Back when every RPG was about knights, castles and fantasy, Earthbound kicked almost every trend.
User Rating: 9.3 | Mother 2: Gyiyg no Gyakushuu SNES
Earthbound is a different JRPG, it's just weird. Instead of a medievil setting or knights, the game is set in a modern day town called Onette and you play as a young boy with Psi powers named, Ness. The game starts off with Ness sleeping at home, when a loud crash awakens the whole town. A meteor lands on a hill just out of town, which causes animals to act strangely and other odd events to occur. Ness finds himself in the position of being the world's saviour against an alien who destroys worlds - along with 3 prophesized friends whom me must find. The graphics style is very cartoony, but really fits the game's comical style. Earthbound is a funny game - with enemies named Worthless Protoplasm, Newage-Retro Hippie and all sorts of crazed animals. The music is light-hearted and whimsical, not as epic as Final Fantasy but it adds so much character to the game that will stick with you for years. Random battles? Nope. You can see your enemies walking around, they can usually run faster than you though. If you are strong enough, they will run from you or the battle won't even start, you will just be declared the winner and get your experience points. The combat is pretty basic JRPG fare. You take turns attacking the enemy and vice-versa. In the battle screen, you won't see your characters, just a box with their stats at the bottom with the enemies on top. Everybody has basic attacks and Psi attacks, which work like magic (except one character who uses gadgets). Earthbound's world is very unique, each town is very unique with their own problems to solve. One town is zombie infested, another has a cult that paints everything blue and another has a bizarre alter-universe version of itself. This game kept me laughing the whole way through with it's hilarious enemies, odd events, strange characters and overall lightheartedness. There isn't a timer in the game, but I estimate that it was about 40 hours long and is surprisingly challenging. For more info and screenshots head over to the biggest Earthbound hub around at www.starmen.net. 
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