…I have some feelings. Though I was largely ignorant of the actual substance of the adventure, I was well aware of EarthBound’s reputation going in. I knew it was “weird”. Different. Quirky. But even so, EarthBound is a game that never stopped surprising me. For starters, this is easily one of the funniest video games I’ve ever played, and while some of the humor is the sort of fourth-wall breaking stuff one finds in plenty of retro-inspired games these days, most of the game’s funniest moments for me came from innocuous little lines of dialogue that caught me off guard in the best way, like a random shopkeeper suddenly calling me a loser for not buying anything, or just bizarre running gags like a gang of five bosses all proudly proclaiming that they are the “third strongest” of the group, or how nonchalant Ness’s mom is about everything when you call her (Oh how’s your battle against the cosmic evil going? That’s nice honey, anyway I have to get back to my dance aerobics). Then there are moments like encountering an inexplicable statue of a pencil blocking the path before immediately receiving a phone call from an inventor that has coincidentally created a literal “pencil eraser”. And don’t forget Dungeon Man, one of the most ludicrous concepts and areas in any game I’ve ever played.
EarthBound is at its absolute best when it’s suddenly throwing me into a completely unexpected situation. I mean, one minute I’m being offered a cup of coffee or a piece of cake and the next I’m witnessing a Star Wars-esque text scrawl recapping my adventure, or being spirited away to a foreign land, or being captured by zombies who work for a pile of vomit. Forget all the rules of RPGs, EarthBound doesn’t care, and nowhere is safe from some exciting or interesting new enemy or scenario. Speaking of, while the late game does suffer from one too many recolors of earlier foes, the game still features a wide and wacky assortment of animals/monsters/aliens/robots/humans/fire hydrants/sentient street signs to fight, and I was always excited to see what oddball entities I’d encounter in each new area. Some of my favorites include the “Unassuming Local Guy” and a piece of abstract art. EarthBound also reminds me of the older Paper Mario games and follows a similar “chapter format” to an extent, wherein the game is mainly a linear adventure where players travel through a series of wonderfully distinct locales, each with their own little story or mystery going on. I love this kind of set-up and would love to see more games follow it.
So overall I enjoyed EarthBound a lot. But that’s not the whole story. Because this game is so special, so unique, and so full of charm, it pains me that my playthrough was frequently bogged down by a host of tedious design elements and extremely frustrating difficulty spikes. I’m often more patient with video games than most people, but EarthBound, in its worst moments, was honestly one of the most maddening games I’ve ever played. There is a steep difficulty curve early in the adventure and even though I was adequately leveled, I often found my characters to simply be unequipped so early on to handle the challenge. Enemies hit extremely hard in this game, attacks frequently miss, there are a host of incredibly annoying status ailments (including “uncontrollable crying” and “feeling strange”), and there are some afflictions that can only be cured by backtracking to a local hospital. All this coupled with the most tedious and cumbersome inventory system I’ve ever encountered in game made EarthBound into a game that just positively reveled in wasting my time.
To be fair, most of the difficulty issues were in the first half of the adventure and due to now understanding how everything in the game works, most of my problems would be pretty much moot during a replay. I also enjoyed the challenge and strategy required during boss fights. But EarthBound was at its best for me when I was exploring its colorful and quirky towns, soaking in its unique personality, and being surprised by what interesting scenario the game would throw at me next, and unfortunately all too often the unfair difficulty and other tedious factors detracted from my enjoyment of these core elements.
I almost feel guilty being so harsh on the game, because despite these significant issues, EarthBound really can be just so delightful. How can I describe how much I adore this game’s gigantic and amazingly varied soundtrack, which is wholly unique and clearly had a ton of effort put into it and is just, ug, is just so darn wonderful (the sheer variety of battles themes alone is incredible and unprecedented for an RPG). Or just how compelling my favorite sections of the game are, like the “café section” in Fourside, which basically represents the game at its absolute best: surprising, mysterious, kinda creepy, very surreal, and deliciously atmospheric (I’m being vague for spoiler reasons). Or how much I appreciate the atmospheric and engrossing intro sequences and the off-the-wall bananas finale and the satisfying ending portions that follow, even if I had to waste hours and fail miserably before I finally had to resort to seeking out help (if you’re a fan of the game, you’re probably smiling right now). And even though I found the character development to be…well non-existent, EarthBound also has a really interesting emotional center underneath all the surreal humor.
This is a tough one for me. As someone who appreciates a game with personality and atmosphere and a distinct identity above all else, here is one bursting with its own special flavor and creative spirit, and yet my personal experience with it had to be muddied by game design that tested my patience to its absolute limits. Still, I’ll take a special game with some tedium over a bland one with none any day. I suppose in the end, EarthBound is a game that I would highly recommend, but would attach a few disclaimers to: be prepared for a challenge, try not to get too mired with inventory nonsense, you should prioritize equipping “these items” and using “those PSI powers” to avoid “these really unfair and/or immensely annoying attacks” and so on and so forth. Just a tip list that would help someone’s experience go a whole lot smoother than mine, while not giving out full strategies or spoiling all the game’s wonderful surprises like a full guide does.
Yeah, I dunno. EarthBound. I mean, it’s a very special game and a great surrealist piece of art. It was definitely worth my time when it wasn’t blatantly wasting it. I like it…a lot. Maybe love it? Yeah. Maybe.
Fuzzy pickles.
*EarthBound was developed by Ape Inc. and HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo
*Header image from earthboundcentral.com (https://earthboundcentral.com/2012/02/looking-for-earthbound-desktops/), first screenshot from starmen.net (http://starmen.net/mother2/images/screenshots/), second screenshot also from starmen.net (http://walkthrough.starmen.net/earthbound/)
Art Imitates Nature 