Earthbound

Welcome to Nostalgia.

This is truly a game where the saying “you have to play it to understand” matters more than any other. Earthbound is a Japanese RPG released on the SNES that satires the idea of a typical RPG. Quirky is perhaps the best way to describe this game as everything from the visuals to the soundtracks and the over the top hilarious jokes are all quirky in there own way. So why do I love this game so much? Let’s find out.

The story is rather simple, following the adventures of a young boy known as “Ness”. After a meteor crashes in his hometown and he rescues a small alien bee from the wreckage he comes to realise that the great and powerful cosmic entity known as “Giygas” is planning to destroy the world and in the future does so. The little alien bee (funnily known as Buzz Buzz) tells Ness that he traveled back in time so that he could warn Ness about Giygas in the hopes that he can stop him and bring peace to the world. From there the story wanders off into an adventure of epic proportions, spanning the lands of Eagleland (We’re not american… honest) and getting involved in insane scenarios such as battling a cult intent on painting everything blue and fighting off the zombie apocalypse. I don’t want to spoil anything here as this game truly has to be experienced to be enjoyed but just know this, I have not found another game that could compare to this one’s story and scenarios. And don’t even get me started on Giygas…

Say hello to the Starman! One of the many minions of Giygas!

The presentation of this game is perhaps it’s strongest point. The quirky and retro charm of the game plays so well that it is even capable of holding up today, making it still a blast to watch and play today. Each of the characters you meet along the way are wonderful, charming and unique and some even join you to help your adventures! The soundtrack is in my opinion the best gaming soundtrack I have heard in all my years of gaming, if you want an upbeat and happy soundtrack to listen to then listen to this one! The title screen alone gives me shivers down my spine whenever I hear it. It always takes me back to wonderful memories and it blends so well with the overall atmosphere of the game, that being one of comedic value! Every line is a slice of comedic gold and I even am interested to hear what complete randomers have to say just to hear some more funny dialogue! Comedic games have to either bring originality in their humour or play the cards of being a spoof of another game. This is perhaps one of the only games I know that is capable of blending both forms of comedy to bring a collaboration of sheer gold laughs no matter the situation.

The gameplay itself is rather simple. It is turn based sprites fighting against other turn based sprites, the usual. However it works rather well here due to the blending of the unique style of the game and the gameplay itself. In typical RPG’s you would have healers, mages, warriors etc with swords, shields, bows etc. Here you have 4 kids with baseball bats and yo-yo’s that they must use to defeat evil abominations. This also combines with the enemies you fight and how they must be defeated in order to make the battles funny too. The other main point of the game is walking around in the overworld, talking to people and solving puzzles. This game is capable of streamlining the RPG format in order to take away needless and tedious grinding and allows the gameplay to flow naturally. As an example of this there is a unique system for the time that allowed you to instantly defeat lower enemies if you were of a high amount of strength. This meant that accidentally running into a useless enemy would not mean you had to shift through menus when you know that you can easily take the enemy down in one shot. It’s simple, it’s brilliant and it’s something that many RPG’s today have trouble grasping the concept of.

Say hello to the meteor, oh and Ness. Hello Ness!

But with every great game there is always some flaws. The only major flaw I can discern from this game is how sometimes the battles seem so… boring. Get past the quirky visuals and design and you find yourself battling a static image with no real animations being played out, it is mostly left to your imagination. For some that is fine however it limits the audience that will enjoy it by a lot. And ultimately that is the big downfall of this game, it’s not for everyone. Sure for those that enjoy these kind of games then it is a masterpiece, but like a good joke you need to understand and appreciate what it is trying to say in order to laugh along with it. Otherwise you just sit there confused and wonder what all the fuss was about.

Ultimately in my opinion I love this game. It is perhaps my single most favourite RPG of all time and I still get the urge to play it again and again no matter what, even if it is just to dance along to the awesome soundtrack. Getting a copy of Earthbound today is incredibly tricky however if you get the chance to play this then I would highly suggest you give it a go. Who knows, you too might just become a Fuzzy Pickler!