Mother 2: Gîgu no gyakushuu

All in all, Earthbound is a high-quality game. Okay, so the graphics weren't mindblowing. I didn't find a problem with them in the numerous times I played it. Some of the enemies are done pretty well. The game storyline is also quite extensive, traveling all over the "world" to 8 important sites. Good characters and some interesting tangents (Moonside, Ness's Mind. . .) make the game even more interesting. My main two gripes: The item storage is extremely limiting, compared to other RPG's, and going through the pyramind/the desert/dungeon man is tiresome. But that doesn't make it uplayable, so I'm going to get up, erase some erasers, and kick some alien butt.

EarthBound is one of those games you finish playing and feel good about. The game takes place in an everyday town. A young boy named Ness (in the original Mother game, also called EarthBound Zero, the boy's name was Ninten). Ness meets a girl, a nerd, and a ninja. The take an amazing adventure across the world collecting pieces of songs to be able to stop an alien invasion from Giygas. Instead of swords and shields, you get frying pans, yo-yos, bats, and bottle rockets. Instead of earning gold, your dad puts money on your ATM card. Instead of monsters, you fight dogs, hippies, crazy shopping ladies, barf, and cavemen.

The music is memorable. I found myself leaving the game on just to listen to the music in Ness's house. The backgrounds during fights are trippy and amazing to watch, especially toward the end of the game. The fighting system is not too easy and not too hard. It's perfect for an RPG. SNES RPGs were known for excellent battle systems.

The main highlight of the game is the humor. The game gets ridiculous at times, with people telling you they farted, crazy enemies. It's fun to call your mom on the phone and listen to her talk about giving the dog a flea bath. You never see your dad in the game. You just talk to him on the phone. My favorite part of the game is when the owl takes your picture and says "say 'fuzzy pickles.'"

Simply put, this game is fun for all ages, especially adults. I'm about 20 years old and I found this game to be extremely enjoyable. This game has great moments that you don't soon forget. So go to the Onett library, pick up a map, and ZOOM great distances in the world of EarthBound. Very few RPGs out today are as enjoyable as this game. Even if you're not into role-playing games, you might just find yourself talking to a Mr. Saturn after popping this into the SNES.

Man, there's so much to love about this game that I can't even remember it all! One night I was on my friend's computer as he was playing this, and I just happened to glance over as he was getting to Threed, and I noticed that the game had kooky music and was kinda odd.

Later I actually borrowed it and man, I've never been sucked into a game like that before! The story was complex and intriguing and chock full of humor, the music is awesome and nutty, the characters are interesting, and the game as a whole is a joy to play.

It really broke my heart to read that Earthbound 64 has been cancelled. Someday I hope to play Mother as well.

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.

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!