Smiles and Tears: An Ode to Earthbound

*This post will contain SPOILERS to Earthbound. Why am I giving a spoiler alert for an almost 20 year-old game? Because it's that good!

15 years ago, I received a copy of the original Smash Bros on the N64. Super Smash Bros is the ultimate crossover, bringing characters from multiple Nintendo franchises together and serving as a great introduction to many franchises I was previously unfamiliar with. Thankfully, I've since became a huge fan of many of these franchises. But one character that continued to elude me was Ness. As a kid, I was fascinated with him. In a game with electric rodents and space foxes, I felt I could relate most to the baseball-playing schoolboy with psychic powers. But where did he come from and what was he like? I always assumed based on Ness' unassuming demeanor that Earthbound was a simple, carefree game. I couldn't be further from the truth.

15 years later, I download Earthbound on the Wii U. Immediately, I get the impression that this game's going to be weird. Long story short, big meteor crash lands in my hometown, a bug tells me I need to get three friends to save the world with me, bug gets killed by my jerky neighbor's mom, and I'm off on an adventure.

R.I.P Buzz Buzz. Sorry about Pokey's mom.

At first, the battle system plays like any standard RPG. You and your opponent trade hits until one is left standing. At the beginning, Earthbound was somewhat tough with just Ness. Taking on punk after punk in Onett proved tiresome without a proper way to heal myself. I initially adopted my strategy I used in my Pokemon playthroughs and relied only on free healing (in this case Ness' house). I'm usually stingy when it comes to buying items, and it didn't help matters when the ingame currency is dollars. If I wouldn't spend $14 for a hamburger in real-life, I'm sure as heck not going to spend that here!

The turning point of my playthrough was when I finaly recruited Paula after rescuing her from a cult (yes, this game is weird). I finally could share my adventure with a new friend, and a powerful one at that! Paula's psychic abilities make up for her low HP. Although problematic at times, I found a simple workaround. The neat thing about Earthbound's HP system is that it's represented by an odometer. When someone hits you, the numbers will roll down. So if you heal yourself before the numbers stop rolling, you can actually reverse the rolling and save yourself from a knockout! This also works if you finish a battle before the numbers stop rolling. I applaud the odometer health meter in Earthbound; it's an innovative mechanic not usually seen in RPGs that adds a new level of strategy.

The rolling HP meter can be used to your advantage to avoid K.O.'s

Did I mention that this game was weird? The story is out of this world. One moment that stuck to me was when Ness and Paula were being held prisoners by zombies in Threed. In our most desperate hour, Paula makes a telepathic call to Jeff, a friend we haven't met. Leaving the boarding school in Winters, Jeff goes on an epic quest to save Ness and Paula. He first runs into a monkey who leads him to the legendary Tessie after Jeff hands over a piece of gum. They ride Tessie to a dungeon full of ducks and maker their way to Stonehenge, where the monkey abandons Jeff for a girl monkey. Arriving at Dr. Andonuts' lab, Jeff and his estranged father of 10 years make awkward small talk before Jeff climbs into a flying saucer. The flying saucer crash lands right in Ness' and Paula's prison and Jeff is stuck. So how will our heroes escape now?

That's it. Opening the door with Jeff's Bad Key Machine. Dumbfounded, I couldn't help but laugh. I spent a good hour guiding Jeff through this epic quest to save his friends, only to have him simply open the door. It was anticlimatic to be sure, but well-played. The game gets pretty trippy when Ness drinks coffee at Saturn Valley and eats some Magic Cake at Summers to recruit Poo. Not to mention you learn teleportation from monkeys, help a race of cave people get over their shyness by checking out a book from the library, and bail out a famous band from unfair contracts TWICE. Who comes up with this stuff? The game even manages to break the 4th wall and asked me twice if my name really was Smiles.

At this point, I'm not surprised 

Earthbound's story is zany, yet managed to pull at my heartstrings. I couldn't begin to imagine the burden put on Ness to save the world just because it's his "destiny" or some other crud like that. Throughout their journey, Ness and his friends are attacked by policemen, fire hydrants, crocodiles, records, floating smiley faces, and piles of puke. All of these...enemies are under the influence of
Giygas, probably the most disturbing villain in video games.

