EarthBound's still my favourite game ever, so I guess I should try to explain the appeal too. A lot of people seem to reduce the game to just the ending. I don't think that's right.
To start off, understand that it's not that great on paper, it's more about the experience. It doesn't have the most detailed graphics on the SNES. It doesn't have a particularly advanced battle system. It's probably better than most RPGs of the time in terms of gameplay, but it's quite accurate to call it a Dragon Quest clone. But it's a unique game within that rather traditional form.
Graphically, the game has a very simple look, a lot like Charlie Brown. It's sort of an interesting thing considering the game's setting. Most of the time it's not set in the real world; it's set in a cartoonish version of it. Not a particularly serious or dark place. But the game starts off warning you of a future where "all is devastation" - a very real threat that does show itself in the game. It's the same sort of contrast as
some of the creepier Pokemon or a
Kirby final boss has with the rest of its setting. It makes sense; the same HAL that makes Kirby worked on this game. The APE that worked on this game became the Creatures Inc that makes Pokemon, which has some other similarities (boy hero in a red cap and psychic powers).
The gameplay is somewhat more streamlined than other RPGs of its day. You could perform almost any action (except ringing your bicycle bell, which is useless) with just your left hand on the SNES controller. You can destroy weaker enemies instantly without a fight, avoid the stronger ones - there's no random battles - or chase away the weak ones. There's no overworld. But, at its core, it's a Dragon Quest knockoff. Not even an active time battle system.
But the bread and butter of the game is probably in the NPCs. Talking to everyone you meet is probably the best way to experience the game. Again, on paper, it doesn't seem impressive. They're just the standard JRPG guys who aimlessly wander a single spot and spout two pieces of text at most. Those lines might help flesh out the setting, they might be a hint. Or they might have nothing to do with you at all. It might be a joke, an odd comment, or it might even be a threat.
The man behind EarthBound is Shigesato Itoi. Some say that Nintendo can make another game without him, but it's actually rather absurd. Itoi isn't a game designer. He's a guy who does a lot of things. Based on what I've read: he wrote the lyrics to songs, books, blogs. He wrote the tagline to Miyazaki movies and did the voice of the father in My Neighbour Totoro. He's an influential gourmet in Japan and has appeared as a guest critic in Iron Chef. He came up with the name "Gameboy". He's gone gold mining - unsuccessfully. He's worked with Cirque de Soleil and followed them to North America.
Fundamentally, this is a game from an interesting guy who meets a lot of people, not a game designer. And that's a big part of it. The people in the game world don't necessary exist for you. But they're interesting. They can be silly, gloomy, informative, or weird. It's a good experience to talk to them. And, oddly enough, they might be inspired by real people.
The music's another distinctive thing. Not sure if there's any other game that sounds like it. It also shows off how difficult it is to peg the game as any particular thing. Some songs are
goofy. Others are
serious and cool. There's also plenty that have more
soft and nostalgic.
And, of course, there's other little weird things. Most of the status ailments are non-traditional. Enemies will occasionally do completely useless things in the middle of battle. You can find burgers in trash cans. You can converse with animals through your psychic powers.
Story's a hard thing to dissect since people always look for something different. I don't think Itoi's ever been considered a novelist, though I seem to recall hearing that he's written at least one book, and I know he's collaborated with the novelist Haruki Murakami. I think you can get the most out of the story through an appreciation of subtlety. There's a lot of things that are lightly or indirectly explained, and I believe it's intentional. The villain, for example, largely acts through servants, puppets, and warnings from knowledgeable allies.
"The War Against Gigyas!" is a constant thing overarching the story. But it mainly takes the forefront towards the end. The game is linear and the bulk of it is paced in an episodic way: a bunch of largely unrelated things, but always distinct and interesting in their own regard. I think that people who like EarthBound have strong recollections of the locations. I think that the most interesting are
,
,
,
, and
.
, the
, the
, and the
might also be memorable locattions to some, though you don't spend a lot of time there, so most have probably forgotten them.
Speaking personally, I felt a great sense of adventure with this game. It's not a huge environment, but every one is filled with its own little quirks and some distinct experience. When it adds up, it makes the world feel larger than the size of the map.
...I should stop making gigantic posts.
