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The SNES' finest for this genre.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 22 / 23
Date: June 05, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I'll say it now- for the SNES, you don't get any better than EarthBound as far as RPGs go. I got into the role playing genre back in 1994, starting with Secret of Mana and Final Fantasy III/VI. Then, I moved on to Chrono Trigger and Super Mario RPG. The thing is, all of those games with the exception of Mario RPG, aren't anywhere near as great as I remembered them being. But those are different reviews. One game from that golden age of RPGs stands the test of time to be the best I've ever played- EarthBound. I can say, in all honesty, I never would have expected a game where you fight enemies with baseball bats and bottle rockets, eat hamburgers and picnic lunches to recover HP, and battle characters like the Unassuming Local Guy, would have been so great. And this was back in 1995- I was only in fifth grade at the time. But I loved it. Now, 10 years later, the game's just as good, if not better. Its uniqueness and style is still there. Where modern RPGs are about nothing but cutscenes, character development (an important factor, but not when the characters are boring), and spell effects, EarthBound was about being fun and unique. In fact, there's no character development in EarthBound. Ness, the main hero, doesn't talk- something that a lot of RPGs at that time were starting to use as a standard. Yes, I'm going to ramble a lot in this review. I hold EarthBound very close. It's one of my top 5 games of all time.

The game starts out in the year 199X in the town of Onett. Ness is asleep, but is woken up by a loud crash outside his home. The police arrive on the scene. It's a meteor. The path to it is blocked, so Ness goes back home. His nosey neighbor- Pokey, bangs on the door once Ness goes back to sleep. Pokey's brother is missing, and was last seen on his way to the meteor. Ness suits up, takes his trusty dog, and goes to see what's going on. After finding Pokey's brother, Picky, they're all stopped by a bee. Buzz Buzz, a noble bee from the future tells them that his time is full of darkness. A being named Giygas has taken over, and can only be stopped by 3 boys and 1 girl. Ness, is one of them. They all head home, but are stopped by an alien- the Starman Jr. He's come to attempt to kill Buzz Buzz. The fight goes by easily, and Ness returns the boys home. Unfortunately, Pokey's mom mistakes Buzz Buzz for a dung beatle, and smashes his lights out. In his last breath, Buzz Buzz gives Ness a Sound Stone- something that records the melodies of specific locations he must visit in order to defeat Giygas. Sudden plot isn't it? So Ness makes his merry way accross the world, meeting new people and recording the melodies of the locations he visits. But it won't be easy. There are TONS of enemies to go around, and some pretty hard bosses. If you thought the cake in Mario RPG and Doom in FFVI were tough, you're going to cry when you take on the Clumsy Robot here.

As I've already said- this game is unique in every category. Right when you start a new file, you name your 4 main characters, dog, favorite food, and favorite thing. Where just about every other RPG has you name characters when you meet them, it's done right off the bat. Fights are done in first person mode like the Dragon Warrior games, but with colorful backgrounds sure to render anyone with epilepsy unconscious or hospitalized. Speaking of hospitals, that's where you go to recover your wounded comrades. No, no healing items for you until much later in the game. And you have to pay for them to get out. EarthBound uses dollars, not gold. And you don't earn it immediately after fights. It's done by a pretty smart system where you earn money depending on which enemies you defeat, but don't see how much until you call your dad. Yes, you have to find phones and call good ol' dad in order to save the game and find this out. But, you have your ATM Card, so you can get money on the go whenever you want. I've yet to see another RPG this modern. We need more like it. And there aren't potions, but food and drinks such as the bag of fries, double burger, can of juice, brain food lunch, cup of life water, and more. And what is there to recover your health status such as poison? Realistic things. Vials of serum in particular for poison, and wet towels for sunstroke. Hah, I just realized that all of this sounds like I'm making it up, but this is really how EarthBound is. There's tons I could talk about, but I'm sure you know enough by now after visiting a certain Starman site out there. And of course, we all love Mr. Saturn and the world of Magicant- of which you visit while Ness is unconscious later on in the game. Alice in Wonderland has NOTHING on this area.

The graphics are hard to justify. While they aren't as detailed as those found in FFVI or CT, they fit the game. Picture a Peanuts cartoon, and that's EarthBound. Go find some screenshots, and you'll see what I mean. The graphics are charming, and I wouldn't have it any other way. When EarthBound 64 screenshots and clips showed up back in mid-99, I was a little disappointed because the jump to 3D just didn't seem right. Anyway, the graphics here won't be impressing anyone, but they're still fun to look at. And some of the spell effects are pretty cool. While not as cool as FFVI's Ultima or CT's Triple Techs, Poo's final attacks look and sound devestating. As for the music, you haven't lived until you've heard some of the tracks from this game. A lot of the first things I learned to play on guitar years ago, were from this game. Be it the music playing when you ride the bus, Saturn Valley, Summers, or the Name Your Character screen, EVERY tune is awesome. And words can't do justice to the track playing as you fight Giygas. It starts out sounding like an old NES ditty, but goes right into heavy metal. Awesome.

