EarthBound

The Good
I liked almost everything about this game. Ill start with the music. The music of this game is very unique, and is very peaceful at times, very rockin' and hyper-active at other times. The battle music for each enemy is very good, and the over-world music for each land and place is very good too. Next thing is the story. The story of this game is very good, and it all ties together to make it very good in the end. It all flows together, and adds together nicely. The gameplay is next. The gameplay of this game is very much similar to early Dragon Quest games, but it is still very fun none-the-less. The attacks are very original and very fun to play with. How could you not like sending stars from the sky shooting at your opponents? The characters of this game are very fun to control, and they each have their own wacky sense of humor. When you play this game, it makes you feel like you are actually the main hero, who is formally called Ness.

The Bad
Okay, now, the graphics of this game aren't all nifty and aren't 100% going to make you go 'Wowza!'. The graphics aren't very good, but that shouldn't make you stay away from the game forever. Also, there are a couple of typos in the game, one of which is in a very important speech that says 'unverse' instead of 'universe'.

The Bottom Line
If you are ever offered this game, or want to buy this game, I would say get it. The amount of humor, creativity and greatness put into this game is sensational. I can't see why Nintendo won't give this game another chance. It's very well worth it Nintendo. Heck; it even has 2 sites devoted to it, and 50 Million Fan games that are being made, because fans can't wait any more! Shigesato Itoi, I give you kudos my good sir, for creating the awesome game that is, EarthBound.

The Good
There's a very singular kind of imagination here, and it spills over from the plot to the settings. Areas, though extremely cartoonish, merge seamlessly with the music and mood to create a very solid gameplay experience.

The Bad
I have to dig for bad things, but this definitely isn't for people who can't get along with strange, strange games. Sometimes the difficulty of a new area ramps up a little too high for the player to cope easily.

The Bottom Line
Somebody must have gotten a group of five-year-olds together, fed them acid, and then made frantic arm motions while screaming "You're going on an adventure! YOU'RE GOING ON AN ADVENTURE!!!" and then wrote down everything they said afterwards. The story is tweaked, the dialogue is tweaked, even the items... the whole thing is surrealism as expressed by a kindergardner. To top it all off, every new area tends to be genuinely interesting to explore, and the admittedly simple gameplay never gets in the way of the sense of discovery. Overall, a fine RPG for a collector.

The Good
If you remember the hit Mother (Earthbound for NES) then you can get a picture of what this game is like. It's your same ol' preschool psychic hero saving the world except with better graphics, better gameplay, better story, and pretty much better everything. I was extremely pleased with the music. There's different battle music for all kinds of enemies and the other music is great too.

The Bad
Well, not much really. The only thing I can think is that it was a little too tough early in the game. I know part of RPG's is leveling up and getting stronger, and I'm a hardcore RPG fan, but it was a little to tough to beat some of the Shark Gang and the Robot thing. The Gang members could knock you out in three attacks if not less early on and if you didn't level up then you'd be losing each battle.

The Bottom Line
Excellent game for all you Role Players out there. (yah I'm talkin to you)

The Good
The story, the humour, the music, the characters, everything about this game is great. There are things in the game that are completely pointless except to make the player laugh at them. In every town there is at least one nonsensical person who asks a question just to be silly.

Playing through it more than once is an amazing experience. The first time you are too busy worrying about where to go and what to do. If you forgot something or if you need something.

The only other RPG that I can remember feeling that good about beating was Chrono Trigger, and I've played a LOT of games.

The Bad
Later on in the game the worlds seemed rushed. You spend a good hour or two in each of the first cities but once you get to the end you can basically walk through the last 3 or 4 areas in a half hour.

The Bottom Line
If you play it, take your time and talk/check everything you come upon, you never know what little treats you may find (The bus stops actually work? Took me 2 times through the game to find that out.) Play it and enjoy it for what is there, not what you think should be or what is missing.

Soon, though I'm not sure how soon, Earthbound and Mother (the original), are due out for the GBA some time in the next year or so. With the possibility of Earthbound 2 as well. It is definitely worth the time to play it.

