EarthBound US Release Notable Characters Quirks Of The Game

Releasing the game in the United States was considered somewhat of a gamble, as the game's graphics were very simple, especially compared to other RPGs of the time, such as Final Fantasy VI. Additionally, the humor of the game is tied to its quirky portrayal of the West, which may not have translated to that region. In an attempt to boost sales, the game was packaged with a complete strategy guide to assist gamers. Ultimately, EarthBound was not very commercially successful in the United States, although it has since spawned a large cult following amongst loyal fans. The game which it followed, EarthBound 0 (or Mother) for the NES, was never released in the United States, though it was fully translated into English. (Nintendo is alleged to have not found the game commercially viable.) Mother 3, the proposed sequel to EarthBound, was cancelled after three years of work on the Nintendo 64 system.

In Japan, Mother (EarthBound 0) and Mother 2 (EarthBound) were released on the Game Boy AdvanceGame Boy Advance GBA is a handheld video game console from Nintendo. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, in the USA on June 11, 2001, and in Europe on June 22, 2001. Hardware This successor to the popular Game Boy can run almost all legacy GB soft on June 20June 20 is the 171st day of the year (172nd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 194 days remaining. Events 1214 University of Oxford receives its charter. 1685 Monmouth Rebellion: The Duke of Monmouth declared himself King of England at Bridgwa, 20032003 is a common year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar), and also: The International Year of Freshwater The European Disability Year Summary Perhaps the defining global event of the year 2003 was the Invasion of Iraq launched by the U bundled together on one cartridge. Mother 2 remained mostly the same, but Mother was changed a lot to match the U.S. prototype.

According to commercials for Mother 1+2 in Japan and interviews with Shigesato ItoiShigesato Itoi is a famous Japanese copywriter and video game designer. He is most well-known for his work with Nintendo's Mother series of games, specifically EarthBound in the United States. He also voiced some of the characters in the My Neighbor Totor, Mother 3 is currently in development for the Game Boy Advance. Nintendo does not appear to be certain whether or not they want to release Mother 1+2 in the US or released along with Mother 3 in the US.

2 Notable characters

Ness - The silent protagonist in EarthBound. You play as him and his crew for the entirety of the game.
Paula - The first secondary character to join Ness' party. She is adept almost exclusively with PSI powers.
Jeff - The second secondary character to join Ness' party. Jeff is unable to use PSI powers, but he makes up for it with his mechanical skills and gadgets such as his Heavy Bazooka and Hungry HP Sucker.
Poo - The third secondary character to join Ness' party. Poo is unique in that he doesn't enjoy the same food, or is able to use the same equipment as the rest of the party. It's no doubt due to his strict eastern training.
Giygas - The prime antagonist, and the final boss in the game. Giygas plans to destroy the entire universe. In EarthBound, Giygas becomes so evil that its own evil powers begin to consume Giygas itself. As a result, Giygas's mind is extremely unstable, and Giygas has little control over or awareness of its own actions. [1]
Pokey - Ness' neighbor. Pokey is swayed (but not controlled) by Giygas' power and does his bidding in hopes to gain such power for himself. He makes many appearances throughout the game, and is the bumbling middleman for Giygas' corruption.
Picky - The younger brother of Pokey. He plays a small role during the beginning of the game when he is lost on the mountain behind Onett . He temporarily joins Ness' party after you find him on the mountain, and bring him home.
Mom - The "mother" referred to in the Japanese title; Ness must call home regularly and speak to her or he will become homesick.
Dad - Ness' unseen workaholic father, who only appears as a voice on the telephone. Even in the ending credits, a telephone appears in his place. Some have theorized he actually is the telephone.
Tracy - Ness' sister, who started working for Escargo Express when his adventure began. Ness calls her to store and retrieve items when he's far from home.
Frank - The leader (later ex-leader) of the street gang called The Sharks. A misguided youth, Frank is adept with a switchblade, and only after being bested by Ness, changes his ways and starts working at the local fast-food shop.
Captain Strong - The police chief in Onett, he catches Ness after he had trespassed into the sealed-off Onett caves to reach Giant Step . In the game, Strong and his crew of policemen attack Ness to test his strength in an effort to see if he is in fact ready to move on to the next town or not.
Tessie - A friendly, long-necked monster which lets Jeff ride on its back to cross the lake in Winters. No doubt inspired by Nessie, the Loch Ness monster. Not to be confused with Ness.
Dr. Andonuts - Jeff's estranged father, who Jeff rarely sees due to the Winters boarding school he attends and his father's secluded nature. During the course of the game Dr. Andonuts builds many useful inventions, such as the Sky Runner and the Phase Distorter.
Mr. Saturn - What all odd looking[2] residents of Saturn Valley are named. They all speak broken English, and at one point are enslaved by the blob king Master Belch and forced to make Fly Honey.

3 Quirks of the game

The Runaway Five are thought to be a parody of the Blues Brothers (especially the two lead singers). This argument is strengthened when one considered that in the original Japanese version, the band wore black suits instead of the colored clothes of the American release.
One of the non-player characters in the game looks almost exactly like Mr. T (though he is never referred to as such or says anything Mr. T might be thought to say). Fans of the game refer to him almost exclusively as such.

4 Special technology that the game employs

Some of the background music of EarthBound utilizes samples obtained from frequency modulation synthesis quite extensively.
Many of the animated backgrounds of the fight sequences in EarthBound are actually mathematical graphs that employ dynamic variables.

5 See also

6 External links

Super Nintendo games Role-playing computer games HAL Laboratory games *

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1 US release