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By Robert Hancock on August 3rd, 2001
Introduction Take one thirteen year old kid, add one meteorite, A fly from ten years in
the future, an annoying neighbor, add a dash of crooked cops, New age retro
hippies, a runaway blues band and a living pile of puke and you have a
glimpse of Earthbound. This classic broke a lot of barriers and
misconceptions about RPG’s. Instead of fighting a dragon in a mystical land,
you take the part of an ordinary kid and an unusual turn of events in his
hometown.Presentation If Earthbound had to be described in one word, it’d be quirky. The
characters, weapons, situations and places you go are all made to poke fun
at the ’usual’ RPG. For example, the main character, Ness, begins his
journey equipped with ’armor’ and ’weapons’ about approprate for a kid. His
weapon is a cracked baseball bat, and his only armor is his favorite cap.
When you need items to perk you up after a long brawl, you can go to the
local fastfood joint and get a burger and fries, or you can call the pizza
joint and have a pie delivered to you, where ever you happen to be. Need
some cash? Withdraw some from the ATM. You get to love the feel of this
game, and there is a lot to make you laugh.
Graphics & Sound Well, it’s for the SNES, so don’t expect much in either area. For the time
it wasn’t real great, either, but the content will draw you away from that.
The character design was cute and fit with the game well, and if you’ll look
at the concept sketches of the game, they match pretty well. It’s obvious
that a lot of thought and vision was put in the game’s planning.
Gameplay Is good. Is very good. The events that the programers have in store for you
will surprise even the more hardened gamer. Fighting a living pile of puke
or neutralizing a cult who must have everything painted blue isn’t something
you’d expect. The playable characters vary from a psychic girl, (Yeah, that
is a little corny.) A nerd, and an prince from the eastern country of
Dalaam. The people you meet, well, are a lot stranger. The basic plot is a
little thin, a meteorite falls from the sky turning people evil and weird,
universial evil behind it, yada yada yada. I sometimes found that the plot
got in the way of the Earthbound’s fun, but it had to have a plot somewhere
and they made it work. It’s really the ’feel’ of the game that adds spice.
This game really opened up what could have been an exciting new genre, but
the sales in the US bombed. Even after feverent advertising such as scratch
and sniff magazine ads and action figures included in the game package, the
sales weren’t good enough to spark a sequel. (This in fact, being a sequel
of the japanese game, Mother. It was pretty much Earthbound in NES form.)
Earthbound has started splinter cults and fan groups, however, and
Earthbound 64 is a much heard whisper among them. With the Gamecube making
apperence, the future is uncertain indeed.
Lasting Appeal The lasting appeal is about the same as any RPG -- until you get sick of it.
However, the ending has a neat little feature that will keep you playing it
a bit longer.... It’s a spoiler, so I won’t print it, but if you want to
know, E-mail me. I’ll try to answer as many as I can. I’ve had the game a
good seven years, and I still play it. That should speak volumes of the
lasting appeal.
Conclusion After reading this, you either can’t wait to get your hands on this game, or
you’d like to find and destroy every copy of it. Either way, good luck
getting a copy, as they’re hard to find. The ROM may be floating about
somewhere, and that’s probably your best bet. Last time I checked, a copy in
the box was $50, and $75 for the limited edition with the action figures.
Happy gaming.
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