EarthBound
Super Nintendo
Alright everyone, Almighty Wisk is here again to give your brain boner some sweet satisfaction. Dan the Man with a plan lets me review games on occasion and today is no different. This review is special though. I'm gonna need you strap on your red ball cap, grab your baseball bat and hop in the phase distorter to travel back in time with me. The year is 1994. The Lion King destroyed box offices, the number 1 best selling game was Donkey Kong Country, and OJ Simpson was still considered guilty.
Buried deep in the wonders of media, there existed a tiny game that got so much marketing, but just couldn't measure up in sales. Buried deep beneath Donkey Kong Country, Mega Man X, Final Fantasy VI, and Super Metroid there was a gem of a game struggling to breath. This game was Earthbound for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. I have no stories of Earthbound besides I went to Blockbuster Video, saw the box art and just had to try it. This was 22 years ago. I remember playing through this game and getting so frustrated that I eventually quit. Little did I know, I gave up one of best games ever created.
Some backstory. Earthbound is not the original title or even the first game in the franchise. The series is called Mother and the first game was released in 1989 for the NES. It was a huge success. No one really comprehended an RPG taking place during contemporary times and they loved it when it was shown to them. The issue was it was supposed to get a release in North America, and although the game was translated and ready to go, the Super Nintendo was announced and it was feared that the game would be overshadowed by the SNES. So they decided to work on Mother 2 or as we all know it: Earthbound.
Without further ado, lets get into the review shall we? The game from start to end is unconventional. You fire up that new game and all of a sudden you're asked to name each character (Let's call him Ness for the sake of that being his real name). Not only that but you name your dog, your favorite food, and your favorite thing to do. The game takes place in the year 199X, and you're a normal 10 year old kid sleeping in bed. You are awoken in the middle of the night and forced to answer the door even though your mother is right there. Bursting through the door is this chubby little bastard Pokey. A loud boom is heard on top of the hill you live on and you gotta check it out. Pokey decides to join your party and (optional) you can take your dog. It's time to get dressed, eat some (favorite food) and play the game.
The game leads you to a meteor that crashed and then eases you into the battle system. Turns out Ness is the chosen child to stop the evil Giygas from destroying the world. He must travel the world to find the 3 other chosen children to battle with him: Paula, Jeff and, Poo. Defeating Giygas also involves going to eight locations and recording the sounds on the sound stone given to you by another character automatically in the beginning of the game.
Earthbound doesn't make it that easy, there's something to do in each town to get to the special locations. In the first town for example, you have to stop a street gang called the Sharks who are causing trouble in the city because the mayor refuses to get involved. Your first real boss battle is Frankie, the leader of the Sharks, and he is tough. This is where level grinding is important - the bosses in this game are on a whole different level. When you think you finally have the hang of it you get creamed. Once you manage to defeat Frankie you get a key to go to the area where you record the sound, which is protected by a guardian. Once you whip the guardian you get the first "My Sanctuary" location and record the sound. This is how the game works.
The battle system is like that of Dragon Quest - you don't see your characters. Just the name, HP, and PP, with options to either Hit, use PSI, Goods, or Run Away. The enemies are right in front of you and start off simple: stray dog, snake, crows. The battle system honestly speaks for itself. Hit is for physical attacks, PSI is for your Psychic abilities (the game's equivalent of Magic), Goods are items. Overworld monsters are abundant and there are no random encounters, but dodging fights is the illusion of choice honestly, you need those fights to level and grind.
The unique part is the HP rolling meter which is a bit hard to explain so let me give you a solid example. Let's say you have 100 HP and you fight a monster that deals 101 damage. You don't instantly die. Instead, the meter rolls down and if you can manage to use an item or cast a spell within that roll down period you will live and recover your HP.
As for the difficulty, this game starts hard and ends harder. While not the most difficult game on earth, this game is a true challenge. You are level 1 with 30HP and 0PP. You grind to get those levels up, but even in the beginning the monsters don't give enough experience. You have to have the patience to power through the first few levels, you will (and I repeat, WILL) get your ass handed to you for the first hour.
Luckily you are right outside your house and your mother heals you by giving you your favorite food and sending you up to bed. Over time the redeeming grace of this game is instant win battles. When you become strong enough you run into enemies you don't battle - you run into them and it just says victory. Now what do you do when you're finally tough enough to make a difference in battles? You save. There is a phone in your house and you call your dad, who records your state, gives you experience to next level, and gives you money. Money is earned through battling but you don't get it - your father deposits money in a bank account for you depending on how much you grind.
Earthbound pokes fun at western culture from an eastern stand point, and it's hilarious to watch without too much offense. This game does not leave you wanting, from beginning to end. From meeting aliens, to insane cultists, fighting crime bosses at a flea market, there are many unique characters you will meet along the way. Conventional is not in this game's dictionary, there's always something that mocks the traditional JRPG system. Instead of potions you eat food, instead of swords your main weapon is a bat.
Earthbound's music is incredible, bottom line. Every boss and area is unique and amazing. Each town has a new theme, each boss has an appropriate battle theme for the visual. The music is such a huge part of the game that it takes up 8MB of cartridge space, OUT OF 24MB, that means 33.3% of the game's space is it's music. The music provides the atmosphere for the game. Without the unusual music the game wouldn't be what it is.
This game has a few downsides. The game is full, all space is used and at times the enemies on the overworld map cause a stutter on the screen and the game slows down to a crawl. This is easily remedied, though. Just walk and despawn the enemies and you're good. This game is HARD when you start and progressively gets easier when you have all of your party members, up until you get to the last portions of the game where the difficulty goes from a steady incline to a mountain.
I was in the 80's when I made it to end, and was still struggling to beat enemies. Once more it is time to level grind, that's almost all the game is is level grinding. You get your main character and Paula and you get them in the 20's, or in my case 30's, then you meet your next party member across the world and have to travel as him alone, and catch him up in levels to yourself. When this happens, you're about 6 or 7 hours in the game, and used to having 2 party members. The same happens with the 4th character around 15-20 hours in the game with the exception that after he completes his in game training he gets a huge boost in levels but not enough to catch up to your party, which at my point was in the 50's.
What's funny though is that even though it's a pain, the game itself does an amazing job easing your annoyance when this happens. The game will always leave you smiling or just plain cracking up with the goofy humor and enemies you fight. Earthbound is truly a classic that needs to be appreciated and it was a shame that it didn't get the praise it deserved when it was launched. If you haven't played it, then you truly are missing out.
My Overall Score?
A+++
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