Completion Criteria: Credits Hit

The old meme "Earthound fan playing the game for the first time" really hits because the aesthetic of the game have still hold up very well. But mechanically this feels like its aged quite poorly mainly just due to the anti-quality of life.

Lets start with good. Aesthetically, I think still holds up as a retro game. It's easy to understand why people still copy it's style to this day. It's vibrant and clear. In terms of music, a lot of it is extremely unique and recognizable, just good stuff. In terms of the setting. I think this is something that may be a bit underrated honestly. The games atmostphere only works so well because it's not entirely modern, its pseudo-modern but alien enough to add aliens. The rolldown is great in concept and even though there are issues with it, it's way better then some alternatives like ATB. Instakill, and advantage/disadvantage systems are also good game systems so I can't complain about that

Ok, postive is done. So what are the issues? The game wastes a lot of time for the sake of form. Inventory management is always tedious and never really gets better. and is made worse by the multiple steps that need to be made to store and withdraw items. Whilst some key items disappear after use, some don't and this leads to more annoyances. You can't even save without money so you have to go to the atm to do even that. I can understand why you might think these things are minor especially in this day you can rewind and use save states but purely from an authentic point of view it's not good. In terms of combat, it feels pretty basic. as a lot of older JRPGs tend to. Use basic attack until the boss and then spam your best stuff until you win. I think by the end the rolldown health also feels against the grain. As if you have a KO incoming you will just attempt to mash through everything. If you get hit first, and you can't mash through it in time it makes you contemplate your luck. A simple fix for that would be being able to interrupt turns to immediately swap to defense.

I think dungeons are probably my biggest let down for the game. I think only three maybe stand out as enjoyable but most feel quite tedious or just bad. Monkey Cave stands out as a great example of what I'm talking about here. Personal preference but when you have bad dungeon designs, visible enemies also feel worse. They feel more frustrating when they get in the way of progress or if you think you get a backhit and it doesn't register, even worse when you lose advantage. Personally, I found some areas to feel like moonlogic, or just not fully fleshed out.

Also, if you have a map function, don't lock it behind an item especially when it comes down to such a limited inventory

Realistically. A lot of problems could easily be fixed by a remaster that fixed inventory and phone calls. It's the old "X will break your immersion in this game about aliens?"
Give them a more modern phone that can save and call escargo express. Give a card that can pay for things on the fly. Seperate Key Items from main inventory. Not necessary but let me sort the inventory, and swap items with others to avoid the rigmarole of dropping something just so I can swap in such a way to pass equipment or Jeff items.

I think there seems to be an overrating of the themes of the game also. It's very easy to suggest that this is a representation of puberty or manhood or enlightenment but I think I could fit that narrative into other games as accurately

I knew I wasn't gonna love this game because I had played it before and didn't enjoy it then. I think the game definitely picks up later on but unfortunately the most enjoyable areas may be early with the exception of some of the dungeons. Luckily this gives me another urge to jump back into Mother 3 which I do think precedes it's reputation and I can finally close the missing hole it my JRPG reputoire

Completion Criteria: Story Mode (Normal)

I've played a couple of 2D Beat'em ups. Nothing has really stood out to me outside of Scott Pilgrim Vs the World. Whilst I've enjoyed bits from others, overall I've treated them as, harsh but, brainless.

I want this to be clear because this is the first 2D beat'em up to break my expectations. Maybe this is purely just by the addition of a "trials" mode but the complexity of skill and utility felt immeasurably higher then others of the same standard. Whilst playing the idea of how to attack were more clear. And the risk Vs reward of special skills makes each move feel more engaging. The variation across the cast had me interested in playing many members of the cast and more importantly interested in replaying the games which is something I don't usually have.

Considering the amazing soundtrack, great artwork and great gameplay. It's hard to really find any faults in the game. From a design perspective, it does exactly what it intends to the only reasonable flaw I can throw at it is theres a difficulty spike in the final levels, which may be due to it being designed for a 2 player experience.

I look forward to going back and trying other characters and bumping up the difficulty