EarthBound

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EarthBound
Developer(s)	Ape, Inc. and HAL Laboratory, Inc.
Publisher(s)	Nintendo
Designer(s)	Shigesato Itoi
Release date(s)	JPN August 27, 1994 [1] NA June 1, 1995 [2] JPN June 20, 2003 (GBA port)
Genre(s)	Role-playing game
Mode(s)	Single player
Rating(s)	ESRB: K-A (Kids to Adults)
Platform(s)	Super Nintendo
Media	24 megabit cartridge

EarthBound (MOTHER 2 ギーグの逆襲, Māzā Tsū Gīgu no Gyakushū^?, lit. "Mother 2: Gyiyg Strikes Back") is a role-playing video game for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. While it is known as EarthBound in the United States, it is the second game in the Mother series.

EarthBound is a sequel to the original Mother, a Famicom/Nintendo Entertainment System title released only in Japan. Mother and EarthBound are not directly connected. One of the only connections plotwise between the two is Giygas, the primary antagonist in both games, who was also significantly changed between the first and second games.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Gameplay 3 Japanese release 4 U.S. release 4.1 Localization and censorship 4.2 Localization in the Player's Guide 5 Sequel 6 Playable characters 7 Trivia 8 Cultural references 8.1 The Beatles 8.2 Other music 9 See also 10 Notes and references 11 External links

[edit] Plot

EarthBound is set in the year "199X" in the small town of Onett, part of Eagleland. The main character, Ness, wakes up when a meteor falls close to his house in the middle of the night. He heads out to investigate the meteor, but not before his mother reminds him to change out of his pajamas. At the crash site, he meets an insect named Buzz Buzz from ten years in the future who sends him on a quest to destroy the intergalactic destroyer Giygas in this time, because he is too powerful in the time that Buzz Buzz came from. Ness must then journey through the world, seeking his eight "sanctuaries" where the Earth's power is strongest in order to unite his own powers with the Earth's and gain the strength needed to confront Giygas.

EarthBound breaks the escapist, fantasy-oriented tendencies and themes of most RPGs by placing the action in a modern day world. These changes to typical RPG stories are often taken to an absurd extreme in EarthBound, such as the inclusion of baseball bats and yo-yos as weapons instead of swords or magical staves.

[edit] Gameplay

Many of the RPG elements featured in EarthBound are very traditional. In towns, players can purchase items, recharge energy, or gather information from various non-player characters. Battles are not random because the enemies are visible in the navigation portion of the game (although some, such as ants, are only a few black pixels, and difficult to spot or avoid). When the characters encounter an enemy, a battle starts. The player can be at an advantage or disadvantage when the battle starts: If the enemy is approached from behind, the player get an extra turn at the beginning of the battle and vice versa. As Ness and his friends become stronger, battles with weaker enemies are eventually won immediately, skipping the entire battle sequence altogether.

The battle system is very similar to the Dragon Quest series, in the sense that the player's characters are not shown onscreen. Once all actions are input, the protagonists and the enemies perform their actions in an order depending on each character's speed. Once the battle is won, players receive experience points in order to level up their characters and improve attributes.

As the game progresses, it becomes necessary to increase levels in order to cope with stronger enemies. An interesting aspect is the HP and PP, represented by counters that resemble odometers. When the character takes damage, their HP meter "rolls" down to the new number over a short time rather than jumping directly to it. When a character takes a hit that deals more damage than their current HP (referred to as mortal damage), they do not actually die until their meter rolls down to zero. This means that if the battle ends before the counter reaches zero, the character survives. It also gives the player an opportunity to heal their character before they die. This creates some intense moments in gameplay as the player is forced to go through turns as fast as possible in order to heal, especially since there are enemies that can deplete any character's entire HP with one hit. This adds a small amount of depth to gameplay.

One traditional RPG element not present in EarthBound is an overworld. Instead, players follow a path through a seamless world, occasionally branching off in some areas. Later on in the game, teleporting spells help players return to previous areas quickly.

Another non-traditional element is the perspective used for the world. The game uses oblique projection, while most RPGs use a top down view on a grid or an isometric perspective.

[edit] Japanese release

The game was released in Japan on August 27, 1994. Known as Mother 2: Gyiyg Strikes Back!, the game is the sequel to Mother, released for the Famicom.

