EarthBound
EarthBound is obviously a JRPG, and it doesn't hide that fact for a moment, yet it confidently ignores many genre standards. Core to its identity, EarthBound replaces the genre's typical fantasy setting with an uncanny interpretation of nineties America. Telephones are used as save points, fast food restaurants offer recovery items, jazz clubs and music halls become focal points for multiple story beats, and enemies include hippies, cultists, and actual taxis. The whole game is a subversion of expectations, and my inability to predict practically anything that would be coming next encouraged me to keep playing, even when I felt a little discouraged by difficulty jumps or inscrutable progression requirements.
While it wasn't that bad overall, my experience was dampened a little by some of that old-school jank. Without any nostalgia goggles to help me along, the times I felt like I needed to level-grind, or the infrequent moments when I needed to reference a walkthrough really took me out of the experience. I never felt nearly as frustrated with EarthBound as I have with other SNES games, but I can't ignore the fact that some of the design choices just didn't resonate with me. I think a big part of the reason why I was okay with them in the end was the excellent mechanics that kept the rest of the experience afloat.
Level-grinding is annoying, but combat in EarthBound is just unique enough to keep it interesting most of the time. First off, the "auto fight" option that I immediately gravitate toward in mobile gacha games is available here, and I love it! It doesn't always result in the characters making the smartest choices, but in repetitive fights that I knew I could win with basic attacks alone, it was invaluable. In situations where I choose to keep control throughout the fight, managing the HP ticker kept combat unique in contrast to any other RPG I've played yet. Instead of the typical meter that tracks characters' health and reflects damage and healing immediately, the ticker takes time to spin up or down when a character's health is altered. What this means in practice is that someone can get hit with a lethal attack, but as long as you can heal them or end the fight before the ticker actually reaches zero, they'll survive. There were plenty of close calls where I needed to quickly whip out a healing PSI power and button-mash through the rest of my party's attacks to just barely save someone. However, even gameplay as unique and intriguing as that is probably not going to be enough on its own to keep me engaged in the long term.
Thankfully, EarthBound isn't afraid to break the norms when it comes to its story either. Some tropes did carry over, like how everyone in the party is "destined" to save the world, or how they need to collect a set of arbitrary magical objects (in this case, sounds) to unlock the power they need to defeat the big bad, or how the big bad themselves is some abstract floating monster thing. The magic of EarthBound's writing instead comes in the spaces between those things. Practically every character you encounter is a humorous caricature, complementing the absurd enemies and the increasingly ludicrous story events. You may start your journey in a very normal small town, but with a shady flea market and a tunnel full of ghosts in the next town over, it's clear that there is going to be more to this world than it seems at first glance. The progressively supernatural adventure has a conclusion that I didn't at all see coming. Nearly three decades after the game's initial release I was still surprised by the uplifting story of human connection and selfless sacrifice. EarthBound isn't the first game I've played to end in a similar manner, but it's not the direction I expected the game to go in and I was incredibly satisfied with how it played out.
I've played a lot of games bearing the label of RPG, and EarthBound was still a standout amongst the crowd. It toys with your expectations in some really interesting ways while being supported by solid, standard-defying gameplay. There were moments of frustration and tedium that I could have done without, but the rest of the game isn't overshadowed by those relatively minor issues. It's still not a game that I would expect to appeal to anyone who doesn't enjoy RPGs, but for everyone else, it's not hard to recommend. With its availability on NSO, EarthBound is more accessible than ever, so if you ever find yourself itching for a subversive SNES classic, this is the game to go for.
The game is available for Switch here (as of 2/22/24): https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/super-nintendo-entertainment-system-nintendo-switch-online-switch/
