Another look back at a classic video game, the Super Nintendo role-playing game EarthBound, and how it differs from other RPG's.
A meteor crashes in a small town in the middle of the night.
Ness, a teenage boy, is awakened by the sounds and heads out to investigate.
After his mother reminds him to change out of his pajamas, of course.
Along the way he encounters a talking bee named Buzz Buzz and discovers that this crashed meteor is part of something very weird and very sinister.
Thus begins the Super Nintendo role-playing game epic EarthBound.
A Different Role-Playing Game
Released in 1995, EarthBound has very similar gameplay to other RPGs of the time but differs greatly in content.
The most striking difference is that it's one of the few RPG titles to be set in a modern time as most take place in the past. A few others are set in the future, but still have characters wielding medieval weapons.
Another disparity lies in EarthBound's lack of violence. You can't kill anything. Violent animals become tame when you do enough damage, any human beings you fight were just brainwashed and turn back to normal when whacked with a baseball bat several times (though robots do have a tendency to explode).
The Delightfully Twisted
Despite the kid-friendless of the game though, it's weird and twisted. Throughout Ness' adventure, he has to deal with a crazed cult who demand everything be blue, a surrealistic nightmare world where everything is neon and best of all: zombies!
There's even a portion that involves a zombie, uh, street worker.
Gameplay
Often considered a downfall, the game uses a battle system similar to the Dragon Quest (Dragon Warrior in North America) series. You don't see your party in fights, just the enemies and all the feedback is given through text.
Many gamers are turned off by this, especially in comparison to modern console RPG battle systems, but it's still enjoyable for some. Kids in Japan, where Dragon Quest is more popular than Final Fantasy in North America, certainly don't have an issue.
One positive about the gameplay is that there are no random encounters. You see the baddies before you're forced to fight them. This gives you the opportunity to run away or even sneak up behind them to get a free shot once the battle starts.
Plot and Party
As with most RPGs, Ness doesn't go it alone. He's first joined by Paula, a girl with psychic powers and later Jeff, an awkward geek who specializes in handling some mean weapons.
Further into the game, the crew links up with Poo, a prince from a distant land who has some insanely powerful psychic ability.
For plot, EarthBound is very point A to point B. There aren't any major plot twists, but story is enjoyable and the non-player characters in the game more than make up for any plot line shortcomings (Come on, what other RPG features a rhythm and blues band as important characters?)
The Sequel and Others
A sequel to EarthBound was planned for the Nintendo 64 but development issue upon development issue eventually resulted in it being scrapped.
For more info about the cancellation, see the fan site STARMEN.NET
There is hope, however. A year ago, the scrapped sequel was released for the Gameboy Advance in Japan, so is there is still a chance of it coming to American shores. Though how it will be received after more than a decade of delays is unknown.
Also released in Japan for the Gameboy Advance was Mother, the original Nintendo game to which EarthBound is a sequel.
For unknown reasons, Mother was actually translated to English but never released.