EarthBound follows the same basic plot as its predecessor, but Giygas ("Gyiyg" in the Japanese version) is the only returning character. It is unknown if this game is connected with the original NES game, Mother.

[edit] U.S. release

Releasing the game in the United States was considered somewhat of a gamble, as the game's graphics were very simple, especially compared to other role-playing games of the time, such as Final Fantasy VI. Additionally, the humor of the game is tied to its quirky portrayal of the West, which may not have translated to that region. In an attempt to increase sales, the game was also extensively promoted within Nintendo Power, with various special offers, including a contest involving scratch-and-sniff stickers, as well as a Nintendo Power-published player's guide that was included as a pack-in with the initial American release to boost sales and assist players.^[3] Ultimately, EarthBound was not very commercially successful in the United States at the time of its release, although it has since spawned a large cult following among its loyal fans, with copies going for unusually large amounts of money in used video game stores (in some cases equal to those of the Final Fantasy series and Chrono Trigger).^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Localization and censorship

As with many Japanese games, EarthBound underwent a number of changes in translation.

• Several names of towns are different:
  • Threed was originally Threek.
  • The Dusty Dunes Desert was originally the Doko Doko Desert.
  • Dalaam is known as Ramma.
  • Scaraba is known as Scarabi.
• All references to alcohol were removed. Jackie's Cafe, for example, was originally known as Boruhesu's Bar. Coffee is uniformly substituted in place of alcohol, which leads to odd dialogue such as "Kids shouldn't drink espresso!".
• In the original Japanese version, the hospitals all had red crosses somewhere on the building. They were removed from the English version. There are two possible explanations, one regarding Nintendo's policy on religious iconography, and the other concerning the Swiss Red Cross.
• All the "PSI" abilities in English are known as "PK" abilities in Japanese. However, in the Smash Bros. games, most of the techniques are once again named "PK".
• In the Japanese version, Ness is nude in Magicant wearing only a hat. In the English version, he is wearing his pajamas without his hat.
• The Peaceful Rest Valley was known as the Grateful Dead Valley. This was changed to avoid a trademark conflict with the band The Grateful Dead.
• The Happy Happy Village cultist sprites were significantly altered removing the letters "HH" from the forehead of their hoods and adding a white fuzzy pom pom to the end of the hood. It appears that it may have resembled hoods from the Ku Klux Klan and the pom pom was added to make it appear more like a Christmas hat of some sort. The map sprites remain unedited, however.
• The Runaway Five had clothes that were all of the same color and style in the Japanese version. The Japanese group was known as the "Tonzura Brothers". They will retain their Japanese attire in the Super Smash Bros. series when they are shown, in all versions. It is possible this change was made because the band resembled the Blues Brothers too closely in design and theme.

[edit] Localization in the Player's Guide

• On page 17, Killer Instinct is mentioned as being one of the games available in Onett's Arcade.
• On page 111, there is an image of Ness in the nude on the bottom left of the page. This is an oversight on the part of NoA, as Ness was nude in Magicant in Mother 2.

[edit] Sequel

The Japanese version of Mother 3 for the Game Boy Advance has been released as of April 20, 2006. It is unknown at this time when, or if there will be a U.S. release. However, in an interview with Nintendo of America Treehouse Localization Producer/Manager Nate Bihldorff, he stated that he "wouldn't look forward to [a Mother 3 translation] in the immediate future".^[4] It was on the Famitsu Most Wanted list, only falling below No. 10 twice, to No. 11. Mother 3 was originally planned to be a game designed for the Nintendo 64. According to Nintendo of America, the game was scrapped due to a lack of time, and an eventual lack of public interest in the Nintendo 64. However, according to Shigesato Itoi, the real reason was the development team's was on an extreme disadvantage with the 3D graphics due to their complete inexperience with that graphical format. This was the primary reason for the rampant delays the game suffered throughout development.

