This article is part of our new experimental series, Backlog Club, where we (Nintendo Life!) pick a game that's likely to be on our list of "games we should get around to playing", and then we (NL + you!) spend the next month playing that game. This is the halfway point, the Part One of two, where we stop for a minute to check in with the game, and how much we're enjoying it.
For May 2022 (how is it May already, etc.) we're playing seminal JRPG SNES game, Earthbound, and discovering memories from a childhood we never had...
My bedroom smells like burned rubber. It's not because I've been hosting raunchy Formula 1 parties, or because my furniture is made of old tyres — it's because I've been reading the rather lush Fangamer handbook for Earthbound, which comes with its own scratch-and-sniff card, a replica of the one that came with the original game. And let me tell you: It is pungent.
The fact that I have spent my very own hard-earned journalism money on a book about the game I'm playing should tell you a lot about how much I'm enjoying Earthbound. It is only very rarely that I like a game enough to willingly do homework about it, and while it helps that Fangamer's handbook is a gorgeous little thing, framed as a tourist guide, it's all thanks to Earthbound's incredibly well-aged self that I'm having this much of a blast with a nearly 30-year-old game. After all, most things start going downhill around 25, don't they...? (sob)
Much like Slay The Spire, I'm not very far in yet, although it feels like I've done loads. I've ventured from Onett to Twoson to Threed to Fourside, visiting the delightful Saturn Valley along the way and wishing I could just stay there forever, and according to the handbook, I'm only at about page 122 of 250. But Earthbound is one of those old-school JRPG-type games that reward you for backtracking and finding secrets down every little alleyway and dead-end, and I bloody love secrets, so it might take me a fair while to finish this one.
Now, it does feel a little bit like I'm terribly late to the party on this one, because it seems like everyone and their mums has played Earthbound before — but it doesn't seem to matter too much, since it's the kind of game that people want you to play, even if you are a bit late. It does have quite the cult classic reputation, so my expectations were very high and I was also reluctant to ever give it a go, because I hate when people insist that I do things. I'm independent, dang it!
Admittedly, Earthbound has its foibles. The inventory system, which is a generous way to describe it, is little more than a small pocket where Ness (or Egg, as I named him) keeps all the random things he finds, some of which are useful and some of which are not and THERE IS NO WAY TO KNOW WHICH IS WHICH. And as I've mentioned, there's a lot of backtracking, and it's easy to get lost, overwhelmed, or tired. Or all three.
But it's just so utterly charming. In fact, I'll let you in on a wee secret of the trade. For whatever reason, British games journalists really like using the word "charming" to describe games, usually in reviews, because it nails a specific feeling: Being totally won over by a game that's not afraid to be earnest, with a specific kind of enchantment that makes you smile, even if it is a little rough around the edges.
"Charming" games are the ones where the walls between you and the developer are so thin that you can almost see them watching you play, like someone who's just given you a Christmas gift they made themselves — nervous, excited, and hoping that you like this thing that they put their whole heart into.
And Earthbound is charming. It's bewitchingly lovely, enchantingly weird, deeply magical, and wholly unique. It somehow captures a '90s (sorry, '9Xs) vibe that never really existed, because none of us ever had UFOs crash into our back gardens, and although 20th Century parents were a lot more lax than they are today, I doubt my mum would have been pleased with a 10-year-old me going globetrotting to save the world. Even if I did phone home occasionally.
I'll admit, though, that it's a tiring game. When I got to Fourside, I was starting to get a little irritated with how much the NPCs expected of me — they wanted me to travel back to past towns, raise insane amounts of money, fix their zombie problems, go spelunking for things they lost, and so on. I have my own mission, damn it! Leave me alone! I'm just a child!
I know that fetch quests and side quests are part of the journey, but when all your forward progress amounts to one step forwards, twenty steps right, three steps back, and occasionally getting punted into weird interdimensional spaces, it can feel a little bit like not being allowed to eat your ice cream until you've finished someone else's maths homework.
Still, I'm having a good time. A nice time. A Ness time. I'm getting a little fatigued, but I want to see this thing through to the end, because there are so many unanswered questions: What are the weird musical footprints? Who is Giygas? Will I ever meet the fourth character, Poo Klunk? And why does that weird photographer keep interrupting me?
I'm excited to find out. Say "fuzzy pickles!"
Check out Zion's lovely tribute to the Mother/Earthbound series above! This wasn't even an intentional synergy! We're just cool like that.
