EarthBound/Characters

Ness


A perfectly average boy living in Onett, Eagleland. Sets out to find the eight "My Sanctuary" locations and to locate the other three heroes. Little is said about his personality in-game, but his appearances in Super Smash Bros. describe him as being courageous and good-natured.

"Voiced by Makiko Ohmoto in Super Smash Bros."

""Even if he had telepathic powers, I don't think he'd use them to mess with you like that. I hear he's a good kid.", from Solid Snake's Codec call on him."
 * Adrenaline Makeover: Supposedly loses weight over the course of his adventure, as some characters point out in the ending.
 * The All-American Boy: Like his predecessor Ninten.
 * Badass Adorable: The little guy has very high offense stats.
 * Barrier Warrior: Complementing his Combat Medic role.
 * Batter Up: Uses a baseball bat as his main melee weapon.
 * The Chosen One: Ness, it is my opinion you are that boy. This I believe...
 * Combat Medic: Has the best healing PSI, as well as the highest attack and defense by far.
 * Expy: Of Ninten.
 * Glacier Waif: Sure doesn't look it though.
 * The Hero
 * Heroic Mime:.
 * Lampshaded by a couple NPCs, one of which being Franky.
 * I Miss Mom: He can get homesickness as a status effect. It's remedied by calling home, of course. D'aww!
 * Kid Hero
 * Light'Em Up: PSI Flash, which creates a bright flash of light that may One Hit KO enemies.
 * Magic Knight: He's the party's tank, physical powerhouse, and medic..
 * Mighty Glacier: Has extremely high offense and hit points, but is the slowest party member by far..
 * Nice Guy: One of few traits known from Ness's personality.


 * Nice Hat: That lovely baseball cap.
 * Heck,.
 * Official Couple: With Paula.
 * Psychic Powers
 * Pure Energy: This is what PSI Rockin' is.
 * Took a Level in Badass:.
 * Trademark Favorite Food: Steak, or whatever you put as the favorite food at the start of the game.
 * Trademark Favorite Food: Steak, or whatever you put as the favorite food at the start of the game.

Paula Polestar


A young girl who lives in Twoson and who possesses powerful psychic abilities. Ness must come to her rescue after she is kidnapped by the Happy Happyist cult.


 * Alliterative Name: Not official (the guide says that her last name is 'Jones'), but most people think her last name is Polestar, the name of the preschool she and her parents work at.
 * Badass Adorable: Cute little girl dressed all in pink. Can set you on fire with her mind.
 * Black Mage: She's the primary offensive magic user, later sharing this spot with Poo.
 * Chekhov's Skill: Her unique ability, 'Pray', is generally useless in battle, as its effects are completely random—a full-party heal is nice, but do you really want to risk reviving all your defeated enemies or having everyone start feeling strange?.
 * The Chick
 * Damsel in Distress:.
 * Every Girl Is Cuter With Hair Decs: Wears a large red ribbon in her hair, and has access to unique ribbon accessories.
 * Expy: Of Ana.
 * Fire, Ice, Lightning: She's got all three as her offensive PSI.
 * Fragile Speedster: She has the highest speed of the four heroes, and is about as durable as a wet piece of tissue paper.
 * Frying Pan of Doom: Uses a frying pan as her main weapon.
 * Glass Cannon: She can deal absolute carnage with her various PSI attacks, but there's literally no point in the game where she's more than two or three direct attacks away from being defeated.
 * Hair Decorations: Has a large red ribbon in her hair, and has ribbons as most of her 'other' equipment.
 * Hair of Gold: Dearly loved by the local children, and her hometown of Twoson as a whole.
 * Lady of Black Magic
 * The Lancer
 * Official Couple: With Ness. D'aww.
 * Pink Means Feminine: As with most of Nintendo's female protagonists.
 * Psychic Powers
 * Squishy Wizard: Easily two-shotted due to her low level at first, and then two-shotted at later levels due to her mediocre defense and terrible HP growths. She has around 250HP at LV60-LV70, and that's if the game was generous with RNG and if you're not (ab)using the game breaking rock candy + sugar packet trick. The other party members' HP will be double (or triple in Ness' case) that. She has the best offensive spells (and a couple good defensive spells too), and is fast enough to get them off before her foes can act, but she'll always trail behind the other party members in terms of HP and defense.
 * White Magician Girl: Subverted: has the personality of one, but almost all of her PSI are destructive in nature. Make of this what you will.

