Giygas

Giygas (Japanese:  Gyiyg), also known as Giegue in EarthBound Beginnings, is the main antagonist in EarthBound Beginnings and EarthBound. Bearing such titles as the "Embodiment of Evil" and the "Universal Cosmic Destroyer", Giygas is an alien who was originally tasked to retrieve the information about PSI back from Earth; however, after his failure, he had gained endless power that destroyed his mind and body, and sought to lay waste to the entire universe.

Background
Giygas was raised as a child when George and Maria were abducted by aliens in the early 1900s. Giygas loved his adoptive parents, growing especially close to Maria, while Maria loved him as her own son. Every night Maria would sing to Giygas a special lullaby. George, however, was not involved with raising Giygas but instead was studying the aliens' PSI powers without their permission, and two years later escaped back to Earth. Because of this, when Giygas matured, he was tasked to invade the Earth to prevent the humans from using the powers against them. As Giygas did not want to betray those who raised him, particularly his mother Maria, he was forced to be separated from Maria and prepare for the invasion.

In EarthBound Beginnings
In EarthBound Beginnings, Giygas leads an army of aliens and robots in an invasion of planet Earth, starting eighty years after George's escape from captivity at the hands of Giygas' faction. The influence of Giygas can be seen throughout the entire region of America: inanimate objects come to life, animals and people become hostile, and aliens appear across the land. Giygas's forces consist primarily of abducting and harrying the citizens of America in which they are stationed.

When Ninten confronts Giygas on the summit of Mt. Itoi, the latter expresses his gratitude to Ninten and his family for raising him, but mentions that George stole the information about PSI from his kind. He also indicates that he harbors a deep hatred towards humans and wants them to perish. Giygas offers to spare Ninten's life and allow him to come with him back to his home planet, presumably out of respect for Ninten's great-grandmother, Maria, who raised Giygas. Ninten declines and, after being turned down, Giygas continues to attack him. Once in battle, Giygas is immune to all forms of attack; while he still appears to take damage, his HP is effectively bottomless. Instead, Ninten and his friends must repeatedly attempt to sing the Eight Melodies, hoping to remind Giygas of his memories of Maria. The song fills Giygas with guilt and memories of his past with her. Eventually, as Ninten and his party finally manage to finish the song, the emotional stress becomes too much for Giygas to handle and he retreats, calling off his forces but promising that he and Ninten will meet again.

The player cannot name a character Giegue.

In EarthBound
"No, Giygas is no longer the wielder of Evil. He has become the embodiment of Evil itself... which he cannot control on his own. He is the Evil Power."

- Porky Minch

What happened to Giygas between the events of EarthBound Beginnings and EarthBound is unspecified. However, it is revealed that he had gained an uncontrollable amount of power which destroyed his mind and physical body. He lost the ability of rational thinking as a result and is unaware of what he is doing; in this state, his only desire is to put an end to the entire universe. 10 years after the time period of EarthBound, Giygas invades Earth and discovers the Apple of Enlightment. When the Apple predicts his downfall at the hands of Ness, Giygas travels ten years into the past to defeat him and to halt his progress. Buzz Buzz, a survivor of Giygas' invasion, also travels back in time to inform Ness of Giygas' actions.

During EarthBound, Giygas influences people, animals, and inanimate objects on Earth. Ness and his friends (deemed the Chosen Four) encounter his presence via wild animals, sentient plants, and otherworldly creatures. The Mani-Mani Statue also assists in spreading Giygas' domination by inducing control over people such as Mr. Carpainter and Geldegarde Monotoli. Spiteful of Ness as well, Porky Minch also allies with Giygas.

As Ness gains the power of all eight Your Sanctuary locations, Giygas begins his invasion of Earth in the Eagleland city of Onett. Ness, along with Paula, Jeff, and Poo travel back in time using the Phase Distorter to face Giygas in the Cave of the Past. Enclosed within the Devil's Machine, Porky Minch states that Giygas' unfathomable power destroyed him and his mind, and as such, he can only be truly manifested in an incomprehensible form that takes place in a mysterious dimension: a dimension that is revealed to Ness and his friends when Pokey turns off the Devil's Machine. Giygas remains undefeatable by physical attacks; rather, he is destroyed by Paula's prayers to the people of Earth and to the player themself, exposing his weakness to emotion. Giygas disintegrates and ceases to exist, ending his evil influence over the world.

