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It’s interesting to hear about your house being about “good graphics” and yet y’all were Sega diehards. I mean come on, Sega games tended to always be “lessor” in that area.
Underrated aspect of this fantastic channel: you digitize your old home video footage in 4:3 and 60fps. I really hate when people blow up old footage to widescreen. Thank you!
I'm a father of an 8 year old and just got my cancer diagnosis (T Minus 5 years) that has bonded strongly with my son via video games. Watching your channel is like seeing what my son might become, thanks for that.
These videos got me through some tough times in my life. I lost my mum about 3 years ago, and remember watching and relating so much to your childhood. I’ve rewatched them a few times since, it’s like a comforting thing to me. Sorry if that sounds weird.
I understand exactly, I watch things like this for that same reason..just about every nes, snes, sega and n64 game my mom bought..I look at a title and know when I got it and think back..
Sorry for your loss man. One of the greatest things this channel has given me is a way to connect with others from my generation who loved video games and have lost loved ones. Always keep her in your memory and she’s never truly gone. That’s been what this is all about for me
It's not weird, it's awesome. Sorry for your loss. Retro games take me back to a better time also. This guy makes fair and humble content. Incredible that his dad filmed all this stuff. So incredibly relatable.
It does not sound weird. I think these videos give memories that many of us had but don't have videos like this to remember them. But Tyler's dad was so awesome to capture all of these memories for him and Tyler has been able to share them and having us reflect on similar situations in ourselves. Having these videos locked away for 30 years is the best thing.
@@MyRetroLife Thank you so much. It was more my dad who bought games, mum didn’t really understand them. But she always came with the goods at bdays and Xmas. These videos were just a reminder of happiness and childhood, and also having something to focus on and binge to take my mind off it.
As a kid, I used to go to this huge video rental store in Arizona called Hastings. I remember I would always see the box for Earthbound, but it was rarely in stock to rent. I was so intrigued by the huge box and wanted to try playing the game so bad. One day, my mom rented my sister and I a super nintendo and miraculously Earthbound was actually available to rent! I took it home, booted up a random save file that was on the cartridge, and was very confused. I had never played an RPG, and I had no idea where I was or what to do since I was playing an existing save file (I guess i was new to the save file concept). I was accustomed to games like Mario and Zelda, where I would just go up to enemies and either slash at them or jump on them to defeat them. I didn't know what the heck i was looking at when I entered my first turn based battle. Ultimately, I played the game for about an hour, got bored and spent the rest of the time playing another game I rented. Fast forward a few months and for some reason Earthbound was still on my mind. I was disappointed that I didn't understand the game, I wanted to like it. For whatever reason, I had the sudden urge to begin saving money to buy my own copy. I didn't just want to rent it again, i wanted to own it. I saved and saved for what felt like forever (I was like 11) and when I finally had enough money I went to Montgomery Ward with my fat wad of single dollar bills and coins to purchase the game. I remember it was $90! I almost wavered at one point and nearly bought a virtual boy on clearance (dodged a bullet). With my copy secured I began my journey from a completely new save file and this time it just clicked. I quickly learned how to play the game and I absolutely fell in love with it. Earthbound is and will always be my favorite game of all time. To me it's like a time capsule that I can reopen over and over to feel like a kid again.
You saved me a lot of typing as I was going to make a very similar comment. The giant box in the video store was so alluring. I loved just walking around the world but never understood the objectives or combat. I rented it so many times and just walked around talking to characters. I played the whole thing through last year for the first time and it became one of my all time favorite games. Very nostalgic and kind of emotional.
$90! Dang even back then?! I thought this game was supposed to be an sort of under the radar classic I'm surprised that it would cost so much. I never owned a Super Nintendo though so I don't know a lot about it.
@@Gen-X-Memories Yup! I'm sure I could have gotten it cheaper elsewhere, or on clearance if I waited a little bit longer. I don't recall why I specifically chose that location to buy it at, I just remember my cousin saying "90 dollars?! for ONE game?". XD
I am a father in 30s with some health complications. I have three kids and worry about them should anything happen. Your channel reminds me that I need to give my kids as good a childhood while I can. Very rich childhood you’ve had. When I really thought things were going south I remember writing a note in a Bible to my son about playing Mother 3. Just this week my son asked to fall asleep to the Mother/Earthbound series sound track. It is great to him take a shine to it.
It’s so hard to explain to younger people what the graphics race was like back then. Every new game was pretty much expected to have better graphics than any game that came before it. It was extremely important to show that graphics were advancing. Now, the graphics race is run. Graphical fidelity is mostly a creative choice these days. The most interesting thing, and I think the hardest thing for people who weren’t around to understand is that the end of the graphics race pretty much spelled the end of arcades. Once you didn’t have to go to an arcade to play the games with the best graphics, there was no sense in pumping quarters into a machine.
The graphics race is actually worse today, and it's all pretty pointless now. At least back then, there was some reason for it. Today it's mostly just a waste of money and dev time that could be better spent elsewhere. It just results in a lot of good looking games with meh gameplay.
Not everyone bought into that ideology though. I'm just a couple of years older than Tyler and I really only cared about playing fun games when I was a kid. Yes, graphical impressiveness can help draw you in, but at the end of the day it's about fun factor and gameplay depth.
In Mexico arcades are still somewhat thriving. Most people cannot afford the newest consoles, so you will find several locations where you can play games from Atari to current gen.
I still have my Earthbound game from when my Mom bought it at Walmart when I was in my youth still I still have the box and strategy guide to I know the game is worth alot of money these days but to me the game is priceless I will never sell it considering I just recently lost my Mom so the game will always be sentimental to me now
Man this was really touching. Earthbound has a special place in my heart too. I always named the characters after myself and my friends too. The first time I played it after my father passed away, I'd get a little pang during saving "Rich? Its your Dad". But I'd totally forgot about the vision after Lumine Hall and reading "Rich had a vision of his father holding him as a baby"... and my God I just lost it. A good, healing cry. Mother is such a specical franchise and I'm so glad Nintendo took a chance on Itoi's oddball Dragon Quest clone all those years ago. Thank you for sharing your precious childhood memories with us
@@leeartlee915funnily enough, I’m just now getting into old turn based JRPGs and now I’m buying them in bulk! EarthBound was one of the first 3 I got along with Mother and Chrono Trigger
@@SegaMJ-ve1pi Well you started with some of the best. Personally, I think the SNES was the best time for JRPGs. I know that they made a LOT more during the PS1 and,, even more, PS2. And some of those are great too. But for me personally, I think they just had something special during the 16-bit era. But that’s probably just my biased speaking. God, I wish I had time to actually play more RPGs. I have a rule that I have to start at least one each month and play it long enough to decide if I should continue. But I’ve had to accept, I will never being able to play even 10 % of the RPGs I want.
My friend and I were obsessed with SNES RPGs 94-97ish and played/owned a ton of them. We would trade back and forth so we got to play Link to the Past, Final Fantasy III, Secret of Mana, Secret of Evermore, Robotrek, Chrono Trigger, Illusion of Gaia, Breath of Fire II, Super Mario RPG, Lufia, and of course EarthBound. The selling point for us with EarthBound was that it came with a strategy guide which is why the box is so big. I will say that RPGs weren't very popular with most kids our age (born 1982). It wasn't until Final Fantasy VII came out that they went mainstream, and then they became a joke because they would have 4-5 discs on Playstation... good times with weapons!
One more thing I'll add - the RPG we both HATED was Shadowrun because we didn't know how tf to play it at the time, there was no internet to tell you what to do. But emulating it later, Shadowrun is pretty awesome
@@hankzane HAHAHA so true about Shadowrun. I could never fully comprehend it, but I could tell it was a great game. Played it on Emulators and had a blast
Yeah first RPG i played was pokemon red. There werent even many RPGs to begin with. Final fantasy 7 is the first in that series to even release here. Chrono trigger is a DS/PC exclusive i think, and earthbound is a New 3DS digital exclusive.
If I was in charge of the marketing for Earthbound, I would've advertised it as a 1950s sci-fi thriller or an episode of The Twilight Zone, because that would've been the general theme that Americans audiences are familiar with.
I only played Earthbound through a Rom. I then had it on my send classic. The reason its so bad with graphics is bc it's a port of an nes game or something. It's confusing bc this is the sequel of the first one I believe
Earthbound is one of the most unique turn based RPGs I've ever played and I found it to be really fun. I played it on an emulator on my computer back in the day, I have a funny connection with Earthbound and Pabst Blue Ribbon beer because I drank PBR the whole time while I was playing the game
I was 10 years old in 1995 when I saw this game in the magazine, the review scores were not great and I still went crazy and so curious about its originality. I decided to rent it and REALLY enjoyed it, didn't care about the graphics at all, I immediately understood that the focus here was its originality, storyline, characters and charm. I used to watch my older sister play it, as I thought it was too complex for me at that age. Then I asked it as a christmas gift, I am from Brazil so it was literally impossible to find such game at the store. My parents had to import it, and they did it. Then in the Xmas of 1995 I got it as a gift, I could not believe it. I loved it. Saw that beautiful guide, all in english, it blew my mind I was so happy. My sister was not playing much so I decided to adventure myself in it without "depending" on her and discovered that I loved RPG games. Then in the following years, once a year I would play that game until the end, and each year as I grew older I could notice different elements, details and better understand the details in the storyline. Even as an adult, each time I play (not as often as before) I can spot new things in this game that are not clearly expressed, but you can spot as a more mature person. It's like wine, only gets better as it gets older. I have this gem to this day, box, manual and everything. I learned so much english from it. Hopefully my son will enjoy it as much as I did. Thanks for this video, so nostalgic.
