EarthBound: Difference between revisions

[[Up to Eleven|And then there's]] '''''[[EarthboundEarthBound]]'''''.

''EarthBound'' is a [[SNES]] game about Ness, a seemingly normal boy in [[Eagle Land]] who is awakened by a meteorite landing outside town late at night. The meteorite brings a bee ([[I Am Not Weasel|or not]]) from the future, who tells of [[Apocalypse How|its devastation]] at the hands of an indestructible being, [[Eldritch Abomination|Giygas]] -- a being Ness is destined to defeat. Ness' journey to stop Giygas will take him through time and space to meet the remainder of the [[The Chosen Many|Chosen Four]] (Paula, Jeff, and Poo) and collect the Eight Melodies for his [[Sound Stone]] to unite the power of the Earth as his own.

''EarthBound'' is the second of a series of Japanese role playing games known as ''[[Mother]]'', an experiment in storytelling in a different medium by Japanese essayist [[Shigesato Itoi]]. It's known as ''MOTHER 2: [[Revenge of the Sequel|Gyiyg Strikes Back]]'' in Japan and serves as a loose sequel to ''[[MOTHER 1]]'', since the setting of ''MOTHER 1'' and ''MOTHER 2''/''EarthBound'' are essentially the same ([[Eagle Land|an affectionate homage]] to 1950s America). ''EarthBound'' is the only game in the series to receive an official release in North America (as Nintendo has [[No Export for You|no plans for a North American release]] for ''[[Mother 3]]'').

For a long time, ''EarthBound'' was the only game in the series to receive an official release in North America, as Nintendo had [[No Export for You|no plans for a North American release]] for ''[[Mother 3]]''. ''MOTHER 1'' [[What Could Have Been|was originally planned for North American release]] and was originally titled ''Earth Bound'' itself, but Nintendo of America scrapped release plans after work on its translation was completed, since the [[Super Nintendo]] had already launched (making it Nintendo's major focus). A prototype of the translation game surfaced years later in the hands of a collector; this ROM was dumped and eventually released as ''[[MOTHER 1|Earthbound Zero]]''. A official translation version of the game (based in the [[Updated Rerelease]] for Game Boy Advance) was released in the Nintendo e-shop under the name ''Earthbound Beginnings''. As of November 2021, there are ''still'' no plans for a North American release of ''Mother 3''.

''EarthBound'' is best known for its unusual gameplay: fantasy monster-slaying gives way to a modern-day urban setting, with slingshots, frying pans, and baseball bats taking the place of swords, axes, and magic staffsstaves. Rather than goblins and orcs and other fantasy creatures, Ness and his friends battle drunks, hippies, angry taxicabs, a cult dedicated to worshipping the color blue, and ''a giant circus tent''. Most of ''EarthBound's''its humor humor focuses on how the West is viewed by other countries (Asia/Japan in particular), with references to [[The Beatles (band)|The Beatles]] and The [[Blues Brothers]] scattered throughout the game. ''EarthBound's''The sheer level of [[Nightmare Fuel]] is perhaps more famous than itsthe game's quirky humor; amongst the major sources of terror are a ''profoundly'' disturbing final dungeon and a final boss whose [[Nightmare Fuel|genuinely chilling]] [[Mind Screw]] horror has led to tons and tons of [[Memetic Mutation]].

The North American release of ''EarthBound'' is notable for including an official [[Strategy Guide]] with every copy, despite costing as much as other games of its day (a sign of how much faith Nintendo had in the game's ability to sell). Due to an odd -- and failed -- [http://earthboundcentral.com/2009/01/earthbounds-marketing-campaign/ advertising campaign], a simplistic visual style (considering this is when everyone was fawning over the advanced graphics of ''[[Donkey Kong Country]]'s'' advanced graphics), and a general lack of interest in RPGs (at the time), ''EarthBound'' didn't sell anywhere near enough copies to pay back Nintendo's significant advertising investment. In the intervening years, however, ''EarthBound'' has become a [[Cult Classic]] (to say the least) which is fondly remembered (and recommended) for its diverse soundtrack, unique gameplay, and undeniable charm -- aspects covered by [[The Happy Video Game Nerd]]'s half-hour ''EarthBound'' review (which can be watched at [https://web.archive.org/web/20140328224836/http://retrowaretv.com/happy-video-game-nerd-earthbound-reedit/ Retroware TV] or [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQ4AictvRdU YouTube]).

