EarthBound Redux

Well, I picked up EarthBound again. If you haven’t heard of it, it’s a famously quirky SNES RPG from 1994. Unusual compared to other RPGs, it’s set in the ’90s, in what very much looks like small-town America. It has a lot of quirky humor, meta references, and is generally pretty goofy. I mean, your main character is a 13-year-old kid, and he starts out with a “cracked bat” as a weapon, so that’s amusing already. I tried playing it for the first time years ago, and stalled out a little ways into the game. It’s particularly inscrutable, even as SNES RPGs go, and the inventory limitations are rather frustrating as well. But I think this time will stick. I’m enjoying it, taking my time, exploring, and just kind of immersing myself in the world in general. And it’s delightful. The music is really nice. It’s cute and colorful and fun. Bonus: at one point you have the unique pleasure of a little boss rush of the whole local police force, including the chief! That was satisfying.

Interestingly enough, there is another game very similar to EarthBound which never made it to the US. It’s called G.O.D.: Mezameyo to Yobu Koe ga Kikoe (IIRC, G.O.D. stands for something like “Growth or Devolution”) and it came out in 1996, right near the end of the Super Famicom’s lifetime (keep in mind, FFVII came out in 1997). Thankfully, an English fan translation exists, and it’s now accessible to an English-speaking audience. The game is also set in what appears to be the ’90s, and while it starts in Japan, the journey takes your characters all over the world, including a warped, mirror-world version of the US. It’s delightfully weird, but I will also say that the story is one of the saddest I have ever seen in an RPG, even to date. I played through it a number of years ago and absolutely loved it, though. I am very excited for my favorite retro gaming podcast, Classic Gaming Today, to cover the game, as I asked to have a sponsored episode cover it. So hopefully we’ll all hear about it soon, and I’m psyched to be able to do a “sponsor message” before the episode to introduce it.

So in a way G.O.D. is the anti-EarthBound. It has a modern setting, but is a much more traditional RPG than EarthBound, even though both have the over-the-shoulder 3rd-person battle screens. G.O.D. was much more accessible for me, since I am used to Final Fantasy and other RPGs that are a little more straightforward. But EarthBound has a whole lot of charm, and I think it’s sucked me in this time. I’d really like to keep playing and eventually finish it up. It’s lauded as one of the greatest RPGs of all time, and I think with good reason. Besides, then I’ll probably go back and revisit EarthBound Zero (= Mother) on the NES, and eventually Mother 3 on the Game Boy Advance. What can I say? I love RPGs, especially ones on NES and SNES, though I firmly believe that the SNES had one of the best slates of RPGs the world has ever seen. PSX and PS2, to be sure, were also quite nice, but there is nothing for me like a SNES RPG. Final Fantasy IV, VI, Chrono Trigger – those will always be some of my favorite games of all time. No need to “set aside childish things.” In terms of loving things I loved when I was a preteen, I figure there are much worse things I could still be into.

If y’all have never played EarthBound, I really recommend checking it out. I was talking with my best friend about it and she said she knew Ness from Super Smash Bros, but not much more than that. And of course, if you’re comfortable patching ROMs, G.O.D. is an excellent game and well worth playing. I find it to be a really nice, albeit super dark, companion piece to EarthBound.

I’ll write more soon. It’s been a busy week, even though we took Monday off, and I have Friday and next Monday off also. I’m tired but looking forward to resting up a bit on that time off. Thanks for reading, as always, friends <3