I grew up on the internet in the late 2000s/early 2010s, where I would frequently browse flash animations and flash videos on websites like NewGrounds & RUclips. I would especially love to watch flash animations and fan comic stripes related to Nintendo games. That's where I discovered a little flash video titled "Nin10Doh!", which had a segment with MOTHER 2/ EarthBound characters in it. Back then I knew nothing about the MOTHER franchise other than Ness, Lucas, and (what I thought at that time was) that chubby kid trapped in that giant robot mech in Smash Brawl were from that franchise. My curiosity got the best of me and I decided to learn more about the MOTHER franchise so around early 2012 I ended up playing MOTHER 2 through a SNES emulator using my crappy hand-me-down windows xp laptop. As I played through EarthBound I started to enjoy the game more and more. As I started to enjoy the game more and more, I started to research about the MOTHER franchise more and more which made me go down a huge MOTHER rabbit hole, which ended up leading me to the person I am today. Once I finally completed EarthBound and thanks to a bit of research discovering that "EarthBound" is actually the 2nd game in its series around 2013, I decided to play what would become not only my favorite video game of all time, but also really my favorite media of time. That game being no other than MOTHER 1 or what English speaking MOTHER fans called it at the time "EarthBound Zero". Me playing through MOTHER 1 for the first time was like love at first sight. Words can't describe how much I love and enjoy that game so much. I'll always be fond of the entire MOTHER franchise of course, but MOTHER 1 has had that certain grasp on me ever since the first time I booted up that game's title screen. Around 2015, when the MOTHER franchise was gaining a huge resurgence with things like MOTHER 2 / EarthBound finally getting officially rereleased on the 3DS and Wii U in the west, MOTHER 1 finally getting officially localized as "EarthBound Beginnings", and Lucas being added back to SM4SH as DLC, I was unfortunately naïve enough to think MOTHER 3 would be getting an official localization soon with all this new MOTHER stuff happening. Almost every day since 2015 I waited and waited for that official MOTHER 3 localization announcement for Wii U Virtual Console. I wanted the final MOTHER game I playthrough blindly to be played officially. Eventually around 2018 I got tired of waiting for the impossible to come so I decided to just bite the bullet and play MOTHER 3 using the Tomato fan translation and a GBA emulator. I'm really glad I didn't waste any more of my time waiting and actually decided to just play the amazing game that is MOTHER 3. I won't lie and say I didn't cry when I first played through the game, cause I was bawling my fucking eyes out at certain moments. I wasn't crying wasn't for the reasons you might be thinking of however. I didn't cry at certain characters' deaths. I cried when songs like "Time Passage", "A Certain Someone's Memories", and "16 Melodies" played in the game as it reminded me of my first times experiencing both MOTHER 1 and 2 and it made me realize damn this will be the last time I ever experience a MOTHER game blind huh. I essentially grew up alongside the MOTHER franchise, and I'm honestly really glad I waited a few years to play MOTHER 3 last in the franchise. It is such an perfect finale game for the MOTHER series.
My best friend at the time rented earthbound and I spent the night at his house. We played all night to get through just Onette. I immediately got home and begged my parents for a copy. It’s by far my favorite game ever. I was 12 when it came out and I remember the marketing campaign very well. I found it hilarious and it sucked me in even more. The game gets you super emotional with the story and the music. What unforgettable game to play.
In 2015, we were introduced to the very first Earthbound game, Earthbound Beginnings on the Wii U as a Virtual Console game. Years after its originally intended release in 1990. Now it's on Nintendo Switch Online
Earthbound isn't a game, it's an experience. I've collected and played countless games for almost every NA console over the years and the only other games I can think of that fall in the same category is probably Shadow of the Colossus and Panzer Dragoon Saga.
Graphics were absolutely the biggest thing about games in the mid 90’s. In 1995 I got to a point where I refused to play my Genesis anymore because I knew there was so much better out there like the Saturn and PlayStation lol. I was so bitter and was until I finally got a ps1.
My comment isn't about Earthbound but this video me cry. You had a cocker spaniel named Maggie when you were a kid and used her name as your pet avatar. I had a cocker spaniel named Bentley who looks identical to Maggie. He was quite a bit bigger and his hair wasn't as curly but exact same color and features. He's my son, my best friend my whole heart and I lost him in Jan 2022. He was 14 years old. I was 25 when I got him and am now almost 42. I pray I will see him again one day but this video and seeing Maggie just made me cry but made my day. Thank you for your videos. God bless
Earthbound is one of the best RPGs ever! I remember getting this when it was brand new...I was ten and I remember my dad hated it because of the turn based fighting...I loved it and still do to this day...
Earthbound is one of my favorite games of all time. I got it for my birthday and have many fond memories of playing it. Seems like I was one of the rare kids who actually liked it when it first released.
i find it obnoxious that people who prefer graphics over the story and details are lacking the true dedication and depths developer's put into these style games. i LOVED EARTHBOUND ❤ Final fantasy 3 was a true JRPG i think you have been completely mislead.
This is a perfect example of how the way we view games changes overtime. I'm pretty sure most people didn't even know Earthbound existed until Super Smash Bros.
That was me lol, during the intro for Smash bros where it introduces all the characters, I remember seeing Ness for the first time and thinking to myself "who the hell is that" I knew all the characters on that game but him.
It's true. My dad got Earthoubd for Christmas the year it came out and not a single one of my friends knew what it was. I grew up loving Earthbound. It wasn't until the 2nd smash brothers people really cared who Ness was.
Or if you were in the emulation scene. It was crazy in the mid 90s how emulators for the NES and SNES blew up. I downloaded everything even if I didn't know what the game was. Don't sue me Nintendo!
Yup! That was me as well... I just assumed it was a random kid new in the smash bros concept, I literally didn't know it was from a nintendo RPG game from the SNES absolutely clueless lol
As a life-long skater and gamer, that end with the “Hook-ups” shirt had me cracking up with your dad asking “what’s a hook up?”…hilarious. Hello there from fellow Houstonian game collector.
I was visiting my Grandparents on vacation when I saw Earthbound at their local rental store. I never even heard of the game, but the cool art and the large box were the the only reasons I ended up renting it. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I remember playing the first 4-5 hours of the game and being completely sucked in. There were very few games I had more fun with up until that point (I'm a year or two older than Tyler), and it saddens me to hear that he didn't give it a chance at launch. While I think the simplistic graphical style was a turn off to some gamers, I believe the main reason it didn't get the attention it deserved because it was the first entry of the series stateside, and no one really knew what the game was about. With that being said, the game isn't perfect. Whle the rolling health system was a fresh mechanic in battles, you don't see any the characters on the screen or any of their equipped weapons. Final Fantasy III/VI was released a year previous to Earthbound that included these features so that was a disappointment for me. A year later (after I beat it a couple of times on rentals), I ended up seeing the game available for purchase at my local Blockbuster for like 10 bucks, and I sold it a couple of years ago for $400.
I remember seeing Earthbound's huge box in stores and the video rental we used to go to. Earthbound and Super Bomberman both had huge boxes from what I remember. And I remember Super Bomberman came with a multi-tap for four player matches, but because of that I thought Earthbound was a multiplayer game too, that and I didn't know what either game looked like because they were behind glass. Then by the mid two-thousands my Brother and I began to understand how to emulate games on our family's computer. And we eventually got a Dell they were no longer using. Eventually I played "Earthbound Zero"; it was good, I liked it but it felt like a prototype of something bigger they wanted to make. So right after completing that game I dove into "Earthbound" for the SNES, and just like you Tyler this game changed something in me. I love the sound design in this game! It really can immerse you, and you're drawn into this world similar to ours and by the end experiencing one of the most haunting villains in any video game. There's so much more I could say, but I really need to replay it. "Mother 3" probably has the best story out of the three of them, there's a reason why we all want everyone to have a chance to play this amazing game. I originally got a chance to play it during the pandemic, right after I had built myself a Retropie, and more recently I bought a GBA cartridge of it from AliExpress after the outrage that it was not to be released to the US Market. For anyone interested, 1 & 2 aren't necessary to play 3. Although there are references to 2 in 3, but that's about it. Earthbound is the kind of game that you wish you had given a chance, but it's also never to late to do so.
In the UK, I remember seeing the sneak preview of Earthbound in the SuperPlay magazine, and I thought it looked AMAZING. Just what I wanted to play. Sadly, like many other JRPGs in the UK, I don't think it ever was ever released.
I’m a lot younger than you. But I had this exact same experience with fallout 3. I didn’t play it until 2011 because I thought it looked bad and boring. Boy was I never more wrong about anything in my life. Skyrim came out in November that year on 11/11/11. My brother bought me my copy for Christmas a few weeks later. Skyrim is my favorite game of all time, right next to mass effect. The thing is if it wasn’t for trying fallout 3 I never would have gave these games a chance. It changed the way I looked at games for ever. Experiences you can live threw instead of just playing. I’ve played so many rpgs of all different variety over the years. I have even played chrono trigger and I’m currently working threw grandia 2 on my Dreamcast. I’ve even started playing phantasy star online on pc and there is still servers up and running by fans, been enjoying that since I never had a chance as a little kid. Love the channel man I hope you and your family continue to experience the best in life, you’re awesome!
Grandia II is fantastic. I'm seriously surprised how rarely it's talked about. I've never been a huge RPG fan, but I remember the timing-based combat system, which let you counter and cancel enemy moves with precise timing, feeling like a huge leap forward for genre. It was so revolutionary that playing Skies of Arcadia afterwards, despite all its strengths, felt too simple in the combat department.
Grandia 2 definitely is the bomb.. bought it back in the day on a whim because i like the cover but man was i in for a treat! It's really good, as is the soundtrack! Enjoy man.
I think back in the early days of gaming, graphics is what mattered the most, hence the bit wars. I can understand why earthbound’s art style didnt quite grasp the 90s market
Same experience with me. My big brother played JRPGs and being little at the time, probably around 7 or 8, it wasn't interesting. Until I got older, and what drew me into JRPGs was Super Mario Rpg, too, as well as Pokémon Red. Eventually, I gave it a shot, and it was all history then. JRPGs are among my top favorites. Thanks for sharing this video.
Just think if the scalpers had time machines... They'd be raiding those bargain bins and bringing back hundreds of sealed copies of Earthbound to a time when it hits $4,000 (probably 2035 when EB hits 40). Which I'm guessing some of them did, minus the time machines because it's crazy how this weird and wacky game that had mixed feelings amongst the people that played it in the day, suddenly became one of the most talked about games of the 16-bit era.
I loved Earthbound as soon as I saw it in the store. The huge box and weird marketing intrigued me to the point that I started hounding my parents for it relentlessly. I got it for Christmas the year it released and I remember being so excited. The game was, and still is, so fun to play. When I moved away from home I gifted my Snes and all my games to my sister as I had a PS1 at that point. She played and loved Earthbound as much as I did. She sold off the Snes and most of the games when she moved away from home, but she still has that copy of Earthbound complete with box and user guide. She brought it out and showed it off to my parents and I a couple years ago for Christmas and my dad said she should give it back to him since he bought it and it's worth a lot of money now 😂.
I earliest memory of Earthbound was an 80's movie when an alien family had alien powers and can become invisible when they held their breath and had a green monkey.
I Remember seeing Ness and Lucas in Super Smash Bros Brawl when I was younger and both me and my friend were very confused, we both thought they were characters original to Super Smash Bros. I didn't really learn about Earthbound until I played Undertale, but from what I heard I thought it sounded really fun so I bought it on the Wii U virtual console, I had a blast. But I got stuck A LOT. Its now one of my favorite games/franchises.
Grew up playing J RPG’s on the Gameboy as well as Final Fantasy on NES and SNES. Rented earthbound from Blockbuster due to the big box and was hooked. It was my favorite video game then and it still is today.
Yes… i do remember inheriting the super nintendo and like 5 games… super mario, zelda, secret of mana, and kirby, but most importantly… earthbound. It was the game i shunned while i played mario and zelda for so long. But when i was 10 or so, i gave it a shot. I now associate this earthbound with that age i grew up and matured. Cuz it’s kind of a coming-of-age game. Yes, i played it in like 2014 or so. Very fun. I also had quite a time playing (and pirating an unofficial english version🤫) Mother 3. Great series.