Don't forget to vote in this month's poll for next month's game, which will be one of these murder-mystery adventure stories:
Further Reading:
- Backlog Club: Week Zero, May - It's Time To Play Earthbound
- April's Backlog Club - Slay The Spire
- Poll: Box Art Brawl: Duel #95 - Earthbound / Mother 2
- Soapbox: Mother 3 Isn't Sad, It's Hopeful
- Poll: Does Nintendo Really Need To Release Mother 3 In The West Anymore?
- Memory Pak: Making New Memories With Earthbound In 2022
- Poll: If Nintendo Released Mother 3 In The West, What Would It Be Called?
- Soapbox: Mother 3 Isn't Sad, It's Hopeful
Have you been enjoying playing/replaying Earthbound? Are you going to give Earthbound Beginnings and Mother 3 a try as well? Let us know your thoughts so far in the usual manner!
Comments 27
Earthbound in my opinion is one of the best games I have ever played but Mother 3 is the best game ever in my opinion.
These are fun articles. Someday one of these games will actually intersect my own backlog so I can join in but my voted options are always last. 😝
I don’t know if I would have been able to complete it without the rewind option. It just gets to the point where, even without random encounters, you’re running into enemies less than 5 seconds apart. Fantastic game otherwise, but fatiguing to be sure.
Really loving this game AND discovered my Switch tracks how long I've been playing SNES games in the app. 834 minutes and think I'm about halfway.
Yeah I’m in fourside. Ok I’m trying to hunt down some moles to get some gold for the runaway five but still!
Also the game is really good but the beginning was a bit meh and the inventory system stinks and the escargo express is useless and there is practically no PP restoring items. But the game is still pretty fun. (I also really love defeating a boss and watching all the enemies run from you. Makes you feel powerful)
Playing earthbound as we speak!
@Sealy_boy I agree, I’m making heavy use of the rewind feature and not feeling one bit guilty. I have also been using the official Strategy guide which I think Nintendo put online when the SNES mini was released, the guide is a work of art and I’m a little sad I only have a digital copy.
Sounds like I’m pretty much at the same point as Kate. Doing stuff in and around Fourside. I’m feeling a little bit of the fatigue with the convoluted story but I’ve been on holiday for a few days so will hopefully come back feeling refreshed on Monday.
I disagree with the small inventories being a problem, I see it a bit like the weapon disability system in Zelda BOTW, it forces you to use things that you otherwise might have picked up in a cave somewhere and never bothered with.
My favourite thing about the game so far has just been looking back over everything I’ve done already, so many bonkers things have been crammed into such a short period, and whole crazy characters get introduced only for the story to take a complete detour a few minutes later. I’d say this falls into my top 5 SNES games but I suppose I should reserve judgement until I’ve finished, should be done with it by the end of the month.
Backlog count: 794 games
My problem was playing mother 3 before earthbound. I think every aspect of M3 was better than EB - the comedy, pacing especially, bond with characters, story, and a million things more - that I only had admiration for EB when I played it recently and nothing more. Glad it's out the backlog but don't think I'll return to it ever
I'm in fourside. I knew from the first hour that this was going to become one of my all time favourites. Everything about it makes me smile and feel things I wasn't expecting. Cosy, funny and poignant. Addictive too. I have been meaning to play it for so long, but I'm only very rarely on an RPG kick, and so this has landed at the perfect time.
I'm playing Mother 3 instead of Earthbound.... or was until I got a new laptop and had to take time to set it up and it came with a free month of Game Pass so I'm just making the best of that.
I honestly have no idea how many games I have in my backlog. That's a ton of them, for sure. As I'm worried to catch up on them, I'm playing Donkey Kong Country for the nth time
I'm enjoying this series of articles. Maybe one day I'll be playing the same game as the author, more likely not, but I'm enjoying reading this. I laughed out loud when you mentioned "raunchy Formula 1 parties". WHAT????? HAHAHAHHAHAHAH
This game is equal parts frustrating and delightful. The dialogue is so unique and doesn’t make sense frequently but in the best way. I have had so many interactions that I tell myself to remember only to be overwritten by another off the wall dialogue. Even the battle dialogue is entertaining - I’m in threed now. I am too naive and spoiler sensitive to Google it but I am curious about the game’s influences.
Not one mention of the music in the article or comments? Really?
Best vgm ost ever! IMO. The paula music when you rescue her from the cabin, with the running water sound, gave me chills as a kid. The creepy Lier x. Agerate music in the beginning pf the game gave mw the creeps! The random reggae playing in Mr T's house in Onett, lol.
