The (gasp) bad things about EARTHBOUND

[teh_p3t3r]

While we all share a mutual love for our boy Ness and the game he came from, we have to agree that Earthbound wasn't exactly perfect. I have beaten that game more times than I can count, and instead of going on for pages about how much we love it, let's just say one or two things about the game that definitely sucks.

I'll start.

Multi-bottle rockets BREAK THE GAME.

[GimmeAnFSharp]

Except against Carbon Dog (unless you know better). My second run-through the game when I had the Multi Bottle Rockets I started off my fight against Carbon Dog with it to see if I could OHKO him, and he ended up turning into Diamond Dog and the layover damage was reflected and killed my Jeff... needless to say, it took me a couple turns to get Jeff back up and Neutralize the thing's shield before I pummeled it down with another MBR.

Otherwise, yeah, I think you can OHKO every boss in the game up until Carbon/Diamond Dog once you gain access to the MBR.

You can't deny the game's loveable charm and story, as much as MBR's rush the latter end of it along.

[Ademisk]

Unless you stop being an *** and don't use them. Nothing's wrong with Earthbound. Horrible horrible lies.

[Smashbros_7]

What do they do?

[Ademisk]

Just big damage.

[NESSBOUNDER]

Lol, I was always too poor to afford a lot of MBRs.

[DD151]

the menu system imo could have been better; it felt a little slow when shuffling between characters and i hated pressing A too many times when selling items because i would have to start the conversation from a much earlier point.

why do your enemies have funky sprites but your allies have boxes with numbers in them =(

[Ademisk]

You're never too poor in Earthbound. You can make infinite amounts of money with just a little time in Earthbound.

[Earthbound360]

*wishes Ive played earthbound*
*prays for a VC game*

[annoying1359]

Isn't it in the Japanese version?

EDIT: Or is it just a "trial" in the NTSC version?

[Ademisk]

There's the Masterpieces in the Japanese version of Brawl, but that's just a small demo of Earthbound.

[PK Starstorm]

I'd like to play it too.

[DD151]

get an emulator/rom =O

they're everywhere on the internet

[kainsword]

get an emulator/rom =O

they're everywhere on the internet

That doesn't make it legal or right to get it.

[Ademisk]

It also doesn't make it @#$^ing expensive.

[saratos]

^It is legal and right when it is nigh impossible to play it otherwise.

[Fatmanonice]

Well, the only things I kind think of are kind of petty... The graphics were laughably bad for an SNES game and the gameplay was kind of repetitive since you never saw your characters in battle, there were almost no animations, and Jeff was the only character that was really different from the others. Still, it was a great game that was miserbly overlooked in North America.

[Dajayman]

Graphics imo don't make a difference, and Jeff was kinda different, but the others had different PSI moves than the others (Ness has best Lifeup and Rockin, Poo had Starstorm and best Healing, Paula had best Fire, Freeze). What I didn't like was how PSI Thunder was very useless, rather stick with PSI Fire and Freeze.

[Ademisk]

Actually, for the SNES, the graphics were pretty good. They were colorful and had a really unique design compared to most SNES games. But of course, the music was the best part....

[Wardub]

Actually, for the SNES, the graphics were pretty good. They were colorful and had a really unique design compared to most SNES games. But of course, the music was the best part....

Big QFE on the music part. The music is amazing, seriously I would just stand in Dalaam and listen. I have downloaded that music thing from Starmen.net. I love all of it, I often listen to "Eight Melodies", "The floating kingdom of Dalaam" and "Bazaar".

The SNES had so many games that had amazing music. Earthbound, Donkey Kong Country 2, and Chrono Trigger come to mind first.

Lastly there is nothing wrong with Earthbound, it is perfect.

[AdmantNESS]

Lets not forget about the Rock Candy album with tons of mixed and arranged music. http://starmen.net/rockcandy/

And EarthBound has auto-kill and the rolling HP meter, two things I've never seen done in other RPGs.

[Ademisk]

I've been trying to learn most of EB music on my guitar. Sooo good. Soundstone theme was the first thing I ever learned to play.


Rock Candy album rules.


Don't forget FFIV and FFVI. Beautiful music in both games.

[Earthbound360]

I've never played Earthbound, so I dont know the names of these songs, but I can play the the soundstones (I think that's what its called. Its at the end of Simna's PKT guide 2) and... that song that would sometimes play on Onett in Melee, all on the piano. You know, the alternate song?

