Who is Emio and how did he inspire Nintendo to make a horror game? On July 10, without any warning, Nintendo released a 15-second clip titled Emio, providing no other information on what this clip was referring to. Nintendo is a gaming company so the logical conclusion is that Nintendo is working on a creepy game that they intend to release soon but we know nothing about what this experience is expected to include.
From another gaming company, the Emio game teaser wouldn’t evoke as much curiosity because the trailer gives away nothing about the game. However, coming from Nintendo, it appears the company is taking a giant step away from the more colorful games that usually define them and experimenting with something new.
Image: Nintendo
Nintendo’s Horror Game Trailer Only Gives Us One Detail—Emio
The new Emio game teaser gives us very little to go on and that’s what makes it so odd. There is very little context surrounding the teaser other than the title “Emio” with the hashtag “Who is Emio.” Nintendo hasn’t spoken about any plans for a new game, particularly a horror themed one, so we don’t have an inkling about what this new game could be.
The video has a person standing in a dark room with a spotlight on them, the lights flashing every so suddenly. Dressed in a beige trench coat, the person in the middle of the screen has a paper bag over their face with a smiling face painted over it like a DIY head resembling DJ Marshmallows’.
After a few seconds of the person standing still, the screen zooms into his face and hand with jarring speed, giving us no time to process any details. The screen flashes to a grinning mask and then leaves with us some Japanese text that isn’t explained. Google Translate says the text means “Smiling Man,” which could be the game’s title. Nothing else happens in the video so if this is an Emio game teaser, we have absolutely no idea what it’s about.
What Do We Think About This Emio Game Teaser?
The video reads like the beginning of a creepypasta of ARG (Alternate Reality Game). We may be getting another exploration game where you have to complete tasks while hiding from this smiling man, but that’s quite an overused plot point among horror games. If Nintendo does decide to go with that story, we expect some new gameplay mechanics to sweeten the deal.
A short game titled The Smiling Man has already been released by NoxusGamesStudio which follows the same concept and websites like PC Tablet suggest Nintendo is teasing the very same game. The graphics for the old game and the new teaser look entirely different so if Nintendo has picked up the game, they’re definitely giving it a redo.
We recently learned that the Blooper Team, the studio working on the Silent Hill 2 remake, is reportedly working on something new parallelly. Some believe Emio could be a result of that secret project, but we have no evidence to confirm this is true. The fact that Nintendo shared the Emio game teaser could mean that the company is close to releasing the game, but the specifics remain elusive.
Why Are We So Surprised By a Creepy Nintendo Game?
Nintendo never has been, and likely never will be, known for its horror games. The company is famous for having wonderfully charming releases like Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, Mario vs Donkey Kong, and the recent Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom. This bright, colorful, and entertaining IP is what makes the company what it is and we’ve seen little reason for them to stray from this image after all these years of making it work so well for them.
Just before releasing the Switch horror game tester, the company released a basketball update for Nintendo Switch Sports, similar to the Wii-Sports ecosystem, and that was exactly the kind of content you’d expect from them. Following up the joy-filled sports game announcement with a mystery drop is an interesting move.
Image: Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem
Has Nintendo Made a Horror Game Before?
One game that had slightly hinted at Nintendo’s interest in horror games in the past was the 2002 release Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem. The game had been developed by Silicon Knights and published by Nintendo, however despite its successful debut, it was rarely acknowledged as a Nintendo game. It eventually became one of the few “Nintendo” games to receive an M rating. The Resident Evil franchise was also associated with Nintendo as a publisher but not a developer.
Conker’s Bad Fur Day was another M-rated Nintendo 64 game, but that was a platformer game with the rating more due to its more adult content and terrifying art style rather than any horror elements. The intense music and tension-filled atmosphere of Metroid Fusion could also fall somewhere in the scary category, but it’s not a horror game per se. Luigi’s Mansion is a Nintendo game that showcases ghosts but we wouldn’t make the mistake of calling it a horror game.
The fact that the Emio game teaser requires age verification to view the trailer means that Nintendo intends to add an M-rated game to its list. Nintendo knows how to create an atmosphere and build a world around their games quite well, so if this is truly an active step into the horror genre, we’re going to be very pleased.