Famicom Detective Club Reviews
By today's standards, there's nothing revolutionary about Famicom Detective Club, but that doesn't stop both games from being really solid experiences. Despite a bit of predictability in the plots, both stories were incredibly engaging and nothing short of a complete joy to play through. It's easy to see that Mages really took a lot of pride in crafting a quality remake here, since every little detail shines through. If you're at all curious to see what these games are about, you owe it to yourself to give at least one of them a look.
The Famicom Detective Club series is a good introduction to graphic novels. However, the scope that these remakes could have is limited, due to the absence of several important localization elements.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Famicom Detective Club: The Missing Heir and Famicom Detective Club: The Girl Who Stands Behind are two visual novels to live on your own skin, whether you're passionate about the genre or just looking for two great thrillers. And while it is true that the basically vintage structure could create rhythm problems, the quality of the writing, the very important soundtrack and the fabulous aesthetic restyling will make certain design artifices typical of the text adventures of the late 80s forget, leaving room only for the suspence, mystery and beauty of a gameplay that puts communication between characters first.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Anyone that has been dying to play the series or doesn’t mind a standard graphic novel will probably enjoy playing The Missing Heir and The Girl Who Stands Behind. New players may also enjoy it, but don’t be too surprised if you find its guessing game gameplay to be too frustrating to enjoy things.
Famicom Detective Club: The Missing Heir and The Girl Who Stands Behind are well-told and compelling mystery games presented in a loving remake that improves on the original titles while sometimes remaining a little too faithful to outdated designs.
Famicom Detective Club: The Missing Heir is a captivating window not only into Nintendo's past, but also into the past of adventure games as a whole. While it retains some of the gameplay frustrations that plagued the genre back in its earlier days, The Missing Heir offers a gripping murder mystery at its core, wrapped in video and audio upgrades that freshen up the experience for a whole new generation of would-be detectives.
The Famicom Detective Club remakes are living history, and a chance to catch up on what you missed out on, either by being too young, or not being able to speak Japanese. Though The Missing Heir has its faults, those faults are largely down to "that's just how games used to be", and it's held up remarkably well all the same.
The Girl Who Stands Behind is just as appealing and upgraded as The Missing Heir, and we really can't recommend one without the other, although you can play either separately. The story in The Girl Who Stands Behind is creepier, and the characters are more likeable, though they're also a little more forgettable at the same time. This double-bill of murder mystery games is a must-play for anyone who loves the genre.
It feels like a bit of a shame that this is the case, because The Girl Who Stands Behind‘s visuals and full voice acting act as firm yet soft cushioning that can very well welcome onlookers and entice them to take those first steps into the genre. Nevertheless, It’s a solid enough game that makes it worth a try for those interested in the subject matter—remember to check out The Missing Heir first—but be prepared for a few rocky patches on the way up.
For visual novel fans, these shortcomings are a small price to pay for such a stunningly polished product, but they still stick out like a sore thumb amidst the rest of the jaw-dropping surroundings. Mystery fans and visual novel fans alike would be remiss not to check out this brilliant revival of a classic title, but they must be prepared with an extra set of thinking caps that otherwise shouldn’t be necessary.
The murder mystery experience that unfolds throughout the Famicom Detective Club games is a strong reminder of the importance of a well-written and nuanced story. Remasters can easily hold up when based on beloved characters or franchises. To have a 30-year-old visual novel presented to an entirely new generation and be well received by new players is a testament to the game's storyline.
Frustrations aside, Famicom Detective Club still manages to captivate all the same. It’s a miracle that these two Nintendo classics were ever localized, let alone as a global simultaneous release with these remakes. It was a blast to join the Detective Club after so many years, and I can only hope one day we can see a similar remake for the series’ 3rd game, sales permitting. If you’re at all a fan of either the Visual Novel or Japanese Adventure game genres, you owe it to yourself to experience this vital part of their history.
Famicom Detective Club: The Missing Heir and Famicom Detective Club: The Girl Who Stands Behind are both well written adventure games with engaging stories. A striking visual overhaul does a great job of bringing both games into the twenty first century, without a doubt. Though this isn't enough to do the same for the gameplay, which could have used a bit more streamlining.
It's both an astonishing and exciting time in gaming to see Nintendo willing to dig into their archives and bring back a retro adventure title.
Famicom Detective Club is a blast from Nintendo's forgotten past, a package made with love and respect to the original material. These are nice mystery novels, somehow bogged down by old game design and an archaic UI. Still, we recommend them to all the fans of the genre.
Review in Italian | Read full review
The Famicom Detective Club series has been remastered for the Switch and while the games look and sound great, the gameplay is a little outdated.
Being a detective was tough business. I was subjected to some uncomfortable murder scenes, countless awkward encounters, and my skills needed to pin down the culprit were stretched. But I had a lot of fun along the way, just more so with the prequel, The Girl Who Stands Behind. And taking a trip down memory lane with games that are deep within Nintendo’s provocative history was fascinating. I implore fans of visual novels to sit tight and sink your teeth into both stories – just be careful of who might be standing behind you watching your every move.
Double portion of great Japan detective games.
Review in Slovak | Read full review
There are also other small features that I appreciated, such as the ability to turn off the Japanese voice acting for every character or just for the protagonist, which I made use of because while I liked hearing the other characters' voices, for some reason the protagonist's was oddly distracting. I also very much appreciated the ability to switch back and forth between the new arranged soundtrack and the original Famicom chiptunes, as I found myself constantly flipping back and forth just to hear the differences. If you like yourself a fun junk-food mystery, or you're just curious about this game finally hitting western shores after 33 years, you will probably be happy spending your time with Ayumi and company.