EarthBound


 * For the series as a whole, see Mother (series).

EarthBound (Japanese: ＭＯＴＨＥＲ２ ～ギーグの逆襲～ Mother 2: Strikes Back, occasionally rendered as マザー２) is an RPG released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1995; it was developed by Ape Inc. and HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo. It is a sequel to the original, which did not see an official English release; rather than featuring the protagonists who appeared in Mother, EarthBound features a different set.

Meteor Crash
The story of EarthBound starts with a young boy named Ness from the city of Onett, who wakes up late one night when a meteor lands in the nearby hills. He immediately sets off to investigate, but upon reaching the site, he finds the police have already closed the area off and is told to turn back and come later. Later that night, Ness is woken by his neighbor, Pokey, who requests Ness' help in finding his brother, Picky. They find Picky near the meteor, but as they are about to leave, a small insect flies out of the meteor. The insect introduces himself as Buzz Buzz, and tells Ness that he comes from a future where an evil alien named Giygas has destroyed the world. He also speaks of a prophecy that states that three boys and one girl are the key to defeating Giygas before this future can come about. Buzz Buzz tells Ness that he believes Ness is one of the three boys and decides to journey with him in his quest to save the world. After Buzz Buzz joins Ness, the group heads back so Picky and Pokey can get home. Shortly before they arrive, they are accosted by an alien known as the Starman Junior, who states that he was sent back in time by Giygas to prevent the prophecy from being fulfilled. A fight ensues, but the Starman Junior is powerless against Buzz Buzz, who protects the others while completely overpowering their opponent. After the group emerges victorious, Picky and Pokey finally manage to get home, where they are promptly grounded. As Ness prepares to leave, Pokey's mother notices Buzz Buzz and, mistaking him for a dung beetle, swats him. Mortally injured, Buzz Buzz gives Ness the Sound Stone and tells him to use it at each of the eight sanctuaries; doing so will allow Ness to use the power of the entire world in his battle against Giygas. After passing on his final instructions, Buzz Buzz dies; Ness then sets off on his adventure. Ness shortly finds himself in downtown Onett, which is currently being terrorized by a gang known as The Sharks. As the path to Giant Step, the first of the eight sanctuaries, is closed off, Ness decides to help the citizens with their gang problems. He fights and defeats the Sharks, including their leader, Frank, and his pet robot, the Frankystein Mark II. After saving the town, Mayor Pirkle allows him to go to Giant Step as thanks. Along the way, Ness battles and defeats the Titanic Ant, the first of the eight sanctuary guardians. Finally, Ness reaches the first sanctuary and records the first piece of the melody.

A Companion
After he leaves the Giant Step, he is stopped by cops. The cops attack him, though he defeats all of them that challenge him, including their leader, Captain Strong. Strong then opens up the path to Twoson for Ness. Once there, Ness encounters (and fights) Everdred of Burglin Park, who is one of many residents of Twoson to inform him that a girl named Paula has been kidnapped. He then stops by Polestar Preschool, and meets Paula's parents. They say that she was supposed to meet with him, receiving a dream saying something about a boy named Ness. She's gone, and Ness goes to the hotel to rest. She contacts him in a dream, asking for help. The only clue Ness is giving is water running in the distance. To find her, Ness goes east through a small cave into Peaceful Rest Valley, leading to Happy Happy Village, where a cult centered around the color blue has taken control; many cultists roam the town. Ness finds a cabin where Paula is locked up; she informs him that the cult leader, Mr. Carpainter, has locked it. To help defeat Carpainter, Paula gives Ness a Franklin Badge. Ness exits the house, and sees cultists and Pokey, who was made an important person in Happy-Happyism. Pokey makes the cultists and a crow fight Ness, as he runs off. Ultimately, Ness defeats Carpainter himself, who was being influenced by the evil Mani-Mani Statue. To apologize, Carpainter gives Ness the key to release Paula. When he exits, he sees only three of the previous multitude of cultists remaining, and then Pokey too. Pokey pretends to apologize to Ness, running away again. Ness then frees Paula, and she joins him to save the land. The duo then go into Lilliput Steps, and take it back from Mondo Mole.

