The NZA Posted May 27, 2006 Share Posted May 27, 2006 Known as the sequel to "Mother" in japan, this obscure SNES RPG got some hype in its time - odd ads here & there in magazines (including a contest involving scratch & sniff of putrid scents), even came with its own strategy guide. Sadly, it was in the pre-FF VII days when RPG's were an obscure niche over here, so it never got the attention it deserved - though its main character Ness became a staple in Nintenod's Super Smash Bros series (the game's stuido, HAL lab, is/was a 2nd party company of Nintendo's), the sequel for the game, once thought to be on the vaporware N64 DD, has long since disappeared, so here's to the honly chapter that saw US realease. The game was very different from toher japanese RPG's, in that it invovled a boy, in modern times, trying to save his world from some form of alien invasion. Along the way, it quickly becamse a quirky adventure where monsters didnt so much drop gold as they did inspire your dad (who you could only reach on the phone) to deposit more $ in your ATM. Yo-yos and baseball bats were weapons, and the enemies were blue religous cults, starmen, and hippies. The game's most noted for its irreverent humor, which was seen by many as a bit of a parody on how the japanese see western society: your party clearly gets overlooked by consumers in shopping malls, tanning resorts, and all sorts of oddities. By the game's end, you'dve wandered deserts, rode the lochness monster, fought abonminable snowmen, heled a living dungeoun improve his layout, been a Beatles groupie, and gone to the moon. It was so awesome. Says Wikipedia: EarthBound is set in the year "199X" in the small town of Onett, part of Eagleland. The main character, Ness, wakes up when a meteor falls close to his house in the middle of the night. He heads out to investigate the meteor, but not before his mother reminds him to change out of his pajamas. At the crash site he meets an insect named Buzz Buzz from ten years in the future who sends him on a quest to destroy the intergalactic destroyer Giygas in this time, because he is too powerful in the time period that Buzz Buzz came from. Ness must then journey through the world, seeking his eight "sanctuaries" where the Earth's power is strongest in order to unite his own powers with the Earth's and gain the strength needed to confront Giygas. This somewhat clichéd plot is intentionally so; the unremarkable story only augments the game's humor. This is evident in the campy dialogue (such as when Ness' mother tells him to be careful while he's out saving the world) and some of the plot elements. One noteworthy moment is Buzz Buzz's demise, a rather unspectacular end for a sturdy creature who travelled ten years in the past and can block powerful psychic attacks. EarthBound breaks the escapist, fantasy-oriented tendencies and themes of most RPGs by placing the action in a modern day world, much like Shin Megami Tensei but without the dark overtones of that series. These changes to typical RPG stories are often taken to an absurd extreme in EarthBound, such as the inclusion of baseball bats and yo-yos as weapons instead of swords or magical staves. One of the most unusual elements of EarthBound may be the fourth-wall-breaking inclusion of the player as an active participant within the story itself, which is in great contrast to the plots of other console RPGs that usually never reference the player behind the controller, let alone incorporate him or her into the story. They also say a sequel mayve seen US realesae on GBA, i gotta look into that. Anyway, with the recent "Collection" lists going around, ive seen acalis & others with a host of SNES RPG classics - this is one of the few that's missing from such lists, and that's a shame. If you cant find a copy, hit me up, i think mine's battery backup still works. More pics + a better review here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Newtype Posted May 27, 2006 Share Posted May 27, 2006 I miss that game. One of the frist things I'm going to download for the Wii. They also say a sequel mayve seen US realesae on GBA, i gotta look into that. There was a sequel for the GBA but only in Japan. EarthBound 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iambaytor Posted May 27, 2006 Share Posted May 27, 2006 I love this game, this is on my oh-so-small list of RPGs that I ablsolutely love with Final Fantasy 3/6, Phantasy Star 4, Shining Force 2, Chrono Trigger, and Breath of Fire 2. I liked how you could set the battles to auto on this one so you didn't actually have to fight. And how did you not mention Mr. Saturn?! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The NZA Posted May 28, 2006 Author Share Posted May 28, 2006 i am a damn fool for not mentioning Mr Saturn. a damn fool. Ill have you know i actually have a windows font in his handwriting, i love him so. newtype - any word on that getting ported? And yes, youre right, im so downloading this on the Wii. baytor - shit man, i somehow didnt know you dug such awesome RPGs. Im still sad i never played past Shining Force 1, and all i remember bout Breath of Fire was buying lost of moster repellant cause i hated fighting too much, but i heard 2 was great. and yeah, not only was auto fighting cool (when it didnt use up your MP), i always thought it had this genuis feature where if im leveled up so high that fighting a little bunny isnt worth my time or XP earned, said creature merely touching him would wipe him out without a fight, due to my awesomeness. That, and the ability to name your favorite things. Nothing like casting Psi Wu-Tang omega or whatever, and then mom saying "Why dont you eat some CRAP before leaving?" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Newtype Posted May 28, 2006 Share Posted May 28, 2006 Don't forget about eating food found from the garbage. This thread gave me an idea for another thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