The Good
In 1995, Nintendo of America released a low-key, quirky little Super NES RPG called EarthBound. Though the game had sold very well in Japan (as the sequel to the Famicom hit, Mother), gamers on the American side were not as receptive. After all, this was before Final Fantasy VII had created true believers of the American gaming public in regard to RPGs. As such, there were numerous marketing ploys used in order to move copies: packaging the game with a free strategy guide (unheard of at the time), scratch-and-sniff cards featuring characters from the game, and nearly incessant references to the game's “zaniness” and “trippy battle backgrounds.” Not surprisingly, these tactics backfired (not entirely because of the game's simplistic graphics), and the game sold fairly poorly in the West. The few who actually picked up the game, though, were in for a treat: not only was the game good, but it was a truly unique experience for those who were able to pick up on what the game was trying to do. Not only was the game a solid RPG in its own right, but it served to parody the conventions of the entire genre up to that point in a lighthearted, fun, and downright hilarious manner.

The actual gameplay is pretty standard 16-bit RPG fare: move about on the world map fighting enemies to gain experience, etc. Anyone familiar with any of the first six Dragon Quest games would feel right at home with EarthBound, as there are few differences. The graphics, though charming in their own right, are very simplistic even by 16-bit RPG standards. The music, though catchy, is nothing spectacular (Final Fantasy VI and Chrono Trigger, games that came out around the same time as EarthBound, blow EarthBound away in both areas). In fact, on the surface, EarthBound appears to have nothing original going for it; in that sense, it is not difficult to see why the game might have failed commercially.

EarthBound has many redeeming qualities, however. For one, the setting and subject matter were really unique for a console RPG at the time. Whereas most RPGs up to that point had been pretty standard swords-and-sorcery fare, EarthBound was set in a world very clearly inspired by the United States. The main character, Ness, wore shorts and a baseball cap, wielded a baseball bat as his main weapon, and was from a small, rural town that would remind any American player of similar such towns. The twist, though, was that an alien entity known as Giygas had invaded, and his influence was causing humans and animals alike to behave irrationally and often violently, especially toward Ness and friends. What results is a bizarre yet entertaining take on the United States. The setting feels a lot like bizarro-USA, what would happen if one looked at the US through a Japanese lens and added some weird stuff to it for flavor.

“Weird” is probably the best word to sum up the game in general, but in the highest sense of the word. The game's charm lies in that weirdness, in its quirkiness. The game is quite simply hilarious. There is always some weird joke or spin on an RPG convention that will make many players at least crack a smile, if not laugh out loud. From Picky Minch trying to “cast a magic spell” early in the game, to all of the moles in the desert mine claiming to be “the third strongest,” to rummaging through trash cans to find hamburgers, EarthBound was full of funny and/or strange moments that gave it personality and a unique charm that is very difficult to explain, but easy enough to understand when experienced.

That charm, however, lies distinctly in its existence as a parody of the traditional console RPG. The simple graphics take on an added meaning when viewed as an intentional parody of the then-simplistic nature of RPG graphics compared to other genres, such as action or adventure games. (This was, of course, before Final Fantasy VII came along and made FMVs and shiny graphics mandatory for RPGs.) There were a lot of instances where the game made it explicitly clear that it was aware of its own existence as a video game. The most obvious example of this is when, later in the game, the game stops to ask the player's name. That player later gets another chance to confirm his or her name. Also, when Ness first gets the Town Map from the library, the librarian is sure to remind him to push “You know, the X button... near the top, haha.” While the game puts on an air of being serious, you know it is never taking itself too seriously... and that is what makes the game so fun to experience.

The Bad
Perhaps the best place to start with EarthBound's negative qualities is the most obvious point of contention: its graphics. Despite any claims to the contrary, graphics DO ultimately matter in a game, at least to some degree. Unfortunately, this becomes blatantly apparent in EarthBound. Although the simplistic graphics are intentional and, in fact, poking fun at the lack of graphical prowess of its contemporary RPGs, the game falls far behind many other 16-bit titles in terms of sheer graphical quality. Again, this is intentional, but looks do matter to a large majority of the gaming public, especially in the world of post-Final Fantasy VII console RPGs. (Interestingly enough, an earlier Final Fantasy and contemporary of EarthBound -- Final Fantasy VI -- makes EarthBound look ugly by comparison.)