EarthBound is one of those one-in-a-million games that won the hearts of a cult-like fanbase. And it's understandable, as there's yet to be a game like it for any system. I can remember everything each character says when you talk to them. Even those great ones that go "sometimes it's good to talk to someone twice just in case they have something else to say" and then go "great! You listened to me about talking to the same person twice!". There's a lot to do and quote here in EarthBound. Your life will never be the same after playing it. It's so weird that you can't help but add bits of it into your every day life.

Nothing Can Touch This

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 21 / 22
Date: July 24, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Back when RPG's were about nothing but knights, castles, and fantasy, Earthbound took everything that made an RPG and kicked it in the nuts.

Earthbound is just plain wierd. The graphics style is very cartoony, but really fits the game's comical style. From the characters you fight (New-Age Retro Hippie, Putrid Moldy Man, Unassuming Local Guy - ever hear of enemies like THAT in an RPG?), to your allies (Mr. Saturn, Dr. Andonuts, Everdred, Runaway Five), and to the events that take place (Magic Cake - HAHAHA!), this game will stick in your head for years.

The great thing about Earthbound is that not only is it filled with great quotes and characters, there are no random battles! You can see your enemies walking around, they can usually run faster than you though. If you are strong enough, they will run from you or the battle won't even start, you will just be declared the winner and get your experience points.

Earthbound's world is very unique, each town is very unique with their own problems to solve. One town is zombie infested (Threed) , another has a cult that paints everything blue (Happy Happy Village) and another has a bizarre alter-universe version of itself (Fourside/Moonside/Edisoom).

This game will keep you laughing the whole way through with it's hilarious enemies, odd events, strange characters and overall lightheartedness. There isn't a timer in the game, but I estimate that it was about 40 hours long and is surprisingly challenging. If you can't find it in stores or order it online, at least try to play it on an emulator. This is definately one of the top 5 RPG's ever made, if not the greatest. Even the newer games coming out can't compete with this, it's that good.

By far the best RPG, nay, the best game ive ever played.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 12 / 12
Date: April 12, 2006
Author: Amazon User

i still remember the first time i played this game. it was given to me by and old neighbor of mine as a gift back in 1995. ever since then i think ive beaten and restarted this game over a hundred times. to me this game never gets old. the only reason i still have my snes is just for this game. i highly recomend this game to anyone that likes RPGs. it is so simple that anyone can pick it up but the storyline is so deep that it actually makes you care deeply about these 16-bit sprites on the screen.

the music is so catchy, each city has its own theme and almost each enemy has his own music. the music for this is perfect for the tone of the game.

the graphix are sufficient. sprite detail is great. the only complaint anyone has (not me) is the battle graphics are just a box with your name on it fighting a picture of the enemy. very simple but youlle actually be suprised how well it works.

replayability is by far the best aspect of the game. there is so much to do and its so fun to complete all the tasks.

it is a little bit hard to figure out what to do next though, even the original game came with the players guide. if you dont have a guide you can easily download a guide online for free.

