"It will always bring back the fondest of memories"
Let me start this writeup by getting something particularly important out of the way: Earthbound, as a JRPG, is largely unpolished. From the combat system to the dungeons, its gameplay loop is as exhausting as can be, reproducing many design vices from the time such as excessively obtuse paths, repetitive combat, restrictive inventory, and slow progression. There are commendable attempts to make up for these shortcomings, like the rolling HP meter, the different fighting styles for every character, the hint system, among others, but they’re implemented in a flawed way themselves so they don’t make that much of a difference, making the nitty gritty of the experience, the moment to moment gameplay itself feel frustrating at times and, frankly, a bit boring, specially early on.
So why such a flawed game deserves a five-star rating? Earthbound is very comfortably a five-star game for me simply because it is one of the most affecting, detailed, and poignant depictions of childhood in any art form in history. First impressions about it are bound to how crazy and unpredictable its style and presentation can be; without spoiling too much, scenarios range from fighting hippies and balding men possessed by “evil energy” to getting ambushed into a beating by policemen and stopping a cult of worshippers of the color blue, all those happening only in about the first 1/5th of the game. That is not even mentioning the writing, which can range from hilarious to profound in a dime, sounding awfully close to random and nonsensical but you just know there’s something there.
In the freeform nature Earthbound tells its story and presents its world lies the very core of its brilliance; if there isn’t much of a traditionally told narrative or a thematic thread to the game’s many aesthetic elements it’s simply because, in a vacuum, the entire game is ‘just’ about four kids playing around. Do you, reader, remember how you used to play with friends in your early youth? Remember all the stories your imagination used to conjure up, where magic (or PSI?) was real and anything from aliens, to bigfoot, to dinosaurs could show up? Remember how, in your young mind, all those elements would add up to something that made sense? That is exactly what Earthbound is trying to convey, and it does so with mastery.
The leading example for that is the game’s foes. They may all seem random, but I believe there’s a strong argument they’re mostly a representation of the many seemingly arbitrary fears and antagonisms you can have as a child, or even stuff a kid can use to represent those and fight them. Giygas itself illustrates that perfectly, an intangible being that embodies nothing but evil in its purest form, is not given form nor shape nor personality because it transcends all that, it’s the traumatic event from your childhood you can’t ever forget given life, the irrational fear of the dark you couldn’t explain if you tried, thus being the source of all the evils in the game. The character of Pokey is even more indicative of that, as a stereotypical asshole kid that, no matter what scenario or situation, can always be there to bother you.
In another brilliant decision to enhance the immersion on this childlike adventure, the game is very economical when it comes to information, leaving a lot of gaps to be filled by the player’s own imagination and experiences. That aspect manifests itself greatly in the UI, which has very little visual information, but the item names and descriptions drive the point home and can make room for interpretation (ex.: are all the items even real or some of them are a product of the kids’ imagination? Jeff’s items come to mind, does the kid really carry a heavy bazooka around?), while the pixelated graphics themselves greatly contribute to that, with colorful and expressive sprites but not very detailed ones, in a way that creates a surreal and dreamy atmosphere in which your mind will fill in certain features from characters and environments for you, particularly when it comes to the mostly silent protagonists, which can evoke the player and/or many a friend, relative, neighbor or colleague from their youth, with the musical aid of a beautiful soundtrack that evokes nostalgia through every note.
Even the confusion the player gets to experience plays a significant role in presenting the game from a kid’s perspective. Take the dialogue, for example, the adults usually speak in kind of a rude and detached manner, some of them mentioning the fear of their spouse leaving them or drowning their sorrows at the…cafe, which could sound out of place but in a game with so much wacky stuff those moments blend in nicely with the game’s usual confusion, precisely how a child would perceive them. Ness’s parents’ relationship with their son stands out in this area, with their interactions mostly sounding trivial, like their boy saving the world is just another Tuesday for them, which it most likely is.
That exceptional work in the artistic direction of the game, which meticulously crafted every bit with exactly the right amount of visual stimulus and info, allows for every experience with the game to be deeply personal, and its story and elements to have many different interpretations, with the themes of early youth, in or out of its North American setting, tying them all together nicely. Then it all comes back to the RPG elements; much more than a pastiche of JRPG tropes, with the funny status ailments and puns or whatnot, Earthbound cleverly uses that format to illustrate just how much the crazy stories and adventures we all used to make up as kids mattered and could stack up to even the most epic fantasies such as the Lord of the Rings, Dungeons & Dragons or the Dragon Quest games. Sure, as I mentioned before, the RPG mechanics are not perfect, and would really harm a lesser game’s enjoyment and reputation, but in this game those flaws do not matter, and why should they? The games we played as children were far from perfect, and could be just as confusing and frustrating, but don’t we all get the fuzziest nostalgic feeling while remembering them? Aren’t some of our most cherished childhood memories tied so closely to them?
This game is more than a work about childhood or one that evokes childhood, it’s a celebration of the experience of living as kid in the 20th/21st century, and how much the memories and events lived through that period of our lives are grand and exciting and meaningful and beautiful and fascinating!!! The seemingly small battles of choosing what items to bring in the backpack, taking as close to the amount of money you will use as possible, making loyal friends and acquaintances and conquering your inner fears are, and always will be important, and for highlighting that with such beauty and nuance, Earthbound is absolutely a masterpiece in the video game medium.
