Game Review: Earthbound!

A few weeks ago marked the end of the Club Nintendo year which tallied up the amount of coins each member received from registering Nintendo games and hardware as well as by taking surveys both at registration and post-play. Normally, the items offered as a reward were exclusive physical items that you could only get through this program but to many people's disappointment, instead members who reached Gold and Platinum tier were given one free downloadable game for the Wii U or Nintendo 3DS. Since I had reached the latter tier, I wanted to pick a game offered only to Platinum and while none of the games were a real attention grabber, Earthbound stood out to me since it's recognized by most as a cult classic and is also the home to the main hero Ness who for most I imagine, is recognized from the Super Smash Bros series. Then there's also the whole struggle of trying to get the 3rd entry of the franchise localized over to the U.S. to a point where I believe there's a fan version being worked on right now!
Earthbound, or as it's known in Japan as Mother 2: Gyiyg Strikes Back, is an RPG that was originally released on the Super Nintendo back in 1995. This wasn't your traditional setting that you find in most games of this genre, you know Dragons, Mages, Demons etc. Instead you were placed in a modern like world known as Eagleland and were placed in the shoes of Ness, a young boy from the town of Onett! After discovering a meteorite crash near his house, he is then tasked to set off on a journey to help repel the incoming attack by a mysterious evil. Along the way you befriend 3 other characters who join your party: Paula from Twoson, genius boy Jeff, and Poo the Crown Prince of Dalaam.

Your main party throughout the game outside a Pizza joint.

Gameplay is typical of RPG's consisting of a World Map where you travel around each area you visit, and having battles with enemies if you run into them. Battling can start off normal, you getting a pre-emptive strike, or having the opponent get the first jab on you. This can easily be distinguished based on the color of the transition screen (Green is good, Red is OH GOD NO). Along with your standard attack, players can also utilize special PSI moves such as Freezing, Thunder, Fire a Row of enemies as well as healing and shielding your party. Paula, Jeff, and Poo also have special abilities that I didn't really use that often since some were useless or just downright dangerous. Paula for example can Pray for a turn and that can either hinder the enemy, give your party a boost or actually screw you with a wave of de-buffs (this gave me Game Overs multiple times).

Sometimes your party will miss multiple times or in the case of Ness, not move at all because he can actually get homesick and miss his Mom (Oh you miss eating Steak? ATTACK INSTEAD JEEZ). Weapons and armor can be purchased as well as food which you can store and use at any point. You save the game by calling up your Dad who also constantly gives you money into your ATM account which can be taken from...an ATM machine. Battles are also turn based so you can put thought into each and every move. If your characters receive a critical blow you can actually save them by healing the injured member before his/her HP drops to 0 otherwise they can be revived by certain items, spells or by releasing them from a Hospital in town.

A small example of how weird/hilarious the game's translation is

Something I should point out, if you decide to get this game (my overall ruling will be down below) be prepared to get angry and have lots of trouble. This isn't easy by any means, I was told by a friend who played this before that Earthbound was so hard that in the original release, the game came with the Strategy Guide because people had no damn clue what to do. Apparently it's more vague in terms of what you need to do than say Final Fantasy! I'm not joking throughout the whole game I used an online walkthrough to make sure I didn't screw up (though I did many times and boy did I get pissed). There's your warning.

The story in this game is actually pretty well written and hilarious with what the translation team did when this was localized. I laughed at some of the phrases some NPC's stated ("Jeff wets the bed constantly" WTF?) and it was touching at some points. The clever use of the 4 main town names was great. The music is amazing, since I only knew Earthbound through Ness' inclusion in Smash Bros, I geeked out over the recognizable tunes that debuted in Melee and Brawl (Fourside, Onett), as well as some of enemies and items that were in the fighting game as trophies or items (Franklin Badge). 

Typical Battle Screen!

Earthbound didn't do very well initially when it was released but as time moved on and with the series getting a representation in SSB, it earned it's place as a timeless classic and I can see why having played through this in it's entirety. Playing this on the Wii U, I mainly used the Gamepad's screen and had no trouble at all.

Should you Play this Game?
Yes, Earthbound is a memorable yet difficult RPG that takes you all over the place as you fight off against aliens and piles of puke. If you managed to get Platinum status on Club Nintendo, pick it up for free (I'm not sure if the deal is still available now) or try to purchase it over on the Wii U Virtual Console!