This free Nintendo Switch game is messy, but endearingly weird

The Nintendo Switch just got a new free-to-play exclusive, and it’s a big deal for a very niche but dedicated fanbase. The New Denpa Men is the latest entry in developer Genius Sonority’s Denpa Men series. If you haven’t heard of that before, there’s good reason. The series debuted on Nintendo 3DS and has had several entries since, spanning out to mobile, but its most recent installments were exclusive to Japan. The Switch release brings the quirky RPG back west, which marks an exciting return for its cult following.

Or it should have been exciting, at least. As it stands, The New Denpa Men is a bit of a mess at launch. A laughable English localization, a frustrating online requirement, and some pesky microtransactions already have fans torn. While those are all issues that have bugged me during my first few hours with the release, I’m still finding some endearingly weird charm in the RPG. It feels like a return to a different era of Nintendo, where the company’s hardware gimmicks led to some welcome creative swings.

Like previous installments, The New Denpa Men is a dungeon-crawling RPG where players assemble a team of eight colorful cartoon weirdos and direct them in battle. The squad gains loot as they explore, including wearables that buff each one’s stats, resources, and decorations that they can place in their home base. There’s a hint of Animal Crossing to be found here with light town management and even fishing.

That’s a basic rundown, but The New Denpa Men is anything but normal. It revels in its bizarre sense of humor and truly strange gameplay hooks. Take the RPG’s catching system, for instance. To get new Denpa Men (each of which looking like a Teletubbie with a specific antenna denoting its magic ability), I have to use Wi-Fi signals to summon new allies. I then have to use my Switch’s gyroscope so I can physically aim at them and toss out a net. It’s the kind of out-there minigame that was popular on hardware like the 3DS, but has gone away with the