Let me start this writeup by getting something particularly important out of the way: Earthbound, as a JRPG, is largely unpolished. From the combat system to the dungeons, its gameplay loop is as exhausting as can be, reproducing many design vices from the time such as excessively obtuse paths, repetitive combat, restrictive inventory, and slow progression. There are commendable attempts to make up for these shortcomings, like the rolling HP meter, the different fighting styles for every character, the hint system, among others, but they’re implemented in a flawed way themselves so they don’t make that much of a difference, making the nitty gritty of the experience, the moment to moment gameplay itself feel frustrating at times and, frankly, a bit boring, specially early on.
So why such a flawed game deserves a five-star rating? Earthbound is very comfortably a five-star game for me simply because it is one of the most affecting, detailed, and poignant depictions of childhood in any art form in history. First impressions about it are bound to how crazy and unpredictable its style and presentation can be; without spoiling too much, scenarios range from fighting hippies and balding men possessed by “evil energy” to getting ambushed into a beating by policemen and stopping a cult of worshippers of the color blue, all those happening only in about the first 1/5th of the game. That is not even mentioning the writing, which can range from hilarious to profound in a dime, sounding awfully close to random and nonsensical but you just know there’s something there.
In the freeform nature Earthbound tells its story and presents its world lies the very core of its brilliance; if there isn’t much of a traditionally told narrative or a thematic thread to the game’s many aesthetic elements it’s simply because, in a vacuum, the entire game is ‘just’ about four kids playing around. Do you, reader, remember how you used to play with friends in your early youth? Remember all the stories your imagination used to conjure up, where magic (or PSI?) was real and anything from aliens, to bigfoot, to dinosaurs could show up? Remember how, in your young mind, all those elements would add up to something that made sense? That is exactly what Earthbound is trying to convey, and it does so with mastery.
The leading example for that is the game’s foes. They may all seem random, but I believe there’s a strong argument they’re mostly a representation of the many seemingly arbitrary fears and antagonisms you can have as a child, or even stuff a kid can use to represent those and fight them. Giygas itself illustrates that perfectly, an intangible being that embodies nothing but evil in its purest form, is not given form nor shape nor personality because it transcends all that, it’s the traumatic event from your childhood you can’t ever forget given life, the irrational fear of the dark you couldn’t explain if you tried, thus being the source of all the evils in the game. The character of Pokey is even more indicative of that, as a stereotypical asshole kid that, no matter what scenario or situation, can always be there to bother you.
In another brilliant decision to enhance the immersion on this childlike adventure, the game is very economical when it comes to information, leaving a lot of gaps to be filled by the player’s own imagination and experiences. That aspect manifests itself greatly in the UI, which has very little visual information, but the item names and descriptions drive the point home and can make room for interpretation (ex.: are all the items even real or some of them are a product of the kids’ imagination? Jeff’s items come to mind, does the kid really carry a heavy bazooka around?), while the pixelated graphics themselves greatly contribute to that, with colorful and expressive sprites but not very detailed ones, in a way that creates a surreal and dreamy atmosphere in which your mind will fill in certain features from characters and environments for you, particularly when it comes to the mostly silent protagonists, which can evoke the player and/or many a friend, relative, neighbor or colleague from their youth, with the musical aid of a beautiful soundtrack that evokes nostalgia through every note.
Even the confusion the player gets to experience plays a significant role in presenting the game from a kid’s perspective. Take the dialogue, for example, the adults usually speak in kind of a rude and detached manner, some of them mentioning the fear of their spouse leaving them or drowning their sorrows at the…cafe, which could sound out of place but in a game with so much wacky stuff those moments blend in nicely with the game’s usual confusion, precisely how a child would perceive them. Ness’s parents’ relationship with their son stands out in this area, with their interactions mostly sounding trivial, like their boy saving the world is just another Tuesday for them, which it most likely is.
That exceptional work in the artistic direction of the game, which meticulously crafted every bit with exactly the right amount of visual stimulus and info, allows for every experience with the game to be deeply personal, and its story and elements to have many different interpretations, with the themes of early youth, in or out of its North American setting, tying them all together nicely. Then it all comes back to the RPG elements; much more than a pastiche of JRPG tropes, with the funny status ailments and puns or whatnot, Earthbound cleverly uses that format to illustrate just how much the crazy stories and adventures we all used to make up as kids mattered and could stack up to even the most epic fantasies such as the Lord of the Rings, Dungeons & Dragons or the Dragon Quest games. Sure, as I mentioned before, the RPG mechanics are not perfect, and would really harm a lesser game’s enjoyment and reputation, but in this game those flaws do not matter, and why should they? The games we played as children were far from perfect, and could be just as confusing and frustrating, but don’t we all get the fuzziest nostalgic feeling while remembering them? Aren’t some of our most cherished childhood memories tied so closely to them?
This game is more than a work about childhood or one that evokes childhood, it’s a celebration of the experience of living as kid in the 20th/21st century, and how much the memories and events lived through that period of our lives are grand and exciting and meaningful and beautiful and fascinating!!! The seemingly small battles of choosing what items to bring in the backpack, taking as close to the amount of money you will use as possible, making loyal friends and acquaintances and conquering your inner fears are, and always will be important, and for highlighting that with such beauty and nuance, Earthbound is absolutely a masterpiece in the video game medium.