Rating of
4.5/5
The Weirdest, Dumbest, Best RPG of the Decade
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 08/16/17
I have a long, odd history with the ‘EarthBound’ franchise. When Nintendo began their heavy-handed marketing campaign for the SNES title in the series, “EarthBound” (a.k.a., “Mother 2”), I was at an age where I firmly believed that Fantasy elements were mandatory in RPGs, and I couldn’t understand why anyone would want to suffer through any game that took place in the *horrified gasp* modern era and featured a cast of *even more horrified gasp* school children. It wasn’t until I met my friend Mark, who was a year behind me in high school and an even bigger videogame nerd than I was, that I heard a compelling argument to the contrary. Mark loved “Final Fantasy 4,” “Final Fantasy 6,” and “Chrono Trigger” as much as I did, yet he also had copious amounts of praise for the stupid-modern-day-school-kids-with-awful-claymation-art game that was “EarthBound.” Mark lent me his “EarthBound” cartridge, and I spent every day in science class – where he was my lab partner – regaling him with my progress in what turned out to be an incredibly weird, incredibly dumb, yet somehow incredibly good RPG. Fortunately for me, I managed to find a boxed copy of “EarthBound,” complete with oversized manual/guidebook at Best Buy for $4 near the end of the SNES’ lifespan.
Years later, when the Internet had lain open the dark secrets of 8-bit and 16-bit videogame localization, I learned that “EarthBound” was actually the second game in a series that started on the NES. The first game, with which Nintendo went so far in the localization process as to produce a few working prototype cartridges, was simply known as “Earth Bound” (a.k.a, “Mother”). A friendly ROM hacker named Demiforce took this almost-ready-for-release ROM of “Earth Bound,” buttoned it up a bit, and released it as “EarthBound Zero,” which I had the privilege of experiencing in college thanks to the magic of emulation. Recently, Nintendo took the same prototype “Earth Bound” ROM and applied their own minor tweaks before releasing it on the WiiU’s Virtual Console as “EarthBound Beginnings.” This game proved to be little more than a literal prototype for its sequel, covering many of the same themes and scenarios within the same setting. In many ways, “EarthBound” feels less like a sequel to “EarthBound Zero/Beginnings” than a reboot or a remaster.
Thus we come to the year 2006, when Shigesato Itoi, the demented/creative mind behind this bizarrely warped RPG series, released a third (and possibly final) ‘EarthBound’ (a.k.a., ‘Mother’) game on the Game Boy Advance. “EarthBound 2” (a.k.a., “Mother 3”) was originally planned as an N64 game for the ill-fated 64DD add-on, yet was scrapped when the hardware proved a market failure and Nintendo needed to move resources to other projects. Fortunately for all of us, Itoi didn’t abandon the project, but instead resurrected it, with the help of development studio Brownie Brown, on a far more suitable platform. English-speaking fans of this franchise have exhorted Nintendo for over a decade now to release a localization, with some incredibly skilled and exacting ‘EarthBound’ historians even going so far as to release a full unofficial translation patch for “Mother 3.” Yet Nintendo typically waffles and cites ‘copyright issues’ that prevent a North American release or vague notions that the game ‘wouldn’t sell well.’ Quality games tend to sell well… and “EarthBound 2” is solid quality to its core.
Presentation
I’m very happy Itoi decided to scrap the 3D polygonal take on “EarthBound 2” that it would have had if it had been completed and released as “EarthBound 64.” Apparently Iwata (the late President of Nintendo) admitted to something of an obsession at Nintendo during the N64’s lifetime with pushing polygons and bleeding edge technology merely for the sake of doing so. With the migration of “EarthBound 2” to the GameBoy Advance and sprite-based 2D visuals, it looks nearly identical to its predecessor on the SNES, providing an incredible sense of continuity. Character and enemy designs are as weird, quirky, and creative as they’ve ever been, while the environmental designs to an incredible job of showing the player that the world of “EarthBound 2” is both the same, yet wholly different from the previous two games in the series.
The audio is perhaps the strongest aspect of “EarthBound 2’s” presentation. The composer, Shogo Sakai, isn’t the same musician from the previous games, yet the entire soundtrack – which is enormous, featuring over 250 individual tunes – has a very ‘EarthBound’-y feel. Warbling noises, synthesized instruments, intentional distortion: All of them are back, and listening to the game in action makes it feel like they never left. “EarthBound 2” features a striking number of different battle tunes, both for different types of random encounter enemies as well as for different bosses, and almost all of them are catchy and enjoyable. Supposedly, some bits of the sound track are the reason Nintendo can’t localize the game outside of Japan. There are a couple of bars in one tune that sound a bit like part of “Sugar Shack” by The Fireballs and a couple of bars that sound a bit like part of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” but wordwide copyright has gotten completely out of hand if such vague, passing similarities could actually hold up in court.