APANCHALYPSE NOW Posted May 28, 2006 Share Posted May 28, 2006 This was the first (and last) RPG that I beat! JK, but it was the first I beat! I remember back in the day when I named the players, Nick was the blonde kid in the glasses! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iambaytor Posted May 28, 2006 Share Posted May 28, 2006 i am a damn fool for not mentioning Mr Saturn. a damn fool. Ill have you know i actually have a windows font in his handwriting, i love him so. baytor - shit man, i somehow didnt know you dug such awesome RPGs. Im still sad i never played past Shining Force 1, and all i remember bout Breath of Fire was buying lost of moster repellant cause i hated fighting too much, but i heard 2 was great. Damn straight, I'm not sure what came first Moogles or Mr. Saturns but I honestly think one kind of played off the other in some way. Yes I strongly urge you to find a Sega Genesis emulator and a rom of Shining Focre 2 go out and search for a Shining Force 2 cartridge and obtain it by completely legal means and play it, the first one wasn't great but the sequal is... amazing to say the least. The first Breath of Fire was booooooring and yes there were far too many random encounters (Squaresoft seems to get quite a chubby for random battles so they overpopulate the game with them) but Breath of Fire 2 was an excellent game and 3 was just as good. I also forgot to add Secret of Mana to that list, I don't know how I always forget that one. Anyway, back on topic. The thing you said about Earthbound being a parodyish type game puts it in better perspective, I had always just attributed monsters like the "New Age Retro Hippy" to being simply odd Japanese people (any people whose mythology involves a raccoon that can manipulate the size of its testicles is a little off in my book) But some of the things such as Lord Belch and the Bubble Monkey as well as the "magic cake" just struck me as a little odd, but now I get the idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bishopcruz Posted May 28, 2006 Share Posted May 28, 2006 Mother 3 did come out for GBA in Japan recently and there are mumblings of the game coming out here soon too. I think it would be great if they released it as a pack of Mother 1-3 since there was a Mother 1 and 2 release for GBA last year or something in Japan. Oh, and for those who don't know Mother was the name of the game in Japan. Earthbound Zero (Translated but never officially released here) was Mother 1, Earthbound (Mother 2) was the second in the series. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The NZA Posted June 15, 2008 Author Share Posted June 15, 2008 ok, so some good news on this front: sure, the trilogy rumor didnt pan out, but word is the long, long overdue Virtual Console release isnt too terribly far off. Better yet, the fan translation of Mother 3 seems like its moving along nicely, here's to hoping for a ROM release later this year somehow. I know we've read mixed things on it, but im still dying to play it. Also, this Destructoid article gives a fascinating, yet horrifying look at undertones of rape and abortion in Earthbound's final fight that i'm grateful i didnt catch in my youth. seriously, did anyone else catch any of that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lorelei Posted June 15, 2008 Share Posted June 15, 2008 i got a genesis, nes, and snes emulator on my DS hit me up if you wanna know how Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iambaytor Posted June 17, 2008 Share Posted June 17, 2008 Also, this Destructoid article gives a fascinating, yet horrifying look at undertones of rape and abortion in Earthbound's final fight that i'm grateful i didnt catch in my youth. seriously, did anyone else catch any of that? God I should not giggle so hard as that was a freaky read but that last video just did it for me. It doesn't surprise me terribly though, Earthbound had some decidedly dark and creepy subject matter particularly in the zombie town so that's the icing on the cake. Chrono Trigger had similar themes of taking and giving of life, Crono's resurrection obviously representing birth and destroying Lavos' beak only to climb inside it and destroy the small monster within is an obvious analogy of abortion. For a minute there I was afraid you were directing me to something like this How is a gun a metaphor for a penis! I don't know about any of the rest of you, but mine's never killed anyone or even tried for that matter. I thought knives where the phallic symbols, is there anything I can kill somebody with that won't be associated with a cock?! If so, let's make a game using that to shut everyone up! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The NZA Posted June 17, 2008 Author Share Posted June 17, 2008 wait, remind me of the zombie town stuff, its been a while. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iambaytor Posted June 17, 2008 Share Posted June 17, 2008 wait, remind me of the zombie town stuff, its been a while. For me too, it was after you used the Runway Five's bus to get through the tunnel filled with ghosts you got to a creepy town that was infested with zombies, I don't remember many of the particulars but I remember it was rather creepy at the time I played it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benz Posted June 19, 2008 Share Posted June 19, 2008 I had a lot of fun playing Earthbound on rom and SNES emulator through completely legal means. I just wish I hadn't deleted my emulators and ROMs as I don't have internet access with my pc yet, and could use a few good games on there. completely legal means of playing all kinds of games. (Longstory short I accidentally left all my PC games back in NH.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bishopcruz Posted June 19, 2008 Share Posted June 19, 2008 Never did beat this game, I had borrowed it from a friend many moons ago, and had to give it back. Then when I treid it on an emulator I think I made it to the EXACT same place as last time, and stopped. I like it, a lot actually, but for some reason never make it much farther than the introduction of Jeff, so when I read that article I was like Pokey's a BAD GUY? Odd... So am I reading it right that this is a game that pulls a PS2 and kills your heroes at the end? Wouldn't have expected that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The NZA Posted June 19, 2008 Author Share Posted June 19, 2008 damn, well you made it a stretch in, you should really finish it up some time. totally worth it. pokey's not really the bad guy, and the ending doesnt quite go in that direction entirely, just....aw man, play it sometime. i gotta go back one day and emulate the NES one anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The NZA Posted April 10, 2010 Author Share Posted April 10, 2010 PK MASH! - fun Earthbound soundtrack mash-ups. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The NZA Posted April 17, 2013 Author Share Posted April 17, 2013 :cheerleader: :cheerleader: :cheerleader: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Newtype Posted June 18, 2013 Share Posted June 18, 2013 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iambaytor Posted June 18, 2013 Share Posted June 18, 2013 I would really like to play the other two games but it just seems like a pain in the ass getting everything together. Is there just a simple rom/emulator I can use on my computer with a good translation. That worked quite well for the first Clock Tower (the SNES one, still the best) and Bahamut Lagoon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The NZA Posted June 18, 2013 Author Share Posted June 18, 2013 was gonna put up some pirate bay links but fuggit; i can toss my GBA emu + mother 3 ROM into a small RAR and dropbox it here later man. do you want an NES emu as well, or do you got one? ill toss in the Mother 0 w/easy patch for better encounter rates too if you want. ps newt you almost had a +1 for that animation, but...that ending Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Newtype Posted June 18, 2013 Share Posted June 18, 2013 ps newt you almost had a +1 for that animation, but...that ending 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Newtype Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little Nemo McFly Posted February 16, 2016 Share Posted February 16, 2016 MOTHER 3 FINALLY GETTING WESTERN RELEASE http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2016-02-04-mother-3-will-finally-get-western-release-report That's according to a couple of sources close to Nintendo, who have shared the word via Twitter and Reddit.Separately, Eurogamer has heard the same thing. I was told the release is finally happening - via Wii U Virtual Console - to celebrate Mother 3's 10th anniversary of release in Japan. The continued exposure of Mother/Earthbound to the West via Super Smash Bros. has also dramatically helped the franchise gain notability here. "Don't be surprised if Nintendo celebrates a game's 10th anniversary this year," Nintendo tipster Emily Rogers wrote, before posting a picture of Mother character Kumatora. Her account has now been deleted. Apparently, the game's been out on Japan's Virtual Console since December 2015. I've played it though to the very end (New Pork City), way back when - but I never finished it. Used the fan translation assist from Starmen.net. I love Earthbound so hard - one of my favorite RPGs. So glad it's lookin' like Mother 3 is officially comin' over. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The NZA Posted March 5, 2016 Author Share Posted March 5, 2016 soundtrack came in! perfect for a chill saturday vibe 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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