There is no mistake that the humor in the game was quite intentional, but it never approaches the level of downright hilarity that the Gyakuten Saiban series is known for.
I have a hard time not recommending Famicom Detective Club 2 to any adventure game fan, despite some of its archaic game mechanics. The story and characters are so engaging, the 8 hour game time never feels long and drawn out, and the music and graphics deliver a wholly encompassing experience that should not be missing from any old school adventure gamer`s collection.
Nice review man. Love this game.