Nintendo, as a whole, is a company that isn’t afraid to try out new things. In fact, it’s something that they are often proud of, even when those things aren’t exactly the things they should be trying. They’ve made plenty of mistakes in the past. However, one thing you don’t typically associate with them is horror video games. Sure, they’ve had them on their systems in the past, but other companies have always made them. However, today, The Big N seems to be implying that this is changing, as they’ve dropped a teaser for what is presumably a new horror game/franchise, and it asks the basic question of, “Who is Emio?”
For the record, as noted by fans in the YouTube video comments, “Emio” in Japanese translates to “Smiling Man.” In the teaser below, you’ll notice that there is indeed a weird man with a bag over his head who is “smiling” at those who watch. When you add this to the creepy music that’s going on and the horror movie-style way the trailer cuts in and out to certain shots, it’s easy to predict that this will be some kind of a horror video game. As to what kind or of what nature, that’s a mystery. A very creepy mystery.
If we take this at face value, which is all we can do right now, Nintendo is truly trying something different, not just with having a 1stparty horror title, but with how they’re revealing it and advertising it. In the past, they’ve announced games in a variety of ways. They’ve done Directs; they’ve shadow-dropped games so that people can play them now, and they’ve even straight-up announced new games in key franchises on Twitter! However, they haven’t done something like this before. Or, at the very least, not in a very long time. We certainly can’t recall them doing this kind of teaser trailer previously for a game, and that builds the hype for it even more.
The fact that it’s coming out to the Switch makes it even more interesting, as this wasn’t teased at the last Direct in the slightest. Plus, the game was confirmed to be M-rated, which isn’t something The Big N has done on their own in a long time. Typically, it’s the third-party companies who bring in the more “mature” titles.
Clearly, we don’t know much, and that’s part of the intrigue. When will the next teaser for the game drop? Only “Emio” knows for sure. Since the video is age-restricted, we couldn’t embed the trailer, so instead you can find it right here.