[edit] Playable characters

See also: List of EarthBound characters

Name	Weapons Used	Description	Location
Ness	Bats, Yo-yos, and Slingshots	The silent protagonist in EarthBound. He has good attack and decent defense, as well as the second strongest PSI attack (though the majority of his PSI powers heal or affect status). Even though Ness has low speed until after Magicant, he is still a well-rounded fighter. Occasionally, he will develop homesickness and will waste turns in battle daydreaming about his home. For much of the game, Ness is the main healer for the group; until Poo arrives, Ness is the only character with the ability to regenerate HP and cure ailments.	Main Character, he wakes up in his "jammies" (as mom puts it) when a meteor crashes behind his house.
Paula	Frying Pans, Yo-yos, and Slingshots	The first character to join Ness's party, Paula is adept almost exclusively with PSI powers. She has low HP, Attack, and Defense, but her high speed and excellent PSI skills (including PSI Shield) compensate. She has a unique "Pray" ability, which causes one of several random effects to occur in battle that can either assist or weaken one or both parties. Most of her PSI is centered on attack and defense rather than status changes and healing.	Found in the Cabin near Happy Happy Village, after beating Carpainter.
Jeff	Guns, Yo-yos, Slingshots, Bottle Rockets, and various gadgets.	Jeff is the second character to join Ness's party. He is unable to use PSI powers, but he makes up for this weakness with his ability to take various pieces of junk and turn them into useful items. He is also the only character able to use bottle rockets, which deal an enormous amount of damage to enemy parties. Jeff has a unique "Spy" ability, which allows him to see an enemy's offense, defense, and any weakness the enemy may have. This ability may also function as a "Steal" command on occasion.	Winters, a country in the far north. He soon flies over to Threed in the Sky Runner to join Ness' party.
Poo	Martial Arts, Yo-yos, or the Sword of Kings	Poo is the final character to join Ness's party. Having spent his entire life training in the small, isolated, mountaintop village of Dalaam, Poo is unique in several ways. Most foods obtained from locations other than Dalaam barely recover his HP, and using equipment other than those labeled "of Kings" lowers his attack and defense instead of raising it. He has a unique "Mirror" ability, which allows him to transform into one of the enemies present during a battle and use all of that monster's attacks, though the player loses control over him until the end of the battle. He has well-rounded PSI skills, fairly good attacks, and good healing abilities.	After completing his training in his homeland of Dalaam, he teleports to Ness and his friends in Summers.

[edit] Trivia

• Many of the animated backgrounds of the fight sequences in EarthBound are actually mathematical graphs that employ dynamic variables.
• ROM hackers of EarthBound discovered a debug menu featuring a Kirby cursor sprite and a hidden BGM track not present in the game itself. The debug mode can only be accessed through a Game Genie (or equivalent), or by modifying the ROM.
• Shigesato Itoi has revealed in interviews that Giygas' dialogue during the final battle was inspired by a traumatic childhood experience wherein he mistakenly walked into an adult movie theatre playing a pornographic film and caught a glimpse of a rape scene.[2]
• The font for Mr. Saturn's dialogue was inspired by the handwriting of Shigesato Itoi's daughter.
• In all off-stage appearances, there are only five members of the Runaway Five (frontmen Lucky and Gorgeous, a saxophonist, a bassist, and a drummer). On stage at the Chaos Theater, however, they are joined by a female keyboardist.

[edit] Cultural references

• The Runaway Five sharply resemble the Blues Brothers, especially the two lead singers. It should also be noted in the Japanese version, they resemble the Blues Brothers even more, with the entire band, and notably the two lead singers, wearing black suits and sunglasses.^{[citation needed]}
• One of the non-player "citizen" characters in the game looks almost exactly like Mr. T (though he is never referred to as such or says anything Mr. T might be thought to say).
• In the Japanese release of EarthBound (Mother 2), there is a set of default names for the characters and items related to the Mario series. Ness, Paula, Jeff, and Poo become Mario, Peach, Luigi, and Toad, respectively. The dog (King) becomes Yoshi, the player's favorite food becomes "mushroom", and the player's favorite thing becomes "goal".^{[citation needed]}
• The sea-creature Tessie found in Winters is a reference to the Loch Ness Monster (nicknamed Nessie).^{[citation needed]}
• Another NPC resembles Peanuts character Pigpen.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] The Beatles

It is interesting to note that the team that designed EarthBound are also open fans of the British pop and rock band The Beatles. There are references to The Beatles throughout the game:

