With Paula still kidnapped, Everdred tells Ness and Jeff to check behind the counter at Jackie’s Cafe. When they do, the boys are transported to Moonside. Although Fourside is almost a clear representation of New York City, I’ve heard Moonside construed as a stand-in for the Las Vegas Strip. It makes sense, considering the garish… Continue reading Fourside, Part 2: Moonside and the Horrors of the American Dream

Paula is gone. AGAIN. When you come back from your spelunking adventure, the four-story (Wow!) Fourside Department Store is open for business. And it has everything you need! Every kind of healing item up until this point, and on the very top floor there’s brand new weaponry to equip – FINALLY! Certainly the best part,… Continue reading Fourside, Part 1: Death is Only the Beginning

Once again, the Runaway Five are in debt. They owe the Topolla Theater in Fourside a million dollars. I still don’t really get how performers get so mired in debt. I guess they just don’t read their contracts? The manager suggests that you’d have to find buried gold to settle that kind of debt. Say,… Continue reading A Troll Too Far

When you defeat Master Belch and liberate Saturn Valley, you can take the bus to Fourside, where the Mani Mani Statue has apparently been taken. But before you reach Fourside, your bus hits bumper to bumper traffic in Dusty Dunes Desert. Click to embiggen Most people hate Dusty Dunes Desert because, as video gamers, they… Continue reading Everybody hates Dusty Dunes Desert but me

It’s tempting to say that Earthbound has no cut scenes, because that’s not really true. But it robs control of the player very rarely, and only in specific instances. • Introducing a new playable character (in the cases of Ness and Jeff)• Carrying the player to a new location (when traveling by bus or the… Continue reading Not Lackin’ Any Meat

Ness’ dad is only ever present through a telephone. This is apparently representative of Itoi’s assertion that Japan is so work-centric you can never even see your children. I’d believe it! Despite this, it’s likely that Dad will be the single character in the game you talk to the most, as he saves your game.… Continue reading More about Dad

When Ness and Paula make it to Threed, they find it’s overrun by creepy Halloween ghouls. Ghosts, zombies, zombie goasts, living marionettes. When they try to investigate the meaning behind this monster mash, they’re ambushed and thrown into a creepy underground dungeon with no way out. That’s when Paula uses her telepathy to contact the… Continue reading Jeff’s “Family”

Everdred runs Burglin Park, the open-air market in Twson. It’s suggested that he’s something of a mobster, and NPCs explicitly state that he’s tied to kidnappings and burglaries, and not someone to mess with. When you tread deeply into Burglin Park, Everdred jumps off the roof of his own house and challenges you to a… Continue reading Low-life scum and gullible musicians save the day

Paula is The Girl in every sense. She’s feminine and well-loved like a young Miyazaki heroine, she wears pink like Princess Peach, she wears a bow in her hair like Ms. Pac Man, and she uses a frying pan as her weapon of choice. I’d like to think the frying pan was an ironic choice… Continue reading Paula, a woman far away

So back in Onett, there’s this guy who lives on the big hill named Lier X. Agerate, Treasure Hunter and self-described “billboard guy”. At first I thought Agerate might be a stand-in for Shigesato Itoi, or rather the kind of person Itoi was or met as an ad man in the 80s. He calls himself… Continue reading Happy Happy, Joy Joy, Mani Mani