We've already covered a lot about the history and provenance of the Famicom Detective Club remakes in our review for The Missing Heir — the first game in the duology, released solely in Japan in 1988 — so you might want to read that review as well if you want the full picture, or you're intending to get both at a discount.
Famicom Detective Club: The Girl Who Stands Behind is quite similar to its predecessor, in that it's a detective story starring the same protagonist, but, as a prequel that's also a follow-up to the first game, it does a few things a little differently.
It's strange to review The Girl Who Stands Behind as a standalone product when so much of it is so closely tied to The Missing Heir, and we really do recommend that you play both, if murder mystery games are your jam. Anyone who enjoys Ace Attorney will enjoy these games, even as they find similar sources of frustration as the way to progress is less than clear.
If we had to pick our favourite of the two, it would probably be The Girl Who Stands Behind. In The Missing Heir, a lot of the side-characters are quite unlikeable, or refuse to tell you anything for most of the game, slowing down progress by virtue of being a bit useless. You might have figured something out early on, but the game will lead you by the hand until it decides it's ready to reveal it to you. The Girl Who Stands Behind improves on that a little, with a cast of intriguing characters who all seem to have a better motivation than "stuck up rich person who thinks you're beneath them", at least — but that linearity is still very much present.
The Girl Who Stands Behind is set in a high school, so you'll mostly be talking to teachers and students, and circling around the same few classrooms to find new clues. Sometimes it can be a little annoying to be in the teachers' lounge again, but as you get to know the characters you'll begin to become familiar with their regular haunts.
Where The Missing Heir is about the main character (who you can name; we called ours "Badguy Murderman") and a mysterious rich family with a secret, The Girl Who Stands Behind is about a school rumour that might hide something terrible. When a student's corpse washes up on the banks of a river, finding out who killed her will invite the player into a much deeper story than they realise.
Like the first game, there's a lot of supernatural weirdness going on. However, it's a lot spookier — the titular "girl who stands behind" is a rumour going around the school about the ghost of a blood-soaked student, and you'll spend a lot of the game expecting her to be right behind you at any moment.
A few other improvements have been made to the way The Missing Heir did things, although largely The Girl Who Stands Behind is a new story in an old wrapper, albeit a pretty solid one. The "Remember" option from The Missing Heir, which was tricky to figure out, has been replaced with "Think", which is much more useful, and easier to figure out where it might come in handy. And, like the first game, you can choose between the modern orchestral soundtrack or the original Famicom music — but The Girl Who Stands Behind also gives you the option of a Super Famicom soundtrack, too!
It's incredible how well these games stand up, three decades after release. The stories are intriguing, and full of twists, turns, and even an impressive amount of tension and fear (nothing too scary, mind you). The visual upgrade, which we praised in The Missing Heir, is still just as high-quality in The Girl Who Stands Behind, although The Missing Heir has a lot more "beautiful" moments of sunlight streaming through trees. The Girl Who Stands Behind, by virtue of being set in a town rather than the countryside, is a little more concrete buildings and rainclouds, but that's alright.
There will be moments in The Girl Who Stands Behind where it feels a little like the game is hiding things from you for no real reason, other than to stretch the plot out. Characters will be missing from their usual locations for days at a time, and things that seem really obvious — there's this one bit with a wall that looks weird, you'll know it when you see it — often go unexamined for far longer than seems necessary. But Ace Attorney does all this as well, and if we can forgive everyone's favourite detective/lawyer his weird little quirks, then we can let it slide with Famicom Detective Club, too.
After you've finished the game, you may find yourself wanting more of the adventures of Badguy Murderman, and we don't blame you — but we're not sure if Nintendo is aiming to continue this 33-year-old series, given that Capcom's Ace Attorney production has slowed wayyyy down, and future Professor Layton games are all but dead in the West after Level-5 pulled out of their North American office. The future looks dark for murder mystery fans, it seems. But, if Famicom Detective Club does well — and it really deserves to — then perhaps Nintendo will see it as a worthy successor to the throne that it built in the first place. Layton and Wright, watch out: there's a new, and much younger detective on the block. And he's older than both of you.
Conclusion
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.
Comments 42
Can’t wait to get this one as well!!!
Been really looking forward to these ever since they were announced. Really wish they had a physical version in English but I'll be downloading anyway as soon as I have the time to play them.
@Peteykins I think they're pretty reasonably priced personally. Especially when you factor in that Australia/Europe can use an NSO coupon on them and NA gets a discount on the second game if you buy both.
Thanks for the review. I shall be downloading this from my wishlist
I'm way more into these creepy like stories so I'll definitely get this one before Missing heir, thanks for the review!
I'm getting both, because the scary "creepypasta" vibe is something I really enjoy! (And with you guys describing the last one's death scenes as a bit more gore than AA, there's a big chance of a cool, scary, payoff! )
both games look great and I love ace attorney so big yeah for me.
I will buy it but it should have been 60$ for both games
A must-buy for Ace Attorney fans
Just get both games! Do it! They're fun!
Just as frustratingly obtuse as the previous one
.....still no good reason why its an 8.
