I think it’s fascinating how the current Internet culture use EarthBound as calling it the main inspiration of Undertale and use its music for video essays….. and yet they don’t care talking about the game itself. Granted the game is not perfect and perhaps people already talked about what makes the game special, but to be honest, every person has its own experience when they play games, so it would be good if more people gave their viewpoint on EarthBound.

Earthbound gets a 7.8/10 for me, too many moles whose strength fall between the second and fourth strongest.

HE FINALLY DID IT! HE MADE A VIDEO ABOUT EARTHBOUND!!

based asf video i find a lot of the "this game has aged" discourse frustrating, it's like if someone looked at egyptian hieroglyphs and went "heh these guys didn't know how to draw perspective..."

I personally don’t think it’s overrated, and dare I say, it’s still misunderstood. I think the key to earthbound’s greatness comes in the word “experience.” It’s all about the journey with earthbound. The game doesn’t have insane gameplay, a gripping narrative, or timeless design. But it does have the most charm I’ve ever seen in a piece of media. The dialogue, the music, the graphics, all come together to give you an experience like no other. Earthbound isn’t a game in the same way something like mega man is a game, it’s more so an experience in the game medium. I feel like going into the game and expecting a traditional game will ruin your experience. You should just play the game to experience the world of earthbound. Even with so many games like earthbound, nothing gives the same aura as earthbound, not even the other mother games. And once you just experience the world, the gameplay and story click and become a whole lot more clear. I would compare earthbound to something like my neighbor Totoro. If tried to explain the plot of Totoro, it would sound unbelievably boring, but watching Totoro and not expecting a complex narrative you see the movie’s true beauty. This is all my opinion and I could totally be very wrong but I think earthbound is all about just seeing what the game has to show you and not focusing on traditional game philosophy.

Earthbound killed Earthbound Beginnings

You forgot one major aspect of EarthBounds flaws, us not being able to see Venus kiss Ness!!

11:20 thank you SO much for featuring a clip from Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass. This game is criminally underrated and in my opinion, it is the modern game that has best encapsulated the soul of Earthbound without being a knockoff.

Earthbound is a game where the flaws it has help define it as a unique experience for me. Yes the item inventory is annoying for grouping key items, equipment and consumables in 4 character tabs, but there isn't a game with item management like Earthbound to me. I like assigning certain items to different characters, it feels like a group of kids going on a journey and splitting the items they bring along in their different backpacks, and I like how it motivates me to use consumables when needed, instead of stocking up on high hp items to spam. The difficulty balancing being hard at the beginning before easing up as you get more party members, before getting harder feels like a natural journey for these kids, it emphasizes the power of companionship the game emphasizes especially during the Giygas fight, but it also doesn't let up when you get to the end, which emphasizes the danger that Giygas brings to the planet. I love Earthbound, and I can't envision an Earthbound without those quirks that annoy me, bc the flaws present help to establish the identity it has.

After I played mother 3 I decided to play earthbound since mother 3 was such an amazing experience. But then I got really frustrated and decided to replay mother 3 instead because I can really connect with it

I don't think EarthBound is as overrated, but I do think it gets lost in the conversation and has been more of this cult classic gem buried in a time period that's now in an "internet museum" to point fingers at about how cool it was. There's a lack of conversation that covers the depths of the game and the potential of what it could have been. Every time I play or see someone play the game, I think of how it still can continue to get better.

Sometimes I'm flooding myself with so much Earthbound content that I forget about the fact that not everyone will connect with it like I did. Thanks for the reminder and perspective! I thought it was a very well done video, and as close to objective as it could ever be. 👍

I saw the title and gasped out loud

I think the problem with the word "overrated" is the fact that many people started using it to many popular games such as Undertale with the exuse of being "too popular" making you feel bad for liking it, I was born in the early 2000' but as much i saw on internet people in the 90' didn't care a thing about Earthbound, hell it was even considered Nintendo's biggest failure at the time and then all of sudden people started liking the game, i think there will never be a "best game of all time" nor a "worst game of all time" it all depends on people's point of view

I love EarthBound and think it's a good game, but I agree that people give it way too much credit.

This is an interesting topic in light of the recent rerelease of TTYD, which has a similar vocal group of supporters. In TTYD’s case, I think there’s less of a “not good” contingent and more of a “nothing special” contingent, which creates something of a different dynamic-folks who think a game is just okay are less vocal than ones who feel “this REALLY didn’t work for me”.

