Fuzzy Pickles!

Earthbound is a game that I might have the longest history with. It was one of the first games I vividly remember renting. And I did it several times! I'm pretty sure six-year-old me was enthralled with the story and gameplay. It was probably my first experience with them in video games. Before, it was just Donkey Kong Country. I never got very far because my rental store only lent them out for one day and because I was six. I managed to get the same copy a few times in a row, but I never made it past the second city. And then I forgot about Mother and moved away from SNES games in general. A few years ago, though, I remembered I could emulate games. I got as far as the final city before running into a massive difficulty spike. I think I went the wrong way and went to war with dinosaurs before I was ready. And then I dropped the game... until tonight.

I booted up Earthbound and let the opening cinematic play. What does a 1950s art choice of aliens attacking an American city have to do with this game? We get to name our friends, the dog (Daisy), our favorite thing (Lucy), and our favorite food (pizza). I'm also using the strawberry frame if anyone's curious.

We're on the outskirts of Onett, a city in Eagleland, and it's the year 199X. It's the middle of the night, and our hero, Ness, is sleeping. The sound of something falling is heard in the distance before a loud crash. This wakes up Ness, who goes to see what happened. His loving mother stops him but knows he'll just sneak out anyway, so she tells him to get out of his pajamas. We leave our home and scale the hill to the west. There are police, who love their roadblocks, a weird man, Liar X. Agerate, and our neighbor annoying the cops. Porky is here! The cops have the area blocked off, so we can't get further. But we know a meteor fell, so let's go back to bed!

A loud and annoying knocking at our front door wakes up the entire house again. Our mom tells us to check the door, but Porky busts in before we can. His little brother, Picky, ran off when the two of them bypassed the police barricades. He's afraid of his parents punishing him for losing his brother and asks us to help him find Picky. Mom tells us to change again and suggests we take our sister's cracked bat. Porky joins as a guest party member, and we're off! Our dog is also with us, She, usually, tries.

We're returning to the meteor landing spot, but battles can now happen. They take place similarly to Dragon Quest, where it's almost a first person type of thing. Instead of a black screen or terrain appropriate background, though, it's a psychedelic kaleidoscope. We'll be fighting through stray dogs, snakes, and crows. Sometimes they don't attack, which is nice, but Ness' accuracy is suspect. Porky will never help. Take your time and exploit a cool thing Earthbound does with encounters. There are no random battles! You see everything on the field before you. Sometimes the amount is s wrong, but it's good enough. But you can reset what appears on screen by walking far enough away from the scary thing.

But Crows drop a lot of cookies to heal up, so get to that meteor! Picky is waiting behind a tree. Porky got lost, so Picky waited here for him. Picky joins us as another guest, and he tries his best. Before leaving the area, Porky hears a buzzing. Suddenly, the meteor starts to glow, and a beam of light emanates from it. When it dies down, it reveals a bee!? And it speaks! This is Buzzbuzz, and he's a hero from the future. He's come to the past to inform Ness that he has a fate. He, two boys, and one girl are fabled to defeat the monster Gygas, but only if they get to him early. Buzzbuzz joins us as another guest, and he'll guide us to our target. Porky is worried he's a member of this group. But let's drop the boys off at their house!

En route, we're attacked by a minion of Gary Gygas. Star Man jr is totally negated by Buzzy, so don't worry.

The Minches are back, and they're mad. Their dad runs off to scold his kids. When he returns to us, he tells us to leave. Not just his house but ours, too. He hates our dad because dad's borrowed "one hundred thousand dollars, or maybe less" from Mr. Minch. As we leave, Mrs. Minch kills Buzzbuzz. His eventual final words are about how to defeat Gygas. We need to visit seven locations that have a unique sound to them. We should record them with the Sound Stone. Along with the powers of wisdom, courage, and friendship, we can save the future!

We sleep in our bed and wake up with the sun. Our mom knows what's going on and wishes us well. She tells us to call our dad, and he's how we save. He also transfers money into our ATM account. I'm pretty sure it's the equivalent of mobs dropping gold, and I kinda hate it. It's an extra step that's unnecessary.

But our adventure begins! I visited Liar X. Agerate and went into his basement to see his statue. It's totally normal. I'm sure it'll lead to something later. But southeast is the town of Onett. The cops last night foreshadowed the gang that's controlling the area, the Sharks. You can fight them in the southern part of town but visit the store first. You can buy a new bat and hat to double your defense. I got to level five when the game automatically beats snakes for you. The best thing about Earthbound is the auto win feature that triggers when you're far more powerful than your opponent. I don't understand why no one's ever stolen the idea.

The Sharks hang out in the arcade. I beat the grunts in two hits and thought it was good enough. It was! Talk to the guy guarding the door in the back. Calming him lets us into the backyard where the leader, Frank, hangs around in. He'll fight us, but he wasn't too hard. I think t took four rounds. But we're right into a second battle against his robot, Frankystein Mark II. I think I got lucky here. The bot spammed a debuff that lowered my defense. He used this for five straight rounds, letting me attack with abandon. With the robot gone, Frank leaves town.

We should now speak to the mayor. To the northwest of town is the Giant Step. Buzzbuzz told us to visit here, but the way is blocked because the mayor locked it. Apparently, Frank trashed it. Speaking to him now will let us enter the cave system.

Inside are easy battle slugs you should try to kill. They attack in groups of four, can be one shot, and give out over 100 exp on a win. The mice can be killed in two goes, and the ants are trouble. They're weirdly tanky and can summon backup. A one-on-one fight can quickly turn into a one-on-four, and you might die.

There's a rainbow butterfly before the boss to restore your MP, so PSY Heal and get ready for Titanic Ant. Thirty PP should make this battle a sinch. Rockin' (Lucy) Alpha kills his backup instantly and devastates the boss. Three should make a few basic attacks finish him off, if not outright kill him. With TA gone, we can activate the Sound Stone at Giants Foot, and the mobs in the dungeon flee from us now. This lets us get a jump on everything down here and make grinding easier. I got to level eleven before leaving. There's a police officer waiting for us, and he's mad. The Police Chief wants to talk to us, so Ness starts his carrier in gangster rap...

...tomorrow!

I'm thinking about killing myself because my parents suck. It makes me jealous that Ness' parents love and support him so much. Oh, and Paula spoke to us in a dream!