EarthBound: Blind Playthrough - Where To Go | #8

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NeanderthalGamingTV

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Published on February 4, 2015 11:00:00 PM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mOUmikyUlU

Game:

Earthbound (1994)

Duration: 19:29

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EarthBound, known as Mother 2 in Japan, is a 1994 Japanese role-playing video game co-developed by Ape and HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System video game console. As Ness and his party of four, the player travels the world to collect melodies en route to defeating the evil alien force Giygas. It is the second game of the Mother series, and the only one to be released in the English language. EarthBound was released in Japan on August 27, 1994, and in North America on June 5, 1995.

The game faced a lengthy development time spanning five years. Its staff contained involvement from a number of Japanese luminaries including writer Shigesato Itoi, songwriter Keiichi Suzuki, sound designer Hirokazu Tanaka, and future Nintendo president Satoru Iwata. Themed around an idiosyncratic portrayal of Americana and Western culture, it subverted popular role-playing game traditions by featuring a real world setting while parodying numerous staples of the genre. Itoi, who directed the game, wanted it to reach non-gamers with its intentionally goofy personality. It was heavily marketed upon release via a promotional campaign which sardonically proclaimed "this game stinks".

EarthBound initially received poor critical response and sales in the United States, selling half as many copies as it sold in Japan. Critics credit this to a combination of the game's simple graphics, the satirical marketing campaign, and a lack of market interest in the genre. In the ensuing years, a dedicated fan community spawned which advocated for the series. Starting in 1999, Ness became a featured character in each of the Super Smash Bros. series of video games which furthered public perception of EarthBound. In 2013, EarthBound was reissued and given a worldwide release for the Wii U Virtual Console following many years of fan lobbying, marking its debut in many territories including Europe. Upon retrospection, the game received wide critical acclaim, and was deemed by many a timeless classic. A Japan-only sequel, Mother 3, was released for the Game Boy Advance in 2006.


EarthBound features many traditional role-playing game elements: the player controls a party of characters who travel through the game's two-dimensional world composed of villages, cities, caves, and dungeons. Along the way, the player fights battles against enemies and the party receives experience points for victories. If enough experience points are acquired, a character's level will increase. This increases the character's attributes, such as offense, defense, and the maximum hit points (HP) and psychic points (PP) of each character. Rather than using an overworld map screen like most console RPGs of its era, the world is entirely seamless, with no differentiation between towns and the outside world. Another non-traditional element is the perspective used for the world. The game uses oblique projection, while most 2D RPGs use a "top down" view on a grid or an isometric perspective.

Currency is indirectly received from Ness's father, who can also save the game's progress. Each time the party wins a battle, Ness' father deposits money in an account that can be withdrawn at ATMs. In towns, players can visit various stores where weapons, armor, and items can be bought. Weapons and armor can be equipped to increase character strength and defense, respectively. In addition, items can be used for a number of purposes, such as healing. Towns also contain several other useful facilities such as hospitals where players can be healed for a fee.


The player starts as a young boy named Ness[b] as he investigates a nearby meteorite crash with his neighbor, Pokey.He finds that an alien force, Giygas, has enveloped the world in hatred and consequently turned animals, humans, and objects into malicious creatures. A bee from the future instructs Ness to collect melodies in a Sound Stone to preemptively stop the force While visiting these eight Sanctuaries, Ness meets three other kids named Paula, Jeff, and Poo—"a psychic girl, an eccentric inventor, and a ponytailed martial artist", respectively—who join his party.Along the way, Ness visits the cultists of Happy Happy Village (where he meets Paula) and the zombie-infested Threed, where they fall prey to a trap. Paula speaks telepathically to Jeff in a Winters boarding school to rescue her and Ness. They continue to Fourside and its neon flipside, Moonside. Poo, the prince of Dalaam, partakes in a violent meditation called "Mu Training" before joining the party.When the Sound Stone is filled,[9] Ness visits Magicant alone, a surreal location in his mind where he fights his dark side.Upon returning to Eagleland, he prepares to travel back in time to fight a young Giygas,a battle known for its "feeling of isolation, ... incomprehensible attacks, ... buzzing static" and reliance on prayer.

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