3:55 IS THAT GAMING IN THE CLINTON YEARS!?!?!?!?!??!?

2:35 Always loved the "unverse" typo

I think the main issue with earthbound being taken seriously is the fact that a lot of fans have never touched the game, and possibly may never if they can’t get an SNES classic, NSO subscription, or a…rom for an emulator. The cartridge prices make bank off of people’s appreciation for the game more than the players get enjoyment out of their favorite game. I’m listening to this video while I play my second full play through of earthbound

I couldn't get into Earthbound as a kid because of the combat, but watching a letsplay of it was actually pretty fun. Then I played Mother 3 and absolutely loved it lol

I think earthbound's flaws add to it's quirkiness. If you played it your gonna remember how frustrating certain points were, but that makes it all the more memorable.

Thank you monkeyness for another banger video , also i really like it whenever you use this this song 12:09 in your videos, its one of my favorite mother 3 songs 🦦

I’ll add in my two cents as someone who just started playing it for the first time yesterday. I have never played a traditional turn-based rpg before and only really know about earthbound from undertale and top 10 lists I watched when I was like 8. Earthbound is already one of my favorite games of the year, I can’t get over how charming and fun everything about it is. It is clunky in some areas, particularly with the inventory but it is otherwise has been so fun to play, not overrated at all.

It's a great day when monkeyness uploads.

I don’t know why everyone always argues about the best and worst games, we all know the best game is E.T. for Atari

i think earthbound is over rated by the wrong people, a lot of people that truly understand earthbound aside from haha dialog think its under rated.

the old friend analogy is really good. it does give the same feeling as that when i replay it for the umpteenth time

It overshadows Mother 3 (which I think is better) so yes.

EarthBound doesn’t get enough recognition even though it inspired things like Undertale and its music is everywhere in the internet.

No. The game is basically perfect. This is like asking if fallout new vegas is overrated, or if half life is overrated. Some pieces of art set the standard for the medium and genre.

There is a very good reason these games have been a major part of my life for the past 12 years. These games are incredibly misunderstood and I tell almost everyone in my life to give it a try.

This isn't just about earthbound but rather the entire mother series as a whole, but I for some reason I really like how all 3 games are barely connected, only being by Giygas (Giegue?) being in both 1 and 2 and Pokey (Porky?!) being in both 2 and 3. It makes them feel more like their own unique stories with their own unique characters that don't have to be connected by anything other than a few story details and obviously the gameplay and graphics, something that a lot of game series rarely do. Sorry if that was unrelated just wanted to point it out

Ur unironically my favorite KZfaqr monkeyness keep up the amazing work ❤

0:01 No. If you are seeing this the answer is no.

1:46 but you could just say that because yes, it is that good

I loved earthbound the first time I played it on the Nintendo switch online emulator and it was just a good time (after the first part of the game when I was very low level and it was boring) There where problems (why are all of my items suddenly strictly limited the second I enter the end game, the early game is just attack heal repeat until you get Paula and have ANY OTHER OPTION IN COMBAT and she is level 1 so don’t let that teddy bear break)

I had to play Earthbound 3times to enjoy it, I tried it when I was in middleschool and wasn't able to understand anything in english first and had terrible time (It was also because I was expecting something like undertale), I tried it a second time in my first year of high school but with a french patch on my cracked 3ds and I didn't really enjoy it, and finally I managed to play it and really enjoy it a lot last year a week before my french exams x). I think that our enjoyment of the game is heavily linked to the period where we play it and how you play it. As a high schooler right I have a lot of free time and I feel like earthbound isn't made to be played for 5hours straight like I do with other games, but playing it for small periods of time before working again, it really felt like how I used to play video game and with how strangely nostalgic the game is to me (even though I didn't really enjoy it before it's still my first retro video game) it made me have a great time Right after my exams I played mother 3 and had a great time (though I think that it's impossible to not like this game lmao) and played mother 1 in the multiple hours a day way and it was terrible I'm just realizing that even though I wrote a lot it doesn't mean a lot of things so yeah I just think the way we enjoy games and appreciate art even is heavily linked to how and in what condition we experience it.

"One fateful day", I had been running amok in the desert. When Talah Rama had finished fasting, I rushed over to see... Monkeys. Now I hear that this area, is UNBEARABLE. Buzz for me? I kid you not, I had NO TROUBLE IN THIS AREA. Maybe it was dumb luck? Or the endless seeming food in my inventory, but only the comments can figure what was going on that day.