Jeff Andonuts


A child prodigy attending a boarding school in Winters. Comes to Ness and Paula's rescue after they are captured by zombies, after receiving a telekinetic message from Paula.


 * Badass Adorable/Adorkable
 * Badass Bookworm
 * Badass Normal: Is the only character in the main party with no psychic powers, but has a variety of self-made weapons and is frequently the team's pilot.
 * BFG: His bazookas are just as destructive as you would imagine.
 * Big Damn Heroes: His solo journey from Winters to Eagleland to bust Ness and Paula out of prison.
 * Boarding School: Attends one in Winters.
 * Bow Ties Are Cool
 * Drives Like Crazy: Has a body count of two Sky Runners, both of which crashed under his piloting (though he can usually repair them). The submarine somehow remained unscathed.
 * Enemy Scan: Can use his unique ability, Spy, to display an enemy's stats and status ailment weaknesses. And to steal any items they might have on them.
 * Expy: Of Loid.
 * Gadgeteer Genius: Jeff lacks the psychic powers of his friends, but he can take things you'd find in most typical junkyards, such as broken harmonicas, irons, pipes, and antennas, and somehow retrofit them into highly advanced laser guns, psychic shield destroyers, and slime blasters.
 * Heroic Self-Deprecation: His self-introduction to Ness and Paula.
 * Item Caddy
 * Macross Missile Massacre: The only character who can use the massively damaging bottle rocket items.
 * Mad Scientist: Not quite as bad as his father yet, but gets up to some impressive scientific feats for his young age.
 * Mad Scientist's Cute Son
 * Mr. Fixit: Can turn broken junk you find lying around into laser guns, psychic field neutralizers, bazookas...
 * Muggle: Like Loid, he can't use PSI.
 * Nerd Glasses: Self-described as "really nearsighted", he's probably Blind Without'Em.
 * Parental Abandonment: Grew up in an exclusive boys' boarding school and hasn't seen his father in ten years.
 * His father's response on seeing him? "Let's do this again in another 10 years."
 * Ray Gun: Uses homemade laser guns as his weapons.
 * School Uniforms Are the New Black
 * Science Hero
 * The Short Guy with Glasses
 * The Sleepless/Plot-Powered Stamina: When staying at inns, he'll stay up all night fixing that broken junk you've accumulated, and his battle prowess doesn't suffer a bit for it.
 * The Smart Guy: A scientific prodigy and son of the famous Dr. Andonuts, he boasts the highest IQ and IQ growths in the game.
 * The Team Normal: As mentioned several times, he's the only party member to not have PSI powers.
 * Teen Genius
 * "Well Done, Son" Guy: Averted. He isn't hung up on this, but later on, his own father, despite being a flightly Cloudcuckoolander, tells his son he is indeed proud of him.
 * Youthful Freckles: Visible on his clay model.

Poo


The prince of Dalaam who comes to Ness's aid to fulfill a prophecy dictated by his mentor. He arrives after Ness and company accidentally trip out on some Magic Cake.


