Hours Left
Member
THE DENPA MEN: They Came By Wave/Denpa no Ningen RPG
Developer: Genius Sonority
Publisher: Genius Sonority
Platform: Nintendo 3DS (eShop Exclusive)
Genre: RPG
Release Date: February 8th, 2012 [Japan]/September 27th, 2012 [North America]/December 6th, 2012 [PAL]
Price: ¥800 [Japan]/$9.99 [North America]/£7.19 [PAL] (Free demo also available in all regions)
Official Web Sites: Japan/North America/PAL
What is THE DENPA MEN: They Came By Wave?
THE DENPA MEN: They Came By Wave is a dungeon crawler JRPG developed by Genius Sonority. It stars the Denpa Men, small beings that live in "radio waves", each one being unique to the wave they call home.
In this game, one particular Denpa Man has asked you, the player, for your help. It seems someone special to him has been taken by the King of Evil and he needs your assistance to get this someone back. But you won't have to do it alone, there are Denpa Men everywhere around you, and you can recruit them to aid you in your journey to defeat the King of Evil.
Who Are Genius Sonority?
Genius Sonority is video game studio the develops exclusively for Nintendo platforms. It is made up of developers who have worked on many well known RPG series such as Mother/Earthbound, Dragon Quest and Pokémon. THE DENPA MEN is one of their very first original IPs.
Who are THE DENPA MEN?
As mentioned previously, the Denpa Men are tiny little men that live in "radio waves". (read: WiFi signals.) Each one is unique to his signal and you'll never find two that are exactly the same. Depending on their size, the color of their suit and the antenna (or lack thereof) on their head, each one will have different abilities and attributes. The player must utilize the different skills of each particular Denpa Man to the best of their ability to conquer the challenging dungeons that lie ahead of them.
It's Raining DENPA MEN
When you start the game, you and your hero* (a random Denpa Man from a preset group of exclusive hero characters) will be all alone. But there is no need to fret, for their are allies waiting to be discovered all around you. Simply go to the Antenna Tower and catch some new teammates! The amount of Denpa Men at the Antenna Tower will depend on how many WiFi signal there are in your present surroundings. It doesn't matter if they are public or private, all that matters is if they are detectable.
For each WiFi signal, two unique Denpa Men will appear. When you see them floating around using the camera on your 3DS, all you do is launch your net at them and they are yours. Once you've caught a bevy of Denpa Men, you are free to add them immediately to your party. Try to recruit a variety of different Denpa Men so you can have a well balanced party. (You'll need it.)
But what if you don't have access to a large amount of WiFi signals? Never fear, there are other ways to strengthen your existing Denpa Men and recruit new ones. Each player is guaranteed at least three Denpa Men to start. (Your head Denpa Man, and the two from your personal WiFi signal.) You can power up any of your Denpa Men with various equipment and clothing, and eventually, you'll be able to trade & download new Denpa Men for free through QR codes.
Plus, every Denpa Man is loaded with personality. You can talk you each of your party members for various hints and amusing comments. Though if you let them get killed in battle or take away their favorite accessory, they won't be very happy about it.
*Want to see pictures and stats for every Denpa Man hero? You can check them out at the Japanese wiki. If you don't like your hero, you can just keep restarting the game until you get one you prefer. (It doesn't take long at all.)
Into the Depths
Now that you have your Denpa Men, what do you do with them? Well, go dungeon crawling of course! THE DENPA MEN is an old school dungeon crawler JRPG. Your party will traverse caves, forests, volcanoes, towers, etc. on and around the island of Digitoll, all in the search for loot.
But of course, these dungeons are not without danger. Each one is teeming with various deadly and adorable beasts just waiting to chew your antenna off. Don't let the cute graphics fool you, this game can be very challenging, you must use the various skills and equipment of your Denpa Men to put these baddies in their place.
