This is a warning to all those who are yet to play Emio - The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club and want to work through the mystery unspoiled: do not watch Nintendo's latest trailer for the game.
Yesterday, Nintendo uploaded a new trailer for the 2024 mystery entitled 'What Lies in the Past' (we've linked it in that last sentence but won't be embedding it for obvious reasons). It's an innocent-looking title and, without any form of warning at the start, bar the age certification the Nintendo of America upload, you would be forgiven for thinking it's just another promo. Perhaps, at a stretch, the reveal of some upcoming DLC. But no, it's actually loaded with late-game content that you might want to avoid.
This was brought to our attention on BlueSky by both LuigiBlood and the wonderful Jon Cartwright, each clarifying that the trailer is snipping together moments from the end of the game. Admittedly, these snippets come without context, but it does show a lot more than you might want — particularly if you are already mid-way through the narrative.
In its defence, the Nintendo UK upload does state "(Warning: This video contains spoilers!)" in the YouTube description, but it's three lines deep and, notably, after the eShop link directing you to the Emio free demo. Hardly the most preemptive warning, eh?
For those who haven't been spoiled, we reckon Emio - The Smiling Man is well worth checking out. It's true that the core gameplay is a little slow and the dark marketing blew things a little out of proportion, but we still awarded it a 7/10 in our review praising the stellar writing and stating, "Once this troubling and intriguing story has its hooks in you [...] it's hard to put down".
Were you unlucky enough to have Emio spoiled by the new Nintendo trailer or have you managed to avoid it? Let us know in the comments.
[source bsky.app]
Comments 17
I'm all for spoilers being properly signalled, but at the same time people could and should think before opening a video - as soon as I saw this one in my home page and with such a title I knew that it could contain spoilers and avoided clicking on it!
As someone who played through Emio, this is another case where the people shouting "spoilers!" from rooftops are doing more damage than the actual trailer itself.
Why does Nintendo release a trailer with end game spoilers?
Surely someone at Nintendo should know this is a bad idea?
It feels like they're getting sloppy, making mistakes like this
Having watched it, I was none the wiser to how any of the stuff in said trailer were that spoilery. I'm sure they are to a degree, but as is often the case it seems to be people wanting to make sure new players get as pure an experience as possible, when in reality showing very out of context spoilers rarely spoils the new to be player at all.
@Lofoten they mention in the description of the trailer that it features late game spoilers so they knew what they were doing with this trailer, i'm just questioning why not put that warning right before the trailer starts so that the viewer knows? Ain't nobody reading the description before the trailer starts, this is so Nintendo archaic so I guess it's on brand lol
Trailers containing massive spoilers is the norm unfortunately... Which is why I avoid all of them.
I just finished the game before Christmas.
Phenomenal game. Even at the end, I was stunned at how everything played out. It was truly a masterpiece story.
In terms of this trailer, I do agree there are some late-game scenes shown. However without context, you really don't feel the brunt of what they mean, so I feel that though its not "safe" per say, its also not justifiably ruining the story.
If you want to watch and still play, you will surely forget this trailer when the story hits you. To me, it won't make a difference at all.
Having just watched the trailer, this all seems blown way out of proportion. Nothing in that is particularly spoilery, especially considering that it would all be out of context for anyone who hasn't played Emio yet.
I'm pretty sure that since the Wii U days Nintendo has been using late-game scenes in trailers without context.
I can tell nobody has seen the Chibi-Robo! Zip Lash overview trailer that shows the final boss or how they were using the space shuttle cutscene that plays before the final mission consistently to promote LEGO City Undercover.
In more recent times, for Kirby and the Forgotten Land they also showed the scene of Kirby contemplating the arrival of the final boss on a rooftop without context.
It's a weird video to release. I thought this might have been a DLC announcement so clicked on it. I had already played the game though so I recognised it once it started playing.
I’m sorry for all those part way through their playthrough who were affected by this. I feel your pain. I am still to this day in utter disbelief that they released a Metroid Dread trailer that revealed Kraid is in the game.
The thumbnail is from the goddamned final boss fight
Strange choice of a trailer, though either way I wholeheartedly recommend Emio to anyone on the fence about it.
The game has been out for months, the spoilers have been out for months.
I was very shocked to see the late game spoilers being showcased in a new trailer. Those late game spoilers being the secret anime episode hidden on the cartridge as a post-game bonus. I would pay good money to have more Nintendo owned and published anime, like the Dobutsu No Mori movie. Emio's secret "post-game" was the most shocking thing I've seen in a video game in almost a decade. Highly recommended.
As a side note, can anyone explain what is going on with the comments on this new Emio trailer? I've heard of review bombing, but I've never seen a comment section so... obsessed, I think?
EDIT: Apparently it's a Reddit prank/protest to comment about Water Buffalos until the Switch 2 is announced. I don't follow the logic.
Yeah, as someone who's not played the game, I don't see why the few things in that trailer would be a massive deal to know about. I mean, I know nothing of the game, and all I really know now is--SPOILER--it's about some dude doing stuff to make people/girls scared or smile for some reason. Surely most horror movies and games give enough away in trailers and previews to let people know it has some baddy/baddies doing bad things for whatever reasons. If that's the game ruining spoiler of this trailer, that's just weird that the game's concept is so basic and obvious that even knowing that much is too much.
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