As a side note: Ness and Lucas (the protagonist of ''[[Mother 3]]'') [[Marth Debuted in Smash Bros|are probably best known to Western audiences via their appearances]] in the ''[[Super Smash Bros.]]'' games.

* [[All Cavemen Were Neanderthals]]: One of the enemies hanging out around Stonehenge is the stereotypical neanderthal, complete with fur tunic and club.

* [[Amazing Technicolor Battlefield]]: inIn every battle.

* [[Anyone You Know]]: Used {{spoiler|in one of the most emotional boss battle endings ever.}}.

* [[Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever]]: {{spoiler|When you get to the lost world,}}, your size shrinks thanks to how huge everything (including the enemies) are compared to your normal size.

* [[Awesome but Impractical]]: The Casey Bat.

** Jeff is this to Ness and Paula, although notduring the player; you actually have to go save Ness and Paula while playinginvasion asof JeffThreed.

** {{spoiler|You, the player, enter your name multiple times throughout the game, under the guise of Jeff's friend Tony contacting you via phone.}}.

** Finally, {{spoiler|the ''player'' helps to destroy Giygas, and is thanked by name, as per above.}}.

* [[Chekhov's Gun]]: {{spoiler|The meteor that kicks off the adventure is used much, ''much'' later to provide what you need for time travel.}}.

* [[Circle of Friendship]] / [[Clap Your Hands If You Believe]]: {{spoiler|Giygas is ultimately defeated by people all around the world joining in prayer... including the player.}}.

* [[Continuity Nod]]: Several music cues are taken from the previous game. For example, Ness's eight "Your Sanctuaries, the" (places where he finds the Eight Melodies,) use for background music a remix of Queen Mary's Lullabye,lullaby akaa.k.a. [[MOTHER 1|the original Eight Melodies]]. Also, the first time you leave your house during the day, "Pollyanna" (the outdoor theme from ''EarthBound Beginnings'' for when Ninten travels alone) plays for a few bars before seguing into the Onett theme; the full song is used for Ness's house from this point until the endgame.

* [[Covers Always Lie]]: On the cover, Ness is reflected in the [[Boss in Mook Clothing|Final Starman's]] visor. By the time you ''do'' encounter the Final Starman, you'll be in [[The Very Definitely Final Dungeon]]. The offense? {{spoiler|You're in robotic bodies at that point, so Ness' face is not visible}}. It is possible that {{spoiler|the face is Giygas's and not Ness's: Giygas can and does have Ness's face at one point, and Final Starman can be directly taking its orders. The face seems to be inside a sphere, as well}}.

* [[Damage Sponge Boss]]: The Clumsy Robot - your party is incomplete for this fight, and the Robot can take a lot of punishment. Worse, sometimes it eats a bologna sandwich (somehow) and maxes out its HP again . . . {{spoiler|Except it doesn't. The sandwich does nothing, and the battle dialog actually lies to your face about it.}}.

* [[Dark World]]: Moonside, though {{spoiler|it's a hallucination caused by the Mani Mani Statue}}.

* [[Death Is a Slap on The Wrist]]: While you lose half your money when your party is defeated, the ability to keep your money in an ATM basically means that you never need to lose ANY amount of money. A game over is more or less an inconvenience, rather than any sort of peril to avoid. It's worth it to note that dying and continuing leads to only your front character being alive (and with no PP). In certain areas, this leads to some difficult situations.