Zombie Town
The duo go back to Twoson, and go to the Chaos Theater. They find the Runaway Five here, who want to leave but cannot due to owing a debt to Mr. Poochyfud, the Chaos Theater manager. Ness pays the debt of $10000 with a wad of bills collected from Everdred. The Runaway Five thank Ness and Paula by taking them to Threed. Ness and Paula soon find out that the town is infested with zombies. They first enter the graveyard to meet two strange zombie guards who stare into their souls. When the two head back, they find a strangely dressed woman outside of the hotel, luring them in. Once they reach the hotel room, zombies ambush the pair and lock them underneath the graveyard. Ness and Paula try desperately to open the door and soon Paula communicates through telepathy to send a message to Jeff to help them.

A Second New Companion
Jeff, a student of the Snow Wood Boarding House receives the message in his sleep, and is prepared to leave. His best friend Tony wanders around the school with him as Jeff collects items to prepare for his adventure. While Tony does not want Jeff to leave, he trusts that his friend knows what he is doing and helps him sneak out of the school. Once Jeff is outside of the gate, he wanders down to Lake Tess, where a rare Tessie sighting was supposed to occur. Jeff eventually finds himself riding Tessie to the other side of Winters. He meets Brick Road after going through a dungeon and finds his way through a cave with the help of Bubble Monkey to unlatch the climbing ropes ultimately leading to Dr. Andonuts's lab. In the lab, his father has the Sky Runner prepared for him. Jeff takes off and heads back to Threed with a crash landing in order to save Ness and Paula. He uses the Bad key machine he obtained from Maxwell and they escape.

Vanquishing the Zombies
The Boogey Tent is the first strange life-like tent the trio have to defeat. Once defeated, zombie activity increases tenfold. The Apple Kid gives Ness a new invention called Zombie paper and it is used to attract all of the zombies in Threed (including the ones guarding the graveyard) into the tent in the middle of town, trapping them. The trio set out for Grapefruit Falls after a dark time through the underground tunnels. Many enemy encounters later, they meet the Mr. Saturn folk in Saturn Valley where they learn how to enter the lair of Master Belch. Defeating him allows them to enter Milky Well and take on the Trillionage Sprout. Once the third Your Sanctuary location is obtained, they head back to Threed to find the town back in normal shape. With the Zombie Possessors gone from the tunnels that the buses travel through, they are free to head towards their next destination, Fourside.

Playable
Ness is the protagonist of EarthBound. He lives in the town of Onett. Ness uses his psychic abilities to perform PSI Flash and PSI Rockin attacks. In addition to PSI, Ness uses various Baseball bats as weapons.

Paula is a girl from Twoson. She is able to perform PSI Freeze, PSI Fire, and PSI Thunder attacks; she can also use a special ability known as Pray, which creates random effects in battle. Paula uses various Frying pans as weapons.

Jeff is a boy from Winters. He is unable to perform PSI attacks -- instead, he relies on his high IQ to help the team. He can also Spy on an enemy to learn about its stats. Jeff is able to repair certain items that would otherwise be unusable and then use them in battle. To attack, he uses various types of Guns. He is the son of the famous scientist Dr. Andonuts.

Poo, the prince of Dalaam, is the oldest member of the team and a martial arts master. He is able to perform PSI Freeze, PSI Thunder, and PSI Starstorm, and he can also use his Mirror ability to transform into an enemy during battle. Poo specializes in a sword known as the Sword of kings.

Virtual Console rerelease
On March 20, 2013, EarthBound was rereleased in Japan for the Wii U Virtual Console. The rerelease was highly publicized, with Shigesato Itoi himself doing a live stream of playing the game. The game was changed, but only a bit: A line of text in Burglin Park was slightly tweaked, and the PSI animations were softened to reduce the risk of seizures.

The game has been confirmed for a North American and European Virtual Console release in late 2013.

Trivia

 * The ESRB, the American rating system for video games, rated EarthBound for the Wii Virtual Console. This rating, however, was a mistake. The game was later confirmed for a WiiU Virtual Console release, scheduled for late 2013.
 * EarthBound is somewhat infamous because of Nintendo's odd marketing campaign, which included the tagline "This game stinks!" (a reference to the included scratch-and-sniff cards). This may even have contributed to its lack of success in America.
 * All of the game's areas are connected to each other. Using a glitch to walk through otherwise impassable objects and off the map, players can literally walk to Giygas's lair in the Cave of the Past.

Gallery

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