 * Badass Adorable
 * Bald of Awesome
 * Bare-Fisted Monk: At least if you don't pick up the notoriously rare Sword of Kings. Even then, the command isn't changed to slash. Either he equips it because he becomes stronger just having it, or only uses the hilt (or the "Sword" part was symbolic).
 * Battle Butler: Swears to serve Ness upon meeting him.
 * Big Damn Heroes: He swoops in (literally) and deals the finishing blow to Master Belch.
 * The Big Guy: Besides Ness, he's the muscle of the main party.
 * Can't Catch Up: He joins at an extremely low level for the point of the game you're at, and has trouble catching up.
 * Chick Magnet: Very popular with the ladies of Dalaam.
 * Colony Drop: PK STARSTORRRM!!!
 * Dynamic Entry: Seems fond of this—he drops out of the sky in his first appearance to Ness and company, and it is also a big part of his Big Damn Heroes moment against Master Belch.
 * Heroes Prefer Swords: The Sword of Kings, one of those infamous rare item drops.
 * Informed Attractiveness: When playing as him, you get a lot of attention from the ladies in Dalaam.
 * Jack of All Stats: He can use both healing and offensive PSI, and has decent overall stats as well.
 * Look What I Can Do Now!: PK Starstorm Alpha.
 * Mega Manning: Has the unique ability to transform himself into certain enemies during battle.
 * Mind Screw: So, was Ness controlling him, just watching/having a premonition, or happily tripping out while Poo set out for unrelated reasons?
 * Picky Eater: Dislikes (or just isn't used to) most Western foods, and gets minimal HP restoration from eating them.
 * Psychic Powers
 * The Red Mage: Has access to a variety of both healing and offensive PSI, unlike specialists Ness and Paula.
 * Royals Who Actually Do Something: He's the crown prince of Dalaam, and one of the Chosen Four who saves the world from a Bad Future.
 * Spoony Bard: Oh, boy... his PP is low, but he can restore it by drinking cheap bottles of water. He isn't used to Western food and gains minimal HP restoration from it. He can only use certain pieces of equipment, and any others will lower his stats—he has exactly ONE weapon, and it's an incredibly rare drop from an enemy in a one-time-only area. It's also extremely difficult for him to catch up level-wise because he requires the most EXP for each individual level up.
 * Training from Hell: His Mu training, at the end of which he.
 * Unfortunate Name: It isn't as unfortunate in Japan, as his name is read as "Puu" there. It's intended to be Asian-sounding, but the North American release Romanized it differently... and unfortunately. Prerelease images indicate it was almost Romanized as "Pu"; you have to wonder whether the change had anything to do with the game's unfortunate advertising campaign.
 * Warrior Prince

King


Ness's lovely little pet dog. He's a Guest Star Party Member early on in the game, and does substantial damage. He chickens out and runs away when Buzz Buzz appears, because the party limit is four.

BUT! It was meant to be five! That's right, King was meant to be a permanent party member. This model does however return in Boney.

"King: I'm not going out again. I don't care if everyone thinks I'm a stubborn mutt."
 * Arbitrary Headcount Limit: If he'd been permanent, he would've extended it to 5.
 * Big Friendly Dog: In the novel adaption, he is stated to be an English Sheep Dog.
 * Demoted to Extra
 * Heroes Love Dogs: His owner is Ness, a young psychic boy who's one of EarthBound's four main protagonists and one of the Chosen Four.
 * The Lancer: Until he leaves the party.
 * Lovable Coward:


 * Muggle

Porky/Pokey Minch


Ness's next-door neighbor. A selfish, spoiled brat who loves to cause trouble and


