EB64 Failure: A Blessing
I was looking at the old Earthbound 64 screenshots, and reading the pieces of information available about the canceled game, and I realized, I was happy that the Nintendo 64 version had been canceled. Before readers come to kill me for blaspheming, I want to make it clear that I am glad the N64 version was dropped, I am not happy that no Earthbound game has been produced for a decade.
To begin with, the title, “The Fall of the Pig King,” this title does not inspire confidence about this game. While it is undeniable that the charm of Earthbound lies in its quirky humor and non-fantasy theme, I always felt that, while the journey involved humor, you never lost sight of the fact that you and your friends are the chosen ones, on a deadly serious mission to save the world. Giygas, was a strange enough name and when you final saw what he/it looked like; there was a sense of awe. The “Pig King,” does not make someone take the ultimate goal very seriously. It also suggests that the final confrontation would be somewhat mundane.
Next, I felt that the, what would now be considered basic but at the time were quite cutting edge, graphics of the Nintendo 64 detracted from the game. The game had a very different engine than the original. The original was not based on fancy graphics, quite the contrary; the animation is very basic, even compared to other Super Nintendo games. Take, for instance, combat, in which there was no animation aside from very limited backgrounds and the PSI attacks. Overall, the game seemed overly built to show off the power of the Nintendo and the Disk Drive, not to deliver a strong game.
Thirdly, combat is not turn based. This is a huge change; it changes a fundamental piece of the game structure. Part of the uniqueness to Earthbound’s combat system (aside from not actually ever killing anything) was the rolling hit point meter. It allowed players who really understood the mechanics of the games combat system to make calculated decisions. I know, personally, while playing, my characters have received deadly amounts of damage and instead of this spelling the end for that character; I was faced with quick decision making. I could simply try to kill the enemy before my characters hit points rolled to 0. Or, I could try to escape before they reached 0 (not a recommended course of action). Or I could heal them before the counter hit 0. If the combat system were to be real time, you would not be able to have a rolling counter; you would be stuck with a simple hit-damage system. Taking this element out of an Earthbound game would be a travesty.
If the Nintendo 64 game had finished production and been released it would have been to the detriment of all of us. Instead of being able to look at Earthbound with joy, a complex game with very high replay value, we would remember the last Earthbound game was a flat, excuse to play with new hardware capabilities. I think Itoi’s decision to return to the same top view, simple sprite style proves this. Itoi appears to have realized that the people who play Earthbound do not want gimmicks, which is what “The Fall of the Pig King,” would have offered. This franchise is supposed to offer a rich world (particularly a non-fantasy one), where the driving force is the complexity of the story.
To conclude, the cancellation of the Nintendo 64 Earthbound game was a blessing in disguise. I do not think anyone wants to taint the greatness of Earthbound with a mediocre game. While it is unfortunate that there has not been anything available to fans for a decade, “The Fall of the Pig King,” would not have made things better. To the contrary it would have been a shame to make a bad game part of the earthbound legacy.
I was looking at the old Earthbound 64 screenshots, and reading the pieces of information available about the canceled game, and I realized, I was happy that the Nintendo 64 version had been canceled. Before readers come to kill me for blaspheming, I want to make it clear that I am glad the N64 version was dropped, I am not happy that no Earthbound game has been produced for a decade.
To begin with, the title, “The Fall of the Pig King,” this title does not inspire confidence about this game. While it is undeniable that the charm of Earthbound lies in its quirky humor and non-fantasy theme, I always felt that, while the journey involved humor, you never lost sight of the fact that you and your friends are the chosen ones, on a deadly serious mission to save the world. Giygas, was a strange enough name and when you final saw what he/it looked like; there was a sense of awe. The “Pig King,” does not make someone take the ultimate goal very seriously. It also suggests that the final confrontation would be somewhat mundane.
Next, I felt that the, what would now be considered basic but at the time were quite cutting edge, graphics of the Nintendo 64 detracted from the game. The game had a very different engine than the original. The original was not based on fancy graphics, quite the contrary; the animation is very basic, even compared to other Super Nintendo games. Take, for instance, combat, in which there was no animation aside from very limited backgrounds and the PSI attacks. Overall, the game seemed overly built to show off the power of the Nintendo and the Disk Drive, not to deliver a strong game.
Thirdly, combat is not turn based. This is a huge change; it changes a fundamental piece of the game structure. Part of the uniqueness to Earthbound’s combat system (aside from not actually ever killing anything) was the rolling hit point meter. It allowed players who really understood the mechanics of the games combat system to make calculated decisions. I know, personally, while playing, my characters have received deadly amounts of damage and instead of this spelling the end for that character; I was faced with quick decision making. I could simply try to kill the enemy before my characters hit points rolled to 0. Or, I could try to escape before they reached 0 (not a recommended course of action). Or I could heal them before the counter hit 0. If the combat system were to be real time, you would not be able to have a rolling counter; you would be stuck with a simple hit-damage system. Taking this element out of an Earthbound game would be a travesty.
If the Nintendo 64 game had finished production and been released it would have been to the detriment of all of us. Instead of being able to look at Earthbound with joy, a complex game with very high replay value, we would remember the last Earthbound game was a flat, excuse to play with new hardware capabilities. I think Itoi’s decision to return to the same top view, simple sprite style proves this. Itoi appears to have realized that the people who play Earthbound do not want gimmicks, which is what “The Fall of the Pig King,” would have offered. This franchise is supposed to offer a rich world (particularly a non-fantasy one), where the driving force is the complexity of the story.
To conclude, the cancellation of the Nintendo 64 Earthbound game was a blessing in disguise. I do not think anyone wants to taint the greatness of Earthbound with a mediocre game. While it is unfortunate that there has not been anything available to fans for a decade, “The Fall of the Pig King,” would not have made things better. To the contrary it would have been a shame to make a bad game part of the earthbound legacy.