[Ademisk]

Pollyanna. It's toooo good.

[hippochinfat!!]

It needed MORE refrences to the Beatles.

You know what? Screw Ness, Paula, Jeff and Poo. Replace them with the Beatles.

[thesage]

The fact that the apple of enlightenment, buzz buzz, and wtf happened after Mother 1 are never explained. Also, it doesn't have a multiplayer mode and it's a really easy game after peaceful rest valley.

[Levitas]

There's a reason that in the Nintendo power poll, Earthbound was the most wanted Virtual Console title.

[Aevin]

^^^
Yeah, because Starmen.net hijacked the poll! lol

But seriously ... Why haven't they released it for VC? It just doesn't make sense ...

Loved EarthBound and Mother, and I'm dying to play Mother 3.

[Levitas]

NoA wants to kill Ness, I guess.

[sonicflames]

earthbound needs like a Sidequel of earthbound of like paula's point of view in the game or pokey point of view

[SK8orDIE]

Things I liked:

I actually think the graphics of Earthbound have aged very well. They're simple, but the style is clean, Peanuts-like (which I'm sure was deliberate), and uncluttered by excessive texture patterns.

I also think that Starman and Diamond Dog are David Bowie references.

The soundtrack was good. It was less anthemic and sing-songy than Mother, but more moody and better at creating tension and uneasiness.

Room for improvement:

There's no run button in the game and once you get a Teddy Bear or another party member, you can't ride the bicycle any more. This is cruel to the gamer. Skip sandwiches it is, I guess.

Item inventory management was a bit bizarre, though it fit the tone of the game well. Most modern RPGs seperate items into different categories: quest item, healing, equiped, etc. while Earthbound placed them all in one list, per person. I mean, I guess someone has to carry the map and it does take up space, but that also means I can carry one less Hamburger. Convincing, but not what we're used to as gamers.

Oh, and the way items are stored is a bit of a pain. Calling Escargo Express was cool, but it wasn't very flexible. What if I wanted to do a delivery and a pick-up at the same time? You can't just swap items in and out of storage without going through the motions twice.

Another thing I don't like about the game is that without the official strategy guide, you miss out on a lot of the aesthetics of the character design that we see in the clay models. If Earthbound ever got remade, I'd love to see the clay figures incorporated into the game's art. There's just something about seeing those that makes me look at the game and it's inhabitants differently.

I also feel like the Western version of the game suffers for using the EarthBound name instead of MOTHER. They're both cool names, but the graphic design and box art used with the Mother logo were much more intriguing and provcative and might've lured in more Western gamers.

[ShinGuara]

Nothing wrong with earthbound!

(Inventory space got a little annoying sometimes)

[PKSkyler]

earthbounds a great game, just dont use the multi-bottle rockets or the glitch to raise Ness` Guts or Jeff`s IQ to have a really fun game.

[Conda]

Mother 3's battle system is infinitely better than Earthbound's. lol

[EdreesesPieces]

Earthbound is one of my favorite games of all time, but here's the bad parts

-A bit too short, i wish it was longer
-You can't leave the final dungeon
-There should be better ways to get the awesome equipment other than random item drops.

That's all I can think of.

[EToaster]

NoA wants to kill Ness, I guess.

It's true.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=rvkFAQ9vB7Y

[Earthbound360]

^^^
ROFL
That vid was made of win

[petrie911]

Well, guys, the ESRB has given a rating for Earthbound, which means it's coming to the VC at some point.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Virtual_Console_games_%28North_America%29# Future_releases

Awesome, isn't it?

[EToaster]

Yeah, but a lot of games have been approved, but then sat in limbo for months.

[cupoflifenoodles]

I really hate the random telephone calls you get from your dad asking you if you want to save... And if you have a cell phone in the first place, then why do you need to go to the drugstore/hotel to use their phone?

Inventory was a big problem for me. Not to mention the fact that once you went to the final level there was no wait to get back... That really pissed me off...

But I think that Earthbound's pro out-weigh the cons! I mean come on, cup of noodles brings you back to life (my name is actually based off of that Earthbound item), parents who get it.

Quote:
"I might as well let you go Ness, You'll just sneak out anyway."
-Ness's Mother

as well as excellent gameplay.

Edit: Oh yeah, and another con is that fact that money is to easy to come by, since it just accumulates relative to you EXP.