I freaking love this game! Im not playing alon right now, but ive beaten it 3 or 4 times in my life, and I'm really enjoying following along and reading the comments!
As someone above said, the limited inventory is part of the challenge of the game, and makes every item special. It makes you really think about who carries what, and why. It makes the normal limitless capacity for items of other rpgs seem so silly and thoughtless.
Once you get into it, its totally doable. And, remember that the game came with a strategy guide, and thats where alot of the item info and stuff is provided!
Thanks again for doing this! You are the star of this here publication, no question. 👍👍
This is one game I play on every platform, even after finishing all the files on my original cartridge. There's a few things that feel a little old and tedious but for the most part Earthbound is evergreen goodness. I'm still blown away at how interesting and intriguing the story manages to be with relatively little text and a barebones story. Most of the main characters have like three lines of dialog yet they are so memorable all the same. Giygas is almost entirely a non entity and is an infamous villain. The efficiency in the storytelling is amazing, and is increasingly refreshing as games get more talky and bloated (the comparison to Undertale always struck me as odd given how that game is the total opposite with storytelling efficiency). I love Mother 3 too, but even that made me long for Earthbound's perfect brevity.
I wonder why #nessisonett is not here yet.
Think I might give this one up. Was never interested in this in the 90s because I thought the art style was just ugly, but people have been praising this for decades so I figured I'd give it a shot. Now I'm in Twoson and just not having fun. I know it'll pick up and I'll die less once I have a second character to tank some hits, but there're some 30 year-old design decisions that just get under my skin, and I'm usually super forgiving of those. Shut up, dad, your spiel was amusing the first time, but not the thirtieth; just let me save already. I recovered in the hotel with full health but I still gotta spend another $50 to get my PP back?
And that art style is still. Just. Fugly. All these years later.
I love getting a month of articles about discovering Earthbound. I'm not joining in this time around, mostly because I beat it for the first time just a few months ago, but the thought of lots of people playing this game together makes me happy
I just finished Saturn valley onto the desert! Love this game. It really holds up even to this day
@-wc- I've written a lot about Earthbound lately and I'm trying not to repeat too many of my points 😅 But you're right, the music is awesome. And catchy. I will have it in my head forever.
@KateGray
Totally understand that, and glad you are enjoying it like I do!
IMO the music alone is worth an entire article. Beatles and Flying circus samples, tons of music references and puns in the game, hip tanaka, keiichi suzuki, and on and on. Painfully gorgeous melodies, infectious grooves, fuzzy nostalgia. 😊
I loved this bit of the article: '"Charming" games are the ones where the walls between you and the developer are so thin that you can almost see them watching you play..."'
I don't know how Kate does it, but wow! This is a scary-accurate way of describing something I thought couldn't be described, only experienced.
I’m still near the start, enjoying the humour and music but already a little bored of the battles. Hopefully this will improve once I have more party members! Think I need to try and find a few hours to power through the early game. Difficult given my recent re-addiction to slay the spire thanks to this backlog club 😁
@MischiefMaker Tell me about it... I'm on Ascension 3 when I should be playing Earthbound
@KateGray No you tell ME about it! I made the mistake of starting a run in my lunch break today (ascension level 4, not showing off, promise) working from home and failed to put it down when I had to join a zoom call (camera off) after. I don’t think i was very productive…
@MischiefMaker I have an upcoming interview that should help elucidate why games like STS are so addictive
@KateGray Ooh exciting! The dopamine hit when you smack every enemy with lightning 15 times in one turn is REAL
So I finally finished* Pokemon Legends: Arceus, and I'm taking the Backlog Club as a sign I should dig back into Earthbound. I played through Earthbound Beginnings right after it dropped on NSO. Once I finished that I started up Earthbound and made it to Twoson, and which point I got retro-RPG fatigue and put it down for a few months. Thankfully, I wasn't too far into it that I was lost picking it back up, and the last several hours have been quite refreshing (I'm currently in Belch's Factory).
Earthbound feels so far less like a sequel to Earthbound Beginnings and more like a very loose remake/reimagining. Very similar overall structure so far, but with the set-pieces rearranged a bit, and a lot of the kinks smoothed out. The game is visually fantastic (especially in handheld), and I'm even not too bothered by the first-person battles (though I'd much rather see my characters). I am a little bummed that I haven't gotten to fight a truck, car, or bag lady yet, though...
The one big quality of life drawback is the super slow movement speed. The lack of a run option, and the fact that you get the option to get bicycle early on only to have it become completely useless just a little later, is pretty infuriating.
*meaning, I caught Arceus and did about half of the Daybreak content
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