The ambiguous and nonsensical world of Earthbound leaves it up to interpretation. To me, Earthbound is an analogy of overcoming hatred. Ness must collect the 8 melodies for his Sound Stone so he can enter his mind and defeat the evil inside. Along the way, he forges new memories with friends while reflecting on his past. As corny as it is, nothing beats the power of friendship. But Ness' quest doesn't end there, he must defeat Giygas, or rather "free" him.

Oftentimes, the scariest and most powerful forces are those that are intangible. Evil, hatred, Giygas. Its hatred literally turned it into an insane entity of pure evil. The final battle pits you against a shapeless and horrifying background accompanied by a bloodcurdling "song" as you fight this monstrosity. It's enough to paralyze you with fear. How can you defeat something that's incomprehensible?

You cannot grasp the true form of Giygas' attack!

There's one hope, with a force greater than hate. Throughout the battle, Giygas nonsensically calls out Ness and claims it's h...a...p...p..y yet sad. But why would Giygas be happy that Ness plans to stop him? Giygas has lived a life of pain and hatred, and needs Ness to free him through love. There's no special Super Ultra Mega Love Beam fired at Giygas. Rather, you defeat Giygas through prayer.

During the final phase of Giygas' battle, you have Paula use the Pray command to ask the residents of
Eagleland to pray for your safety. Paula finally asks you, the player, to pray for them. In games, we're used to slaying the big bad monster with legendary blades, but here we are taking down the epitome of evil with nothing more than this simple act of love. Their struggles against insurmountable odds resonated with me, and over time I felt truly drawn in the fate of these 16-bit characters. I bowed my head in prayer, and just like that we defeated Giygas.

Playing Earthbound was a spiritual experience. When I was first introduced to Ness 15 years ago, I couldn't imagine such a rich and deep origin. This post is extremely long, but doesn't even begin to scratch the surface on what makes Earthbound a great game. I am in awe on how well Earthbound combined exceptional gameplay with a hilarious and moving story. While sad to see it all end, I'm at least lucky to have enjoyed this masterpiece, and I encourage every gamer to play it.

The war against Giygas is over, but our friendship is everlasting

*Credit to Starmen.net for the images

The Mecca of Nintendo Fans

Last week, my family and I went to the Big Apple to visit my sister. Of course, we went to the Statue of Liberty, Times Square, the Empire State Building, all that New York stuff. But there's one place down Rockefeller that we had to visit before I left. I finally made the holy pilgrimage to the Mecca of Nintendo fans...

NINTENDO WORLD!

 

Be still my beating heart.

Walking in the store, we were greeted by the security guard and a tower of Mario plushies with more Toads than the Mushroom Kingdom. For a small store in respect to other New York stores, there was quite a bit to take in. To the right was a real-life Mario Kart to promote Mario Kart 8. You might recognize it from events like this year's South by Southwest (SXSW). Unfortunately, you couldn't sit in it. We took a look at the shirts, toys, and 3DS demos before following the racetrack upstairs.

Unbeknownst to my brother, that racetrack would lead him to riches greater than El Dorado. As a collector of video game plushies, he naturally spazzed seeing all the Pokémon toys. While he bumped into people grabbing everything he could hold, I made my way to the museum in the corner of the store. 

Consoles, games, and memorabilia spanning generations of gaming were all on display. A DS signed by Carried Underwood when she promoted Nintendogs, a Luma from Burger King, the Master Sword and Hyrulian Shield Miyamoto held promoting Skyward Sword, a damaged Gameboy from the Gulf War that still works, and so much more. It was surprising they didn't charged admission.

  

Going to Nintendo World, I felt inspired. It's an odd thing to say about a video game store, but Nintendo World's atmosphere was unlike any I've experienced. When a young family went up to the museum display, the parents gushed over the NES they played with as kids and shared a good laugh explaining how they made games work by blowing the cartridge. A young kid was having the time of his life driving as Luigi in Mario Kart 8 despite getting 5th. I even had a chance to swap stories with the employees and reminisce about the good times we had playing Zelda. Nintendo World is sort of like Disney without the rides and expensive cotton candy. It's a magical hub where people from all other gather, united by their love for Nintendo.

My family created our own memories playing Shovel Knight (which I will be streaming on Twitch in the near future so stay tuned). We took turns playing, cheering each other on as we repeatedly fell to our death. We had so much fun we revisited Nintendo World...twice. There was nothing greater than sharing the joy of gaming, and I know I will always cherish my visit to Nintendo World. It helped remind me why I fell in love with games in the first place. The N64 promotional poster said it best, it's all about fun.