Your Friend Who Likes Games

I’ve been really into Earthbound. I finally committed to a proper playthrough of the cult classic. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate re-pointed me in the direction of the game with the inclusion of characters and environments within. I’ve always had that ‘I really should play it’ thought surrounding Earthbound knowing it’s foundational, slice-of-life RPG elements. Feels like I’m doing some proper Nintendo homework spending time in a long-lost franchise. While that may be the case in today’s Nintendo context, the game is now very alive in my brain.

To start, I love the little boy in the suburb setting out an adventure approach. You have salaryman father who you never see but talk to on the phone to receive money, and a mother who seems too busy with her own intentions to really be there for you. Two examples of parental neglect that makes home a very quick and okay place to leave. Your mom even asks you to be the man of the house – surrogate husband stuff, ew, no thanks. Which is interesting to say now, because I thought for certain I’d be checking in more often when I started the game. I guess if I played it proper and without suspend points, I’d certainly end up there more often.

I did find it interesting early role playing as a boy and walking around various home spaces. The game offers that classic sort of ‘you’re allowed to go anywhere’ exploration and with this type of RPG, I think we’ve been taught to look around everywhere and click on everything. Entering into parent’s rooms and adult spaces gave me that as-a-kid feeling of being in a space that doesn’t belong to you. Over time, this notion becomes empowering to you as Ness. You continue to feel ownership of your adventure as you freely explore from town to town – well, not without challenge of course. You, as the player, are slated to be the boy who will save the world. It seems that you and the game take that seriously, and the way the rest of world behaves make ‘saving the world’ feel like a pretend game you’re playing with your friends as you explore from town to town. I like both interpretations to be honest, the literal and the pretend. Makes me wonder what the ending will look like.

It’s clear that the Earthbound / Mother series has had a ton of foundational influence to many games to follow – too many to tag in a few thoughts and in my brain alone. But the three that come to mind quick for me and my headcannon are Eastward, Undertale, and 2026’s Hermit & Pig. Eastward for it’s old-school, top down overworld presentation – both games are very successful at environments. The walk, click, and talk in each town and location to get the gist of what’s going on and what you’ll need to do next. And the game over screen is directly inspired by Earthbound – I even felt that there may have been specific reference to something the first time I played, far before my play of Earthbound. There’s even an in-game arcade RPG that you can continue to play throughout Eastward called “Earthborn.” Gameplay of Earthborn is Eastward shows direct connection to Earthbound through its turn-based battle mechanics and overall presentation. I’ve yet to play Hermit & Pig, but I know the overworld presentation and battle mechanics certainly reference Earthbound, and same goes for the strange Undertale, which plays as a parody and challenges what we know traditional, top-down RPG’s to be.

I really enjoy the vibes and presentation of each location in Earthbound. The SNES seems to offer a bright and friendly color palette that benefits the look of this game. Friendly, very slightly teal greens cover grass, cliffs, and trees, while the near-hot red of Ness’s hat and outfit provides a comfortable contrast. Each town has it’s own music theme that you spend a decent amount of time with – the type of music that sticks in your head when you’re not playing. Thank you to The Versions for creating the Earthbound, Vol. 1 album available on most music streaming services. I’m quite particular to the Twoson theme. All of the game’s music seems to feature inspiration, sadness, and mundanity all in one.

Slice of Life

Looking at the Official Nintendo Earthbound Player’s Guide, I can see that every location in this game is inspired by a real place. The game features a ton of mundane life and I love it for it. To obtain money for use, you not only have to ring your dad on the phone, but you have to operate an ATM. Yet another thing the kid is trusted to do that has Ness growing up on this adventure faster than ‘normal’ kids of his age (I’m assuming). That, and filling up my pockets with hamburgers and cookies sounds exactly like how a kid would pick a diet when setting out to save the world.

Small to notice, but a big detail for me is that you can diagonally or horizontally walk and you feel locked into a road or sidewalk. It doesn’t just feel like a world that you navigate different than everyone else that’s in it. You feel grounded in it, and a part of it. You spend a lot of time commuting, and I feel that’s on purpose. The walking from place to place gives it all a sense of adventure because you’ve literally travelled it. What’s cool is that these places are actually locations. You can go to them, you can leave them, you can come back to them, they are there and will be there. It’s less of a curated level or area that you spend time in and never see again. The game often gives you reasons to go back locations, and they’ll offer a new context that fits your story and journey to illustrate the passage of time.

The writing

Earthbound displays life through its writing as well. Another way in which the world shows that it’s living without you, and you’re asking around and discovering it. Talking to various characters in the different locations shows what they’re thinking, worried about, or events that give clues to what you and your collected pals need to do next. I’ve taken a ton of screenshots, I think more than most games I’ve played this year. Feels like a game full of life and happenings that I want to capture and remember to document the full journey. That, and I’ve enjoyed the novelty of the, ‘that was written in 1994 and it’s still cool now.’

The role playing in the turn-based battling feels very D&D, and how kids playing pretend would explain things happening. The sort of, ‘Ness got caught thinking of his mom,’ or ‘The Belch burped out a toxic spray’ through language adds action to the limitation of what needed to be a turn based game – text takes up way less storage than animation does. It’s also interesting what is communicated when a boss claims they’re going to crush you in some way, then the game’s move narration states, ‘BUT IT FAILED!’ Keeps it surprising, and keeps it human. Reminds us that words aren’t everything, and intention doesn’t mean control.