I like Earthbound, a few months ago I got back into using my 3DS and wanted to download it but the eShop was closing so I had to mod my console to obtain it. At first I started my playthrough blind, but then I started following along with a Let’s Play series on KZfaq. I was playing it pretty religiously but slowed down at about the halfway point. I still have intention in finishing the game I’m just getting side tracked with other things at the moment. I think the game has definite charm to it, something about it is very interesting to me. I haven’t played Mother 1 or 3 so my only frame of reference for the series is Earthbound. I like the music, but also the weird ambient sounds sometimes and the character designs and color palette of the various cities. Playing games like Pokemon Yellow and such growing up the combat system doesn’t really bother me but I do wish the enemies had some attack animations, maybe if it ever gets a modern rerelease who knows. I wouldn’t say it’s the greatest RPG of all time, and I wouldn’t say it’s boring either. It definitely falls in the middle camp as you described, it’s just interesting enough to pull the player in to want to experience it and what it has to offer. In my book the making of a good video game, if it makes you want to play it it’s a good game.

2:33 The blood pressure strike I had when hearing that people call this story bad…

8 views in 8 seconds bro did not fall off. Bro is growing.

Back then, it was one of the greatest games of all times, but now it is getting humbled by what the new technology can do, like mother 3, its a huge upgrade because of it being in new times (2004) and had much more stuff it can put into than Mother 2/Earthbound could have ever done, but it still influenced many new rpg games like Undertale and Deltarune or Final fantasy

Honestly i just like the turn based combat

Earthbound is a great game. Despite not being one of my favorite games of all time, I feel inspired to share my thoughts about it. I drafted this comment several times, struggling to find the right words. I guess that means that while I don't love Earthbound, I respect it deeply. Art is a collaborative process, and Earthbound is a really big step in that, allowing many people to see perfection. Two of my favorite games, Omori and Mother 3, grew out of Earthbound. Taking it's essence of pure love and creativity and applying them and I know that many games will try their own at applying the pure creativity and love that Earthbound provides in new ways. Each of these games have a good chance to be a masterpiece and be someone's "Earthbound" and I respect that. Like many people have "Undertale" be their "Earthbound". My "Earthbound" is "OMORI". While I admit OMORI has flaws, it is a game that gave me faith in love. And so I am not in need of another Earthbound, even if I can find Mother 3 to be a really great game, because OMORI already gave me faith in love.

As someone who tried out the game and didn't like the battle system I enjoy watching other people play it more, not sure why. I think I enjoy M3 and even EB0 because the plot is what keeps me engaged in RPG'S. Regardless of how I feel I don't think it's overrated, it's inspired so many games I love so I will always appreciate it.

As someone who loved this game since the year it came out, no. It was an incredible game back then and it's an incredible game now.

EarthBound

Earthbound is neither the best game of the franchise nor the best rpg of the snes but people treat it as a godsend

The game is good no doubt, but I’d say a high 90 is a little forgiving, especially compared to mother 3. There are some low points (like monkey cave) but there are always high ones. I think it’s deserving of a mid to high 80, as mother 3 is on top.

thank you, this video is awesome. people usually forget that this is a 1994 game, and omg it REALLY is ahead of it's time. but yeah, it has some pacing problems and stuff, but still an awesome game. my personal favorite JRPG.

Yea im ngl i dont like Earthbound even tho as a kid i was obsessed wit it, i appreciate the games humor even tho i dont like it but my issue is that the entire game hinges on if you enjoy that one aspect of it or not bc outside of the humor/weirdness its a substandard RPG that doesnt really get good until the last 3rd of the game n it sucks bc i can see the makings of a game i could really fw but it dont do enough to keep me interested in the way Mother 3 would. Its one of them "not bad, but not my thing" typa games, i been binge watching your content since the vid you did wit Cybershell n you fs showed me a lot of things i never noticed and really like bout the game and i appreciate how you can criticize the game while still talkin bout how much you enjoy it. Good ass video

I recently just finished earthbound on my SNES Classic. If I would compare this to any game that was inspired by it, it would be incomparable considering that this game is one of the most influential RPG’s. Saying that it is overrated is an overstatement. Considering projects that are inspired by it garnered more attention than any other. Earthbound is an Underatted game that Nintendo should and hopefully will represent in the next Nintendo direct.

