8. EarthBound
Of all the EarthBound write-ups I’ve read over the years, I think this one is my favorite. It’s short on hyperbole, surprisingly unanecdotal, yet isn’t a dry mechanical analysis. Still, it really manages to convey EarthBound’s appeal. I suppose it’s the tone of the writing, which somehow matches the game perfectly. I dunno. Maybe you should read it instead of just reading about why you should read it.
19 thoughts on “GameSpite Quarterly 2, #8: EarthBound”
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I’m seriously blushing right now.
Uh, um, uh…BOING!
It’s the Super Metroid of Earthbound articles!
Incredibly well composed piece for an incredible game. I almost don’t like using the word ‘game’; the feelings it evokes are more closely resemble those towards my favorite childhood books like The Hobbit and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.
A quick anecdote about Earthbound- Chrono Trigger has been my favorite game since it first shipped. I didn’t play Earthbound until six months ago, and it immediately bumped Chrono Trigger to the side to take my personal “favorite game ever” slot. This little game is so good that it can stand toe to toe against Chrono Trigger and the the decade+ of nostalgia behind it.
Brilliant.
Great article. Earthbound is still one of the more underrated games on the SNES.
Also, hey Jeremy, why’d you ban me dude?
I think I know why people are so attached to Earthbound.
It’s because there is absoulutely no game like it, and it’s so damn good. It’s completely unique, which eamsn that nothing rivals it, hence the fans being very attached.
Don’t get me wrong, the fans’ attitudes are similar to the game: Easy-going, tongue-in-cheek and funny. The fans keep to themself and I’ve yet to see one who screamed at someone for not playing or liking the game, and reading the many cool theories and stuff that they’ve made up is a lot of fun.
…!
Is this where Brickroad derived his name from?
Yeah… I still need to play this game.
If I could describe Earthbound, it most definitely would be “BOING”. Wonderful and quirky.
What makes this article so effective and fun to read is that it captures the same sort of charm of Earthbound in the way that it’s written. The self awareness, composition, and sometimes random way that it’s ideas are arranged, like when it talks about NPC dialogue boxes, all in a very subtle way. Maybe I’m just reading into it too much, but it was definitely a great article for a great game =).
Wonderful review,
having never played this game I most definitely will try it out.
If I somehow manage to find the time ;)
Man, I really want to play Earthbound, but I can’t find the cartridge for a reasonable price and Nintendo hasn’t seen fit to put the game on virtual console. Why Nintendo? Why?
What an amazing article. It’s written about how difficult it is to describe the tone of the game, but adapts said tone. The direct appeals and meta paragraph on NPC text boxes were tops.
DoomGuy – the appeal of EarthBound is that it’s not tongue-in cheek, or even really that funny.
Hey Parish, how’s that battery holding up?
In the interest of complete honesty, I think I probably dig this site as much as I do because you folks seem to have the exact same taste in games that I do. I say this only because I feel the need to confess. I’m the first person to give someone elses taste in something or other the benefit of the doubt, and I’m not really one of those folks who read reviews to gratify my own taste in something.
With all of that said, this website is comforting if only because those of a more articulate nature can really put my exact thoughts on these games into a more coherent structure than I could.
So any chance this game’s going to ever be released on virtual console? Yes I’m still holding on to that torch. I’ve actually got a copy of the SNES version, but I can’t seem to find a working SNES.
Fan-freakin’-tastic work, Calorie Mate. That entire article smacked of Itoi’s home-town journalist style that I love so much in the Mother series.
This… was my first RPG. In retrospect, this is in keeping with my odd sensibilities about gaming. There are stupid little moments in that game I’ll never forget. And if you’ve never made Ness’ favorite food Penis or Babies, I don’t know what in the hell is wrong with you.
What if I don’t like ketchup on my hotdogs? :(
Someday I’ll play this game… and the Mother 3 (english patch…)
This is the best Earthbound review by the person with the last name of Rogers I’ve ever read!
The only real inaccuracy in it is “the only emotion EarthBound seems incapable of inflicting on someone is anger.” I can distinctly remember a couple scenarios that made my older brother ragequit when he played through it (in particular, the Department Store Spook).
I’m in the boat with Red Hedgehog on this one. It somehow missed my radar while it was affordable in the used market, I have no interest in obtaining it through gray means, and darnit, I want SE to let me give them some money for it. VC edition, please!
This game was very much like a modern-day Dragon Quest game. With a very quirky sense of humor. And really, I didn’t need much more than that to enjoy it.
I’ve also played the translated Mother 3. There’s still a lot of quirkiness, but for some reason, it didn’t really resonate with me as much as this one. The mood of Mother 3 stays a bit more somber throughout, although there are still points of humor. As far as the translation goes, you’d swear Nintendo themselves did the translation. It’s incredibly polished, and does the fan community proud.
Mother 3 is the smartest RPG I’ve ever played. Actually, that’s not a fair statement. It would be like comparing a star pro quarterback to a bunch of high school players. That sounds hyperbolic, but I’ve played and enjoyed awfully many RPGs, and nothing else has even come CLOSE to that level. That’s not to say that it’s necessarily my *favorite* RPG, because there are all sorts of other factors that come into play, but DAMN.