Until you said this, I think I followed the same trajectory into RPGs with Earthbound and Super Mario RPG. Naming your party after friends and family, the weird and wacky journey, the music, the feeling that kids could make a difference...it still holds up all these years later. One of my favorite games of all time (Marketing be damned lol). Excellent video!
This is an insightful doc into how the perfect storm of bad marketing, game culture, and "bad" graphics led to the commercial failure of Earthbound. Having been born after the game's release it always puzzled me how this game couldn't find a contemporary audience, but this gives some much needed context. Your video preservation and your father's documentation of the era are really cool!
I didn't choose Earthbound, Earthbound chose me. One day a family friend was like "OH MY GOD, *my name*, you HAVE to play this game!". My friend was going crazy for it and I'd never heard of it. I was like ok, and he let me borrow the game with the players guide. I never would have played it or maybe even appreciated it as much by giving it a chance if my friend didn't express so much love for it and insist that I had to play it. I still remember coming in from running around in the sprinkler outside during a hot summer day wrapped in a towel, grabbed a bag of parmesan Goldfish, and playing Earthbound. It made me a fan for life and it changed me too.
Probably my favorite game of all time. So sad you didn't love it back then. Definitely the first RPG game I fell in love with. God knows how many times I rented this from the local Family Video back in the day.
Earthbound was the first RPG I have ever played. The final boss battle is so memorable to me as all the people and creatures you met along your journey help you.
Your channel is truly something special. As a kid I would ride my skateboard to the grocery store and read video game mags from front to back. Sometimes having to be sneaky and take certain ones out of the shrink wrap 😂 I remember that earthbound ad and being completely confused by it….by the way that old hook ups shirt is awesome!!! I wish I still had all of mine. Never would have dreamed how much they’d be worth in the future. Kinda like Earthbound.
I was the opposite. The only game I liked on my SNES was Earthbound. Played it religiously, didn't touch the console for anything else. Played SMRPG on emulator and liked that. Didn't own it at the time, though.
I cannot express how incredible it is that you had a family that filmed all of these memories. I mean, no joke, he made your RUclips career! I'm sure he is so proud. Thank you for sharing your life with us!
Speak for yourself. My dad and I loved this game in 1995. I learned how to read playing this game. I was obsessed with it's weird box and player's guide.
Earthbound is a worse game when your reading comprehension isn't great, which was my first experience with it. I love the game now n Mother 3 is my favorite game ever, but Earthbound got me started n gave me hell my first try
JRPGs are never known for their graphics. I have several for PS1 and even PS2 where outside of a few special effects, the overall graphics look like something you could do with an 8-bit NES. Final Fantasy Tactics is one example, Arteliar Iris (PS2) is another.
It didn't back then, but it does now. It's considered one of the best SNES titles if not THE best. I'm just glad I experienced it when it was first released.
That's too funny because when I saw Earthbound at my local K mart. I thought the same thing when I looked on the back of the box. And put it back on the shelf. And thought to myself. This game looks ridiculous. It doesn't look like a 16 bit game at all.
I got this game when it came out. I was already a big fan of the Final Fantasy games so this one with the modern world intrigued me. Everything about it was very unique. My favorite RPGs are still Final Fantasy "3" (6 in reality) and Chrono Trigger for the SNES.
i too took a chance on earthbound. i found it in a cash america pawn store where as a kid i was given the choice to select one game from the cartridge only display behind the counter. no idea what it was about i hadnt seen any advertisement and hadnt ever heard the name being said among friends. it was a truly random yet rewarding choice one that ill never regret. this was probably 97
Love seeing all the joy and happiness you had as a kid from receiving so much awesome video games. I had a great childhood myself, but i mostly rented video games with my father from local rentals and blockbuster. Only way i could own a game was on holidays like christmas and my birth day. I also remember saving up money and taking the bus to funco land to buy nes, snes games to build a collection. You had an incredible childhood only some of us could dream of having. Thank for sharing so many great stories.
I got Earthbound when I was 11. Already a big fan of RPGs by then. My memories of Earthbound was just being in a weird enthralled stupor. I replay it today and I find myself in that same mindset. Combat is basic, graphics are what they are. The game is all over the place. Yet, when you put it all together, and let the music carry you along the way... It just hits so hard.
Earthbound has never truly clicked for me personally. But, my God, Mother 3 is a total and utter masterpiece imo, and one of the most powerful and revelatory experiences I've ever had playing a video game. Possibly the only game I've ever cried playing. PS. Just imagine what a Mother/Earthbound game with pixel art as visually stunning looking as the likes of Chrono Trigger or Seiko Densetsu 3 or something like that could look like. I kinda want some ROM hacker and amazing pixel artist to go in and fully update all the visuals like that just to see what's possible. Really, rather than changing the entire design though, it's probably just about adding more levels of detail and highlight/shadow to the characters to give them that extra visual oomph.And, to be truly honest, I actually love the clean cartoony visuals in Mother 3 and think they hold up brilliantly. Also the childlike cartoon nature of the visuals actually makes the gravitas of everything else that happens in the game so prodund imo. So I'm just thinking out loud really.
@@gashmcnash3537 Tell me about it, especially given I named all the characters after my family members, of which I very much have a mother, father, and younger brother. And I'm a ginger too. Playing through the end was like looking at some potential alternate universe version of myself in a mirror.
@@Robert_Shmigelsky There's a trailer made by some fan like that and it looks stunning imo: ruclips.net/video/1OGSXeko-iY/видео.html If the remade Earthbound and/or Mother 3 in that style--mind blown.
Both Earthbound and Mother 3 look exactly as intended. There's nothing to "update." It's not supposed to look like Chrono Trigger. They're both pretty games for their own reasons.
I remember this game, when i 1st tried it, i thought it would be another game just like Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest but oh boy was i wrong lol, it turned out to be an amazing game, with alot of laughs and the concept was very neat!! Thanks again so much for sharing another great memory, it's so awesome how your dad captured all these amazing moments, helps all of us to relive our memories!!
This is one of my families favorite games ever. Back in the 90s on a Friday night with mom and dad playing this and me smelling the guide instead of helping. Dad still owns the copy with guide. Been on the hunt for a box for awhile!
I'm still shocked that you have such a huge amount of footage from the good ol' days of gaming. I must have like 30 seconds (tops) of footage from my childhood. You're very lucky! This is worth its weight in gold! An enduring memory of a world that (very sadly) no longer exists. We were so naive and genuinely excited about the future! There was such a vast amount of technological innovations in such a short period of time! By around mid 90's time, we had over 10 consoles fighting for our money! It was the happy and exciting meeting of 32 and 64 bit generations. Something we'll NEVER witness again. 😢
I remember seeing DK Country at a friend's house when it came out. I was pretty much not playing games anymore during that time, but that game did and still does look really good. Also, graphics were everything. I had the 2600 and then the c64 before Nintendo was a thing and It was impressive when those came out. I am still obsessed over graphic innovations. Just got a ps5 last weekend. I can't believe how fast games load! I'm saying the obvious, I know. But I still remember 30 years younger me wondering if we would ever have games that looked like real animation. And now we have blown way past that. Great videos man. Thx to you and your father for the awesome work making them
I have such a cool memory of getting this game. I think it was 2001 or 2002. I purchased a bundle on ebay for the Dreamcast arcade stick and Power Stone 2 for a great price. The seller threw in Earthbound and Secret of Mana unadvertised and free of charge. I did message the seller and asked if this was some kind of mistake, and he replied no, he was downsizing his games and throwing in bonus games for anyone who made a purchase with him. Its crazy to think how much all that would cost today, but I think I payed maybe $50 total.
When I see these videos of u growing up I kno the topic is usually video games, but I LOVE seeing the dogs throughout ur childhood!! Iv seen Maggie literally age alongside u. U can tell she is getting old and its really bittersweet because of how short of a time they are with us, but anyone who hav pets will know that they literally ingrain themselves in our memories and are a vital family member!!..ur family obviously was a pet living family which always puts a smile on my face as well as all the video game nostalgia.
Super Nintendo is by far my favorite system. I'm 45 for reference. I never really liked rpg's. To be honest I never even played them. I watched my friends play, but it just never appealed to me. I was definitely a Mario kid. Anyway, fast forward to now, I have started collecting for Super Nintendo again and babied my way in the genre with Mystic Quest. Just got done with Illusion of Gaia and was completely invested in the story, the characters, the overall game play. Now that I'm hooked I got Earthbound and plan on playing it next. Without ruining it for me, any suggestions on this or others? By the way, by far one of my favorite channels on RUclips. Simper times...
I'm also 45, but grew up playing RPGs, especially Final Fantasy. Frankly, I suck at anything involving action or timing, so the Game Genie (and later, the Game Shark) were pivotal to my NES, SNES, and PS gaming experiences. Turn-based JRPGs allowed me to simply grind my way through the games, while having plenty of time to decide what move to make next. A few suggestions, based on personal opinion: Nearly anything Square made: Final Fantasy IV was a big step up from the original game, especially considering that few, if any, American kids were aware of the two unreleased games. The story and character arcs were epic for the time, and the follow up, FFVI, only further refined the system. Chrono Trigger and FFVI often vie for the title of "Best SNES RPG", but I always preferred the latter. Chrono Trigger was the last RPG I spent significant time playing, though. Super Mario RPG is relatively short but is also a great game. I never played them, but if you enjoyed Illusion of Gaia, Terranigma and Soul Blazer are considered unofficial sister games. FF-esque games: those that felt kind of like Final Fantasy but were still unique and popular games from other publishers. Game series like Breath of Fire and Lufia come to mind. The 7th Saga is challenging but worth a play, and Paladin's Quest was fun, if lacking a bit compared to other SNES RPGs. Earthbound was great when I could find it for rent, but I spent my money on FFVI and later Chrono Trigger. To this day, I like games that invoke the SNES JRPG feel, from Golden Sun on the GBA to remakes of the various FF games.
@@anonymousm9113 Thanks for the feedback. I actually have Super Mario RPG and Chrono Trigger, also Terranigma. I've been buying faster than I can play!😆 I've heard so much hype around Chrono Trigger I almost want to save it for last if that makes any sense. The genre is still relatively new for me. I love to play and collect games like Sparkster, Skyblazer, of course Super Mario World,( which I purchased probably 30 different hacks of) Mega ManX, and numerous other titles. I think it's almost as fun hunting them down and actually finally owning all the game I wanted as a kid, as to playing them.
I was 9 when Earthbound came out so I didn't really want to play it since it had so much text but my brother loved it. I waited almost another 9 years before finally playing it the summer of my senior year of highschool. The quirky nature and trippy battle backgrounds quickly drew me in and solidified it as one of my favorite SNES games of all time.
