And this is just the start of the strange events that will unfold in Earthbound. When you go investigate it, an insect named “Buzz Buzz” informs you of the greater “Save the world from ultimate evil” main plot. If you go by the default name, you play as Ness, awoken from slumber by some crazy happenings in the middle of the night. A little different than the standard “Name Your Character” stuff from games of yore. Your favorite food, favorite thing, and YOUR name (The game breaks the fourth wall in a crazy way that I won’t spoil). This sets a trend for the complete randomness that permeates a lot of Earthbound’s elements.īefore landing into the game world, the menus will ask a few important questions first. Yes, whoever makes these decisions thought it’d be best to only translate and release the middle installment of a 3-part series. To start from the beginning Earthbound is actually “Mother 2.” It’s also the only Mother game that was released in North America. To slog through certain parts of the game requires you to be especially patient and familiar with JRPG tropes of the past.

It’s one of those games that is great when its great, and terrible when its terrible. I think it is a very polarizing game one that many people either really love or really hate. I have very conflicting feelings about Earthbound. I did just that, propelling Earthbound from near the bottom of my to-play list to “Must Play Now” status.

A month or so ago, Club Nintendo notified me that I could download this game for FREE as a Platinum member. Over the years I heard a lot of buzz about this game that’s acquired a sizable cult following, so I added it to my “download and play sometime later” retro game list. Thus, I never experienced it during my impressionable youth. Check out this ragtag bunch of kids out to save the universe.Įarthbound is an old-school RPG that was first released on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, before I got into turn-based role playing games.

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