It’s still a blast to hang out in the hot spring with Mr. After Pokey’s abusive parents kill Buzz Buzz, Ness leaves on his journey to gather powerful melodies from the eight Sanctuaries around the world to topple Giygas, and to gather friends along the way, of course. He explains that he’s from the future and that it’s Ness’ destiny to destroy Giygas, an alien lifeform who has destroyed the future Buzz Buzz came from. When you reach the top, you find a flaming meteor and Buzz Buzz the fly joins Ness’ party. On the way, you run into your next-door neighbor, Pokey, who, whether you want him to or not, accompanies you, despite his refusal to help you against the rats and crows you battle on your way up the hill. Still in his pajamas, he blearily wanders downstairs to his loving mother, who says that she just knows he has to check it out, but tells him to change out of his “jammies” first. Ness wakes up in his bedroom to a loud crash outside. Itoi pulls off his razor-sharp satire because he filters it through this lens, and nothing since has been able to replicate it.ĮarthBound establishes this tone at the outset. After all, I started playing it the same night I first watched Roswell. ![]() Cult members in blue, the lonely kid next door, alien plots to destroy the world are all a bit “off.” But to a child, isn’t so much of the world strange and inexplicable? In fact, I was nine the first time I played this game and found large portions of it scary, but it didn’t seem any more strange than other RPGs. EarthBound sees this world with the clarity and the confusion of a young boy. While others wallow in despair, Itoi finds hope. Where others highlight complexity, Itoi highlights innocence. Where others see quirk, Itoi sees feeling. So what is it that all these developers are missing? I think it’s quite simple: tone. But, in some way or another, they all fall short of what makes this game so special. Even Mother 3 is doing its own thing, incredible as it is. ![]() Sure, some of them have even been successful in their own right. accomplished with EarthBound for nearly thirty years. But here’s the thing: many developers, particularly on the indie scene, have tried to replicate what Itoi and co. There really isn’t another game like EarthBound.
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