Pippi

Pippi (ピッピ Pippi) is a young girl in EarthBound Beginnings. She lives in the town of Podunk with her mother Mrs. Lindgren while Ninten is her neighbor.

Physical appearance
Pippi wears a pink dress, along with long yellow socks and red shoes. She has red hair tied into two braids, and her clay model depicts her with freckles on her face and yellow bows in her hair.

Pippi is a reference to Pippi Longstocking, as they have the same name, same hair design and both seem to wear unusually long socks. Pippi's immense strength when leveled up also alludes to Pippi Longstocking, as the titular character displays amazing strength in the book series, and is referred commonly as "The Strongest Girl In the World". Another reference to Pippi Longstocking is her mother's last name, Lindgren.

History
Pippi disappears prior to the events of the game, and Ninten is asked by her mother and the mayor of Podunk to rescue her. After traveling through the South Cemetery, Ninten finds an opening in one of the graves, where Pippi is in the southwestern casket; the others each contain Pseudo Zombies. After opening the casket containing Pippi, she asks Ninten a series of questions, which if answered correctly will yield one of the only two obtainable Franklin Badges. After returning her to the mayor, Ninten is given a $100 prize for rescuing her, and a Zoo Key from Abbott. If Ninten returns to Pippi's home, he can speak to her to obtain any items that were in her inventory when she left, and she will once again ask the questions required to obtain the Franklin Badge if Ninten previously answered them incorrectly.

She makes a second appearance in the swamp on the way to Ellay, residing in a house in the center. Ninten and his friends can speak to Pippi for recovery, where she asks Ninten not to tell her mother that she was there.

For clarity, the player cannot name a character Pippi. Pippi is the only party member who the player cannot name at the start of the game who has a status bar and who can be controlled by the player in battle. Her last name may be the same as her mother's: Lindgren.

Stat growth rate values
(Information courtesy of Starmen.net) Formula for stat increase during a levelup: stat gain = (constant + (random number 0-3))/2, rounded down

Stars represent the comparison between other characters' stat growth rate.

Trivia

 * Pippi is the only temporary party member until Mother 3 who can level up, have her own inventory, and equip weapons and armor like a main party member.
 * Pippi's stat growth rate is identical to Teddy's.
 * As a result, besides PP, Wisdom, and Force, Pippi outranks Ninten in every stat, so many players hold on to her for as long as possible.
 * Interestingly, they are both the only characters with an unused sprite.
 * An unused enemy in Mother closely resembles Pippi, for unknown reasons.
 * If one plays throughout the game without returning Pippi (through hacking), she will not appear in the house at the swamp.
 * A character by Creatures Inc.'s Japanese name coincidentally is Pippi.

Gallery

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