You need to know that Nintendo DESTROYED this game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 8
Date: June 12, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Earthbound... This is a game that I remember enjoying immensely back in the day. Unfortunately, it has now been plunged into obscurity and receives very little respect from new age gamers that happen to come across it. Despite that, though, you might be a bit surprised to learn that this game was the source of a considerable amount of hype prior to its release. I remember Nintendo Power Magazine, which was one of the leading authorities of video games back then, did a pretty big promotion for this game. Sadly, this promotion probably did more to hurt the game's image than anything else. What NP tried to do was, they tried to play off the game's humorous and quirky nature. They ended up having these scratch and sniff cards that had stuff like dirty sock scent and things like that which came out in a special pull out section of the magazine. It was done with good intentions, but needless to say, I don't think it did very much to boost the game's image. NP's coverage of the game also did its part to hurt the game's stock. I remember that the coverage they did on it was really weird. It wasn't a normal walkthrough like they did with virtually every other game they've ever featured. There were no strategies, no hints or tips, no maps, nothing like that. There was never any kind of coverage like that. Basically what they did was, they had in-depth journalism type feature about this odd unconventional RPG that was wrecking the standards for RPGs everywhere. If you read through it really carefully and you have a bit of background knowledge about the game, then you can kind of tell that it was just meant to be a big joke, but if you didn't know much about it (which at the time, most people didn't, since it had just been released) then it really looks like NP was just slamming this game. At the beginning it said "we suggest psychiatric guidance" for anyone who reads this review or something like that, and it went on to explain "how Earthbound will destroy civilization as we know it". At the very end it said, "Not only does the game of Earthbound reek like some foul creature of the sewers, but Nintendo has made the product even more repulsive with the Player's guide that comes packaged with the game." I swear that's literally what it says, and if you don't believe it then you can look in volume 73 of Nintendo Power Magazine from June 1995, if you can still find it. Folks, you really have to remember the impact that this magazine had on the video gaming world at the time. In the mid-nineties, Nintendo was the biggest gaming company in the world, unlike nowadays. I believe this is the single biggest reason why this game is now largely forgotten because the fact is, there were quite a few people back in the day who were really looking forward to this release. As soon as it came out, though, the hype was gone and the game's legacy would soon follow. As for the game itself though, it plays pretty much like many other RPG's, but to be honest it is a kind of quirky game. For those of you who are thinking about ordering this game or playing it and never played it the first time around, or for those who just didn't get it in the first place, you really have to put the game in the context of when it came out. Earthbound was released amid the golden age of RPG's. You had all these overblown, dramatic games coming out like Zelda, Chrono Trigger, all those Final Fantasys, the Secret of Mana, the Secret of Evermore, and the list goes on and on. What the developers of Earthbound sought to do was to create a satire of games like this. Instead of having the Masamune or the Master Sword, you had baseball bats and frying pans. Instead of fighting a race of Moogles or a mythical dragon, you fight hippies and snakes and retail store managers. This game was to RPG's what the Dead Kennedys were to punk rock, or what Pulp Fiction was to the 90's movie scene. No, the developers of this game were not nuts; they were just trying to poke fun at what was becoming an increasingly overwhelming and overblown trend. But somewhere in all that, they created a game that was truly one of kind, fun, addicting, and as far as I'm concerned, one of the best games ever released for any system. It's just a shame that Earthbound will never be remembered that way.

Great RPG from the SNES days.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 9 / 11
Date: July 28, 2001
Author: Amazon User

It's about time I found a listing for this on Amazon! I've been looking all over for this game. This is one of the best ones I played on the SNES, and I still like it today.

In terms of graphics, it's very cartoony, and the battles are done in Dragon Warrior style with some weird swirling color patterns in the background. The music in this game is pretty cool, though it gets weird at times. But, well, this game IS weird... that's the whole point of it.

The gameplay is much like the old Dragon Warrior style, and a few old features like limited inventories have come into play. I personally don't like that, but it certainly does add some challenge.

One of the best and most unique features of this game, also, is the battle system. First, there are no random battles. You must run into an enemy in order to fight it. If the enemy is stronger than or equal to you, it will come after you. If you're far stronger than they are, or you have already beaten their area, they will usually run away. Also, when you come into contact with an enemy, the beginning of the battle is determined by HOW you met them. If they caught up with you from behind, they get the first strike. If you caught them from behind, you get the first strike. And, if you met face to face, it's an equal start. One other feature of the battle system, which I truly like, is the ability to skip pointless battles. If you are far stronger than the enemy and they run into you, you will automatically win without even going into a battle screen. That is an excellent feature, and I don't know why it hasn't been implemented in other games. Final Fantasy certainly could use something like that.

This game is placed in modern times, which is another thing that makes it unique. Also, it is purposely comic, and I enjoy that a lot more than FF7's dark, gloomy overtones. I also like the interesting choice of weapons that the heroes use to fight bad guys. Baseball bats, frying pans (!), slingshots. This game is wacky, and it's not the least bit shy about that.

Unfortunately, it came out at a time when people were saying "If it didn't come from Squaresoft, it can't be any good," so as a result it was either overlooked or scorned. But, this is actually a great game. If you can get your hands on it, go for it.

Earthbound

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: June 11, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Earthbound is probebly the best game you could get your hands on. I loved it so much that I rented it every time we went to the video rental store even after I beat it. (I didn't know where to buy it...) It's, hands-down, the most unique RPG ever created. It's VERY humorous! From talking bees from the future to a shy reptilian tribe, this game will keep you hooked with all it's witty humor. It's not impossibly hard, but not too easy. This game stands out from all of the other RPGs where the storyline always is, "rebel group tries to stop some evil group, during which, they descover some evil mad-man bent on destoying the world" (not that those are BAD ^_^) Earthbound has such realistic items. Instead of 'Potions' giving you hits back, you have hamburgers and juice boxes. EarthBound has everything a gamer needs. (even delivery Pizza! ^_^) So if you don't buy it, or at least PLAY it, I'll have to say, "Hey you guys," or something like that!