* [[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?]]: {{spoiler|Ness didn't, Paula didn't, Jeff didn't, Poo didn't, but '''''you, the player, sure as hell did!'''''}}

* [[Don't Explain the Joke]]: In the Japanese version, the welcome sign for Twoson tells you that it is the second town and asks, "Did you notice?". The English version [[Woolseyism|handles this]] by saying, "We got this name because we weren't first."

* [[Duel Boss]]: Ness's Nightmare. Also, the bosses encountered before meeting Paula - Frank Fly, Frankystein Mk. II, and the Titanic Ant.

** There's also a [[Development Hell|planning meeting]] for ''[[Mother 3|EarthBound 2]]'' in Fourside. Which only twists the knife if you live [[No Export for You|outside Japan]].

* [[Enlightenment Superpowers]]: This is how Prince Poo gets two critical level ups. {{spoiler|Coupled with a [[Journey to the Center of the Mind]], it's also how Ness gets his biggest level up of the game going into the [[Grand Finale]].}} .

* [[Fantasy Counterpart Culture]]:

** [[Eagle Land]]: Both the [[Trope Namer]] and a solid Flavor 1.

** [[Wutai]]: Dalaam.

** [[Qurac]]: Scaraba.

** [[Darkest Africa]]: Deep Darkness.

* [[Five-Man Band|Four Man Band]]:

** [[The Hero]]: Ness.

** [[The Lancer]] / [[The Chick]]: Paula.

** [[The Smart Guy]]: Jeff.

** [[The Big Guy]]: Poo.

* [[Girl of My Dreams]]: Can happen with Ness --: if he sleeps in inns before he battles the Happy Happyists, he will receive psychic pleas from the imprisoned Paula.

* [[Global Currency]]: Slightly more acceptable here. Sure, the world only uses one currency, but it's ''dollars''. And stuff in other countries is more expensive, but this may be because of the [[Sorting Algorithm of Weapon Effectiveness]], and one of the last towns is a tourist resort. The signs for stores in other countries also make a point of stating that they do indeed accept Eagleland currency, something real foreign stores would do to promote tourist spending.) It starts to get ridiculous though when a FLOATING KINGDOM only accessible by teleportation is seen to accept them...

** [[GuideIn Dangthe It]]:last Figuringmoments outof thatthe you'refinal supposedbattle towith Giygas, {{spoiler|pray}} in the finalplayer battle-- canas bein, toughthe withoutone checkingholding athe guide,controller -- as thein, game''YOU''}} onlyjoin dropsthe aparty. fewAnd subtleit hintsis ''awesome''.

* [[I Know Kung Faux]]: Onett police force Cpt. Strong uses Super Ultra Mambo-Tango-Foxtrot Martial Arts.

** [[Instant Awesome, Just Add Dragons]]: The bag of dragonite, which turns the player into a dragon temporarily, has no explanation where it comes from or how it is made. Although a monkey wonders, "is it really made by dragons?".

* [[Insurmountable Waist High Fence]]: Parodied - at one point your path is blocked by a statue of a pencil. In the original Japanese, it was of an octopus.

** LaterParodied: onat isone another parodypoint, whereyour the blockadepath is anblocked eraser statue. Originally, it wasby a statue of a type ofpencil. dollIn (the itemoriginal to removeJapanese, it formswas aof playan on words in Japanese)octopus.

*** Later on is another parody, where the blockade is an eraser statue. Originally, it was a statue of a type of doll (the item to remove it forms a play on words in Japanese). Granted, the English version [[Cultural Translation|retains that sort of pun]]--: the pencil statues are removed using a Pencil Eraser. No prizes for guessing what removes the eraser statue.

* [[Interface Screw]]: In Moonside, yes means no, and no means yes.

* [[Joke Item]]: The Insignificant Item, among others.

* [[Karma Houdini]]: Pokey Minch. {{spoiler|Naturally, he returns as the [[Big Bad]] in ''Mother 3.''}}.

** ''[[EarthboundEarthBound]]'' is where [[YouTube]]'s most popular Let's Player, [[Chuggaaconroy]], got his start.

* [[Literal Junk Food]]: Ness could pick up hamburgers from trash cans early in the game.