I remember picking Earthbound up on the Wii digital release ... and putting it down after about an hour. It didn't feel like just any "glorified 8-bit" title, but one clearly left in the dust by the design of not just its contemporaries (e.g. FF4) but even some of its _predecessors_ (FF1?). Mostly, it was how every time you tried to interact with literally anything in the overworld the game popped up a menu of verbs to pick from, when in 99% of cases there's only one verb even applicable to the target object/tile in front of you. And _this was the default controls?_ It was not unlike trying to play a LucasArts adventure game after being raised on Sierra adventure games (in my case, true story). It's not the puzzle designs or mechanics you're wrestling with, but the nature of the game's interface itself.
I grew up before the internet was a common household thing and my grandpa bought Earthbound from a pawn shop for me. I had never played an RPG before, so I didn't understand how to play the game at first and had to slowly figure it out. I remember thinking the "level" on the load game menu meant levels as in Mario rather than experience level and didn't understand how it kept track. Eventually I figured it out though and mastered it to the point I now know how to make the fight with Giygas kind of a joke in difficulty. I think a lot of things like it being immersive via being set in the same world we live in, the music, and the battle backgrounds (the devs allegedly called them video drugs) were what made me continue to push forward for years from not knowing what the hell I was doing to beating it. It still feels so surreal to me that I used to be bullied by everyone and a game I played as a kid, that no one I knew had ever heard of, has become such an important part of our culture.
I still have bizarrely vivid memories of the exact smells on those scratch n sniff cards that came in the strategy guide. 😂 An absolute legend of a game. 👍
Super Mario RPG was one of the first rpgs I ever played and I loved every minute of it. I still have the strategy guide. I also started playing turn based games after that.
Hey man I just wanted to reach out and say thank you. Stumbled upon your channel about a year ago and have been on a complete binge watching all we can since. You even have my daughter big into playing Mario world with me haha. Your dad would be proud of ya as we all are 🙏. Thanks for the amazing content pal
8:35 That's how I scored my copy, My mom was leaving my dad and I and she gave me $50 to spend before she took off. Bought Earthbound with it. I would then lose it like a dumbass lol. Earthbound was part of what I called back then the "1996 Trifecta" because during nearly all of 1996 I would rent three games on rotation: Earthbound, Chrono Trigger, and Secret of Evermore. As someone who now speedruns Earthbound, I agree with a lot of the observations in this too haha.
I only knew of earthbound through super smash bros brawl, but never thought of it until I stumbled upon AVGN's video on earthbound. Then I played through it on SNES online and played through it twice just because it was that fun for me. And because of earthbound, it got me back into gaming and tryiing out other genres
I never even heard of Earthbound until about 2014, it musta bin I don't think it even came out where I live. And anyway, 1995 was the year I discovered girls, so....yeah.
I remember the Marketing for this game and being really confused LOL! I was in 9th grade at the time - a buddy down the street got it. I remember never really getting into it, but my buddy was able to finish the game pretty quickly. Great Video - love these memories you share. I remember picking up Lethal Enforcers for the SNES around this same time - it had be relegated to the bargain bin, and came in a large box too - you got the "Python Revolver" with the Game. Had hours of fun on that one - it had those "Graphics" we were looking for at the time.
The Goonies comparison is spot-on. Goonies generation, represent! 3:18 'Faxanadu' on the NES (which should be spelled "Fa'Xanadu" or "Fa-Xanadu") and the Turbo Duo version of 'Exile' were my faves of that genre. I just don't jibe with the turned-based style of RPGs. 9:52 You'd be the same age as my "kid" sister (who was born the day of the Chernobyl disaster). I was 18 in 1998. Those were the days of LAN parties and Evil Dead marathons. Those were the days when anything goes. 12:58 Did you ever play 'Another World'? The Super NES version is called 'Out of This World'. 13:45 "I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was 12. Jesus, does anyone?" ~the closing line of 'Stand by Me' When I was 12, the year was 1992, and I had a mullet. Used to make mix tapes of video game music on cassettes. 15:15 Never played any of them, but I appreciate their influence. If not for Earthbound, there'd be no Undertale, no Deltarune, and no Homestuck.
I also remember seeing g these in the bargain bins for like 9.99! That's when my parents bought it for me. I liked the game, but couldn't get into it as much as other games. My sister really enjoyed it though, way more than I did when I was a kid. I ended up gifting the game to her when we were older. I had visited her years later and saw it covered in about an inch of dust, broke my heart. I wish I had kept it, but it is what it is. It's such a unique experience. Hopefully it'll find its way back to my collection.
(This is quite the read, so skip if not interested. OP wanted to hear our experiences.) I grew up playing arcades, consoles, and PCs (all kinds) while living outside of the US. So I had a more international perspective of gaming. Piracy was rampant, and a lot of times, mandatory. I didn't grow up with just the NES. I also played the Famicom, and when Super came out, my first experience was with the Super Famicom, not the SNES. (To this day, that blocky purple thing is not what I remember using my first time. My buttons weren't purple. They were colored. My SNES was a gorgeous grayish device. Not off-putting white with puke purple. To this day, I think Americans got ripped off on a gorgeous system.) And not only did I play (well, at least tried to) Earthbound (Mother II), I even ran into Mother (NES) earlier on. All I really understood about this game was that it got weirder, and weirder, and everyone was obsessed about it. But it was in Japanese. So the language barrier once again won. It was hard learning naturally to speak two languages at a young age, yet alone three. And yet, we had a large Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese population in SA. It wasn't until I got older when I revisited Mother and Mother II (Earthbound). Nintendo Power tried to hype it up. It failed. FFVII worked better for Americans than Earthbound. Even FFL on Gameboy worked better. Although, defeating God was a bit hilarious at the end. But I did. But even as an adult, it just got weirder. Especially when you realize what is actually going on in the story. Thanks to piracy and emulation, it is possible now to play very accurate interpreted versions of Mother on NES. It wasn't a game for children. This was definitely one of the few Nintendo games directed towards more mature players, aka Young Adults and Parents. You don't just use the guide. You need it. It is part of the experience. Mother was like a programmer's take on gaming. The guides were a big call to the PC community. Sierra was notorious for this. Yes, I'm looking at you King's Quest III. KQ3 on the internet... No problem. KQ3 back in the early 90's over seas. Yeah. Near impossible. And this was going to fly over everyone's head. Vacada Gaijin. PC gaming was MUCH more mature content. Leisure Suit Larry. Sierra. LucasArts. Heck, there was a whole black market for XXX games. And boy... Did they suck. Most were outright bad. Just schlock for adults. Most were poker or gambling, and yes, pinball. And then there were arcades... There was an entire floor above the arcade sectioned off from kids. While all the SFII, X-Men, Simpsons, etc. were on the first floor, the air hockey and gambling machines along with the mature content games were above our heads the entire time. As was a bar. So the parents would drop off their kids on the first floor, and disappear to the forbidden zone above us. Then there were the late nighter hardcore competitive gamers. These guys (mostly men) spent fortunes and their lives just mastering every combo for every game. Memorizing every map. And when it came time to test your skill, you'd get infinitely comboed to death. Arcades are what is missing from gaming. Online is nice, but Arcades were amazing. As nerds/gamers, we hunted out adult cabinets all throughout the city. And when we got to be of age, made a b-line to what we discovered to be very cool, but disappointing pinball, gambling, and occasionally, an Aerosmith cabinet. As an adult, I can now say, thank you Japan. Mother was a great series. It was just a language barrier. And Earthbound was a gift. We did not appreciate it, because we did not take the time to speak your language. I hope one day you can forgive us. I encourage people to find a translated version of the NES version. I'd say play it first, but really, there is no official English guide. So start with Earthbound. Use the guide. Try again. And then maybe play Mother on the NES. You will be pleasantly surprised. Otherwise, there are plenty of Mother/Earthbound videos on YT explaining the series and even speed running. Go watch them before you play them. AVGN was okay... But there's better. Go find them. Play the game with open eyes. Japan truly blessed us with the Mother series. I am disappointed that everyone except the Japanese got left out of this marvelous tale. Of course the Americans were never going to get it. They had no idea what it was. These days, it's a big deal when Nintendo gives us a Metroid game. But to this day, I always wish that they would try Mother again. Only this time, let everyone in on it. It's time. Time for Mother III / Earthbound II.
I loved it in 1995 and didn't even care for video games until like 2009. I would go to my friends house and we would sit there watching his older brother play it for hours and hours and days and days and weeks. I fell in love with it and have beaten it probably 20 times now.
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Without Earthbound there might not have been a SOUTH PARK!!!!!!!
It’s interesting to hear about your house being about “good graphics” and yet y’all were Sega diehards. I mean come on, Sega games tended to always be “lessor” in that area.
10:21
3 wonders goodness in the background
Earth bound 😝... Nothing beats final fantasy VII.
@@chriskleinbach-vd5chActually, I'm sure that lots of people have beat FFVII.
Underrated aspect of this fantastic channel: you digitize your old home video footage in 4:3 and 60fps. I really hate when people blow up old footage to widescreen. Thank you!
Glad you notice 😊
Dont patronize him... better yet demolish the guy 😅😅
Or worse - when they crop it to make it 16:9 - @AdamDoree !!! XD.
I'm a father of an 8 year old and just got my cancer diagnosis (T Minus 5 years) that has bonded strongly with my son via video games. Watching your channel is like seeing what my son might become, thanks for that.
Bless you brother and strength and healing to you I pray in Jesus name
Hey man... Stay strong dude .. u got this. Fight it brother. I'll pray for you my brother.
damn bro, that messed me up. God will guide him teach him to Love God
Praying medical science will give you many many many more years! In Jesus name Amen.
Don't count down the days. Fight man! Will pray for you.
These videos got me through some tough times in my life. I lost my mum about 3 years ago, and remember watching and relating so much to your childhood. I’ve rewatched them a few times since, it’s like a comforting thing to me. Sorry if that sounds weird.
I understand exactly, I watch things like this for that same reason..just about every nes, snes, sega and n64 game my mom bought..I look at a title and know when I got it and think back..
Sorry for your loss man. One of the greatest things this channel has given me is a way to connect with others from my generation who loved video games and have lost loved ones. Always keep her in your memory and she’s never truly gone. That’s been what this is all about for me
It's not weird, it's awesome. Sorry for your loss. Retro games take me back to a better time also. This guy makes fair and humble content. Incredible that his dad filmed all this stuff. So incredibly relatable.
It does not sound weird. I think these videos give memories that many of us had but don't have videos like this to remember them. But Tyler's dad was so awesome to capture all of these memories for him and Tyler has been able to share them and having us reflect on similar situations in ourselves. Having these videos locked away for 30 years is the best thing.
@@MyRetroLife Thank you so much. It was more my dad who bought games, mum didn’t really understand them. But she always came with the goods at bdays and Xmas. These videos were just a reminder of happiness and childhood, and also having something to focus on and binge to take my mind off it.