If Video Games Were Art, This Would Be The Father Of Surrealism

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: June 29, 2005
Author: Amazon User

The year was 1994, the video gaming world was climbing faster and faster to the top of the entertainment industry, every gamer knew it was coming and finally video games could be delivered from their nerdy, childish reputation. It was also a turning point in the industry, video games were being pushed further and further as mediums of pure entertainment, and pressure was being pressed harder and harder on game developers to create games that would look flashier, destroy more and sell better. It was a transitionary phase from the video games of old to the Sony's and Microsoft's taking control, and in this period came one of the last bastions of the old era of artistic freedom, Earthbound.

There is absolutely nothing linear and contrived in Earthbound as far as an RPG goes. Sure there are levels, magic, battles, hitpoints, towns, dungeons and currencies, but every single one of these elements is presented in a unique and interesting manner that has never been duplicated since.

The graphics are simple, cartoony and full of colour and vibrancy. I personally love the isometric worlds and the goofy characters as they give off a really unique vibe that invites you to imagine and get lost in the surreal worlds.

The humour and maturity of the game is un-paralleled in many ways to even modern games. Modern games often try to mimic generally really cut-and-past movie-type characters, from the morally-depraved to the self-righteous, the characters are meant to be embraced by pop-culture, follow societal archetypes and be hip and cool. Earthbound's plot is non-linear, bordering on dadaistic and just plain silly, every cliche is either included as a satire or completely ignored. From drug culture to fart jokes to buddhism to poltics and quantum physics, Earthbound covers it all. Never taking itself seriously, but also never mindlessly stealing them like bibliography sources in a high school paper.

The soundtrack is exceptionally ecclectic, and to list a few of the 'genres' swept in this game: acid jazz, metal, drone, pop, 70's psych rock, ambient, blues, trip hop, big band, drum n bass and a lot of avant-garde mixtures that will make any experimental/underground musician gape. Simply put, there is a lot of weird stuff!

My favourite moments in the game are moonside, the fourside shopping mall, threed, the happy happy cult, saturn valley and of course Magicant :) 5 stars, this game proves that video games can be art. They can travel places, they can be surreal and capture the imagination like the best of any artform. This game will remain one of my all-time favourites until I die, and has been a part of me and my dreams for a very long time.

, Jamie

This game owns!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: July 27, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Earthbound is by far one of the best games I have ever played. You may say, "Ahh, it's for Super NES, it can't be all that great", but trust me, it is. It's not like some of those fantasy RPGs, it's more real-life, and that's what I like most. Like to regain health, you eat things like cookies, and hamburgers instead of elixers and things like that. Very good story and extremely addicting and fun to play. It's very VERY hard to find nowadays so if you ever find an opportunity to somehow get your hands on this game, take it. ... I also called Nintendo of America and asked if it might come out for GBA and they said it was a possibility! Anyway, very good game. 5 star material all the way.

Incredible RPG

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: November 27, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I first played this game a few years after it came out. A friend of mine had it and we agreed that this would be the first game that we would be beat together where we WERE NOT using Game Genie. For a "kiddie game" (and I'm using that loosely) it is incredibly addictive.

Being stupid adolescents (at that time) we quickly learned that if we could change the name of something, we could put in curse words (which just made it even funnier). I can't give you an estimate of how much time you'll spend playing this game, but I know I spent a few months going over every square inch of this game. It's been several years now, but I am looking forward to buying another SNES and this game. My only problem with it is that it has become a "cult classic" and some of the prices are just outrageous. But if you can find a good deal, grab while you can.

Best Game I have ever played

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: July 13, 2006
Author: Amazon User

This is one of the best games i have ever played. Even though i do not have a best game ever instead i have multiple best games ever. This is definitely up there. First off the sound track is excellent and very memorable. Some people complain about the battle system but i loved it. The story is very unique and to this day no one has ever reused it. The characters are unique and interesting. This game has some funny enemies like piles of throw up, crazed seniors, and Mr. T. Okay i was kidding about Mr.T but he does make an appearance because this game takes place in modern times. Also there are no random encounters like a lot of RPG's. This game is definitely not too short and is pretty lengthy. It is also realistic like when you are in the desert you need to a towel so you wont die of heat. This is my favorite game on Super Nintendo and it may be old but it sure is better than today's games.

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