• In the Japanese version of EarthBound, Mother 2, many of the extra alternate names for characters and such are that of Beatles band members. Among them are John (Ness), Yoko (Paula), Paul (Jeff), George (Poo), and Ringo (King). In this particular set, the main character's favorite food is "Honey Pie," and his favorite thing is "Love."
• In the English version of the game, a question is asked by a townsperson in Onett that relates to the band's song "Yesterday."
• When Jeff's character is introduced, he quickly teams up with a monkey. It's possible that this is a reference to the Beatles song "Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except for Me and My Monkey".
• The yellow submarine in the game is obviously a nod to their song and animated movie Yellow Submarine. (A sign near the submarine says "The yellow color is purely coincidental.")
• A member of a band in the game called the Runaway Five references a song which The Beatles covered called "Money (That's What I Want)," originally by Barrett Strong.
• The song played while traveling with the Dungeon Man contains a sample from Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise).
• After the party has been to the Tenda Village and progressed to The Lost Underworld, the Tenda Elder will bid the party farewell by saying, "So long. I say goodbye", a possible reference to the Beatles songs "Kansas City" and "Hello, Goodbye." Furthermore, some of the Warp Men in Moonside often say "Hello! and, Goodbye!" before sending Ness to another location.
• The first few measures of the song played when Ness and his friends wake up at a hotel closely resembles a slowed down version of the melody from The Beatles song "Good Morning Good Morning."
• When entering Giygas's lair via the Lost Underworld (the Cave of the Past), a song reminiscent of the prelude to "All You Need Is Love" (the trumpets performing the Marseillaise) is played.
• The high-pitched violin scrapes in the song playing inside the Dungeon Man may be inspired by Paul McCartney's "Live and Let Die" from the James Bond film of the same name.
• The music that plays as Jeff (or later the entire party) rides Tessie sounds similar to the beginning of "Strawberry Fields Forever".
• Each time the game is saved, Ness's father bids the party, or presumably the player through the fourth wall, "Goodnight, sleep tight," a lyric from "Goodnight" on the White Album.
• During the coffee drinking scene in Saturn Valley, the narrative voice calls the journey of Ness and his friends "long and winding," a reference to The Beatles song "The Long and Winding Road."

[edit] Other music

• The music played when starting a new game and naming the characters contains a short musical sample from the theme song for the show Monty Python's Flying Circus, John Philip Sousa's Liberty Bell March.
• In Jackie's Cafe, the music contains a sample from the theme song for the Our Gang film series. The first four bars of The Star-Spangled Banner are also heard in the background.
• The background music for Moonside contains a sample from the Ric Ocasek song "Keep On Laughin."
• The battle music for fights with the New Age Retro Hippie enemy, as well as the Sharks' gang leader, Frank, is similar to the intro from "Johnny B. Goode" and several other Chuck Berry songs. This music also appears in Mother.
• A riff on the Super Mario Bros. theme, albeit in a different key, can be heard during the battle with the Slimy Little Pile.
• The main stage theme for Xevious can be heard in the background noise in the arcade in Onett.
• One of the battle themes resembles the song "Tequila" by The Champs.
• When spoken to, the character standing next to the ocean in Onett will play a melody from Dvořák's Symphony No. 9, movement 2 on his trumpet.
• The second song played by the Runaway Five in the Chaos Theater strongly resembles the song "The Changeling" by The Doors.
• The theme played while in the Sky Runner sounds similar to the synthesized introduction of The Who song "Won't Get Fooled Again."
• Two enemies in the game share the names of famous David Bowie songs: "Starman" and "Diamond Dogs".
• The music played during the Runaway Five's bus scenes bears some resemblance to music from the television series "Peter Gunn".
• The music played in Winters includes a riff from the Christmas carol "Deck the Halls."
• In Happy Happy Village, the villagers chant "Blue, blue", and Mr. Carpainter uses electric powers, possibly a reference to a David Bowie song from the album Sound + Vision, in which are the lyrics, "blue blue electric blue."
• The theme music of the Tenda tribe is based on the song "Watermelon Man", by Herbie Hancock. Fittingly, the Tenda people resemble watermelons.

[edit] See also

• PSI List (mother series)

[edit] Notes and references

[edit] External links

Official sites

• EarthBound at Nintendo.com

Game Archive and Review sites

• EarthBound at MobyGames

Fan sites

• Starmen.Net
• Mother2.net
• Random Earthbound Insanity
• Mother Party(Japanese)
• EBWiki, an EarthBound wiki

v • d • e Mother / EarthBound video games
Games: Mother • EarthBound • Mother 3 Characters: Ness • Paula • Jeff • Poo • Giygas • Pokey • Dr. Andonuts • Mr. Saturn Locations: EarthBound • Mother 3