As a kid, I used to go to this huge video rental store in Arizona called Hastings. I remember I would always see the box for Earthbound, but it was rarely in stock to rent. I was so intrigued by the huge box and wanted to try playing the game so bad. One day, my mom rented my sister and I a super nintendo and miraculously Earthbound was actually available to rent! I took it home, booted up a random save file that was on the cartridge, and was very confused. I had never played an RPG, and I had no idea where I was or what to do since I was playing an existing save file (I guess i was new to the save file concept). I was accustomed to games like Mario and Zelda, where I would just go up to enemies and either slash at them or jump on them to defeat them. I didn't know what the heck i was looking at when I entered my first turn based battle. Ultimately, I played the game for about an hour, got bored and spent the rest of the time playing another game I rented.
Fast forward a few months and for some reason Earthbound was still on my mind. I was disappointed that I didn't understand the game, I wanted to like it. For whatever reason, I had the sudden urge to begin saving money to buy my own copy. I didn't just want to rent it again, i wanted to own it. I saved and saved for what felt like forever (I was like 11) and when I finally had enough money I went to Montgomery Ward with my fat wad of single dollar bills and coins to purchase the game. I remember it was $90! I almost wavered at one point and nearly bought a virtual boy on clearance (dodged a bullet). With my copy secured I began my journey from a completely new save file and this time it just clicked. I quickly learned how to play the game and I absolutely fell in love with it.
Earthbound is and will always be my favorite game of all time. To me it's like a time capsule that I can reopen over and over to feel like a kid again.
You saved me a lot of typing as I was going to make a very similar comment. The giant box in the video store was so alluring. I loved just walking around the world but never understood the objectives or combat. I rented it so many times and just walked around talking to characters. I played the whole thing through last year for the first time and it became one of my all time favorite games. Very nostalgic and kind of emotional.
Actually owning the game which came with a strategy guide in box probably helped lol
$90! Dang even back then?! I thought this game was supposed to be an sort of under the radar classic I'm surprised that it would cost so much. I never owned a Super Nintendo though so I don't know a lot about it.
Extremely well said. That's exactly how I feel when I play.
@@Gen-X-Memories Yup! I'm sure I could have gotten it cheaper elsewhere, or on clearance if I waited a little bit longer. I don't recall why I specifically chose that location to buy it at, I just remember my cousin saying "90 dollars?! for ONE game?". XD
Oh man in Brazil the life is so hard when i was a little children, but the game magazines saved my time imaginating the gameplays....
I did the same thing we were too poor to get the new systems so I would look at the new games in magazines
Yeah, this guy had a rare childhood. I usually got one video game a year at Christmas. Until I started working for my own money.
Amazing english level!
Amazing english level!!
I am a father in 30s with some health complications. I have three kids and worry about them should anything happen. Your channel reminds me that I need to give my kids as good a childhood while I can. Very rich childhood you’ve had.
When I really thought things were going south I remember writing a note in a Bible to my son about playing Mother 3. Just this week my son asked to fall asleep to the Mother/Earthbound series sound track. It is great to him take a shine to it.
I remember that advert in EGM, and the smell of one of them came flooding back into my brain :D
It’s so hard to explain to younger people what the graphics race was like back then. Every new game was pretty much expected to have better graphics than any game that came before it. It was extremely important to show that graphics were advancing. Now, the graphics race is run. Graphical fidelity is mostly a creative choice these days. The most interesting thing, and I think the hardest thing for people who weren’t around to understand is that the end of the graphics race pretty much spelled the end of arcades. Once you didn’t have to go to an arcade to play the games with the best graphics, there was no sense in pumping quarters into a machine.
It's not too different to today honestly, so many people still only think about graphics and horse ball sacks that shrink today
The graphics race is actually worse today, and it's all pretty pointless now. At least back then, there was some reason for it. Today it's mostly just a waste of money and dev time that could be better spent elsewhere. It just results in a lot of good looking games with meh gameplay.
Not everyone bought into that ideology though. I'm just a couple of years older than Tyler and I really only cared about playing fun games when I was a kid. Yes, graphical impressiveness can help draw you in, but at the end of the day it's about fun factor and gameplay depth.
It was a mistake to cancel the localization of Mother 1. _Then_ people would have noticed the graphical advancement!
In Mexico arcades are still somewhat thriving. Most people cannot afford the newest consoles, so you will find several locations where you can play games from Atari to current gen.
I still have my Earthbound game from when my Mom bought it at Walmart when I was in my youth still I still have the box and strategy guide to I know the game is worth alot of money these days but to me the game is priceless I will never sell it considering I just recently lost my Mom so the game will always be sentimental to me now
I also still have it still one of my favorites of all time
Man this was really touching. Earthbound has a special place in my heart too. I always named the characters after myself and my friends too. The first time I played it after my father passed away, I'd get a little pang during saving "Rich? Its your Dad". But I'd totally forgot about the vision after Lumine Hall and reading "Rich had a vision of his father holding him as a baby"... and my God I just lost it. A good, healing cry. Mother is such a specical franchise and I'm so glad Nintendo took a chance on Itoi's oddball Dragon Quest clone all those years ago. Thank you for sharing your precious childhood memories with us
Rented Earthbound in 95 and it instantly became one of the greatest.
I didn’t even rent it. I was already balls deep into turn based RPGs by 1995 so when I saw that Nintendo was making a 1st party RPG, I HAD to have it.
@@leeartlee915funnily enough, I’m just now getting into old turn based JRPGs and now I’m buying them in bulk! EarthBound was one of the first 3 I got along with Mother and Chrono Trigger
@@SegaMJ-ve1pi Well you started with some of the best. Personally, I think the SNES was the best time for JRPGs. I know that they made a LOT more during the PS1 and,, even more, PS2. And some of those are great too. But for me personally, I think they just had something special during the 16-bit era. But that’s probably just my biased speaking.
God, I wish I had time to actually play more RPGs. I have a rule that I have to start at least one each month and play it long enough to decide if I should continue. But I’ve had to accept, I will never being able to play even 10 % of the RPGs I want.
My friend and I were obsessed with SNES RPGs 94-97ish and played/owned a ton of them. We would trade back and forth so we got to play Link to the Past, Final Fantasy III, Secret of Mana, Secret of Evermore, Robotrek, Chrono Trigger, Illusion of Gaia, Breath of Fire II, Super Mario RPG, Lufia, and of course EarthBound. The selling point for us with EarthBound was that it came with a strategy guide which is why the box is so big. I will say that RPGs weren't very popular with most kids our age (born 1982). It wasn't until Final Fantasy VII came out that they went mainstream, and then they became a joke because they would have 4-5 discs on Playstation... good times with weapons!
One more thing I'll add - the RPG we both HATED was Shadowrun because we didn't know how tf to play it at the time, there was no internet to tell you what to do. But emulating it later, Shadowrun is pretty awesome
@@hankzane HAHAHA so true about Shadowrun. I could never fully comprehend it, but I could tell it was a great game. Played it on Emulators and had a blast
Yeah first RPG i played was pokemon red. There werent even many RPGs to begin with. Final fantasy 7 is the first in that series to even release here. Chrono trigger is a DS/PC exclusive i think, and earthbound is a New 3DS digital exclusive.
If I was in charge of the marketing for Earthbound, I would've advertised it as a 1950s sci-fi thriller or an episode of The Twilight Zone, because that would've been the general theme that Americans audiences are familiar with.
Definitely a great approach!
Anything other than "this game stinks" lol
Some of the American advertising for games didn't make since .. I mean look at NES Zelda . Those commercials make you wonder how the game even sold..
I only played Earthbound through a Rom. I then had it on my send classic. The reason its so bad with graphics is bc it's a port of an nes game or something. It's confusing bc this is the sequel of the first one I believe
It's not a port tho @@pika23
Earthbound is one of the most unique turn based RPGs I've ever played and I found it to be really fun. I played it on an emulator on my computer back in the day, I have a funny connection with Earthbound and Pabst Blue Ribbon beer because I drank PBR the whole time while I was playing the game
I was 10 years old in 1995 when I saw this game in the magazine, the review scores were not great and I still went crazy and so curious about its originality. I decided to rent it and REALLY enjoyed it, didn't care about the graphics at all, I immediately understood that the focus here was its originality, storyline, characters and charm. I used to watch my older sister play it, as I thought it was too complex for me at that age. Then I asked it as a christmas gift, I am from Brazil so it was literally impossible to find such game at the store. My parents had to import it, and they did it. Then in the Xmas of 1995 I got it as a gift, I could not believe it. I loved it. Saw that beautiful guide, all in english, it blew my mind I was so happy. My sister was not playing much so I decided to adventure myself in it without "depending" on her and discovered that I loved RPG games. Then in the following years, once a year I would play that game until the end, and each year as I grew older I could notice different elements, details and better understand the details in the storyline. Even as an adult, each time I play (not as often as before) I can spot new things in this game that are not clearly expressed, but you can spot as a more mature person. It's like wine, only gets better as it gets older. I have this gem to this day, box, manual and everything. I learned so much english from it. Hopefully my son will enjoy it as much as I did. Thanks for this video, so nostalgic.
I grew up on the internet in the late 2000s/early 2010s, where I would frequently browse flash animations and flash videos on websites like NewGrounds & RUclips. I would especially love to watch flash animations and fan comic stripes related to Nintendo games. That's where I discovered a little flash video titled "Nin10Doh!", which had a segment with MOTHER 2/ EarthBound characters in it. Back then I knew nothing about the MOTHER franchise other than Ness, Lucas, and (what I thought at that time was) that chubby kid trapped in that giant robot mech in Smash Brawl were from that franchise. My curiosity got the best of me and I decided to learn more about the MOTHER franchise so around early 2012 I ended up playing MOTHER 2 through a SNES emulator using my crappy hand-me-down windows xp laptop.
As I played through EarthBound I started to enjoy the game more and more. As I started to enjoy the game more and more, I started to research about the MOTHER franchise more and more which made me go down a huge MOTHER rabbit hole, which ended up leading me to the person I am today. Once I finally completed EarthBound and thanks to a bit of research discovering that "EarthBound" is actually the 2nd game in its series around 2013, I decided to play what would become not only my favorite video game of all time, but also really my favorite media of time. That game being no other than MOTHER 1 or what English speaking MOTHER fans called it at the time "EarthBound Zero". Me playing through MOTHER 1 for the first time was like love at first sight. Words can't describe how much I love and enjoy that game so much. I'll always be fond of the entire MOTHER franchise of course, but MOTHER 1 has had that certain grasp on me ever since the first time I booted up that game's title screen.
Around 2015, when the MOTHER franchise was gaining a huge resurgence with things like MOTHER 2 / EarthBound finally getting officially rereleased on the 3DS and Wii U in the west, MOTHER 1 finally getting officially localized as "EarthBound Beginnings", and Lucas being added back to SM4SH as DLC, I was unfortunately naïve enough to think MOTHER 3 would be getting an official localization soon with all this new MOTHER stuff happening. Almost every day since 2015 I waited and waited for that official MOTHER 3 localization announcement for Wii U Virtual Console. I wanted the final MOTHER game I playthrough blindly to be played officially.