Are Nintendolife reviewers beginning to be IGN reviewers? Cause its not funny.
@Socar It’s an arbitrary number. I give your comment 12. Forty eight. Seven. 0.
@Socar an 8 doesn't mean it's utter garbage don't get me wrong it's good but it's got some problems
@Socar then read the entire review instead of just the ending
@samuraicop Obtuse would be implying that the game has Simon’s Quest level puzzles/progression, not anything to do with the story. So like most adventure games in that respect.
8 is just two zeroes stacked on top of each other and two zeroes is still just zero no matter whether you add them or multiply them or subtract them or divi(DON’T DIVIDE ANYTHING BY ZERO NOT EVEN ZERO JUST DON’T) but then you said the games were fun which would imply a perfect 10/10 because games are meant to be fun but you gave it an 8 and 8 is just ∞ on its side and infinity to too high a score for a game that should only be 10 because 10 is the highest score in the 10/10 system so you should give it a lower score but also a higher score because it’s perfect but lower because you said it’s obtuse which is a sad word which makes people sad so it should have a sad score but also perfect
@Maxz Ah I can see your iq is dumb high
I'll probably get both games, but, of the two, this is the one I'm more interested in, personally. Occult/horror-themed VNs are my jam.
Out of interest @KateGray , how long did these games take for you to beat?
Wait, 50 for EACH game? Wow
@Thelastjedi2007 That still doesn't explain how it ends up being an 8. If it has those pros and yet if it ends up being obtuse...like what's the con in this?
@Doofenshmirtz I read the review..and it still doesn't give good reasons for an 8. reviewer is comparing Phoenix Wright to this which is a completely different game alltogether.
I'm hoping that if this is successful, Nintendo realizes that not all games they make need to be family friendly. I'm sure Nintendo has a lot of created talent that can make a good scary/ survival horror game
You know they say all men are created equal, but you look at me and you look at Samoa Joe and you can see that statement is NOT TRUE! See, normally if you go one-on-one with another wrestler you've got a 50/50 chance of winning. But I'm a genetic freak, and I'm not normal! So you've got a 25% chance at best at beating me! And then you add Kurt Angle to the mix? Your chances of winning drastically go down. See, the 3-Way at Sacrifice, you got a 33 and 1/3rd chance of winning. But I! I got a 66 and 2/3rds chance of winning, because Kurt Angle KNOWS he can't beat me, and he's not even gonna try. So, Samoa Joe, you take your 33 and 1/3rd chance minus my 25% chance and you got an 8 and 1/3rd chance of winning at Sacrifice. But then you take my 75% chance of winning (if we was to go one on one), and then add 66 and 2/3rd percent, I got a 141 and 2/3rd chance of winning at Sacrifice! The numbers don't lie, and they spell disaster for you at Sacrifice.
@Socar Yeah but not everyone’s an Ace Attorney fan.
After reading both reviews I went from not interested in the game to wanting them.
@Moroboshi876 I think in america it is $35 each but in europe it is £50/€60 for both games as it only comes in a bundle.
@giantenemycrab Big Poppa Pump lol
@SilentHunter382 Oh, I see. Expensive anyway, but much better. I think it's not clear, so thanks.
I keep saying Switch has an incredible library of games, and it really does. I'm very glad these are both finally out in the west.
What if they revive the series and keep the timeline, so now Badguy Murderman is pushing 50?
I’ve been interested in these games since the Super Smash Bros. Melee trophy. I simply can’t wait!
I love this comment section.
So glad Kate got to review these.
So if I get both games as a package, it's a 16/10! NOICE!
As a big Ace Attorney fan, I'm seriously tempted. But since the great Ace Attorney is coming soon too, I might just hold out for a sale on this one.
@Jack_Goetz me too!!!
@SmaggTheSmug please, Murderman was my father. Call me Badguy.
How long did it take to beat?
@Ralizah @HeroponRiki The Girl Who Stands Behind took me around five hours; The Missing Heir maybe a little longer. If you play with a guide, that might be slightly less, but five hours each is about right
@KateGray Thanks!
Five hours seems a bit shorter than I expected, although I guess I should have guessed that'd be the case, given these are faithful recreations of NES/SNES adventure games.
I hope these do well for Nintendo so they make a new entry. I was a little put off by the UK price, until I realized you get both games for £50. £25 for a fun detective game seems fine by me.
Designing adventure game puzzles and narratives is hard, yo. ^^
@Ralizah I think judging adventure games purely by play time is hard. Sometimes you get stuck on a puzzle for half an hour. Or you stop playing but still think about the game and have a "eureka moment" some time later.
On the other hand if you know what you have to do, because you have beaten it once already or because you use a guide, you can beat pretty much any adventure game from that era in 3-4 hours.
@Pod god, I know. I can't even imagine having to write a murder mystery where all the twists happen organically, because that does mean you have to lead the player along the garden path a little without revealing anything too soon. It's a very impressive skill to have!
@Ralizah take my playtime with a pinch of salt, though — I was playing it to review, so I probably rushed it a little
@Thelastjedi2007 it’s $60 for both games on the US eShop.
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