 * Abusive Parents: In the Japanese version of Mother 2, Pokey glumly says that if his parents find out he and Picky were out late, he gets spanked 100 times; this had to be changed because of Nintendo's rules of content. Thus, in the American version of EarthBound, he gets no dessert for the rest of the decade.
 * Amazing Technicolor Population:.
 * : Or at least he thought of Ness as a friend.
 * Blinding Bangs: To the point where it can be an Eyeless Face.
 * Blond Guys Are Evil
 * Dirty Coward
 * The Drag Along: "Three boys, he said? ...Uhhh...I'm not one of those three, am I?...'Cause... I'm not into this kind of thing at all..."
 * : With in EarthBound, as by the time you fight them Giygas is barely sentient and clearly incapable of acting of his own accord. This could make Porky ; it's very open to interpretation, like most things in MOTHER.
 * Dumb Is Good: As he becomes, his speech is more erudite, as well.
 * Enfante Terrible
 * Evil Costume Switch: As a "consultant" to Fourside's corrupt Mayor, Porky dons a snazzy red suit.
 * : To Ness.
 * Fat Bastard: Up to Eleven, to the point where NPCs always refer to him as a "pig-looking kid". Consider his name, for one.
 * Freudian Excuse: His parents are pretty loathsome. Either one would sell out humanity for a nickel, so it's no surprise that Porky is so susceptible.
 * Gonk: Unlike the chubby but cute and heroic Ness, Porky is a very fat kid who heavily resembles a pig, with the obnoxiousness to boot.
 * I Just Want to Have Friends: According to Word of God. Porky's manifestation in Magicant is quite friendly and wishes to mend fences with Ness.
 * Jerkass: Taken to ever-increasing levels. Just when you think he can't possibly get any worse, he somehow finds a way to top himself. Again. And again. And again.
 * : During the, even though he admits terrifies him as much as Ness.
 * The Load: Although he's only with you at the very beginning of the game, all he does is alternately whine, beg for mercy, hide behind Ness, play dead, and otherwise do nothing to contribute.
 * He manages to keep being the load thereafter by associating himself intimately with whoever happens to be standing in your way at the moment and making it very clear that, now that he has powerful new friends, he's far too good for the likes of you. When you inevitably prevail, he begs for forgiveness just long enough to make a getaway.
 * : To Carpainter and Mayor Monotoli. Also one interpretation of his relation with.
 * Meaningful Name: Yeah, you can't deny he's quite porky.
 * : Steals the chopper Ness is intending to use to fly to Scaraba. Jeff later finds its crashed wreckage in the swamp; Porky somehow managed to navigate it on foot. The kicker, though, is when he pops up in the Cave of the Past after a long absence.
 * More Than Mind Control: As demonstrated when he 'snaps out of' the Happy Happyism Cult brainwashing.
 * : Who better to be than Ness' annoying neighbor?
 * : Taunts Ness to cry out and PRAY to his friends ("I know you have telepathy, or something") for help. ?
 * Not So Harmless
 * : A particularly chilling one during.
 * Retreaux: His battle music starts out like this.
 * Sinister Minister: Blithely resurfaces as a Priest in the Happy Happyist cult.
 * Slasher Smile:.
 * Spell My Name with an "S": Originally "Porky" in Japanese, but because the localization staff apparently missed the joke (and yet kept all the other pig jokes about him and his family), his name in the English version is Pokey. Much later, Super Smash Bros Brawl rectified the mistake and called him Porky, as did the MOTHER 3 fan translation, and fans are divided on what they want to call him.
 * Spider Tank: His preferred method of offence/defence/not dying.
 * This Loser Is You: Yup. Itoi considers Porky "a symbol of mankind".
 * Unfortunate Name: A fat kid named "Porky". He's just asking to be picked on.
 * We Used to Be Friends: Is implied to have been friends with Ness at some point. Though why Ness didn't hang out with Picky instead is anyone's guess.
 * We Will Meet Again: Once Giygas is destroyed,, but not before taunting Ness one last time.
 * Yin-Yang Clash: The Minches are a bizarro reflection Ness' family. Porky does not like steak, which is Ness' canon favorite food.
 * Yin-Yang Clash: The Minches are a bizarro reflection Ness' family. Porky does not like steak, which is Ness' canon favorite food.

Giygas


The Universal Cosmic Destroyer who once again menaces Earth, and according to Buzz Buzz, successfully obliterates it in the future. Things are... different this time.


