EarthBound Review

time for a well needed reveiw of one of the greatest RPGs:


graphics: 70/100

sure, the graphics aren't as good as they could be, or as detailed, but they are easy to understand, and very distinguishable. no matter how many times you zoom into a sprite, you can still see what the shape is. no confusion there


story: 100/100

great story, and quite new, actually. sure, there are many "alien invasion" story lines, but a child who has to beat up cops, frogs, piles of puke, and even hippies to kill stop the invasion os pretty new to me. and I love the throwing in of references to various popular culture at that time. great stuff.

Re-playability: 70/100

though it is a great game, i cannot say I'd start right over if i just finished. I love the game and all, but there are many things like level grinding, length, and item pocket size that really annoy me. it's also very long, and frustrating at times.
this means you, stonehendge

battle system: 90/100

the battle system was very much the same as any other, on how it worked. how it looked however, was completely different. the animated backgrounds, the colorful text boxes, the changing of colors when someone was dead, and of course: scrolling HP meters. alo put in the quirky enemy designs, and you have a ground breaking game, my friends.

Hackability: 110/100

those people down at Starmen.net will never stop to amaze me. their PK Hack application will work on any system, as it runs on Java. you can edit sprites, text, window colors, battle swirl animations, maps (wouldn't suggest that), and many more. there are even other separate ones, like the PSI animation editor, big sprite decompresser (like for thins such as sound stone screen stuff), battle background editors, and even a great, yet hard to understand music editor, all of these run on a windows though.

Character rating: 100/100

great character development: Ness, an average, american boy with great powers, Paula, a nice girl who also has great powers, Jeff, a child prodigy of a great scientist, and Poo, a prince of a kingdom in the skies.
and i love the NPCs, like Mr. T, the guy who runs in place, and Captain strong (the police captain).

Diolouge: 100/100

greatest thing i've ever heard. what other game can you hear a cop call his special moves his "Super Ultra Mambo-Tango-Foxtrot martial arts"?

Enemies and bosses: 100/100

The creator of this game, Shigesato Itoi, was quite a creative person. you fight piles of puke, insane cultists who love the color blue, eight "your sanctuary" bosses that are completely different, many moles who claim they are the 3rd strongest, and lastly, the final bosses, Giygas the evil power and your fat next-door neighbor, Pokey Minch.
it gets an A++++++.

Understandability: 90/100

it's an RPG, so it's very puzzling. and at some points, you might need a guide. but the good thing is, is that if you play it again, you can get through at least half of the game without help.

overall: 95/100

greatest RPG ever. I love it, and hope anyone who hasn't played it will try it out, even if on a ROM. I just hope you have fun if you try it.

This review is OVAH!

I agree with everything there except that I prefer SMRPG.

well, every one has their opinions

Yep!

oops! i forgot the most important part:

Music: 100/100
the music, though simple compared to other SNES song choices, is very original (except for the few times where other songs are used to make one, like the hippe song was based off an old ACTUAL song, as was the runaway dog battle).
the moods fit the places, and the battles (in which many songs are used).
the whole Mother/EarthBound series has spawned a series of soundtracks, over 5 that i know.
I'd say to look up "EarthBound songs" and take some time to listen to them, or even just stop moving while playing the game to listen to the smooth (sometimes scary) music.

actually, some of the songs aren't even songs. like the Giygas battle songs for instance,which are mostly eerie sounds that don't resemble music at all.

Kudos to you, Keiichi Suzuki, Hirokazu Tanaka, Hiroshi Kanazu, and Toshiyuki Ueno.

I completely agree, there. I'm even using the main Onett theme for an SSBB Uncut Music of mine.!