Retro Review: Earthbound
Earthbound released in 1994 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) in Japan under the name of Mother 2: Gigu no Gyakushu. This turn based Role-playing game (RPG) was developed by both Ape Inc. and Hal Laboratory. Many are familiar with Hal Laboratory from their other titles like Kirby and Super Smash Bros. Earthbound is the sequel to the NES game titled “Mother” in Japan and “Earthbound Beginnings’ elsewhere. In this adventure the player journeys with Ness and his party; Paula, Jeff, and Poo around the world collecting melodies from the eight sanctuaries in order to defeat the universal cosmic destroyer Giygas. The journey takes Ness and friends to many exotic places like the Scaraba Desert, the Deep Darkness Swamp, the Happy-Happy Village and much more. The towns are filled with many interesting characters who are fun to talk to while the overworld is filled with many wacky enemies.
Ness, Paula, Jeff, Poo
Earthbound features many traditional RPG elements such as controlling the party of characters through the game’s two-dimensional world. While traveling through the vast world Eagleland the player will encounter battles with enemies where they will receive experience points (XP) and items as prizes. The characters will level up when they have gained enough XP and this will increase their Hit points (HP) Psychic Points (PP), offense and defense. Earthbound uses oblique projection, rather than the “top Down” view that most JRPG’s use like Final Fantasy and Chrono Trigger.
When Ness and party come in contact with an enemy a battle will start. These battles are random encounters that will spawn a variety of enemies depending on your location. Earthbound offers a variety of enemies to fight. Some are common enemies that are featured in many games like wolves, rats, soldiers, but there are many wacky enemies that will leave you scratching your head. For example, in the cities you will encounter evil vehicles, gas pumps, and stop signs. Every character has a different set of attacks and weaknesses which makes the player strategize their moves. Each one of the characters in Ness’s party has unique attacks. Ness can use physical attacks with his blunt objects and magic attacks with his PP. Jeff uses range attacks such as rocket launchers and laser guns and can also craft items. Paula is similar to Ness but has a different set of magic spells that can be used, and Poo uses physical attacks with his PP.
Earthbound is an excellent game that still holds up nearly 30 years later. It offers a great story that is dark but filled with humor throughout the dialogue that will make you want to interact with every NPC. Visually this game is stunning with mind-blowing city and character designs. Earthbound can be difficult at times especially during the long boss battles but once you figure out their weaknesses and attack patterns, they are easier to defeat. Hopefully Super Mario RPG will be a success so Nintendo will remake Earthbound.