I’m playing earthbound for the first time right now and I’m having a fantastic time with it(except the department store that place is awful)

HES BACK BABY

I played mother 1 before 2 and it got me really invested. M1 has a lot of problems (difficulty and pacing) but with what works, works well. I love the plot points, the locations and omg the muuuuuusic! I played mother 3 last year and its definitely the best of the 3. But its rare that all 3 games are as good as they are.

Some of this talk of things being “overrated” kinda reeks of contrarianism, reminds me of all the Final Fantasy VII and Persona 5 backlash, they also used to be widely celebrated as great RPGs, before eventually falling into the “overrated” box (possibly due to getting “too popular”)

For me I have a respect for Mother 2, I don't hate it but I don't love it either I love it's music I grew up with KZfaq and alot people use tracks from that game in their vids, I tried to watch Chugga's playthrough multiple time on it but I never really found it funny and for me I didn't find the game interesting til the 7 sanctuary zone I know the dino area is glitch and buggy as all heck (much like Mario Sunshine) but I like the dino area and the Diamond dog is actually pretty cool but I don't see the point of the 8 sanctuary when it's 1 looooooong whole note just kinda feels like really cool padding. no offense I think Poo is the most worthless partner Ness is the main protagonist who miss he's mom (I like the homesickness concept cause he's just a kid after all), Paula being the strongest PSI user and being the reason why Ness knows PK Fire in smash, Jeff sure he can't use PSI but makes up for it by repairs gadgets that pack a punch, Poo feels like he's only there for the extra inventory since teaching you Ness's final smash and being and extra attack there's not much left, Gigays still freaks me out, and everytime I tried watching the playthrough I'd always fall asleep but idk if it's a compliment or an insult is it cause it fells confronting and relaxing the reason I'm falling asleep during it or is it because it fails to keep my attention idk so Earthbound is in a weird place were idk what to think about it

There's definitely layers to this conversation. I imagine a point of contention many detractors of the game have with it is the beginning. The first couple of bosses can be quite difficult, I know Johnny and the ant filtered me multiple times when I was younger.

Hiya, earthbound is actually my least favourite in the series. Not that I hate it, unless I got stuck in a death loop trying to walk to Saturn valley because I deleted ness and the atm card from my inventory again. There's a lot of things where I just don't really like about the game though. For one, I don't like how rail roaded it is compared to the previous game. With mother 1 you can get any melody in any order, you can go anywhere on the map if you try hard enough. I think with mom 2 it's very, you go here, do that thing and then go to the next area. It feels very stiff. Mother 3 has a similar approach but I think that game has a world that's constantly changing and that makes things feel more fresh. Like yeah I can go and do this part of the game but I can also check on how the other characters are doing and there secrets for backtracking in the later chapters. I think when it comes to who the protagonist is I also feel the least invested out of the three. Like Ninten is related to giygas in a weird kind of way. I could see why he would want to go on this journey other than to save the world. Your great grandfather's diary connects to this magical world and there's mystery there which gets payed off later when you collect all the melodies. I don't think I have to explain why its easy to get invested in lucas, mother 3 speaks for itself. I don't really click with Ness though. I see that you explore him as a person in magicant and see him fight the evil within him and that's a nice bit of characterization for the silent protagonist. However I don't really get why Ness. I don't really like the chosen one plot line. I don't think it's played with enough for a series that subverts rpg tropes. I don't really think it's that interest as is. I think the one good thing to come out of it was porky's plot line. Like theres a thought that he could of joined you and not of done what he did, but he rejects the call of action when he says that he hopes he isn't one of those four kids. However there's a problem with this and that's the guy who teaches you teleport tells you that poo is chosen before you meet. So it's set. I also get that this also leads to giygas becoming the embodiment of evil so he can beat his own destiny but I think it could of effected the characters in the actual story more. I'm just kind of a chosen one hater. Sorry. I don't think earthbound is that great at combat either, not because the core mechanic is bad but because of balancing? It's mentioned in the video but the mole hole. You get hit with poison so much down here and it's very likely Ness runs out of pp so you just die. If any of your party members die you can't run unless you get really lucky. I've been told that you can just use status moves to flee but you would have to know what gets effected by which and then there's a chance they don't even work so it's not a very good solution. I think now is a good time to bring up overworld encounters. I don't like them. They are really rough compared to the ones in mother 3. I think they are even worse that mother 1's. With that game you can get the repeal ring and avoid them as well every character has an individual flee roll and 4-slip is a thing. In earthbound it's really difficult to dodge most enemies in the overworld. Like what you do in order to avoid the mole in the desert by fourside. Considering this disables sunstroke, I don't think the devs intended this. So most of the time you are trying to despawn hoards of enemies by walking back and forth for what feels like minutes. It's really bad in the cave where you fight mondo mole because there's a lot of tight spaces and the bears there do a lot of damage. You want to be at full health for the fight right? Good luck with that. Also good luck getting back fast if you do loose. Now for the penalty for loosing. Its annoying. You loose money, which is really bad given the healing system. If you loose you have to do all this song and dance where you withdraw money and deposit it after so you can go to the hospital, then the hotel so you get your pp back and you've got to make sure you have enough money or else you have to make another trip to the ATM. Its really tedious. I've seen people quit over this because they keep dying in the desert are- why is always that desert outside of fourside. Speaking of that city has a really confusing event order. Thank goodness the game came bundled with a guide, right? Sure it inflated the price but I don't know how you where supposed to get part this area without one. I don't think I could even repeat it without looking it up. There's only a few more areas I want to complain about and then I'm done. That area by dungeon man? I don't like that desert either. Deep darkness? How are you even supposed to teleport out of this plot important area? Also I don't really get the point with the porky copter missing an engine? I might be stupid though. Cool to see Jeff talk, wish your party members had more moments like that. The final area? Want to go into the final boss with full inventory and a inventory full of goods? Tough luck. I never actually beat the game for this reason. Point and laugh at me and my lack of skills.