 * Abstract Apotheosis: Has become evil itself.
 * Background Boss: Played with; Giygas is the background.
 * Big Bad: He must be defeated in order to prevent a Bad Future.
 * Diabolus Ex Nihilo
 * Doppelganger Attack: Smacking him around causes Giygas to split into these, until there's literally a sea of undulating, screaming faces. Y'know, for kids.
 * The Dreaded: Giygas: a physical manifestation of people's fear.
 * Eldritch Abomination: He doesn't have a form, he exists in the future and the past, and his only dialog is inspired by the trauma of viewing a violent murder scene misinterpreted by Itoi as a rape scene in a movie that scarred him when he was a kid.
 * Eldritch Location: It's very easy to interpret him as being this as well, as it's implied that he's just that big and distorted.
 * Evil Is Visceral: He looks like this when the Devil Machine is active. After that... it's a little hard to classify what he looks like, other than Nightmare Fuel personified. Giygas' first form provides one of the page images.
 * Galactic Conqueror
 * Love Makes You Evil: It's suggested that his highly conflicted feelings of love for Mary and hate for mankind, his weakness in MOTHER, are what pushed him over the edge to turn him into his present form.
 * Made of Evil: In MOTHER, he was an angry grey alien. Now he is a disembodied entity of pure evil.
 * Madness Mantra: "Ness Ness Ness Ness Ness Ness Ness Ness Ness Ness Ness Ness Ness Ness Ness Ness Ness Ness Ness Ness Ness Ness Ness Ness NESS NESS NESS NESS NESS NESS NESS NESS..."
 * Mirror Boss: His first form attacks with Psi, and even sports Ness's face.
 * Names to Run Away From Really Fast: The Universal Cosmic Destroyer.
 * No Pronunciation Guide: Really, how do you pronounce "Giygas"?
 * /'gaj.gəs/?
 * Actually a case of Spell My Name with an "S". In Japan, its pronounced "geeg" and the EarthBound Zero prototype calls him the more directly-translated Giegue.
 * Apparently, the most literal translation equals "Gyiyg" (as seen in the Japanese version's opening), pronounced, again, "geeg".
 * Omnicidal Maniac: They call him the Universal Cosmic Destroyer for a reason.
 * One-Scene Wonder: Though he's talked up all throughout the game, you never see his true form until the final battle. It's probably the most memorable part about the game.
 * Red and Black and Evil All Over
 * Restraining Bolt: Pokey's "Devil's Machine".
 * Surprise Creepy
 * Ultimate Evil
 * Vile Villain, Saccharine Show: You would think a series as cartoony and (initially) light-hearted as this would provide only ordinary Nightmare Fuel at worst, but Giygas begs to differ.
 * With Great Power Comes Great Insanity
 * You Cannot Grasp the True Form: Trope Namer.

Mr. Saturn


A race of cute, innocent creatures that live in the secluded Saturn Valley. Actually highly intelligent in spite of their goofy personalities, they.


 * Big Ol' Eyebrows: They all have thick black eyebrows that are much larger than their eyes.
 * Black Bead Eyes: Like everyone else in the series, but exaggerated: they're much smaller than their eyebrows.
 * Cephalothorax: A variation without arms.
 * Cloudcuckoolander: Their very eccentric text font and speech mannerisms are hilarious to read and defuse anything that might make you take them seriously.
 * Every Saturn Is Cuter With Hair Decs: Every Mr. Saturn sports a cute red ribbon in their (single) hair.
 * Gag Nose: They possess a round, large nose that's almost as large as their body.
 * Genius Ditz: The entire species.
 * Painting the Fourth Wall: Mr. Saturns weird very font have, boing!
 * Planet of Hats: Every Mr. Saturn is named Mr. Saturn.
 * Punny Name/Lost in Translation: Mr. Saturn in Japanese is Dousei-san - which means both "Mr. Saturn" and "Mr. Samename".
 * Ridiculously Cute Critter: All Mr. Saturns are absolutely adorable and eccentric creatures; they're usually what people think of when the EarthBound/MOTHER series is brought up.
 * Verbal Tic: Their speech is littered with "zoom"s, "boing"s and "ding"s.
 * Waddling Head: Their main "body" consists of their head, their face and a pair of feet.
 * Wingdinglish: Mr. Saturn's speech is displayed in loopy, childish font to emphasize their odd speech patterns, zoom.