Here’s a few of some additional screenshots:

Guided

I was SO excited and surprised to see that Nintendo’s official Earthbound Player’s Guide is offered in downloadable pdf format on Nintendo’s website. As I had started playing, I knew people originally played with guide in hand, and the more I’ve played, I’ve come to find it essential.. which is really cool! Feels like an old-school experience where guides and manuals were a necessary component to game completion (because it is an old school experience!). I also haven’t hesitated to Google and seek help when questions arise. Earthbound is not the type of game where you’d like to find out the hard way – game over is punishing and quite the backtrack sometimes. I’m also incredibly thankful for the Nintendo Switch Online suspend states. There’s no way I’d be able to play the game now without them, and playing the game as originally intended would be TOUGH. I commend anyone that has.

It takes a bit of time and patience to settle into an RPG of this era. It has a different pace, approach, and is less forgiving than a game released today. It’s tested my patience, but I’ve been proud to meet that requirement by carefully reading the guide and making careful moves in my gameplay. Each battle has implications of your near future. You have to manage your items, health, and magic power, especially knowing that a tough boss may be at the end of a string of smaller battles. The official guide provides the lay of each land, items to watch out for, a history of environmental inspiration, the cultural context/happenings of the town, and what’s probably the most helpful is the step-by-step travel guide telling you exactly what you should be doing and in what order in each location. I’ve been balancing a little bit of natural exploration when things feel friendly, and finding consult in the guide when areas feel threatening so I can take the most efficient course of action.

1994

Like I said before, thankful for suspend points. There are difficulty aspects of Earthbound that remind the game came out in 1994. But in the spirit of the time, I feel motivated to ‘beat’ the game, opposed ‘finishing’ it. Because of the specific sequence of events to prompt/complete, items to find and use, and places to go and when, it feels like an accomplishment to do it right. Unlike modern games, there isn’t many right ways to complete Earthbound, there’s one way. But because of that, the motivation to keep eyes on the guide is heightened. And I feel more connected to anyone that’s played and finished the game. Today, when we say we finished a game, we also imply that we had our own experience with it. In the 90s, when you beat a game, that means you did all the right things in order to be successful.

I’ve felt frustration in moments, but quickly remember the year it came out and look to the guides. It can’t be a passive experience and I’ve found that engaging and sticky. Keeps me coming back out of curiosity of what’s next and the testing of my ability to accomplish each step. There’s a reason this game is beloved and there’s a reason it stays with people – I’m hoping that’ll be true for me too.

Initially, I didn’t love battling, and it’s still not my favorite but it’s a necessary part of the game that I try to be prepared for. And like most RPG’s, winning battles is beneficial toward leveling up. I connect to the metaphor of getting the boy getting stronger as he goes. To progress to a point where you can take on enemies with ease that once felt scary is satisfying progress.

But it’s the mushrooms that change your directional input and make it a mental challenge to navigate Ness to a hospital, or consistently getting calls from your dad telling you that you’ve been playing video games too long and suggesting a break, or learning to use moves like paralysis to make sure strong enemies won’t attack you opposed to just chipping away at them hoping for the best.. It’s all the 1994 of the game. It’s all the stuff that I feel kids that played would talk about on the bus. It’s the kind of specific things you need to perform and achieve to get it right that build culture around it – all the nerds and obsessives looking to beat it for bragging rights.

Journey

Many things point to Earthbound‘s sense of journey and a big one is travel. As I mentioned before, the variety of locations you actually travel to on foot and the amount of time/activity you spend in each one provide that proper sense of long journey that makes you proud to get far. I’m hoping the photographer that periodically spins down from the sky is actually saving all of my photos and will let me view them after I finish, wait, sorry, after I *beat* the game ;p

Comparison to earlier moments makes the journey feel long and full. It feels amazing to return to Threed and see it’s not purple anymore from your saving it. Or how when a Cookie used to be a useful and exciting item to receive, and later feels as useful as a penny. I remember when a dude with a knife behind the arcade was the thing I really had to be careful of and scratch my head over. Quirky and memorable happenings take place along the way, Tessie being a real surprise and delight.

I loved too, the sentimental cup of coffee you have with a Mr. Saturn. A sort of near-half-way check-in to document and appreciate how far you’ve come. Accompanied by some words of motivation that felt straight from Shigesato Itoi (Earthbound‘s creator). I can have a hard time giving credit to time spent or accomplishments made so encouragement at that point was certainly welcomed.

Concluding random notes

Not a big theme in this section, just stuff that didn’t fit anywhere else. I’ve had a fear of not being patient enough to play this game and see it through and I’m proud of myself for testing that. Kind of meets the journey and theme of the game to keep going, get stronger and more confident – save the world and see it through. The big one I’m still working on is permitting myself to blog about a game more than once – a silly mental block I’m getting over. But I’m so continually charmed by Earthbound. It keeps me excited and curious to see what’s next. And the patient, one-track / one way to do things can actually be a comforting problem to solve and satisfying to get right.

I love the randomness, the sort of pretending nature of happenings found within the world and story. Like how you find Stonehenge right above a big science lab. Or how you use Zombie Paper to get all the town’s zombies to get stuck to the floor. The Mr. Saturns are very iconic and fun. I’d love the “YOU WON” tone as text tone. All excitement and wonder that keep me curious and going.

At the time of writing, I’m on page 65 of 135 of the Earthbound Player’s Guide, which tells me I’m about half way there. Funny how writing that makes me fearful that I’ll bounce off and move onto something else, but hopefully I won’t. Happy to have documented my play thus far. I think this experience has been very special and feels more sacred than other games I’ve played. I don’t want writing about it to ruin it. I think, ultimately, I’m learning that I have more choice of whether or not that happens than I like to let myself believe. It’s all self imposed.

Let’s hope I come back and talk about my continued experience with Earthbound.

Cheers!

Your Friend Dillon