Earthbound is all style and no substance. The battle system is straight-up unpleasant when you're not hypnotized by the psychedelic backgrounds, scrolling HP meter, and legendary soundtrack. Progression is often gated by confusing map design or "puzzles" that basically require you to have the player's guide Earthbound originally came packaged with (the fact that Nintendo felt the need to do that is an indictment in itself). Then there are all the little frustrations like how painfully slow item management is or how as soon as you get the bicycle you have to throw it away. There's not even a way to improve your character other than grinding. Gaining the ability to skip random battles should not have felt like such a relief. Mechanically, Earthbound is bad. The writing is less clear-cut. While the plot is disjointed and generic, I'd argue that's not truly a negative given the genre we're analyzing (quick, name a single RPG that isn't about going from town to town to kill a big bad guy). When someone says an RPG has good writing what they really mean is that the characters are written well. The Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest series coast on their character writing. The party in Earthbound hardly talk, if at all. Other than that the only recurring antagonist who talks is Pokey, and he is written well. The thing is, Earthbound is one of those rare games where the focus is on the NPCs. Personally, I found a lot of the best writing in stuff like item descriptions. It's almost as if the narrator was written better than the protagonists. I think many people who hate this game are looking at it in the wrong places. Earthbound is amazing when taken as a work of art, but is mid when taken as a game.

Problems with all three games; limited ifo on game machanics, lack of lore or intell, lack of a full tutorial, limited space throughout the maps (although adds to its charm and is classic), limit diversity of enemies and teqnics to kill said enemies, lack of exploration of towns and npcs 'unlike pokemon', and lack of charactee development of both protaganist and archnemist story. That last one might require some game guildes, so I only blame myself for playing it on emulator. But if Eb was remade, all these issues need to be addressed, in Itoi style obcourse ; ).

was that a Silver campaign reference 13:13? But no really sure I'm an Undertale fan but Earthbound is just special, and yes I know it has its flaws. I remember getting a super Nintendo mini at Christmas when I was like, 6 years old and my favorite game on it was Earthbound but my friends and family didn't like it that much. I think I see why that is now. How did you first find earthbound? Also I think they should remake earthbound for Nintendo's future console but make some tweaks like fixing its inventory or even adding chests like the did with undertale also they should sell the remake on its own instead of making it subscription based so more people can play the game.

Earthbound is just a silly little game but it's one of the best silly little games ever made and it's inspired so many others to create their own silly little game.

Earthbound is not a perfect game. I wouldn't call it overrated. It's an experience I love. I hate the constant calls, but that's it. Couldn't beat the final boss, tho...