Buzz-Buzz
A small, bee-like (or not) visitor from the future, who has traveled back in time to warn Ness of Giygas' pending invasion.


 * Almost-Dead Guy: The page picture.
 * First Episode Spoiler: Killed only a few minutes into the game, after putting the plot in motion.
 * Glass Cannon: Powerful attacks and psychic shields. Killed in a single swat.
 * I Am Not Weasel: "A bee I am... not."
 * Psychic Powers
 * Sacrificial Lamb
 * A Taste of Power: Without him, you probably wouldn't survive that first Starman fight. Too bad he gets squished only a few minutes later.

The Runaway Five (The Tonzura Brothers)
A famous jazz band that the party befriends in Twoson after helping them out of their debts.


 * Big Damn Heroes:.
 * Expy: Themed after the Blues Brothers. The English version reduced this by recolouring their black suits into brighter colours.
 * Work Off the Debt: They're not too great with contract negotiations. The party has to bail them out twice. Though they do repay the favor by giving them rides in their tour bus, and by.
 * Work Off the Debt: They're not too great with contract negotiations. The party has to bail them out twice. Though they do repay the favor by giving them rides in their tour bus, and by.

Dr. Andonuts


A brilliant scientist from Winters. He is Jeff's father, and helps the party on numerous occasions with his inventions; from the flying Sky Runner to the.

.


 * Absent-Minded Professor: To the point where he apparently forgot he had a child.
 * Cloudcuckoolander: Upon seeing his son for the first time in ten years, he asks him whether he would like a doughnut. If Jeff answers in the affirmative, Dr. Andonuts wistfully comments that he'd like one, too.
 * Einstein Hair
 * Gadgeteer Genius: Must run in the family.
 * Mad Scientist: Though "mad" is a strong word, he's clearly not entirely there.
 * Omnidisciplinary Scientist: A world-renowned expert in robotics, physics, medicine, engineering...
 * Parental Abandonment: Hasn't seen his son, Jeff, in ten years despite living a short walk away from his boarding school.
 * Parental Abandonment: Hasn't seen his son, Jeff, in ten years despite living a short walk away from his boarding school.

Tony
Jeff's best friend and roommate at his boarding school. He frets over Jeff during his friend's long and dangerous adventure and worries about his health and safety; even going so far as to try to get to know the mysterious person guiding them.


 * Boarding School: Attends one in Winters.
 * Clingy Jealous Guy: A pretty benign example, but he gets awfully anxious whenever he thinks that Jeff is ignoring him for his new friends.
 * Fourth Wall Observer: He is the only character who addresses the player directly, calling to ask for your name.
 * Invisible to Gaydar
 * Nice Hat: A porkpie.
 * Nice Hat: A porkpie.

Apple Kid


An aspiring inventor that Ness & Co. inadvertently start funding. His odd (and oddly-specific) inventions come in handy throughout the game. He proves himself capable by.


 * Fat Bastard: Played with and averted nicely. He's perceived as one by the people of Twoson owing to his bulk, lack of self-hygiene and poor social skills... but he proves himself to be anything but and is critical in Ness's success.
 * Gadgeteer Genius: Apple Kid's inventions are odd, but they get the job done. His special "erasers" can erase iron statues, making him a necessity for Ness and party to progress, and his zombie paper is very effective in dealing with zombies.
 * Mad Scientist
 * Never Accepted in His Hometown: Widely disliked in his hometown of Twoson in favor of his more charming and less talented rival, Orange Kid.
 * Phlebotinum Bomb: Specializes in making extremely specific machines that only erase, for example, pencils. Or erasers.
 * Phlebotinum Bomb: Specializes in making extremely specific machines that only erase, for example, pencils. Or erasers.