Commonplace?
As much as EarthBound is dubbed trippy, crazy, revolutionary, weird, absurd, and just plain stupid, I?ve noticed something in my own brain has changed. Over the years, after several times playing through the game, everything has become extremely normal to me.
When I first rented this game, I couldn?t get over the massive amount of characters and information I was being pumped full with. There was this crazy story about some kid who was told by a bee that he was the chosen one, and he would save the world. I was fighting gigantic insects, cultists, hippies, cops, it was like nothing I had ever experienced before!
It wasn?t until a week ago, that I had realized all of this had been desensitized. I was beating the game again from one of my old save files when one of my friends was over. I was looking for ideas for an article (I found one, obviously) and figured playing the game was about the best way to get the creative juices bubbling. My friend had seen Ness from SSB:M, and was wondering where he was (I was in the Cave of the Past with the party in robot form). I told him about the Phase Distorter, why we were turned into robots, how we were turned into robots. He looked at me straight in the eyes for a few seconds, and then uttered ?What the [expletive deleted].
I realized that, if the game had not been conditioning you enough, all of these bizarre ideas seemed nothing short of crazy. Now that I look at everything, the whole game purveys this feeling constantly. From the beginning, where you confront enemies who have tracked an alien who somehow traveled through time by hitching a ride with a meteorite? A meteorite! You engage in battles with string puppets, beat up giant piles of regurgitation, and you hallucinate after eating ?magic cake.?
Usually when I play an RPG, animals usually play a minor role, and can?t do much but meow or bark. In EarthBound, however, animals can telepathically communicate with you, so long as they are communicating in brackets, of course. Heck, some animals are even possessed by the spirit of the game designer, definitely not commonplace!Now I don?t know about you, but all of this game seems like some type of wacky trip the mushroom picking girl from Peaceful Rest Valley must be experiencing after eating all of those shrooms. Honestly, now that I look this stuff over twice, you start realizing what?s happening. The game has you in its weird, Japanese chokehold of culture and jokes, and you can?t turn either way!
In conclusion, just for the sake of this articles topic, I?ll point out one thing in the game that defines weirdness. Mr. Saturn. I mean, just look at the little guys! They have giant noses, no arms, and all have the same name.
Case closed!
As much as EarthBound is dubbed trippy, crazy, revolutionary, weird, absurd, and just plain stupid, I?ve noticed something in my own brain has changed. Over the years, after several times playing through the game, everything has become extremely normal to me.
When I first rented this game, I couldn?t get over the massive amount of characters and information I was being pumped full with. There was this crazy story about some kid who was told by a bee that he was the chosen one, and he would save the world. I was fighting gigantic insects, cultists, hippies, cops, it was like nothing I had ever experienced before!
It wasn?t until a week ago, that I had realized all of this had been desensitized. I was beating the game again from one of my old save files when one of my friends was over. I was looking for ideas for an article (I found one, obviously) and figured playing the game was about the best way to get the creative juices bubbling. My friend had seen Ness from SSB:M, and was wondering where he was (I was in the Cave of the Past with the party in robot form). I told him about the Phase Distorter, why we were turned into robots, how we were turned into robots. He looked at me straight in the eyes for a few seconds, and then uttered ?What the [expletive deleted].
I realized that, if the game had not been conditioning you enough, all of these bizarre ideas seemed nothing short of crazy. Now that I look at everything, the whole game purveys this feeling constantly. From the beginning, where you confront enemies who have tracked an alien who somehow traveled through time by hitching a ride with a meteorite? A meteorite! You engage in battles with string puppets, beat up giant piles of regurgitation, and you hallucinate after eating ?magic cake.?
Usually when I play an RPG, animals usually play a minor role, and can?t do much but meow or bark. In EarthBound, however, animals can telepathically communicate with you, so long as they are communicating in brackets, of course. Heck, some animals are even possessed by the spirit of the game designer, definitely not commonplace!Now I don?t know about you, but all of this game seems like some type of wacky trip the mushroom picking girl from Peaceful Rest Valley must be experiencing after eating all of those shrooms. Honestly, now that I look this stuff over twice, you start realizing what?s happening. The game has you in its weird, Japanese chokehold of culture and jokes, and you can?t turn either way!
In conclusion, just for the sake of this articles topic, I?ll point out one thing in the game that defines weirdness. Mr. Saturn. I mean, just look at the little guys! They have giant noses, no arms, and all have the same name.
Case closed!