I think Earthbound have the cutest characters of all games 💜

Its definitely my favorite game of all time. But i think thats because when i started playing it i had no clue what this was about and it really kept you saying "what is this game, even?" So many surprises. Now theres no surprises You have to play it as one who has never been exposed to any content about it. Otherwise you expect way too much

I think Earthbound is great and all, but I feel like Mother 3 is a much better game overall and it doesn't get the praise it deserves because it all goes to Earthbound instead. So in that way, I do think it's overrated, especially considering a lot of what it's praised for, Mother 1 already did years before.

In short yes. Earthbound is a good game that is unique, but it is also a very flawed game that can be annoying to play. It did poorly on release in the west because it was up against games like Final Fantasy VI and Chrono Trigger both of which if you saw on a demo kiosk in the 90's you'd probably pick one of them over Earthbound. Graphics weren't so great, gameplay was clunky, the good points aren't immediately apparent. The beginning of the game especially is really slow and frankly poorly designed compared the other SNES RPG which usually grab you pretty quickly and toss you into the fun part of the game. Earthbound has you walking slowly back and forth. No run button. Is it a good game? Yes. Is it a commercially good game? No.

I do really like Earthbound for the most part, but on the matter of plot/story, one of my biggest hurdles to fully loving it is that I don't quite get Ness as a protagonist. There is a lot of focus put specifically on him, as Magicant and the eight melodies are centered entirely around him, and he gets a huge power boost at the end of the game, but I really don't understand why. From what I can tell, Ness has no personal connection to Giygas or really any part of the game's world, and he isn't even the one who defeats Giygas in the end. Maybe the appeal is that he is just some kid who happens to be the "chosen one", but I'm not really a fan of that to be honest. While I do like Earthbound, I think it is my least favorite of the Mother trilogy mainly because of the plot. I love Ninten's connection to Giegue and Maria because it makes the story feel very personal, and I think Mother 3's story is absolutely wonderful in all aspects, but Earthbound just doesn't do much for me unfortunately.

I think the people who criticize earthbound compare it to modern rpgs, even comparing it to games like undertale. Earthbound sucks in almost every regard when compared to today's games, but compared to 90s games its one of the best. I think the people who say earthbound is bad are the same people to say all old games are bad.

You misspelled "Underrated"

I realized how flawed earthbound is for me personally after I played mother 3 lol

i started recently and I finished it today to have an unbiased modern opinion. I waited for my perception which was “what inspired undertale” to switch to it’s its own game and yeah, from an unbiased perspective it’s still really good. The humor is witty, the graphics are effective, unlike most games the fetch quests weren’t that bad because the areas around them were changed. Overall a solid 9/10 for me even if undertale remains my favorite after it

Without seeing the full video, i do want to share my experience with Earthbound. I have wanted to bing the entire series to fully get the scope of the love for the series. Starting all the way with mother 1 on nes. I played the whole thing without save states and alot of use of the rewind feature on switch. I gotta say I actually like mother 1 alot, with the limited options it had to tell it's story, the creative imprint it left on my mind as certain scenes played out was amazing. I grew to love the characters alot because they all felt like they were fighting for something personal to them. Starting with the first game kinda ment I shot myself in the foot as a mother fan as I saw all the similarities the second game had with the first. Alot of stuff was reused, mainly music and place ideas. What killed it for me in mother 2 was how flat the characters felt, Jeff especially. The team only banned together because of a prophecy, not because of personal beliefs or wishes for one another. As I haven't yet played mother 3, Earthbound was interesting but kinda left alot to be desired if you came straight from the first game. That being said, it was good and made me laugh a few times too.

Personally speaking, while I think Earthbound is charming when I played a decade ago, the characters being blank slates makes it hard to personally connect to the game. Mother 3 has personal stakes and character arcs and I've been able to connect as a result. For me, the best part of JRPGs are the characters, which makes it difficult for me to see Earthbound as one of the greatest JRPGs.