But never has destroying entire species of life ever been so quick and satisfying. The battle system in THE DENPA MEN is very intuitive. Each character has the ability to attack or use items. Plus, if they have an antenna, the will have the use of a special skill. This may seem simplistic at first, but that's where the party building aspect comes into play. Each dungeon has enemies that specialize in different elemental attributes, and a party that might of cleaned house in the previous dungeon may now be at the mercy of the new gang of ghouls. But does that mean you need to level up every character individually? Thankfully no! Every party member you have, even if they are still back at your base, will gain experience from every fight. This makes changing parties to tackle new dungeons very seamless and fluid. Plus, the addition of two separate Auto Battle options makes every fight a joy.
Spreading the Love
(Alicius)
So you think you've found a pretty some pretty sweet Denpa Men? Well, how about sharing your find with the world! Once you've progressed far enough in the game, you'll be able to create and download QR codes for various Denpa Men. This makes trading DENPA MEN with your friends very easy, and is quite useful if you need a Denpa Man with a specific skill or group of attributes. But don't worry about blasting through the game with a party of maxed out QR Denpa Men, each character you receive through a code will start at level 1, letting you train them from scratch.
Along with Alicius, who is posted above, Genius Sonority has been releasing other special Denpa Men through QR codes. I will post links to the rest of them below as they are released. (Note: These codes are for the North American release.)
Carlton
Koen
Hazel
Berny
Bob
Greg
Lucius
Julie
Rolf
Billy
Harry
Matt
Play Before You Pay
Oh, did I forget to mention this game has a FREE DEMO?!? It's available right now on the North American 3DS eShop. Plus, you can transfer you save file from the demo over to the full version of the game, so no need to say goodbye to your Denpa Men! (You can create a clear save to transfer to the full version when you
visit The Docks for the first time after you defeat the first boss and get the raft parts.
Videos
North American Commercial
Gameplay Trailer #1 (Adventure)
Gameplay Trailer #2 (Catching)
Gameplay Trailer #3 (Battles)
Gameplay Trailer #4 (Treasure)
Gameplay Trailer #5 (Party)
Gameplay Trailer #6 (QR Code)
Gameplay Trailer #7 (Weaknesses)
The Real Denpa Men Vol. 1: How to Catch Denpa Men
The Real Denpa Men Vol. 2: Antennas of the Denpa Men
The Real Denpa Men Vol. 3: Colours of the Denpa Men
The Real Denpa Men Vol. 4: Strange Fruits
The Real Denpa Men Vol. 5: The Hot Spring Effect
The Real Denpa Men Vol. 6: Waging Battle as a Group
The Real Denpa Men Vol. 7: About QR Codes
The Real Denpa Men Vol. 8: Handling Hypergas
Music
With all that time spent traversing dungeons, you would hope that there would be some nice music to accompany you right? Well, there is! (You can listen to some samples here.) This game features quite a funky fresh soundtrack, and you can even purchase it through iTunes.
Avatars
Credit for the Avatars to the official Japanese and North American web sites. (More available at the source.)
Links
Official Twitter Page
Official Facebook Page
Official YouTube Page
Japanese Wiki (w/ Google Translator Enabled)
Nintendo Life (9/10)
Nintendojo (B+)
Operation Rainfall (4½/5)
Nintendo Dude (5/5)
Destructoid (8.5/10)
More to come...?
THE DENPA MEN: They Came By Wave is a really fun and challenging old school JRPG. I would easily put it amongst the great eShop titles like Pushmo & VVVVVV. It's quite awesome to see original RPG content on the eShop and I hope this is just the start of much more to come. And with a free demo, it's easy to give this game a shot. Plus, THE DENPA MEN 2 look INCREDIBLE, so I'm hoping the first one can find an audience in North America and beyond so this fun series can continue. (Edit: The sequel has been confirmed for North America!)
Thanks for reading and please feel free to post any corrections, additions, reviews, articles, etc. and I'll do my best to add them to the OP. Also, I know my banners are monstrosities, so if anyone wants to submit some new ones, you are more than welcome to.
Credit for all screens and artwork go to the official Japanese and North American web sites.
