Famicom Detective Club: The Missing Heir

1988 · Adventure · Famicom Disk System

Overview

Famicom Detective Club: The Missing Heir (1988) is Nintendo's two-part Famicom Disk System mystery, designed by Yoshio Sakamoto, which stayed in Japan for 33 years.

Deep Dive

The player is a young man found near a cliff with no memory, who becomes an assistant detective investigating the death of Kiku Ayashiro. The case leads to the Ayashiro estate in the village of Myoujin, where a local saying that the dead come back to life is tied to a series of killings. The game is a menu-driven adventure: the player chooses commands such as Ask, Examine, Take, Show and Go, sometimes pointing a cursor at the scene, and answers questions by spelling out words letter by letter.

Developer Story

Directed by Satoru Okada and produced by Gunpei Yokoi, the game was designed by Yoshio Sakamoto, who co-wrote it. It was released only in Japan, and the original never left the country; both games were remade for the Nintendo Switch in 2021, which became their first release outside Japan.

Did You Know?

It was released in two parts on separate disks, in April and June 1988.
Its sequel, The Girl Who Stands Behind (1989), is a prequel set three years earlier.