I think my favorite review of earthbound might be Sketch aV’s retrospective. Some of his points can be dumb nit picks (which as he says doesn’t really bring down his experience) but what he says about the battle system is what a lot of people fail to bring up

I think AVGN's video has Earthbound's negatives and positives on point

In my opinion: depends. Personally I feel like the game goes a tad too high on some game lists (but those are subjective and so is my opinion so I don’t mind) and I feel like there are some flaws in the gameplay (it’s still good tho) but the game compared to other SNES RPGs stood out like a bright orange sheep. I feel like the word “Overrated” is thrown alot too much like there’s a difference from “X is good but people are praising it too much” and “X is bad because people are talking about it too much”.

although earthbound is my all time favorite snes game and well at this point, my favorite game in general, there are it's highs and lows

I dont know if i agree it's "overrated" . i think im one of the best examples to use too. I had a misguided hatred of the series and Ness because of my experiences with him in Smash bros, since the 64 days. i finally tried the game though, a year or so ago and ..well my opinion changed to say the least. ive never sat through so many lore-sparking conversations for a video game before, and certianly not from the snes. I fell in love hard with the series and even became one of those people upset by representation on smash bros, wondering how pretty much every battle theme from Zero/Earthbound didnt make the game. I wouldnt call it a flawless game, no game is, but anything short of a 10/10 rating is also just wrong to me seeing how many games it influenced after it, and still influence today. And yet out of all of those games the Mother series is still the most interesting out of all of them. Yes, i know there's several turn based games with battle battle systems and what not, but exploring what that game had done at the time of its release and still does today, and the fact that it literally converted a hater like myself into a lover, speaks for its true quality like no other. On the other hand, i am a gigantic final fantasy fan and another popular SNES rpg, called Final Fantasy 6 i cant get past the first hour or 2 to save my own life because of how uninteresting it is. Thats how powerful Earthbound is, where it made me power through the hate by nothing but its own quality, whereas a series i love struggles to contain my interest just because i like the series.

If earthbound never exist. Undertale won't exist.

VERY long comment ahead. I wrote what I could, even tho I could talk for, like, a week about Earthbound. Earthbound for me has a lot of extreme high-high's and a few terrible low-low's. Overall, I think that it makes you feel so involved in the story, that it feels like a dream. I've played many RPG's, but no one even comes close to Earthbound, not even Mother 3. Earthbound tells a story about a child that leaves home and together with 3 other seemingly ordinary kids he meets only because these 4 are the Chosen 4 and it's their destiny to meet each other to save the world. While this story heavily relies on friends and trying to overcome nostalgia and homesickness, it still feels like home, like you're safe. The amazing and awe-inspiring towns paired with the legendary soundtrack makes you feel exactly how Ness would feel if he were real, a young child in a humongous explorable world. It also develops, at the same time, the "dark times are upon us" that makes you feel thirsty for adventure, while maintaining the naiveness of a child. On the other hand, though, at repeat playthroughs some areas feel like a video game chore (Peaceful Rest Valley my hated), instead of the magical and nostalgic setting that the rest of the game is. The menus are very charming imo, contrary to what everyone says. The charm and magic of Earthbound unfolds when the game sucks you into the story, making you feel like you're actually Ness, and you get stuck for hours and hours fighting the evil that envelops you and feeling stronger and more confident for every fight that you win. All this builds up to the game's 8 main bosses, whose dungeons, while some of the least fun areas in the game, make a fantastic build-up to the powerful creature that awaits you in Your Sanctuary. Also, worth mentioning is the fact that the dungeons contain small versions of the bosses you're going to fight later (e.g. Trillionage Sprout's dungeon has Tough Mobile Sprouts, Shrooom's dungeon has Struttin' Evil Mushrooms etc.). When the game doesn't make you feel like you are inside it (like the 3rd Strongest Mole dungeon, Monkey Maze, Peaceful Rest Valley etc.), then it's a sign that this part of the game fails to do what the others did. For example the best parts of the game, imo, are Twoson and Fourside, because they make you feel awe and nostalgia for a place that you haven't been there before and isn't real. The simple assets, buildings and attractions just feel magic.

personally I loved the story, the atmosphere, the twists, the originality, the setting, the music. I didn't like at all the grinding, which was boring, dull and repetitive, and graphically well, it has character and it's interesting but obviously it could be so much better. But it's still a great game I'm happy I've played.

I recently had a conversation with a friend that was interested in playing both EarthBound and Mother 3. Going into it while reading the general opinions for both, he said he got the impression that Mother 3 was a generally phenomenal, must-play JRPG. While EarthBound was a still awesome JRPG, you were mainly playing it for the general vibes. However, if you vibed with it, you *really* vibed with it. Which I honestly think is the best way I've seen someone compare the two. EarthBound's extremely far from perfect, but I've replayed it around 10x as much as I have as Mother 3 because of how much I enjoy its general vibe.

