50%Nintendo Switch

Despite going in with even higher hopes for this prequel-sequel visual novel to The Missing Heir, chapter after chapter I continued to revel in my own disappointment. The Girl Who Stands Behind is a compelling case that is sadly bogged down by its supernatural premise when it wants to tell a grounded story. The ghostly and supernatural elements that are played up when talking about the trauma of past events are this game's strength, but unfortnately the mystery itself is quite simple. Even though the Missing Heir wasn't that much more difficult to predict the ending, the pacing and amount of reveals that occurred throughout the story kept the build up interesting. TGWSB blows its' load on its' most suspicious charcter before even the halfway mark, showing off the biggest action set piece less than 3 hours into the game. Once you realize who it's *NOT*, it immediately becomes clear who it is and what their motive is most likely. With that said, the game does throw 1 additional twist your way, but none of those reveals come until the very, very tail end of the game. One the player feels as if they've reached the conclusion and everything naturally makes sense, the plot decides to throw one more gacha moment at the wall in a really unsatisfying way. It causes the conclusion to feel rushed and sloppy, which is quite embarrassing for a title that does almost nothing new for the last 2 and a half hours of the runtime. While I can still appreciate this game just like The Missing Heir for its place in history, I can also compliment the step up in environments, set pieces, and especially music. The production quality feels like it took a massive step up, but unfortuantely a so-so story bogged down by terrible pacing acn't save it from being just barely worth checking out if you're a fan of Nintendo history. If you're not, take another point or two away.

60%Nintendo Switch

Certainly better than the first one. Unlike the Missing Heir I had a difficult time figuring out who the killer was, and I really like the horror elements in this one. In general this game features a much darker tone, and it's all the better for it. Stupid title though.

90%Nintendo Switch

https://thekonnetwork.com/2024/08/23/review-fdc2/

95%Nintendo Switch

Darker then the first game. More twists and a far easier way to progress. Though 100% Visual Novel which could be a no go for some. the story though is told wounderfully. Also heartbreaking that we had to wait 30 years for a new game.

85%Nintendo Switch

Improvements over the first one but the story wasn’t as interesting and the resolution wasn’t as satisfying but still a lot of fun

80%Nintendo Switch

Although still old school, but the control is much improved than the other one. The story is OK.

80%Nintendo Switch

I have the same issues with this game as the last game. Too many times it feels like it's not about asking the right questions but about exhausting all options given until the game allows you to progress. The story did hook me though. I did get excited when the sound effect plays and a new revelation or important piece of information comes up. The music in general is good, and so is the writing. They keep characters feeling believable and compelling and occasionally funny. I hope in the new game they improve on the questioning to at least provide hints on what to do next.

50%Nintendo Switch

Tedious and boring, play the other one if interested in the game.

70%Nintendo Switch

Almost everything in this prequel is a major step up from the previous game. The mystery is more compelling, less obvious, and much better paced. There are still outdated elements, like having to run through all your interaction options over and over to make sure you trigger all the necessary flags, but I found the overall progression to be logical a majority of the time.

60%Nintendo Switch

Like the first game, it ends very anti-climactic with some info dumps to tie things up. I did enjoy Missing Heir more but this was a decent prequel. The problem with these remakes in particular is that it doesn't offer any real quality of life features. It's a chore to play this game.

80%Nintendo Switch

The story is just as engaging and hard to predict as the first. Even the frustrating gameplay has grown on me as it feels immersive and like I'm in the headspace of the main character; I think not knowing what I’m supposed to do to get people to talk to me is exactly the same frustration that the protagonist must feel. Animations are really cool, and bring the characters to life in conjunction with the stellar voice acting. It does feel a bit overpriced and I personally think there should and could have been a single cart physical release for these.

80%Nintendo Switch

Should probably be a 7/10, but if you played The Missing Heir that prepares you for some of the annoyances in this game. Some of those issues are less of a problem here, but it's still a super famicom game at its core. Great story though, and the art and animation are still stellar. Had a great time with it, and I'd highly recommend playing this one, whereas I'd probably recommend skipping Missing Heir.

70%Nintendo Switch

Not a bad experience. Really nice graphics.

40%Nintendo Switch

Enjoyed the updated art and score, but wish the gameplay had received the same treatment. Having to click through every single menu option in every conversation, often MULTIPLE times, was clunky, repetitive, and annoying. The story is intriguing but fairly predictable, leaving the game feeling like a product of its time. VNs need all the good PR they can get, and this entry was a swing and a miss.

40%Super Nintendo

In 1989, Nintendo released "Famicom Detective Club Part II: The Girl who Stands Behind" for the Famicom. It was written as a prequel to the original Famicom Detective Club. Later on this game was remade for the Super Famicom and Game Boy Advance. The 2004 Game Boy Advance version was part of the Famicom Mini series. Whereas the Super Famicom version was released via the Nintendo Power cartridge rewriting service in 1998. None of these versions were ever released outside Japan. However in 2004, the Super Famicom version received an English fan translation. And that's the version that I played through. An interesting fact; the murder and smoking scenes resulted in a CERO (ages 15+) rating for the GBA release, making it the first Nintendo title to receive a parental advisory rating.

To touch on the plot briefly; you are a young detective working for a detective agency. A young girl is found murdered nearby, and you are put on the case. Her murder leads to a highschool, and from there a 15 year old ghost story. As you investigate all the people involved, the tale becomes more complex, and eventually to the point of detriment. By the end of it all the plot will probably be lost on you, but you won't even care. Or at least, that was my experience. I just wanted to see the credits and put this one to rest. At least the plot was sometimes told through well choreographed animated cutscenes.

You see, Famicom Detective Club II is an adventure game in the classic Japanese style. And by that, I mean you navigate the game via a series of menu interactions. Everything you do, be it talking to someone, thinking internally, or searching a room, is all done via menu selection. This style of adventure game was very popular in the 1980s in Japan, and resulted from limitations of PCs during that time. Some people really enjoy this style of adventure game, but I am not one of those people. Endlessly clicking through menus until you hit the right hot button selection, over and over, isn't very exciting to me. You can honestly beat the game just by randomly clicking menu selections until you finally whack-a-mole your way to victory. Not exactly challenging.

What can carry the experience beyond that kind of rote gameplay? That would be fantastic writing, strong atmosphere, and a constant yearning to solve mysteries. It's a shame then that Famicom Detective Club II doesn't nail any of those categories. Sometimes the game grazes them, and gets tantalizing close to possibly becoming competent, but it never quite congealed for me. There is so much filler in this game, so much redundant backtracking and inane recycling of content and conversation, that I found the entire thing to be a slog very quickly. You'd get a better mystery out of any Scooby Doo episode, better atmosphere too, and I've seen better writing in old '80s DOS instruction manuals.

So why did I bother beating Famicom Detective Club II then? Well in 2005, I nearly beat this game (I was bored), but I lost my save game. For many years now I've meaning to go back and finally finish it... so yay? Sometimes we play old games because they are actually fun, and sometimes we play them out of sheer scholarly interest. I mean folks, this is a Nintendo published game with smoking, transsexuals, murder, blood, ghosts, and alcohol consumption in it. That's not an everyday occurrence. And the fan translation was pretty good, while the OST was actually great. And let's face it; there's not a ton of legit adventure games on the Super Famicom or SNES for that matter, so this was a unique experience for its platform. Notice I said "unique" and not "fun". Obviously I found Famicom Detective Club II to be terribly boring. It's no surprise it took me the better part of a decade to get around to finishing it.

80%Super Nintendo

Liked it a lot, but some tedium in choosing same command to forward progress