Another small knock on this game is that its gameplay is, as previously mentioned, little more than a Dragon Quest knock-off: the battles are in first-person perspective, psychic powers are just spells with a different name, and so on. Sure, there are a few modifications, such as the rolling HP counter, the ability to see enemies on the map in place of random “screen-shake” encounters, and so on, but the gameplay is tried-and-true Dragon Quest. Perhaps the designers felt that if they were going to parody the RPG genre, there would be no better place to start than with the prototypical console RPG, Dragon Quest. Then again, maybe they simply went with the design philosophy of “if it ain't broke, don't fix it.”

That style of play, however, makes the game a bit formulaic for an experienced RPG player. With only a little bit of time invested in level-building, for example, it is relatively easy to take on the final boss with an entire party of fully maxed-out, level 99 characters. This is made even easier by the fact that once the “boss” of a “dungeon” has been defeated, enemies on-screen will turn their backs to the player and run, thus leaving themselves open for a green screen (sneak) attack. In some instances, this results in the immediate defeat of the enemies without even initiating combat -- a savvy player can take advantage of this fact to gain experience levels in an incredibly easy and expedient manner.

The Bottom Line
EarthBound simultaneously exemplifies and makes fun of everything about RPGs of the 16-bit era. Everything that it does, it does well, especially when one goes from the assumption that the game was simplistic as part of a statement about the state of 16-bit RPGs. The gameplay is solid, following the Dragon Quest formula, but its quirkiness and seeming awareness of the player outside of the game (especially prevalent in the final boss battle) are what make EarthBound a true 16-bit treasure. It is an absolute pity that the game didn't sell better -- perhaps then the Mother 1 & 2 compilation, not to mention Mother 3, would have seen a stateside release.

The Good
EarthBound (Mother 2) was pretty original for its time for being an RPG set in a modern world, while most RPGs at the time set in Medieval or "steam punk" environments. This makes it seem much more plain and simple, allowing you to travel, manage money, and find rest areas in the game (hotels, specifically). Humor is also a strength in Earthbound, with wacky characters like Mr. Saturns and the Bubble Monkey, bizarre enemy names, and funny comments heard from talking to various people and examining objects.

The Bad
Hate to be a heart breaker, but this game has some negative aspects. First and foremost, the game's graphics are pretty crappy. Now I know that the companies that developed this game spent 5 years developing the graphics to this game, but that was mainly because of the oblique perspective that the game is presented in. The battle sprites look really bad with all the pixel errors found in them, ranging from a few misplaced colors, to a completely ugly design, such as the boss Frank, and the Shattered Man. Also, some of the music is really bad (although there are a few kick-ass melodies in Earthbound that don't go into this complaint, such as "Threed Freed at Last" and the Summers theme), with some tracks having "electric farts" as percussion, and a bad choice of instruments. I found the "Monkey Maze" track particularly annoying with all the monkey screeches and a nauseatingly repetitive melody.

My final complaint is with the game's mixed difficulty. All too many times, I've found myself playing smoothly for a few parts of the game, and then getting frustrated with amazingly hard spots like the Fourside Department Store, and Magicant (You have to face a bunch of Krakens with just one freaking character!), which isn't good for a game targeted for all ages, because kids easily get mad over a game.

The Bottom Line
EarthBound is a funny, creative, and somewhat original game for its time. Released near the end of the SNES's era, it was rather obscure due to strange marketing, with the "This game stinks!" motto, which I think had a pretty negative appeal to the game due to its low sales in the U.S. It's technologically behind, though it was developed carefully and strenuously, but for all the bad sides to the game, it's positives make well up for it.

