"The. Real. Best. Game. Ever."

Introduction
Years ago I was in Best Buy with my mother and sister. It was a few weeks before Christmas, and I wanted to get a new game to hold me over till then. I ended up getting two games since they were so cheap. Tiny Toons on Gameboy was my first choice since I used to like the television show, and EarthBound was my second. I knew nothing about EarthBound except that it was cheap ($10) and it came with a free player's guide. It looked kind of fun from the back of the box so I decided to try it. I had never played an RPG before in my life, except for maybe a full 10 minutes of Final Fantasy VII. In the end, Tiny Toons ended up being very bad, and EarthBound was very good. EarthBound quickly became my favorite game of all time. I have played through EarthBound from start to finish 15 times now, and plan to do so many more times. And I have randomly played parts of the game countless numbers of times. EarthBound has a certain charm to it that draws you into it, and keeps you there no matter how hard you try to put the controller down.

Graphics: 9/10
EarthBound uses the Super Nintendo to its full potential. The character sprites are crisp and clean, and are certainly some of the best in any SNES game. Every character has a unique (and sometimes comical) look to them. The characters are diverse throughout the entire game and you almost can't run by without stopping to talk to each of them. Whether it is the greenish imp-like Tendas or the little balls of joy Mr. Saturns, you will be amazed at all the different characters and their charming personalities. EarthBound is made up of many areas including towns, dungeons, caves, etc. Each area is detailed beyond imagine for a SNES game. You can examine almost every sign, cabinet, bookshelf, trash can, etc. and either find an item or message. Something that EarthBound did that was not done very often at this time was to have the enemies appear on the screen. No random battles. You can see the enemy's sprite as he runs towards you. The enemies, just like the characters, are nicely done. The only minor let down is the in-battle background. Instead of showing the area you are fighting in, it is simply just a lava lamp style background. There is either little lava lamp bubbles floating around or maybe electricity in the background. There are many, many different backgrounds (some unique to a certain enemy/boss) so that does make up for it. The battle system is in first person so you can not see your characters in battle, but that does not matter much. Enemies are still frame drawings (like in Final Fantasy 6) and they look very cool in battle. Some such as the New Age Retro Hippie offer a chuckle to the player when they see him in battle.

Music/Sound: 10/10
The music to EarthBound is amazing. Some of the best music in any video game EVER. It is so good that there are sites that have dozens upon dozens of fan submitted remixes and covers with vocals! There is the normal background music that is bright and cheery for the towns, and upbeat music for the dungeons. There are even songs for certain places. The Drug Store has its own theme, as well as the Hotel. The Hotel's theme song is my personal favorite. There is also the creepy music for when you are unsure of what is going to happen next. Besides music, EarthBound has some great sound effects. You can hear every hit of the bat, smack of the pan, and slice of the sword during battle. Since EarthBound is an older title, there isn't any voice acting in the game to rate.

Story: 10/10
At first glance the story doesn't sound too amazing, but the more you look at it, the more you'll see how detailed it really is. There are so many side plots and things that all come together into one. Without spoiling anything, I'm going to tell you the basics of the plot to EarthBound. Keep in mind that there is tons more to the story, but you'll have to discover those yourself when you play the game! The hero of the game Ness (or whatever you name him, the game allows you to name all your characters) is awoken by a loud crash outside. He goes outside to a nearby hill to see that the cops have the area taped off. A meteorite has crashed into the hill and they are investigating it. You return home and go back to sleep only to be awoken once again by someone banging on your door. You run downstairs and find your neighbor Pokey Minch standing there. He tells you that he can't find his brother Picky and wants you to help him. You agree. To no one's surprise, Picky is hiding near the meteorite. For whatever reason, all the police have deserted the area. You find Picky who says that his brother Pokey had left him. All of a sudden you hear a noise and a small insect named Buzz Buzz comes out of the meteorite. He tells you of an evil being known as Giygas. Giygas plans on destroying everything and he can only be stopped by the chosen four. The story continues with some certain events and Ness setting out to stop this terror. More and more events continue to happen and the story gets better and better the more you play.

Gameplay: 10/10
EarthBound is a normal RPG, you go through the game fighting battle after battle on your way to Giygas' domain. In the battle you have several options: attack, PSI (magic), items, defend, run, etc. Each character also has their own special in-battle abilities. All of the battles are done in first person view where you do not see your characters, but you see their attacks and the enemies. EarthBound uses a rolling HP system. When you are damaged your HP meter starts to drain that much damage away. Even if you only have 200 HP and the hit does 500, you won't die till your HP rolls down to zero. This gives you time to heal or run away, a very nice feature. The battle system is extremely fun, and not too challenging to learn. Even the most novice RPG players can pick up this title and start playing without having to learn a complicated system. Most gamers won't have to look at the free player's guide that came with EarthBound for help or tips at all. There are no insanely difficult bosses or puzzles (that can be good or bad depending on how you look at it) and it is almost impossible to get stuck at a part. If you do die, you can simply continue at your last save point with full HP and zero PP (MP in most games). This makes for an easy, yet extremely fun game. And if you do somehow get stuck, then you can go pay a small fee to the Hint Guy. He will give you a hint at what you are to do next in the game. The hints range from extremely helpful to painfully vague. But do not worry; you should not need to ever visit him. Even on my first play through I only talked to him once just to see what it was like. One the best, and one of my favorite, features is that when you are attacked by an extremely weak enemy, you can automatically win the battle without having to fight it. This saves time and lets you gain some quick EXP. When being attacked by an enemy you can get several types of openings. If the screen flashes blue, then that means it's a normal battle and both you and the enemy will act in the first turn. If it flashes red then that means the enemy surprised you and will get an extra first attack. If it flashes green then you get the extra first attack. This feature will keep you dodging your way through enemies trying to get behind them and get a sneak attack.

Replayability: 10/10
EarthBound has extremely high replayablity. The game is so fun and interesting that you just can't put it down. Besides the actual game and battles, its fun just to talk to random towns characters to see what strange or funny thing they'll say. Like I said earlier, I've already beat the game 15 times, plus played it many, many hours more. It's a great game. Once you pick up the controller you'll never want to put it down again.

Overall: 10/10
EarthBound will be the greatest game you will ever play. It is perfect in every way. Nintendo could not have done a better job with this. No matter what the price, if you find this game, buy it. You won't regret it. It is a true gem that has sadly been over looked by most gamers.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 06/27/04