Story
“EarthBound 2” follows in the footsteps of the two games that came before it, with a narrative focusing on the coming of age of a young boy who discovers his latent psychic powers in the face of world-changing events. While both “EarthBound Zero/Beginnings” and “EarthBound” strove to place the characters and action in as mundane a world as possible, aping the rural/urban relationship common across much of America during the 20th Century, “EarthBound 2” strives to stand somewhat apart from that setting, instead carving out its own pastoral, semi-fantastical niche.
Taking place across 8 chapters – with Chapter 7 consuming the lion’s share of play time – “EarthBound 2” introduces the player to Tazmily village, a small, isolated settlement located in the mysterious Nowhere Islands. Our hero, Lucas, is a young child who, along with his shepherd father Flint, doting mother Hinawa, and twin brother Claus, lives in Tazmily, in complete harmony with nature (he can even talk to animals!). Tazmily is such an idyllic and rustic place, the residents have no concept of such central aspects of civilization as ‘money,’ and simply enjoy their peaceful existence.
Everything changes one day when a mysterious army of men wearing pig-like masks appears in the lands surrounding Tazmily village, setting fires and performing horrific experiments on the islands’ wildlife to create a variety of cyborgs and chimeras. In the chaos of the Pigmask Army’s invasion, Hinawa is killed, Claus disappears whilst trying to avenger her death, and Flint loses himself in grief over his slain wife and missing son.
Lucas is left largely on his own for years as insidious cultural changes infect Tazmily village, thanks to a mysterious and pushy merchant who suddenly appears in town one day selling TV-like ‘Happy Boxes.’ Certain other villagers sense something is amiss and begin to take action, revealing that the seemingly rustic and pastoral Nowhere Islands are fraught with deep-seated mysteries of their own.
As events spiral out of hand, with the Pigmask Army gaining more and more control of the islands, Lucas learns of an ancient power sleeping beneath the very ground of the Nowhere Islands from a group of 7 mysterious male-to-female transgendered people calling themselves ‘Magypsies’(a.k.a., the real reason Nintendo won’t localize this game), who claim to be the original inhabitants of the Nowhere Islands. This ancient power beneath the islands is sealed by the life-force of the Magypsies themselves, and when ‘the time’ arrives – which is now – the 7 giant needles sealing the power will be pulled by one with psychic powers – like Lucas’ – passing the traits of that person, be they good or evil, onto the sleeping power… but an evil force from beyond space and time is in a race with Lucas to pull the needles first.
“EarthBound 2’s” narrative is full of twists and turns, making it as unpredictable and strange as it is entertaining. Tie-ins to previous games are common, yet this entry in the series feels far fresher and more unique to itself than the others. Clocking in at roughly 25 hours, “EarthBound 2” isn’t one of those overly-padded 100+ hour RPGs, but it doesn’t need to be. It tells its tale filled with humor, melancholy, and poignancy, then gets out of the way. The fanslation by Tomato and his team of friendly hackers is excellent and really does the game justice.
Gameplay
If you’ve played “EarthBound,” you’ve pretty much played “EarthBound 2.” The player is free to explore the game world from a top-down view, which switches to a first-person view during enemy encounters.
Battles in “EarthBound 2” are fairly typical turn-based RPG fare, with a party of up to four characters queueing up commands to use against enemies as each individual’s turn comes around (based on their speed). The rolling Hit Point meter from “EarthBound” is back, allowing players some wiggle room to use healing effects when hit with overwhelmingly powerful attacks, as Hit Point loss isn’t instant, but instead ‘rolls’ like an analog gas pump readout.
The single biggest new addition to “EarthBound 2’s” combat is a Rhythm Battle system that allows each character to land up to 16 extra combo hits (which are much weaker than the initial hit) on their turn if the player taps the ‘confirm’ button in time with the battle music’s beat. Because there are so many different battle themes, and some of them are somewhat a-rhythmic, this can be tougher to do that it might seem (especially in an emulator where speed issues might result in the music and video not being 100% in sync). At first, I was very annoyed by the Rhythm Battle system, but the longer I played and the more beats I actually figured out, the more it grew on me. Regardless, the Rhythm Battle combos aren’t even needed to effectively beat the game… but they do provide a nice bonus.
Another thing I must point out about “EarthBound 2’s” battles is that they are meticulously, obsessively balanced. The game wants players to use consumable items in battle. The game wants players to use both buff and debuff psychic effects. This is no game of ‘mash A and maybe heal if you need to,’ as battles, especially the game’s varied boss enemies, require some thought and strategy, which is one of the hallmarks of an excellent RPG.
Overall
It’s a real tragedy that 11 years after “Mother 3’s” Japanese release, Nintendo still hasn’t committed to a North American localization. Thankfully fanslators are – once again – here to save the day. “EarthBound 2” is weird, unique, occasionally stupid, and intimately familiar return to the original parody RPG series, that is a must-play experience for fans of the franchise or the genre.
Presentation: 4.5/5
Story: 4.5/5
Gameplay: 4.5/5
Overall (not an average): 4.5/5