* [[Look What I Can Do Now!]]: Poo returns from training to demonstrate new power on a boss obliterating it with PK Starstorm.

* [[Made of Explodium]]: ''Trees!''Several enemies explode when you defeat them causing massive damage:

** The Smilin' Sphere!'Trees''!

* [[Magic Meteor]]: The meteor that starts Ness' adventure. Not only was the time traveler Buzz Buzz riding in it, but the meteor contains a material needed for time travel.

* [[Mayor Pain]]: Mr. Monotoli. {{spoiler|Or so it seems at first.}}.

* [[Muck Monster]]: Master Belch, Master Barf, and the Big Pile of Puke.

* [[Musical Pastiche]] and [[Sampling]]: It's used so frequently that the resulting legal muck is the most common theory behind why this game is not going to see an international re-release. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0n4cs7Z7mDY This video] shows the nearly insane amount of sampling that's gone into the soundtrack. It's amazing how being a small unheard-of RPG that's a commercial disaster in the USA allows this sort of [[Getting Crap Past the Radar|Getting Unlicensed Sampling Past The Radar]]. Most notably:

** The almost surely lawsuit-inducing [[The Beatles (band)|Beatles]] [[Suspiciously Similar Song]] version (the Saturn Valley music is supposedly inspired by "Wild Honey Pie", the "waking up in a hotel theme" starts with a short quote from "Good Morning, Good Morning", and the shop theme resembles "When I'm Sixty-Four") and samples (the Dungeon Man theme samples the beats from "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)", entering Giygas' lair gives a short sample from the opening ''Marseillaise'' bit of "All You Need Is Love").

** The "Sky Runner" theme uncomfortably resembling the opening synth from [[The Who]]'s "Won't Get Fooled Again", one of the battle themes being an outright rip from The Champs' 1956 hit "Tequila", the naming screen theme using a short sample from the ''[[Monty Python's Flying Circus]]'' theme, "Moonside Swing" sampling from [[The Cars|Ric Ocasek's]] song "Keep On Laughing".

** The Jackie's Cafe song sampling the ''[[Our Gang]]'' theme and interpolating "The Star-Spangled Banner" .

** The Runaway Five's final performance resembling [[The Doors]]' "The Changeling".

{{quote| You will be gone, and you'll be burning in... Well, you'll go to heaven!}}

*:* Enemies don't "die", though what happens to them varies; they:see [[Non-Lethal KO]] below.

* [[Non-Lethal KO]]: Somewhat justified by the fact that the message you receive depends on the type of enemy defeated --: wild animals turned evil by Giygas' influence "become tame," inanimate objects like vinyl records and coffee cups "stop moving," mobile plants also "stop moving," human enemies possessed by Giygas "return to normal," and so on. When you encounter the undead and {{spoiler|''ghosts of past enemies''}}, it's pretty clear some of them do die. Undead enemies "return to the dust of the earth," and {{spoiler|ghosts}} "melt into thin air.". Other enemies simply get "defeated" or "disappear" when beaten in battle, so it's tough to tell what really happens to them.

* [[Non-Linear Sequel]]{{context}}

* [[Nostalgic Music Box]]: The final rendition of the Eight Melodies, just before entering Magicant.

* [[Older Than They Look]]: Most of the main cast, thanks to the graphics style. [[Word of God]] says that Ness is 13 years old, but based on his appearance inas the [[Superadults Smashtend Bros]]to series,blend you'din thinkeven hein wasa betweencrowd eight andof tenchildren.

* [[Outside the Box Tactic]]: Continuing the series-wide trend, the [[Final Boss]], {{spoiler|Master Giygas}} cannot be defeated via normal tactics. You must {{spoiler|use Paula's ''Pray'' command ten times before you, the player, defeat him.}}.

* [[Parental Abandonment]]: Ness's father communicates over the phone often enough, but is never home. Jeff's father hasn't seen him in ten years despite living fairly near his boarding school (and this is a twelve to fourteen year old boy) and seems to think nothing of it; his mother is [[Missing Mom|never mentioned]]. Poo's parents are nowhere in sight--affairs of state, perhaps? Paula is the only one of the four protagonists to have parents that are both alive and present.

