It’s been a long time since I’ve done a playthrough of Earthbound, and I figured since I just played MOTHER, I should spend my free time engaging with one of my favorite RPGs of all time for the first time since I was a teen. I know—I’ve replayed Pokémon Platinum every year since I was in elementary, but I couldn’t give one of the main pillars of my childhood a fair replay until now. Stop staring at me disapprovingly!
I’m not sure what else can be said about Earthbound that hasn’t already been shouted from the top of Mt. Everest. It’s an impeccably lauded game that’s gone from an afterthought during its era to the gold standard of emotionally charged, wacky RPGs. It’s inspired countless games and the industry as a whole, and there will never be anything else that captures its exact energy. It’s a masterpiece, plain and simple.
So you know what? I’m just going to talk about a few random things from the game that I love. It’s genuinely hard for me to single out any particular aspect of Earthbound because the experience as a whole is what truly makes it special, but there’s enough whimsy in this game to fill a textbook, so I will be talking about how Foppys are the pinnacle of enemy design.
Thing #1: Everybody is chill (and irresponsible) in the weirdest way
Now I know one of the most highly praised aspects of Earthbound is its comedic dialogue, but now that I have a plethora of dialogue sloshing around my mind from my current playthrough, I’ve come to realize that everyone NPC in this game is just… chill. Everyone has something to say, and it’s almost always a zinger that’ll make you chuckle or a statement about life, desire, or praise that’s spoken with such a relaxed disposition, as if underneath all the turmoil and evil that’s wrought Eagleland, its people remain freewheeling at heart. It’s very much a populous that reflects what—ideally—a child Ness’ age might view adulthood as being like: a physically older state where trivial and outright silly worries can still be a big deal. Problems both large and small will sometimes be portrayed as if they’re just momentary hiccups or the end of the world. People will just say things on impulse—like accusing you of giving them a dirty look after they imply you should be giving them, a stranger, a shoulder massage—and that’s completely normal. It all just gives off a very carefree, lackadaisical vibe that gives the impression that these “adults” are just grown up children rather than mature, and I haven’t even begun to talk about how this game absolutely adores portraying the incompetency of adults in positions of power.
The first public official you meet that isn’t a cop is your hometown’s mayor who conscripts you to solve Onett’s rampant gang issue, and then explicitly requests that if anything bad were to happen that he’d be absolved of any blame. It’s also hilarious how often you’re supposed to pay off the debts of the Runaway Five, who consistently manage to sign albatross contracts binding them to practically a lifetime of performances unless we, the children, cobble together large sums of money we manage to luck our way into. This is literally one of the main ways you progress the story on multiple occasions: Paying what’s virtually a ransom fee.
It makes you wonder how this society competently functions; but honestly, kids don’t have that kind of perspective yet. I know I didn’t when I was Ness and his friends’ age, and it wouldn’t be Earthbound if the people didn’t reflect how simply kids view grown-ups. Paying off debt with money? No, you gotta find a diamond in a cave filled with giant talking moles who all think they’re the third strongest. That’s the kind of whimsy I think we all wish life still felt like it had.
Thing #2: Weird music before it was cool
Most RPGs from Earthbound’s era are accompanied by soundtracks that evoke the fantastical, grandiose adventures most of its peers contained; Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy 6 are my all-time favorite examples of these. At a glance, Earthbound certainly shouldn’t adopt the same style, and it doesn’t, but if you were a first time player, you definitely wouldn’t expect how eclectic its OST actually is.
The game opens up with one of its best examples of this: a foreboding subtitle stab that instills a speck of fear into your mind, followed by a happy-go-lucky tune accompanied by footage of the main characters whimsically exploring the world. I love how the latter track has this stuttery section that makes it seem like the composer just wanted to go wild on the keys, and then everything immediately snaps back to normal. It’s the first taste you get of how crazy Earthbound’s OST is, and it sets the tone for the wackiness that ensues.
It’s even funnier knowing that your first battle is against a Starman Jr—an alien, not the dogs and birds most commonly associated with the beginning of the game—accompanied by a pretty unsettling but funky track with a bass drop rivaling mainstream hip hop beats. I don’t think any first time player expected to hear a hypnotically electronic tune coupled with a psychedelic background. Then you hear Sunrise/Onett’s theme and immediately think “Aww, this game is so cute and fun! There’s little puppies and birds running around everywhere, it’s all bright and sunny, there’s… snakes for some reason… Woo!” It’s kind of a massive tonal shift from the nighttime intro, and perfectly captures the dichotomy the game effortlessly bounces between.
At the core of this wackiness is Earthbound’s choice of instrumentation: warm pads, brash brass, and a lot of sampling. The SNES had an exceptionally powerful sound chip for its time, and instead of just taking the basic route of loading an entire Roland keyboard’s soundbank onto the cartridge, the composers decided to get real creative. There’s a ton of sampling pulled from popular artists like the Beatles and the Beach Boys in this soundtrack, but there’s also an equal amount of samples that are sourced from places so unique that it becomes obvious that the composer was engaging in the 90s equivalent of flipping through random MP3 files on the internet and carving out which micro-sections that tickled their ears—i.e. combing through vinyls and CDs.
