EarthBound

EarthBound is a kickass game made by the famous Japanese personality Shigesato Itoi for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (Super Famicom in Japanese). It's the second in a series of games called Mother, but you don't need to play the first one to understand EarthBound's plot. It was released in Japan in 1994 and in America in 1995, and proceeded to get an awesome cultlike fanbase in the 2000s. It tells the tale of the boy named Ness, who would later appear in Super Smash Bros. games, and his new friends. Paula, a girl with powerful psychic abilities, is found relatively early in the game, and then meet up with Jeff, a mechanical genius. Eventually, the three of them encounter a mysterious eastern prince named Poo, and they all form a dream team to save the world. At the beginning of the game, you can even name them whatever you want, and you can name your favorite food, favorite thing and your pet dog too. The game is brilliant because of its off-the-wall humor. You can find perfectly good burgers from the trash, and there are a lot of trippy drug references, Beatles references and complaints about the IRS. It's a zany trip through a modern world that resembles America, and everyone wears modern clothes. Instead of magic, the heroes (except for Jeff) use psychic powers, or PSI. Weapons are baseball bats, frying pans, slingshots, homemade bottle rockets, and yo-yos. If you're hungry, you can order a pizza. And aliens, robots and UFOs are rampant. Weird little creatures like Mr. Saturns and Tendas are often enjoyable to talk to. The graphics are cute, yet vivid in color. You may not be impressed at first, but the Peanuts-reminiscent characters walking around fit the mood a lot. The battle backgrounds are trippy, colorful and warp the background. The music is made up of a cornucopia of genres from heavy metal to country to weird ambient techno to something that sounds like it might be an instrumental of a song by The Who. EarthBound is also a roller-coaster ride. Despite the game's humor, it also has a wondrous value to it, and near the end of the game, it's more terrifying and psychological. Some moments are geniunely emotional, and some moments might make you nauseous. Be prepared to carry a barf bag AND a tissue box. And you might want to take some drugs before you check out what's behind the counter at the cafe. EarthBound is greatly celebrated on the internet. Starmen.Net, created by a small community of people who first got EarthBound in 1995, has expanded to a large central hub for EarthBound information. It's a place to find tons of fanart, fanfics and other creative things about EarthBound and the other games in its parent series, MOTHER. I recommend that if you don't own this game (and/or an SNES), get it on eBay or just download it, even though the latter is illegal. But, if you have a Wii, you might be in luck. The ESRB has recently rated EarthBound, so it may eventually show up on the Virtual Console. Playing it on a TV might be the closest experience to the original, though the fun Nintendo Power's player's guide may be something worth looking for. It's not a video game. It's a way of life.