Bottom Line: EarthBound's for RPG nerds. An average gamer would hardly be interested in playing this game without having played other RPGs around the same time period. Nowadays the only logical way of playing the game is through emulation, since the rarity of the cartridge has made it worth around $100 and a horribly low chance of the game being released on Virtual Console due to the many copyright infringements unintentionally present in the game (find out about these from another source).

The Good
The story is hilarious. The gameplay is as well, and the characters are quirky.

The Bad
The graphics are kinda wonky.

The Bottom Line
Earthbound is fondly remembered by it's fans for being a loving parody of RPGs. You play as Ness, a young boy whose duty it is to save the world with the help of a few friends and his various baseball bats. You are given this mission by a talking bee who was one of the most powerful warriors in the universe, and who dies by getting skooshed. And you can talk to dogs. It's a wierd game, but it's great fun.

The Good
I loved the quality of the Graphics...oh, and the Music was cool. It had a great storyline and It was a challenge. Personally, Threed DID actually scare me!(If they make it a little scary, it's cool!) The Battle background looked AWESOME!!!! I would label this game, "The Best RPG of All-Time!". It is a puzzler, but you will get through the game. You play as the Powerful and PSI'd Ness, The Master of PSI... Paula, then You play as The Genius Jeff, and then You play as a Prince,Poo(funny name! lol). You all go through The Normal town, Ness' hometown, Onett. Then you go through the sweet town, Twoson. THEN, You go through the Scary Zombie filled place,Threed, and Finally you go to the Big City, Fourside. If you are creative, and have lots of strategic skills, you are fit for the game.

The Bad
It was REALLY hard, but I got through it.

The Bottom Line
GO AND BUY THIS GAME!, you will have fun and then addict to it.

The Good
The ending. Seriously. It was the best part of the game. Now, that isn't saying that the rest of the game wasn't likable. Earthbound has a very endearing quality to it. The setting is a modern one -- cityscapes and ATM machines, Yo-yo's and frying pans for weapons, taking a ride on that good ol' public transportation(perhaps the best tune in the game to accompany you). Speaking of music, not all of it is original, or it at least seemed that way --I thought I heard "Hey You" by Pink Floyd hidden in there -- but most of it is enjoyable. This was the first RPG game of this kind that I experienced diagonal walk cycles, a most pleasant surprise. It added to the smoothness of the game. That leads into the graphics, which were pleasing to the eye.

The Bad
Maybe a lot, maybe a little. The story doesn't really carry the game until the end. It feels all over the place, or not really put together. One easily knows what is going on, but not because of story, just instinctually. Most of the conversation is, well, childish, even too childish for a child, I'd say. Corny may be a better word.

The Bottom Line
It is no doubt a game worth playing, if not to kill time, then one to enjoy the experience of something different, or at least somewhat different.

The Good
The battle backgrounds, and some of the music...

The Bad
Okay, this is where it gets interesting. It has NESish graphics (even worse than Super Mario World), and a lack of animation. I mean come on, when a girl kisses Ness, it just says smooch. In SMW, when Peach kisses Mario after saving her, she really kisses him. Not just smooch. When Venus kissed Ness, I wondered that whatever she smacked him, or kissed him. Square could do better music, and besides... MOST OF THE MUSIC IS NOT ORIGINAL WORK!!! The instrument sampling quality sucks. Heck, even the story sucks. Go see the 7 secretaries and defeat Giygas. What a rip-off of the original Sonic the Hedgehog storyline! Oh, and there's even a site FULLY dedicated to EB. Starmen.Net that is a sucky site. Everybody there... All they want is a freaking game called EB! Why Chrono Trigger is 1 multimillion times better than sucky old CursedBound. Yes CT came out the same year, 1995. I wish Square did this game, then it would rock! But Halken did it, so it sucks.

The Bottom Line
Don't get this game. You will be affected by the EB disease, your mind might reject this type of disease. Don't get it on eBay, THE GAME IS TOO EXPENSIVE THERE!!! In fact, even if you are offered this game for free. Don't get it, I want to save everyone of you from this horrible game.