Eventually around 2018 I got tired of waiting for the impossible to come so I decided to just bite the bullet and play MOTHER 3 using the Tomato fan translation and a GBA emulator. I'm really glad I didn't waste any more of my time waiting and actually decided to just play the amazing game that is MOTHER 3. I won't lie and say I didn't cry when I first played through the game, cause I was bawling my fucking eyes out at certain moments. I wasn't crying wasn't for the reasons you might be thinking of however. I didn't cry at certain characters' deaths. I cried when songs like "Time Passage", "A Certain Someone's Memories", and "16 Melodies" played in the game as it reminded me of my first times experiencing both MOTHER 1 and 2 and it made me realize damn this will be the last time I ever experience a MOTHER game blind huh. I essentially grew up alongside the MOTHER franchise, and I'm honestly really glad I waited a few years to play MOTHER 3 last in the franchise. It is such an perfect finale game for the MOTHER series.
My best friend at the time rented earthbound and I spent the night at his house. We played all night to get through just Onette. I immediately got home and begged my parents for a copy. It’s by far my favorite game ever. I was 12 when it came out and I remember the marketing campaign very well. I found it hilarious and it sucked me in even more. The game gets you super emotional with the story and the music. What unforgettable game to play.
Your Dad, filming all this is amazing and wish my parents did the same. I feel the younger you feels. Good stuff!
In 2015, we were introduced to the very first Earthbound game, Earthbound Beginnings on the Wii U as a Virtual Console game. Years after its originally intended release in 1990. Now it's on Nintendo Switch Online
Earthbound isn't a game, it's an experience. I've collected and played countless games for almost every NA console over the years and the only other games I can think of that fall in the same category is probably Shadow of the Colossus and Panzer Dragoon Saga.
Add Killer7 to the bunch, it's fantastic. Nothing else like it.
@@SpookyDollhouse I need to play that one. I've heard it's definitely unique.
It's a game lol
Just a pretty unique one
It's way overhyped tho
Graphics were absolutely the biggest thing about games in the mid 90’s. In 1995 I got to a point where I refused to play my Genesis anymore because I knew there was so much better out there like the Saturn and PlayStation lol. I was so bitter and was until I finally got a ps1.
My comment isn't about Earthbound but this video me cry. You had a cocker spaniel named Maggie when you were a kid and used her name as your pet avatar. I had a cocker spaniel named Bentley who looks identical to Maggie. He was quite a bit bigger and his hair wasn't as curly but exact same color and features. He's my son, my best friend my whole heart and I lost him in Jan 2022. He was 14 years old. I was 25 when I got him and am now almost 42. I pray I will see him again one day but this video and seeing Maggie just made me cry but made my day. Thank you for your videos. God bless
Earthbound is one of the best RPGs ever! I remember getting this when it was brand new...I was ten and I remember my dad hated it because of the turn based fighting...I loved it and still do to this day...
Earthbound is one of my favorite games of all time. I got it for my birthday and have many fond memories of playing it. Seems like I was one of the rare kids who actually liked it when it first released.
i find it obnoxious that people who prefer graphics over the story and details are lacking the true dedication and depths developer's put into these style games. i LOVED EARTHBOUND ❤
Final fantasy 3 was a true JRPG
i think you have been completely mislead.
This is a perfect example of how the way we view games changes overtime. I'm pretty sure most people didn't even know Earthbound existed until Super Smash Bros.
That was me lol, during the intro for Smash bros where it introduces all the characters, I remember seeing Ness for the first time and thinking to myself "who the hell is that" I knew all the characters on that game but him.
It's true. My dad got Earthoubd for Christmas the year it came out and not a single one of my friends knew what it was. I grew up loving Earthbound. It wasn't until the 2nd smash brothers people really cared who Ness was.
Or if you were in the emulation scene. It was crazy in the mid 90s how emulators for the NES and SNES blew up. I downloaded everything even if I didn't know what the game was. Don't sue me Nintendo!
Yup! That was me as well... I just assumed it was a random kid new in the smash bros concept, I literally didn't know it was from a nintendo RPG game from the SNES absolutely clueless lol
Beautiful video 😎
As a life-long skater and gamer, that end with the “Hook-ups” shirt had me cracking up with your dad asking “what’s a hook up?”…hilarious. Hello there from fellow Houstonian game collector.
Wait what?! My Retro Life is in HOUSTON?!!
@@dapperfan44 I’m fairly sure, yes.
A loving functional family that also had money for multiple games from multiple systems as presents on Christmas and birthdays. What a life lol
It's cool to see a channel looking back at my specific era of childhood.
"This game stinks" was great advertising. And I loved earthbound when it was current.
I was visiting my Grandparents on vacation when I saw Earthbound at their local rental store. I never even heard of the game, but the cool art and the large box were the the only reasons I ended up renting it. I had no idea what I was getting myself into.
I remember playing the first 4-5 hours of the game and being completely sucked in. There were very few games I had more fun with up until that point (I'm a year or two older than Tyler), and it saddens me to hear that he didn't give it a chance at launch.
While I think the simplistic graphical style was a turn off to some gamers, I believe the main reason it didn't get the attention it deserved because it was the first entry of the series stateside, and no one really knew what the game was about. With that being said, the game isn't perfect. Whle the rolling health system was a fresh mechanic in battles, you don't see any the characters on the screen or any of their equipped weapons. Final Fantasy III/VI was released a year previous to Earthbound that included these features so that was a disappointment for me.
A year later (after I beat it a couple of times on rentals), I ended up seeing the game available for purchase at my local Blockbuster for like 10 bucks, and I sold it a couple of years ago for $400.
I remember seeing Earthbound's huge box in stores and the video rental we used to go to. Earthbound and Super Bomberman both had huge boxes from what I remember. And I remember Super Bomberman came with a multi-tap for four player matches, but because of that I thought Earthbound was a multiplayer game too, that and I didn't know what either game looked like because they were behind glass. Then by the mid two-thousands my Brother and I began to understand how to emulate games on our family's computer. And we eventually got a Dell they were no longer using. Eventually I played "Earthbound Zero"; it was good, I liked it but it felt like a prototype of something bigger they wanted to make. So right after completing that game I dove into "Earthbound" for the SNES, and just like you Tyler this game changed something in me. I love the sound design in this game! It really can immerse you, and you're drawn into this world similar to ours and by the end experiencing one of the most haunting villains in any video game. There's so much more I could say, but I really need to replay it. "Mother 3" probably has the best story out of the three of them, there's a reason why we all want everyone to have a chance to play this amazing game. I originally got a chance to play it during the pandemic, right after I had built myself a Retropie, and more recently I bought a GBA cartridge of it from AliExpress after the outrage that it was not to be released to the US Market. For anyone interested, 1 & 2 aren't necessary to play 3. Although there are references to 2 in 3, but that's about it. Earthbound is the kind of game that you wish you had given a chance, but it's also never to late to do so.
In the UK, I remember seeing the sneak preview of Earthbound in the SuperPlay magazine, and I thought it looked AMAZING. Just what I wanted to play.
Sadly, like many other JRPGs in the UK, I don't think it ever was ever released.
It’s on the Nintendo switch online membership now in the uk, I’m a huge fan of Nintendo from the uk
I’m a lot younger than you. But I had this exact same experience with fallout 3. I didn’t play it until 2011 because I thought it looked bad and boring. Boy was I never more wrong about anything in my life. Skyrim came out in November that year on 11/11/11. My brother bought me my copy for Christmas a few weeks later. Skyrim is my favorite game of all time, right next to mass effect. The thing is if it wasn’t for trying fallout 3 I never would have gave these games a chance. It changed the way I looked at games for ever. Experiences you can live threw instead of just playing. I’ve played so many rpgs of all different variety over the years. I have even played chrono trigger and I’m currently working threw grandia 2 on my Dreamcast. I’ve even started playing phantasy star online on pc and there is still servers up and running by fans, been enjoying that since I never had a chance as a little kid. Love the channel man I hope you and your family continue to experience the best in life, you’re awesome!
Grandia II is fantastic. I'm seriously surprised how rarely it's talked about. I've never been a huge RPG fan, but I remember the timing-based combat system, which let you counter and cancel enemy moves with precise timing, feeling like a huge leap forward for genre. It was so revolutionary that playing Skies of Arcadia afterwards, despite all its strengths, felt too simple in the combat department.
Grandia 2 definitely is the bomb.. bought it back in the day on a whim because i like the cover but man was i in for a treat! It's really good, as is the soundtrack! Enjoy man.
Yeah guys grandia 2 is so good I’m almost done with it I think just on the last stretch! It’s so good!
Earthbound is a classic in my book. I still wonder why they hated earthbound. Great video! And thank you for sharing your childhood with us
Thanks for watching! Such a hard game to market when you think about it. I'm sure Nintendo had no clue
I think back in the early days of gaming, graphics is what mattered the most, hence the bit wars. I can understand why earthbound’s art style didnt quite grasp the 90s market
Im sure it gets good at some point, but the beginning of the game is slow and boring. I could see renting it and not liking it during that short time
@@tattoomaniacsalinaCouldn't disagree more. The beginning is the hook and it only gets better from there on.
@@kyongu375 but looking back the art style is beautiful, its timeless
I liked Earthbound but Secret of Mana is for sure my favorite RPG
Same experience with me. My big brother played JRPGs and being little at the time, probably around 7 or 8, it wasn't interesting. Until I got older, and what drew me into JRPGs was Super Mario Rpg, too, as well as Pokémon Red. Eventually, I gave it a shot, and it was all history then. JRPGs are among my top favorites. Thanks for sharing this video.
Just think if the scalpers had time machines...
They'd be raiding those bargain bins and bringing back hundreds of sealed copies of Earthbound to a time when it hits $4,000 (probably 2035 when EB hits 40). Which I'm guessing some of them did, minus the time machines because it's crazy how this weird and wacky game that had mixed feelings amongst the people that played it in the day, suddenly became one of the most talked about games of the 16-bit era.
I loved Earthbound as soon as I saw it in the store. The huge box and weird marketing intrigued me to the point that I started hounding my parents for it relentlessly. I got it for Christmas the year it released and I remember being so excited. The game was, and still is, so fun to play. When I moved away from home I gifted my Snes and all my games to my sister as I had a PS1 at that point. She played and loved Earthbound as much as I did. She sold off the Snes and most of the games when she moved away from home, but she still has that copy of Earthbound complete with box and user guide. She brought it out and showed it off to my parents and I a couple years ago for Christmas and my dad said she should give it back to him since he bought it and it's worth a lot of money now 😂.
I earliest memory of Earthbound was an 80's movie when an alien family had alien powers and can become invisible when they held their breath and had a green monkey.
I Remember seeing Ness and Lucas in Super Smash Bros Brawl when I was younger and both me and my friend were very confused, we both thought they were characters original to Super Smash Bros. I didn't really learn about Earthbound until I played Undertale, but from what I heard I thought it sounded really fun so I bought it on the Wii U virtual console, I had a blast. But I got stuck A LOT. Its now one of my favorite games/franchises.
