Thumbin’ Through The Classics: Earthbound
It’s been waaaay too long since I’ve just sat down and written something about video games purely for the sake of writing about video games. So I’ve decided to rectify this horrible situation by starting a new feature, called Thumbin’ Through The Classics, where basically I mine the depths of my misspent childhood to discuss with you some of the best good-ol’ games history has to offer.
And of course, you always gotta start the show with a show-stopper, so let’s talk about Earthbound. Released in mid-1995 in North America (mid-1994 in Japan, under the name Mother 2) and developed by Hal Laboratories and Ape, Earthbound was an RPG that completely flipped the script on the genre. There were no wizards and warriors to be had here, and if memory serves you never once raided a stereotypical castle or dungeon. Hell, the main cast of characters weren’t even adults, but a group of kids barely out of elementary school.
As the story goes, the main character, Ness, is awakened one night by an apparent explosion in the hills behind his house. After rousing the local neighbourhood children, he sets off to explore the event, where he finds a mysterious meteoroid, an alien messenger by the name of Buzz-Buzz, and a grand adventure, which ends up in our young hero assembling a team of talented kids and fighting an evil omnipresent alien lifeform bent on the destruction of existence. They also learn a lot about themselves and grow closer as friends through the experience.
I know that sounds hokey as all hell, but I feel Earthbound is one of those games that approves of a hokey description.
There are also moments in Earthbound, the ending in particular, which actually carry such a surprising amount of emotional weight that even years later I can remember feeling near to tears
The game’s setting sets it apart from most RPGs of the time from the get-go; you’re a group of kids in suburbia, wielding baseball bats and yo-yos, fighting off animated stop signs and local gangsters. You combat zombie invasions, solve the riddle of the sphinx, and travel back in time during the course of your journey.
You may even turn into robots at some point. Maybe…
Looking back, actually, if one were to imagine a video game as some sort of psychedelic acid trip than they likely wouldn’t be far off from the contents of Earthbound.
The colour palette of every town and region is also beautifully bright and vibrant, looking like something out of a saturday morning cartoon. Every city and area has a different dominant colour, from bright green to autumn brown to dark and sinister blue, which differentiates each area significantly and really sets the tone.
The graphics of Earthbound is actually a story in itself. When the game was released in 1995 it was derided by many in reviews for its “horrid” and simplistic graphics, though with the passage of time the public opinion’s pulled a definite 180; reviewers such as 1UP and Nintendojo, in a “years-later” postmortem review, have since lauded the game for its quirky look and style.
And for what it’s worth, I think Earthbound looks absolutely beautiful. The battle screens have an “old-school” style of facing images of your enemies head-on, with the enemy pictorials looking colourful, varied, and above-all f-ing weird, and every city has a unique look and style, a feature that most RPGs at that time (and even to this day) have failed to replicate.
And the music! Man, the music haunts my dreams. Earthbound ended up having to be put into a 24-mb cart by the end of its development cycle, largely because its developers were dead-set on cramming as much music as possible into the game. Granted most of the songs are the very definition of chiptronica, and so if you’re not into hearings beeps and square waves your enjoyment may vary, but listen to this and tell me it isn’t awesome:
If nothing else, though, the thing that pushes Earthbound above most other RPGs of its time is its ridiculous, insane, “Americana-as-seen-by-Japan” cultural style. Earthbound was weird, man. Like someone took a Norman Rockwell and Salvador Dali painting and threw them together into a blender.
At one point you fight a giant pile of vomit, who also just so happens to be an evil industrialist, but don’t worry because he’s got a crippling weakness to fly honey, an item which can be obtained by fighting and defeating a giant anthropomorphic tent-monster located in the city of Threed, which oh-by-the-way is infested with damn zombies.
That’s just one example. ONE.
You’ll even travel around in a yellow submarine. Though likely not THAT yellow submarine
The game’s also funny as hell, with its humour stemming from (and really basking in) its utter weirdness. You’ll fight hippies, evil taxi cars, and mythical creatures. At one point you meet up with a man who spends all his times fabricating fake dungeons, whose dream is to one day become a dungeon himself (Spoilers: HE DOES).
The world of Earthbound doesn’t really make sense, and doesn’t want to either. It’s totally cool reveling in it’s “alternative RPG” style, as evidenced by the game’s advertising campaign in 1995, with its magazine ad’s slogan proclaiming “This Game Stinks”, and a scratch-and-sniff section below.
Earthbound didn’t sell particularly well in North America, though it did do well in Japan. What it lacked in upfront sales however it made up for in the slow-but-steady buildup of a cult fellowship. It’s the #1 most wanted game for the Nintendo Wii’s Virtual Console (though sadly due to copyright issues with some of the music this will likely never come to fruition), it has even a decade after its release one of the most vibrant fan bases over at starmen.net, the official go-to zone for anything earthbound, and there are numerous amazing aristic projects based off of Earthbound art assets. I tried to buy an Earthbound poster last year, but it was sold out before I could place my order.
This poster, specifically
What makes Earthbound depressing is that it was actually a part of a series. As aforementioned the game was called Mother 2 in Japan, which obviously denotes that there must exist a Mother The First. And there was…but only for Japan. It was an also ridiculously quirky RPG for the original NES, which came out to overwhelmingly positive reviews. It was never released state-side however, and so the North American gaming public never really got the chance to play it.
Even worse however is the long, painful story of Mother 3. Originally announced as a Nintendo 64 game, the development took countless years saw delays and monetary hardships, was eventually scrapped as a 3D console game, but saw its rebirth as an RPG for the Game Boy Advance…that again, only came out in Japan. Now, I’ve managed to play both these other games, but I’m contractually obliged to not tell you how I managed to do that, under penalty of a Nintendo “representative” finding me and breaking my legs. Let’s just say, the lead developer of the Mother series, Shigesato Itoi, has been adamant that these games will not be hitting American shores. Which is a damned shame.
All I’m trying to say with all this is that if you haven’t ever played Earthbound, then damn son you missed out. I guess if you have an old SNES lying around, and want to spend over a hundred dollars on ebay to buy a cart (or you could do certain unscrupulous things which, AGAIN, I’m contractually obliged not to talk about), then it’d be possible to relive Earthbound’s old glory. It’d likely be difficult, but damn it’d be worth it to play if you never have.
