An expanded game of Mother
EarthBound Beginnings is the first installment in the EarthBound / Mother series. It was developed by Ape Inc., Nintendo Tokyo R&D Products, and Pax Softnica, and was published by Nintendo for the Famicom on July 27, 1989. Though officially translated into English under the name EarthBound in 1990 complete with a variety of updates and new content, the planned release of the North American localization was ultimately cancelled due to Nintendo of America ending support for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Despite this, the updates made to the game for the English localization was included in the Japanese Mother 1+2 rerelease for Game Boy Advance in 2003. The English version was finally released on the Wii U Virtual Console on June 14th, 2015, 25 years after its intended release date.
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7/10
The game is beautiful from start to finish, with an unforgettable soundtrack and iconic moments that I will always remember, such as the Live House song and Ninten and Ana's dance. And the final boss is one of the most memorable boss fights I've ever encountered.
The emphasis here is not on the story, but on the journey the characters go through and the adventures they have in each town they visit. The game didn't lose its steam very much and each quest you go through was pretty fun.
You go in a zoo filled with mad animals, a desert with a singing cactus, a haunted mansion and you climb a mountain at the end.
The dungeons were good, and I didn't dislike any of them, except maybe for Duncan's Factory and the Mt. Itoi caves.
The difficulty spikes weren't all bad, there were only maybe two of them that impeded my progress, those being the enemies in Duncan's Factory and The Swamp. Mt. Itoi was not that bad at the beginning, but then you have enemies like the Grizzly Bear, which you can just skip entirely, and after that it's smooth sailing thanks to EVE.
My only gripes are the constant visits to Magicant whenever a character dies, as there is no revival item, and having to climb Mt. Itoi twice, as well as the couple of bullshit enemies that one-shoot you. Oh, and the random encounter rate was infuriating at times, but I kinda have a resistance to this sort of thing so I understand why someone would be put off by it.
The journey the game makes you go through is very lovable and I understand why someone would pick this entry as their favorite in the Mother trilogy, and the game has its unique charm among the three entries and it certainly is a game that deserves to be played even today.