The WhatsNext verdict
EarthBound is a singular, funny, musically adventurous RPG whose familiar world gradually becomes wonderfully strange. Play it if you want personality, satire, and atmosphere more than streamlined combat or polished pacing.
What it does best
A genuinely funny RPG with absurd timing and sharp satire
A look you can recognize from a single frame
A strange, memorable soundtrack inseparable from the mood
A surreal mix of coming-of-age RPG, comedy, and cosmic nightmare
What might put you off
Slow pacing and repetitive battles
Juvenile, culturally specific humor
The setup
What you are walking into
A turn-based JRPG and sequel to the then-Japan-only Earthbound Beginnings (1989) in which Ness, a young boy living in a land based on the USA, leaves home to go on an adventure through strange locations, get to know quirky characters, and defeat an unknowable alien threat called Giygas while facing up to the realities of growing up and becoming familiar with the real world.
Where it lives
Genre
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