Grew up playing J RPG’s on the Gameboy as well as Final Fantasy on NES and SNES. Rented earthbound from Blockbuster due to the big box and was hooked. It was my favorite video game then and it still is today.
Yes… i do remember inheriting the super nintendo and like 5 games… super mario, zelda, secret of mana, and kirby, but most importantly… earthbound. It was the game i shunned while i played mario and zelda for so long. But when i was 10 or so, i gave it a shot. I now associate this earthbound with that age i grew up and matured. Cuz it’s kind of a coming-of-age game. Yes, i played it in like 2014 or so. Very fun. I also had quite a time playing (and pirating an unofficial english version🤫) Mother 3. Great series.
Even back in the day, I didn't quite understand the idea of graphics making a game good or not.
Until you said this, I think I followed the same trajectory into RPGs with Earthbound and Super Mario RPG. Naming your party after friends and family, the weird and wacky journey, the music, the feeling that kids could make a difference...it still holds up all these years later. One of my favorite games of all time (Marketing be damned lol). Excellent video!
As a game developer I can really appreciate how much your family cares for video games. Reminds me of me and my brothers back in the 90's. Keep it up!
This is an insightful doc into how the perfect storm of bad marketing, game culture, and "bad" graphics led to the commercial failure of Earthbound. Having been born after the game's release it always puzzled me how this game couldn't find a contemporary audience, but this gives some much needed context. Your video preservation and your father's documentation of the era are really cool!
I didn't choose Earthbound, Earthbound chose me. One day a family friend was like "OH MY GOD, *my name*, you HAVE to play this game!". My friend was going crazy for it and I'd never heard of it. I was like ok, and he let me borrow the game with the players guide. I never would have played it or maybe even appreciated it as much by giving it a chance if my friend didn't express so much love for it and insist that I had to play it. I still remember coming in from running around in the sprinkler outside during a hot summer day wrapped in a towel, grabbed a bag of parmesan Goldfish, and playing Earthbound. It made me a fan for life and it changed me too.
Probably my favorite game of all time. So sad you didn't love it back then. Definitely the first RPG game I fell in love with. God knows how many times I rented this from the local Family Video back in the day.
Earthbound was the first RPG I have ever played. The final boss battle is so memorable to me as all the people and creatures you met along your journey help you.
Very iconic ending
Game was absolutely incredible. Still have my copy I bought from Blockbuster for $20.
Your channel is truly something special. As a kid I would ride my skateboard to the grocery store and read video game mags from front to back. Sometimes having to be sneaky and take certain ones out of the shrink wrap 😂 I remember that earthbound ad and being completely confused by it….by the way that old hook ups shirt is awesome!!! I wish I still had all of mine. Never would have dreamed how much they’d be worth in the future. Kinda like Earthbound.
I had earthbond for the snes in about 2002 at 8 years old and thinking this game was boring. I didn't get it either dude.
I started to play Earthbound last year, played for about a month, an hour here and there. How long would it take me to complete this game?
Around 35 hours
I was the opposite. The only game I liked on my SNES was Earthbound. Played it religiously, didn't touch the console for anything else.
Played SMRPG on emulator and liked that. Didn't own it at the time, though.
I cannot express how incredible it is that you had a family that filmed all of these memories. I mean, no joke, he made your RUclips career! I'm sure he is so proud. Thank you for sharing your life with us!
The greatest part? Itoi made this game for his daughter. So he got it right on
Speak for yourself. My dad and I loved this game in 1995. I learned how to read playing this game. I was obsessed with it's weird box and player's guide.
Earthbound is a worse game when your reading comprehension isn't great, which was my first experience with it. I love the game now n Mother 3 is my favorite game ever, but Earthbound got me started n gave me hell my first try
JRPGs are never known for their graphics. I have several for PS1 and even PS2 where outside of a few special effects, the overall graphics look like something you could do with an 8-bit NES. Final Fantasy Tactics is one example, Arteliar Iris (PS2) is another.
Thank you so much for the videos. I turned 39 yesterday. I remember all these games. It’s so hard not to get emotional.
Happy birthday, I’ll turn 40 in September, and yeah these videos do stir the nostalgic emotions lol
Earthbound is a gem of a SNES game.
It doesn't get the recognition it deserves.
Fantastic SNES game. So many good memories and nostalgia.
It didn't back then, but it does now. It's considered one of the best SNES titles if not THE best. I'm just glad I experienced it when it was first released.
Im one of the few people who loved Mother 1 on NES, and one of the many who love Mother 3 on GBA, just as much as EarthBound
That's too funny because when I saw Earthbound at my local K mart. I thought the same thing when I looked on the back of the box. And put it back on the shelf. And thought to myself. This game looks ridiculous. It doesn't look like a 16 bit game at all.
I got this game when it came out. I was already a big fan of the Final Fantasy games so this one with the modern world intrigued me. Everything about it was very unique. My favorite RPGs are still Final Fantasy "3" (6 in reality) and Chrono Trigger for the SNES.
i too took a chance on earthbound. i found it in a cash america pawn store where as a kid i was given the choice to select one game from the cartridge only display behind the counter. no idea what it was about i hadnt seen any advertisement and hadnt ever heard the name being said among friends. it was a truly random yet rewarding choice one that ill never regret. this was probably 97
Love seeing all the joy and happiness you had as a kid from receiving so much awesome video games. I had a great childhood myself, but i mostly rented video games with my father from local rentals and blockbuster. Only way i could own a game was on holidays like christmas and my birth day. I also remember saving up money and taking the bus to funco land to buy nes, snes games to build a collection. You had an incredible childhood only some of us could dream of having. Thank for sharing so many great stories.
I got Earthbound when I was 11. Already a big fan of RPGs by then. My memories of Earthbound was just being in a weird enthralled stupor. I replay it today and I find myself in that same mindset. Combat is basic, graphics are what they are. The game is all over the place. Yet, when you put it all together, and let the music carry you along the way... It just hits so hard.
Earthbound has never truly clicked for me personally. But, my God, Mother 3 is a total and utter masterpiece imo, and one of the most powerful and revelatory experiences I've ever had playing a video game. Possibly the only game I've ever cried playing.
PS. Just imagine what a Mother/Earthbound game with pixel art as visually stunning looking as the likes of Chrono Trigger or Seiko Densetsu 3 or something like that could look like. I kinda want some ROM hacker and amazing pixel artist to go in and fully update all the visuals like that just to see what's possible. Really, rather than changing the entire design though, it's probably just about adding more levels of detail and highlight/shadow to the characters to give them that extra visual oomph.And, to be truly honest, I actually love the clean cartoony visuals in Mother 3 and think they hold up brilliantly. Also the childlike cartoon nature of the visuals actually makes the gravitas of everything else that happens in the game so prodund imo. So I'm just thinking out loud really.
Man the ending is brutal 😢
@@gashmcnash3537 Tell me about it, especially given I named all the characters after my family members, of which I very much have a mother, father, and younger brother. And I'm a ginger too. Playing through the end was like looking at some potential alternate universe version of myself in a mirror.
Instead of pixel art they should make it look like Wallace and Gromit.
@@Robert_Shmigelsky There's a trailer made by some fan like that and it looks stunning imo:
ruclips.net/video/1OGSXeko-iY/видео.html
If the remade Earthbound and/or Mother 3 in that style--mind blown.
Both Earthbound and Mother 3 look exactly as intended. There's nothing to "update." It's not supposed to look like Chrono Trigger. They're both pretty games for their own reasons.
I remember this game, when i 1st tried it, i thought it would be another game just like Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest but oh boy was i wrong lol, it turned out to be an amazing game, with alot of laughs and the concept was very neat!! Thanks again so much for sharing another great memory, it's so awesome how your dad captured all these amazing moments, helps all of us to relive our memories!!
This is one of my families favorite games ever. Back in the 90s on a Friday night with mom and dad playing this and me smelling the guide instead of helping. Dad still owns the copy with guide. Been on the hunt for a box for awhile!
I'm still shocked that you have such a huge amount of footage from the good ol' days of gaming. I must have like 30 seconds (tops) of footage from my childhood. You're very lucky! This is worth its weight in gold! An enduring memory of a world that (very sadly) no longer exists. We were so naive and genuinely excited about the future! There was such a vast amount of technological innovations in such a short period of time! By around mid 90's time, we had over 10 consoles fighting for our money! It was the happy and exciting meeting of 32 and 64 bit generations. Something we'll NEVER witness again. 😢
I remember seeing DK Country at a friend's house when it came out. I was pretty much not playing games anymore during that time, but that game did and still does look really good. Also, graphics were everything. I had the 2600 and then the c64 before Nintendo was a thing and It was impressive when those came out. I am still obsessed over graphic innovations. Just got a ps5 last weekend. I can't believe how fast games load! I'm saying the obvious, I know. But I still remember 30 years younger me wondering if we would ever have games that looked like real animation. And now we have blown way past that. Great videos man. Thx to you and your father for the awesome work making them
Man...that megaman ost in the beginning just blew me back into my past! Good stuff!
Perfect ad music choice. Cyber Peacock
I have such a cool memory of getting this game. I think it was 2001 or 2002. I purchased a bundle on ebay for the Dreamcast arcade stick and Power Stone 2 for a great price. The seller threw in Earthbound and Secret of Mana unadvertised and free of charge. I did message the seller and asked if this was some kind of mistake, and he replied no, he was downsizing his games and throwing in bonus games for anyone who made a purchase with him. Its crazy to think how much all that would cost today, but I think I payed maybe $50 total.
When I see these videos of u growing up I kno the topic is usually video games, but I LOVE seeing the dogs throughout ur childhood!! Iv seen Maggie literally age alongside u. U can tell she is getting old and its really bittersweet because of how short of a time they are with us, but anyone who hav pets will know that they literally ingrain themselves in our memories and are a vital family member!!..ur family obviously was a pet living family which always puts a smile on my face as well as all the video game nostalgia.
Super Nintendo is by far my favorite system. I'm 45 for reference. I never really liked rpg's. To be honest I never even played them. I watched my friends play, but it just never appealed to me. I was definitely a Mario kid. Anyway, fast forward to now, I have started collecting for Super Nintendo again and babied my way in the genre with Mystic Quest. Just got done with Illusion of Gaia and was completely invested in the story, the characters, the overall game play. Now that I'm hooked I got Earthbound and plan on playing it next. Without ruining it for me, any suggestions on this or others?
By the way, by far one of my favorite channels on RUclips. Simper times...