Devil's Machine

 * See also: Heavily Armored Pokey

Giygas' first phase is from within the Devil's Machine: the main threat is the now-Heavily Armored Pokey, who uses a variety of attacks against Ness and his party. Giygas is capable of using PSI Rockin: a PSI ability previously only available to Ness and Ness's Nightmare. Giygas has a shield that reflects all attacks: physical and psychic. It is impossible to remove this shield, making him invincible to any attacks. Only PSI Shield α and Σ that Ness' party places will work; if β or Ω are used, Giygas' attacks will reflect off the player's shield and back from his own shield, hitting Ness and his party in the progress. If a psychic attack is used while any PSI Shield is in place, the attack will still reflect and hit Ness' party. He is vulnerable to PSI Magnet and Brainshock.

Meanwhile, Porky's attacks range from a very stinky gas that lowers Offense and one damage-dealing attack. Porky is vulnerable to Paralysis, allowing the player to deal damage with Bashing, PSI moves, and bottle rockets. Porky has 2000 HP: Once his health is depleted, he will taunt the party and turn off the Devil's Machine, revealing Giygas' true form.


 * + Giygas' attacks




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 * + Heavily Armored Pokey's attacks






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First form
"So, isn't this terrifying? I'm terrified, too. Giygas cannot think rationally any more, and he isn't even aware of what he is doing now. His own mind was destroyed by his incredible power. What an all mighty idiot! Yep, that's what he is! Heh heh heh heh... and you... you will be... just another meal to him!"

- Porky Minch

When the Devil's Machine is turned off, Ness and his friends are trapped in a strange dimension, where Giygas is now susceptible to physical and psychic attacks of all kinds (Big Bottle Rockets, however, will not work). Giygas himself, crippled mentally by his power, communicates via mysterious calls to Ness, statements of sadness, and vocalizations of pleasure. Much like in the prequel, all of his attacks are inexplicable and prefaced by "You cannot grasp the true form of Giygas' attack!".

In this form, Giygas, having 2000 HP, must be hit with the player's best attacks, while keeping health high enough to avoid death.








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Second form
"Heh heh heh heh. You must really be at the end of your rope. In this bizarre dimension, you four are the only force fighting for justice... And here you stand, waiting to be burned up with all the rest of the garbage of this universe... Haaaaah! That's so sad. I can't help but shed a tear. You know, my heart is beating incredibly fast, ...I must be experiencing absolute terror!"

- Porky Minch

"Ness! Ah, Grrr, Ohhh... Argh... Yaaagh!... It's not right... not right... not right..."

- Giygas

Once enough damage has been dealt to Giygas, Porky will return to taunt the Chosen Four again and will then leave the party with Giygas once more. This time, Giygas, while barely wounded, remains invincible: Although attacks can successfully hit him, Giygas will never run out of health. The only way to destroy Giygas is to have Paula Pray. The prayer is the only thing effective against Giygas, and as Paula continuosly prays, other people from the adventure (including the player) send prayers for the safety of the chosen four. The prayers become too much for Giygas to handle, and after 9 prayers, Giygas vanishes and is never seen again.






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Trivia

 * Some fans have noted that Giygas's sprite in EarthBound Beginnings strongly resembles from the  series, and how both are beings with powerful psychic abilities.
 * Giygas's dialog in EarthBound was inspired by a traumatic event Shigesato Itoi had experienced around the age of five, where he mistakenly walked into a theater playing  and witnessed a murder scene he initially mistook for assault. Itoi wanted to use Giygas's dialog, being a combination of pleasure and pain, to recreate the same kind of fear he experienced. Contrary to popular belief, Itoi did not use dialog, music or imagery from the movie during the fight against Giygas.
 * Early previews of EarthBound reveal that Giygas was originally going to be named "The Geek" in English.
 * Giygas is one of the only 3 characters in the EarthBound series that can use PSI Rockin, the others being Ness and Ness's Nightmare.
 * In EarthBound, if one turns an image of Giygas upside-down when his "face" is visible, his face will resemble his appearance in EarthBound Beginnings.
 * During the last phase of Giygas in EarthBound, if one traces the outline of Giygas, the background appears to resemble a human fetus. This started a popular fan theory that the chosen four are traveling to the past to fight Giygas as a fetus, and are stopping the Devil's Machine from "giving birth" to him. This theory was conformed false by Shigesato Itoi, however.
 * In EarthBound Beginnings, it is possible to defeat Giygas without using the Sing command: If the player allows a battle to go on longer than 255 turns, the text "The battle lingers on..." displays and the battle ends automatically. As a result, if the player is at a high enough level to let the battle against Giygas last for 255 turns, the battle will immediately end and the ending will proceed as normal.
 * A similar glitch is possible in the Japan only port Mother 1+2, which lets Giygas be defeated without using Pray. In the first phase against Giygas (not to be confused with the phase against Heavily Armed Porky and the Devil's Machine) if the player uses the Viper to poison Giygas and lets his HP drop to 0 through poison damage, the battle ends as if it were a normal battle while receiving 0 exp points, and aside from minor graphical glitches the ending plays as normal.