As someone who had played a lot RPGs in my life, and i first finished Earthbound 2 years ago while my dad was hospitalized, while i avoided to play it before because being scared of being underwhelmed by the high praise people have with it, specially since i am very critical with this kind of genre, the game really taught me how to handle a difficult part of my life, the game is a very... regular kind of rpg aside from the scrolling hp and it being in a more contemporary world, the game isn't really an rpg masterpiece, i greatly believe it would be a great game no matter the genre. but there's a difference between being a good game and a good game from an specific genre. To me, Earthbound is one of the greatest games of all time, but not even close to be one of the greatest RPGs of all time.

I was talking with a friend about the use of the "chosen one" cliché in stories. I'm not really a fan of them, as it doesn't give your main character any agency. They have no motivation besides doing what they're told. He said that he agrees, chosen one stories are lazy and boring, but it works in earthbound because "the player starting the game would feel like ness starting his journey" (and thus, would feel more attached to him as a character) but I don't see this at all. Just because a lazy writing cliché is in a piece of media you like, it doesn't make it good. I never found myself nearly as invested as I was with lucas or even ninten. They both have stronger ties to their own stories than Ness does. Earthbound's story is too convoluted. You can never really tell who's an important character and who's just a dumb gag or joke character. Mother 3's story is much more complex and deep than Earthbound's ever was, but it was easier and more rewarding to follow, and it was complimented with much better gameplay and music too. The only thing I can complement Earthbound on is it's soundtrack and style. If it were a standard fantasy game, it would be a sub-par game in almost every way. So yeah, Earthbound is very overrated, and is nowhere near the best RPG ever made, let alone the best game.

8.9/10 yapping session. Very involved with what you had to say. I'd personally say it's one of the best games I have played.

Earthbound grows on you and its easy to see how many people dont rave about it. Still good though

Personally, I’d say no, it isn’t overrated. Back when it was first released and from the 90’s through the 2000’s, I would say it was underrated. But now that it’s becoming more well known amongst other people who may not have been familiar with it before, I’d say it’s perfectly rated, since as far as I know, people really like this game.

When I first played earthbound, it blew my expectations. But is it just me or is the game really leaving you clueless sometimes? Moonside for example or once I got stuck in Threed not knowing what to do

Also nothing will drive away someone away quicker by gushing about why people should play the game.

i'm with the guys in the 90s as i just don't get it and don't know how people could think this is the best game ever, i prefer mother 1 and especially mother 3

Contextual to when it was originally released, and due to the fact that it was basically lost media outside of Japan for decades due to how little representation the franchise got in re-releases for so long, it made sense that it got overhyped like crazy at first. Now that so many people have much easier access to it, and fairly cheaply as well, I think everyone should try it and get as far in the game as they can without shrugging it aside after one or two awkward moments. That being said, it is a 30 year old turn-based JRPG, and that genre has produced literally hundreds of other games since Earthbound was first made; it’s not unreasonable if someone thinks this game can’t stack up to others in the genre.

I think the game is a bit overrated, but not because of the game itself. If not because they put it on a pedestal, making it look perfect and the best game in history, clearly without having played it or seeing its major flaws. Earthbound is still my favorite game, but I know perfectly well that the game is old and a little frustrating. Anyways, who likes to put it on a pedestal (as curiously I do lol), I recommend playing it and saying your opinion of the game yourself, instead of being guided by others

liberal 1:beginnings/zero, liberal 2: Wokebound, liberal 3 all suck

We rollin'

i love your videos thank you for your contribution to the metaverse

I'm one of the few who played this game in the early 90s and loved it. I've also played most of the other RPGs on the SNES. Earthbound is a great game, but it's also overrated. It's one of the top ten SNES games, but it's the bottom of the top ten.

I beat Earthbound on my SNES Classic Mini and enjoyed it a bit, but many things tainted my opinion on it, for example the constant interruption of that camera guy, the small inventory space and the fast travel going into a wall (funny once, annoying then on). I like the setting, graphics and music, but they don't make it a classic like Chrono Trigger, Phantasy Star IV or Ys Book I and II.

I think if anything its kinda underrated in the sense RPG fans get pissy if you say its better than FF6 or Chrono Trigger. People act like Earthbound is treated as flawless or untouchable but thats never been true unlike with the others I mentioned.