Did you know that the weird muffled noise in the track “Your Name, Please” is a voice sample from an American medical drama that aired in the mid-60s called Ben Casey? How about how Giygas’ death themes were constructed almost entirely from chopped and glued-together samples from a His Name is Alive album? Seriously, it’s incredible that anyone was ever able to figure the latter fact out. The noise in those tracks is so incomprehensibly gargled that unless you’re just a really big His Name is Alive fan, you’d think that mess of static, airy, hauntingly ethereal pads was all custom made. It’s a testament to the creative prowess these guys had in an era where you had to sequence music in a primitive DAW note by note—letter by letter—effects and all.
If you want to check out a list of a few of the crazy samples Earthbound utilizes, here’s a great video that analyzes how exactly they’re manipulated. It’s really neat to see (and hear) how so many tracks are actually just carefully layered samples.
Oh, and I had to pick my favorite track that embodies Earthbound’s unique sound, it’d have to be “Kraken of the Sea” and its (approximately) twenty different individually filtered bass synths. Yeah. As far as I know, they didn’t have the ability to gradually apply a low-pass filter to the bass channel, so they just filtered each note individually. I’d rip my hair out if I had to do that in a pinch!
Thing #3: Every battle is basic, yet engaging
But I’m not just referring to the colorfully patterned battle backgrounds. I’m talking about the whole shebang. I don’t think there’s another RPG out there that throws cute UFOs with ribbons on their heads, traffic signs with faces, dinosaurs, and floating orbs of various visages at you. Enemies are practically just exaggerated, anthropomorphized objects drawn to life from a child’s imagination, and they’re all under the influence of what’s vaguely described for most of the game as the universe’s greatest evil; yet again, there’s that special brand of contrast I and many others find so endearing.
But that still doesn’t answer the one question I’ve been asking since the moment I discovered this game: What is the Ego Orb? What is this thing? Why does it only live in the Lost Underworld and pulsate on the overworld map so strangely? I’ve been laughing at this thing’s cheekbones for over a decade now, and I don’t think my fascination with it is going to stop until someone on the development team reveals what the hell compelled them to design this. Was it a result of a bad trip? A spark of concentrated chaos? I may never know, and I’m not sure I’m okay with that.
Anyway, now that I’m done getting sidetracked, the battle system in Earthbound has always been a subject of minor criticism. Some of its detractors have claimed it’s just a bit too… unremarkable, whether it be for reasons like having a relatively slow pace, reliance on too many menus, or its “archaic” functionality. An opinion on an RPGs—or any video game for that matter—battle system is all a subjective matter, but I can’t lie when I say I’ve felt the age from time to time. Yet, I still find myself really enjoying each battle because the vibes are just so unique compared to anything else. I’m constantly mesmerized by the gameplay flow, the flashy effects of each PSI ability, and each fantastical enemy overlaying a psychedelic backdrop. I just feel good while spamming that A button, trying my hardest to bash my way through every little annoyance that gets in my way, and I think that’s reason enough for anyone who feels similarly to justify Earthbound’s battle system being good. If you find it fun and engaging, it is. Plus, you really can’t claim the rolling HP mechanic is a bad one. It’s super smart, super unique, and adds an extra level of leniency and urgency that introduces a whole lot of welcome tension.
Thing #4: What’s out there… I don’t know!
Some of you might’ve read my post about MOTHER and how I love its world despite how boring the landscapes are. Earthbound rectifies that sense of boredom entirely through condensing its environments’ scale while still filling them with interesting people, places, and events. You’re not as likely to get lost traversing Eagleland as you are its previous iteration—I’d argue you have much more fun traveling this time around, too. You’re constantly bouncing between stereotypical American towns and the most bizarre places; from the relative normalcy of Fourside to the neon mindfuckery of Moonside, there’s always a weird place equaling the normal, and it’s so much more consistently engaging. I can spend so much more time wandering around with intrigue because I know there’s going to be something funny waiting in each and every corner and crevice.
I was wandering through the Dusty Dunes Desert (which I didn’t realize was called that for the longest time because the sign there just says “DESERT”) and came across this teeny little black speck tucked in the sand. I originally thought it was an enemy, or a tiny bug, but it was actually a sesame seed.
Who in the world decides a sesame seed should be an NPC? And better yet, it’s got a lover: a white sesame seed located all the way on the other side of the desert.
The game is littered with funny interactions like this, and it makes exploring feel much less like a slog and more like a mystery box—you never know what you’re going to find. If we could read Ness’ mind, I wonder what exactly he’d be thinking when stumbling upon Happy Happy Village and Saturn Valley back to back. There’s just so much to see that’s so utterly unique that it’s impossible to not have a good time running around everywhere unless you lack a soul.
Earthbound, despite the limited amount of space in its world, captures Americana through an exaggerated Japanese lens in a way that’s so memorable that it’s almost more fun to view it as ideal. Traveling the country with your friends wielding yo-yo’s and baseball bats, discovering secret caves and unbelievable sights, all hidden behind backdrop of picturesque 90s suburbia. It’s like a child’s dream of the world come true, and it’s in each house, each cave, each person (whether human, animal, or inanimate object), and each town.
And you’ll have no idea what to expect unless you keep exploring. The game plants comedic, memorable seeds everywhere for you to find, and it’s up to you to go find them. I still don’t think I’ve found everything there is to find, and it’s kind of comforting knowing that there’s still more Earthbound for me to find.
That’s it for today! Sorry I didn’t talk about Foppys like I said I would. Here’s my quick two-cents: They’re very round and very cute.
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