CLASSIC GAMING
Earthbound
Developer:  APE. Inc/HAL Laboratory Inc.
Publisher:  Nintendo
Genre:  RPG
Year:  1994
System:  SNES


We all know mostly how RPGs work.  It's almost always a knight rescuing a damsel or a young kid blessed with some innate power or magical artifact in their family.  And the world is almost always European medieval (with exceptions such as Grandia and Final Fantasy X).  Back in the 90s, RPGs were following this very trend thanks to the likes of Final Fantasy.  But then along came an otherworldly kind of game that set to remake the RPG genre itself into something not so obvious.

Story - Earthbound begins in the most normal circumstances for any normal person about to embark on an adventure.  In the year 199X near the town of Onett in Eagleland (presumably a parody of the USA), a young boy called Ness is awoken by a sudden loud crash nearby.  Walking outside he finds that police have blocked off the area, as a meteorite has apparently landed on the hill nearby.  Made to return to bed, Ness is woken up by his neighbouring friends who wish to sneak out and have a peek at this meteorite.

On finding it, they encounter a being from 10 years in the future known as Buzz Buzz, who tells of the world's impending destruction in his own time by an otherwordly creature known as Giygas.  Buzz Buzz beseeches Ness for his aid in destroying Giygas in Ness' own time, before it became too powerful to stop.  Ness is told to travel throughout the world, seeking his eight "sanctuaries" where the Earth's power is strongest in order to unite his own powers with the Earth and gain the strength needed to face Giygas, as well as joining with three other people fated to save this world from an extraterrestrial apocalypse.


Gameplay - Earthbound is dramatically different from most RPGs in several ways.  Firstly, the game is set on Earth (or at least a parody of it) and as such, the rules, mechanics and enemies of the world are somewhat similar to real life.  Enemies range from snakes to wild dogs, cultists to hippies, mad taxis to killer moles.
On the field you progress via roadways or paths to other places without going to a world map or so.  Not only that but enemy encounters are not random.  Where they appear is random, but you can see them, so you can always try and avoid a battle with them, or get the drop on them first.  However, enemies that are much weaker than you will run away from you and avoid fighting you instead.  Any enemy that is too weak and you can kill in a single blow, will be instantly defeated without even changing to the battle screen, with you still obtaining experience points.
Instead of such places as inns, item stores and weapon stores, there are hotels (that are just like inns), drugstores (that sell cures and for some reason, weapons), hospitals (to cure illnesses) and food stores (to buy food that heals you in the game, be they pizzas or calorie sticks).
Money is in the form of dollars which you can only obtain through ATMs.  Your father will deposit money into your account now and again but only if you call him via a telephone, and the more experience you obtain from fighting enemies, the more money he will depost.  He can also save your game.


Battle is a strange affair in this game also.  When facing an enemy, you can use physical attacks (with the weapons of baseball bats, yo-yos, guns, slingshots and so on), special powers (in this game special powers are psychic powers) and items like any other RPG.  You defeat an enemy and they give you experience points (but no money, though now and again they might drop an item).  You have two meters.  One for HP (which if it entirely runs out, you become unconscious and it's game over) and PP (psychic points, exactly like MP).
Your HP runs out slowly like an odometer, so even if you have been given mortal damage (an amount of damage that is fatal to you) you can still survive IF you either heal yourself quickly or finish the battle before your meter runs out.  This little depth of battle statistics offers a fantastic few moments of intense play.
Not only that but there are a great number of status effects that can be inflicted.  There are the classics such as poison and paralysis and petrification, as well as realistic ones such as colds and nausea and homesickness, all of which have their own cures, some more odder than most (curing homesickness is only done by calling your mother after battle at the nearest telephone, for example).  The game in this way offers a strange blend of realism and fantasy that is a lot more believeable than most RPGs made.

Graphics - Even the graphics are unusual in the game.  With an original style in terms of characters and places, Earthbound has a new view of the world rarely ever seen.  For a start, where most RPGs back then are in a from-above view, this game uses an oblique projectional view (between the view from directly above and the view from ground level).  While the normal NPCs are generally all the same, enemies are of course easy to spot apart from NPCs.  The scenery of the towns and places are quite vibrant and lush, in that classically colourful Nintendonian way.
In a battle, only the enemies are seen, against a very psychedelic background that deepends you into a nearly trance-like state, apart from the world in this little battle.  The PSI attacks are the only attacks that have any graphically present form, shifting into strange graphical lines and shapes against the enemy, causing even more trippier effects to be seen.


Music/Sound - The music by Keichi Suzuki and legendary Metroid composer Hirokazu "Hip" Tanaka is one of the most memorable parts of the game.  Ranging from the gentle homely feel of Twoson to the dystopian alien vibes of the Sanctuary Guardians, every piece of music from town to dungeon has its own little share to offer.
Very little music is recycled in the game (apart from battles, of which there are 10 different themes alone for varying kinds of enemies) and each place is given its own little flavour of atmosphere that will certainly give you an instant impression of what this place is all about.  Sometimes the music is clear and easy listening, other times it's very trippy.  Some pieces of music in the game even have little homages to other musical pieces (from Dvorak to Johnny B. Goode), and as such may give one an extra little grin for such a delighftul snatch of an homage.

Earthbound is a classic of a game that while not spoken of enough, is still a classic for many gamers of Japan and even the USA (as it sadly never reached Europe).  Its legend is even continued with the main hero Ness becoming a fighter in Super Smash Bros Melee (with even two stages from the game).  An easy plot, a vast yet comfortable world strangely alike yet dissimilar from ours, loveable characters from beginning to end, an innovative soundtrack, and one of the greatest, if not certainly memorable, endings in videogame history.  While it set out to be an RPPG (Role Playing Parody Game, in my humble opinion), it became instead part of the genre, blending in as a sly tongue-in-cheeked mimic (in the same way Scream was meant to be a tongue-in-cheek parody of horror films and thus became one itself).
No matter where you live in the world, you can't try to miss this rockin' game.

Final's Final Rating - 10/10

You can't beat the old school games!  This one is awesome!  Ah brings back memories LOL....dating myself haha....as i'm sure all of us feel.

10/10 baby!