I never really understood all the fuss about Earthbound. I played it a bit and it really seemed kind of generic to me.
The fuss is exactly because the game is NOT generic, but is treated as such by people just like you; the ones who barely even played it. Earthbound is an essential SNES RPG in every way, and is one of the most original games of all time, minus the Dragon Warrior-esque battle system. The charm, the quirkiness, the dialogue, the great characters, and the present-day setting set the game apart from most other RPGs of the time, but even with that, the game got nearly unnoticed because of other RPGs, such as Square's Chrono Trigger.
Heck, people didn't begin to truly appreciate the greatness of Earthbound until years after release, which is the exact reason why Nintendo should forget the sales in 1995-1996 and just put the game out now. It's a different market, and there are a lot more fans of the game. Also, the VC is a more practical venue for gamers who never even heard of Earthbound to be able to play it.