* [[The Player Is the Most Important Resource]]: In the final battle, {{spoiler|your faith in the characters is what defeats Gigyas.}}.

*** And what are those numbers added up? Nin'''Ten'''do! Although that might not have been intentional.

** One removed from the American version: the third town was originally named Threek, combining both the numerical theme along with a scream of surprise and alarm. Perfect for a haunted town. Nintendo had it changed to "Threed" out of fears that someit stupidcould parentsbe would think itread wasas a reference to the KKK.

* [[Recurring Traveler]]: theThe photographer who descends from the sky in certain places.

** {{quote|"Say 'Fuzzy Pickles'!"}}

* [[Recursive Canon]]: One NPC wonders if the new video game ''[[EarthboundEarthBound]]'' has been released yet.

* [[Say My Name]]: One of {{spoiler|Giygas}}'s attacksattack dialogues has him saying the hero's name over and over, which can lead to a hilarious or disturbing results if one abused the [[Hello, Insert Name Here]] feature.

* [[Shout-Out]]: Many, a good majority of them to [[The Beatles (band)|The Beatles]].

* [[Sorting Algorithm of Evil]]: Mostly played straight, but for a moment at the beginning when {{spoiler|Giygas}}, in a moment of being [[Dangerously Genre Savvy]], decides to [[No-Nonsense Nemesis|just kill Ness]] before he becomes a nuisance by sending a [[Warmup Boss|Starman Jr.]] atafter them at the start of the game. Thankfully, the good guys were equally smart and sent in [[Crutch Character|Buzz Buzz]] too, thus canceling each other out.

* [[Spikes of Villainy]]: The Starman Deluxe and the Final Starman, which are respectively stronger versions of the Starman and the Super Starman [[Recycled in Space|WITH SPIKES!]].

* [[Spinning Out of Here]]: Like in ''[[MOTHER 1]]'', teleporting requires rapid, uninterrupted acceleration before zooming off to the destination, so areas with limited space to build speed require moving in circles to avoid crashing. One teleport ability requires the player to turn manually, while the other one automatically makes the party move in a tight spiral.

* [[Standard Status Effects]]: asAs well as many non-standard ones. Characters can be affected by sickness, heat stroke, ghostly possession, homesickness (in Ness' case --: this happens at random, and it's cured by calling Mom), mushroom growth, the common cold, uncontrollable crying...

* [[Sudden Downer Ending]]: ItsThe horrifying final level is probably what it's best known for. The actual ending once {{spoiler|Giygas}} is out of the way definitely doesn't fall into this, though.

* [[Surprise Creepy]]: Most of the game is a gloriously strange and funny romp through childhood, and then {{spoiler|you enter Giygas' Lair.}}.

* [[Time to Unlock More True Potential]]: The massive powerup Ness gets at the end of Magicant.

** OrThe themassive onepowerup PooNess gets inat the formend of a 'Message that has stat gains written on itMagicant.'

* [[Trauma Inn]]: Subverted;: hotels restore HP and MP, but don't heal status effects --... you have to go to a hospital for that.

* [[Two Guys and a Girl]]: Although in fact it would be ''three'' guys and a girl, for a long part of the game this is the basic formation. It even goes back to [[Two Guys and a Girl]] later in the game, as Poo leaves temporarily in order to learn PK Starstorm and re-joins them later.

* [[Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds|Woobie, Destroyer of Universes]]: See Tear Jerker in the YMMV tab. If you've played the first game, Giygas' lines come off very differently. This doesn't make him any [[Eldritch Abomination|less]] [[You Cannot Grasp the True Form|terrifying]].

* [[You All Look Familiar]]: aA few NPC sprites, including whatone who some gamers call "[[Mr. T]]".

* [[Zombie Apocalypse]]: Happens in the town of Threed., Sortsort of.

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