Mother 2: Gîgu no gyakushuu

At first glance, 1995's Mother 2/Earthbound might seem like a childish game that wouldn't keep a more seasoned gamer occupied. But if someone was brave enough to pay 20$ for a brand new, discounted copy of this game around the time that the 4th generation of video game consoles were fading out, they would've bought a cult classic...and a profitable product - Original, good condition copies of this game top $200 in value in online auctions.

Set in the '90s, Earthbound is the story of a young boy named Ness, who is gifted with Psi powers and is thrust into a quest in the middle of Eagleland (A fictional take on the U.S.A.) to save the world from the evil Giygas.

First of all, This game is loaded with cultural references to a lot of things, from Religion to the Beatles. It rejects Swords in favor of Baseball Bats as weapons, and rejects Potions in favor of Hamburgers for regenerating health. It requires a mind abundant with thought about what to do, but a sense of humor that can determine what is funny and what isn't. And there is lots in the game to laugh at. From the "Parents Opposing Obsession Plan" to the guy who wants to make "Pretty girl paper" and then eating the cake in summers, and finally, fighting master belch, a big pile of barf.

But to look at the game from a different perspective, When you were a child, you would've seen lots of things that didn't make sense that you would see again as an adult, that finally did. This game is a take on that. You are playing as Ness, who is seeing the world for the first time and since he is a child, most of it doesn't make sense at all. This is particularly evident in "Happy-Happy Village" in which all of the members want to paint the world blue. As the player, you realize that part of the game represents a cult that has a goal that seems sensible. But to a child, It looks like a bunch of morons who want to waste their time doing a pointless task.

Thankfully, Nintendo made this game available for $10 on their eShop on the Wii U. That's definitely the best legal option to play this classic...or you could do it the way everyone's been playing SNES games for the last 15 years or so by downloading it for free and playing it on an Emulator.

Either way, go play it. It's definitely worth a few days of your time.

This is the best video game ever. It's so unique and isn't like any other RPG. It's inventive in every way imaginable. Sure, bore yourself to tears with the contrived RPGs with sorcery and dragons and such, but you don't know what you're missing here...

Earthbound, AKA Mother 2, proves that you don't need great graphics to have a great game. (Although the backgrounds in the fight scenes look pretty cool...) The game is very fun, and has a lot of ORIGINAL humor, which is definitely a plus in my book. And in the English version, they even kept the characters' original names. Well, King the dog was originally "Chibi," but oh well. In Earthbound, you'll face off against lots of goofy bosses, like a pile of barf named Master Belch, and a giant mushroom called... well, "Shrooom!" There are also characters like the chubby inventor, Apple Kid, or the blues band called the Runaway Five. Or how about enemies like evil hippies or demonic petunias?

This game didn't sell well when it first came out, because people cared more about graphics, and avoided the game because of how it LOOKED. If you can find this game on EBay or your local pawn shop, get it. You'll be glad you did. Oh, and be sure to get the Player's Guide, which was packaged with Earthbound, because it's very helpful, and has a lot of funny reading material in it, plus Earthbound scratch-n-sniff cards!

Released in 1995 in just Japan and America, Earthbound is a classic and it even stands up to today's games. It is pretty much the great RPG that everyone must have. It is a very smart game and has great humour. Unlike most RPGs, it is set in modern times (1990's) and instead of earning gold, you get money deposited into your bank account by your dad. Instead of swords and armour, you have baseball bats and bracelets and all the like. It has a lot of charm and any RPG will get a kick out of it. In fact, ANYONE will enjoy it. I'm glad I got introduced to Ness and the Earthbound franchise by Smash Bros. At first, I thought it would be a bad game, but I played it and it was awesome. It shows that even Nintendo's obscure side is awesome. Even better, it's now in Europe via the Wii U virtual console! This RPG is essential!

I have a soft spot for odd things and this game appealed to me ever since I first laid eyes on that larger than average, game box while at a supermarket (back when there were VHS tapes and old cartridge games you could rent). I observed the box many times, wondering why it was that size. When I finally got chance to actually play it, I realized why, it's crammed full of surprises that a guidebook was needed for it to cram it all in (I wouldn't read it all the way through if you like great surprises). On the surface it looks childish since you are controlling a bunch of kids, but if you look deeper there's plenty of offbeat mixtures of humor and darkness in a modern world. Being an RPG fan myself, I had to play through this to see everything, which you really have to do to fully appreciate its style. Even when you beat it once, you'll want to play through it again and again to catch everything you missed the time before.