I'm also 45, but grew up playing RPGs, especially Final Fantasy. Frankly, I suck at anything involving action or timing, so the Game Genie (and later, the Game Shark) were pivotal to my NES, SNES, and PS gaming experiences. Turn-based JRPGs allowed me to simply grind my way through the games, while having plenty of time to decide what move to make next. A few suggestions, based on personal opinion:
Nearly anything Square made: Final Fantasy IV was a big step up from the original game, especially considering that few, if any, American kids were aware of the two unreleased games. The story and character arcs were epic for the time, and the follow up, FFVI, only further refined the system. Chrono Trigger and FFVI often vie for the title of "Best SNES RPG", but I always preferred the latter. Chrono Trigger was the last RPG I spent significant time playing, though. Super Mario RPG is relatively short but is also a great game. I never played them, but if you enjoyed Illusion of Gaia, Terranigma and Soul Blazer are considered unofficial sister games.
FF-esque games: those that felt kind of like Final Fantasy but were still unique and popular games from other publishers. Game series like Breath of Fire and Lufia come to mind. The 7th Saga is challenging but worth a play, and Paladin's Quest was fun, if lacking a bit compared to other SNES RPGs.
Earthbound was great when I could find it for rent, but I spent my money on FFVI and later Chrono Trigger. To this day, I like games that invoke the SNES JRPG feel, from Golden Sun on the GBA to remakes of the various FF games.
@@anonymousm9113 Thanks for the feedback. I actually have Super Mario RPG and Chrono Trigger, also Terranigma. I've been buying faster than I can play!😆 I've heard so much hype around Chrono Trigger I almost want to save it for last if that makes any sense.
The genre is still relatively new for me. I love to play and collect games like Sparkster, Skyblazer, of course Super Mario World,( which I purchased probably 30 different hacks of) Mega ManX, and numerous other titles.
I think it's almost as fun hunting them down and actually finally owning all the game I wanted as a kid, as to playing them.
Earthbound is one of my favourite games!
I was 9 when Earthbound came out so I didn't really want to play it since it had so much text but my brother loved it. I waited almost another 9 years before finally playing it the summer of my senior year of highschool. The quirky nature and trippy battle backgrounds quickly drew me in and solidified it as one of my favorite SNES games of all time.
I remember picking Earthbound up on the Wii digital release ... and putting it down after about an hour. It didn't feel like just any "glorified 8-bit" title, but one clearly left in the dust by the design of not just its contemporaries (e.g. FF4) but even some of its _predecessors_ (FF1?).
Mostly, it was how every time you tried to interact with literally anything in the overworld the game popped up a menu of verbs to pick from, when in 99% of cases there's only one verb even applicable to the target object/tile in front of you. And _this was the default controls?_
It was not unlike trying to play a LucasArts adventure game after being raised on Sierra adventure games (in my case, true story). It's not the puzzle designs or mechanics you're wrestling with, but the nature of the game's interface itself.
I grew up before the internet was a common household thing and my grandpa bought Earthbound from a pawn shop for me. I had never played an RPG before, so I didn't understand how to play the game at first and had to slowly figure it out. I remember thinking the "level" on the load game menu meant levels as in Mario rather than experience level and didn't understand how it kept track.
Eventually I figured it out though and mastered it to the point I now know how to make the fight with Giygas kind of a joke in difficulty. I think a lot of things like it being immersive via being set in the same world we live in, the music, and the battle backgrounds (the devs allegedly called them video drugs) were what made me continue to push forward for years from not knowing what the hell I was doing to beating it.
It still feels so surreal to me that I used to be bullied by everyone and a game I played as a kid, that no one I knew had ever heard of, has become such an important part of our culture.
Those earthbounds in the bargain would have been worth more than bitcoin now
I loved Earthbound from the start. I was a couple years older than you though, was 13 when it came out
Graphics might look 8bit, but the music is so pretty.
Agreed!
I still have bizarrely vivid memories of the exact smells on those scratch n sniff cards that came in the strategy guide. 😂 An absolute legend of a game. 👍
I love Capcom 's Three Wonders, i guess that was Saturn version, isn't?
And Earthbound is almost a masterpiece
Super Mario RPG was one of the first rpgs I ever played and I loved every minute of it. I still have the strategy guide. I also started playing turn based games after that.
Hey man I just wanted to reach out and say thank you. Stumbled upon your channel about a year ago and have been on a complete binge watching all we can since. You even have my daughter big into playing Mario world with me haha. Your dad would be proud of ya as we all are 🙏. Thanks for the amazing content pal
8:35 That's how I scored my copy, My mom was leaving my dad and I and she gave me $50 to spend before she took off. Bought Earthbound with it. I would then lose it like a dumbass lol.
Earthbound was part of what I called back then the "1996 Trifecta" because during nearly all of 1996 I would rent three games on rotation: Earthbound, Chrono Trigger, and Secret of Evermore.
As someone who now speedruns Earthbound, I agree with a lot of the observations in this too haha.
I only knew of earthbound through super smash bros brawl, but never thought of it until I stumbled upon AVGN's video on earthbound. Then I played through it on SNES online and played through it twice just because it was that fun for me. And because of earthbound, it got me back into gaming and tryiing out other genres
3:50 sneaking in Albert Odyssey, gotta love that.
I never even heard of Earthbound until about 2014, it musta bin
I don't think it even came out where I live. And anyway, 1995 was the year I discovered girls, so....yeah.
Link to the past, nostalgia or not, is hands down one of the best games ever made!
I remember the Marketing for this game and being really confused LOL! I was in 9th grade at the time - a buddy down the street got it. I remember never really getting into it, but my buddy was able to finish the game pretty quickly. Great Video - love these memories you share. I remember picking up Lethal Enforcers for the SNES around this same time - it had be relegated to the bargain bin, and came in a large box too - you got the "Python Revolver" with the Game. Had hours of fun on that one - it had those "Graphics" we were looking for at the time.
The Goonies comparison is spot-on. Goonies generation, represent!
3:18 'Faxanadu' on the NES (which should be spelled "Fa'Xanadu" or "Fa-Xanadu") and the Turbo Duo version of 'Exile' were my faves of that genre. I just don't jibe with the turned-based style of RPGs.
9:52 You'd be the same age as my "kid" sister (who was born the day of the Chernobyl disaster). I was 18 in 1998. Those were the days of LAN parties and Evil Dead marathons. Those were the days when anything goes.
12:58 Did you ever play 'Another World'? The Super NES version is called 'Out of This World'.
13:45 "I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was 12. Jesus, does anyone?" ~the closing line of 'Stand by Me'
When I was 12, the year was 1992, and I had a mullet. Used to make mix tapes of video game music on cassettes.
15:15 Never played any of them, but I appreciate their influence. If not for Earthbound, there'd be no Undertale, no Deltarune, and no Homestuck.
3:27 3:34 3:56 4:21my favorite game 😢😢😢💖💖💖
I also remember seeing g these in the bargain bins for like 9.99! That's when my parents bought it for me. I liked the game, but couldn't get into it as much as other games. My sister really enjoyed it though, way more than I did when I was a kid. I ended up gifting the game to her when we were older. I had visited her years later and saw it covered in about an inch of dust, broke my heart. I wish I had kept it, but it is what it is. It's such a unique experience. Hopefully it'll find its way back to my collection.
(This is quite the read, so skip if not interested. OP wanted to hear our experiences.)
I grew up playing arcades, consoles, and PCs (all kinds) while living outside of the US. So I had a more international perspective of gaming. Piracy was rampant, and a lot of times, mandatory. I didn't grow up with just the NES. I also played the Famicom, and when Super came out, my first experience was with the Super Famicom, not the SNES.
(To this day, that blocky purple thing is not what I remember using my first time. My buttons weren't purple. They were colored. My SNES was a gorgeous grayish device. Not off-putting white with puke purple. To this day, I think Americans got ripped off on a gorgeous system.)
And not only did I play (well, at least tried to) Earthbound (Mother II), I even ran into Mother (NES) earlier on. All I really understood about this game was that it got weirder, and weirder, and everyone was obsessed about it. But it was in Japanese. So the language barrier once again won. It was hard learning naturally to speak two languages at a young age, yet alone three.
And yet, we had a large Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese population in SA.
It wasn't until I got older when I revisited Mother and Mother II (Earthbound).
Nintendo Power tried to hype it up. It failed. FFVII worked better for Americans than Earthbound. Even FFL on Gameboy worked better. Although, defeating God was a bit hilarious at the end. But I did.
But even as an adult, it just got weirder. Especially when you realize what is actually going on in the story.
Thanks to piracy and emulation, it is possible now to play very accurate interpreted versions of Mother on NES.
It wasn't a game for children. This was definitely one of the few Nintendo games directed towards more mature players, aka Young Adults and Parents.
You don't just use the guide. You need it. It is part of the experience. Mother was like a programmer's take on gaming. The guides were a big call to the PC community. Sierra was notorious for this. Yes, I'm looking at you King's Quest III. KQ3 on the internet... No problem. KQ3 back in the early 90's over seas. Yeah. Near impossible.
And this was going to fly over everyone's head. Vacada Gaijin.
PC gaming was MUCH more mature content. Leisure Suit Larry. Sierra. LucasArts. Heck, there was a whole black market for XXX games. And boy... Did they suck. Most were outright bad. Just schlock for adults. Most were poker or gambling, and yes, pinball.
And then there were arcades... There was an entire floor above the arcade sectioned off from kids. While all the SFII, X-Men, Simpsons, etc. were on the first floor, the air hockey and gambling machines along with the mature content games were above our heads the entire time. As was a bar. So the parents would drop off their kids on the first floor, and disappear to the forbidden zone above us.
Then there were the late nighter hardcore competitive gamers. These guys (mostly men) spent fortunes and their lives just mastering every combo for every game. Memorizing every map. And when it came time to test your skill, you'd get infinitely comboed to death. Arcades are what is missing from gaming. Online is nice, but Arcades were amazing.
As nerds/gamers, we hunted out adult cabinets all throughout the city. And when we got to be of age, made a b-line to what we discovered to be very cool, but disappointing pinball, gambling, and occasionally, an Aerosmith cabinet.
As an adult, I can now say, thank you Japan. Mother was a great series. It was just a language barrier. And Earthbound was a gift. We did not appreciate it, because we did not take the time to speak your language. I hope one day you can forgive us.
I encourage people to find a translated version of the NES version. I'd say play it first, but really, there is no official English guide. So start with Earthbound. Use the guide. Try again. And then maybe play Mother on the NES. You will be pleasantly surprised.
Otherwise, there are plenty of Mother/Earthbound videos on YT explaining the series and even speed running. Go watch them before you play them. AVGN was okay... But there's better. Go find them. Play the game with open eyes.
Japan truly blessed us with the Mother series. I am disappointed that everyone except the Japanese got left out of this marvelous tale. Of course the Americans were never going to get it. They had no idea what it was.
These days, it's a big deal when Nintendo gives us a Metroid game. But to this day, I always wish that they would try Mother again. Only this time, let everyone in on it. It's time. Time for Mother III / Earthbound II.
I loved it in 1995 and didn't even care for video games until like 2009. I would go to my friends house and we would sit there watching his older brother play it for hours and hours and days and days and weeks. I fell in love with it and have beaten it probably 20 times now.