Old Games: Encyclopedia Bombastica: EarthBound

Steak is best food.

Earthbouuund!

Gotta see what this looks like.

This'll be interesting..

The game never tells you this, but the left shoulder button is context sensitive; if you press it on a person, you will talk to them, if you press it on a gift box, you will open it, etc. If my memory can be trusted, the game can be played entirely one-handed.

It would be great if GB added some sort of way to list the run time on their videos, before starting one.

3:41 "I don't know what that guy is saying"

He's saying "OK desu ka?" [ＯＫですか」 which means "Is that OK?"

Super trivia time: That's Itoi's voice

I want to play this game, but there is no way I'm spending money on a WiiU for it, especially when my 3DS is perfectly capable of running it.

Guess I'll have to emulate it...

I've got both, I find it hard to justify that much money for a rom on ONE console, Nintendo needs Cross-buy on their store, but they won't do it because they're raking in the money as is.

I would buy this for $10 if it were cross buy Wiiu/3DS or even just 3DS but stuck on my Wiiu, no thanks, do like scoops! Get the rom, and emulate it!

Did you really go through the whole game without L=A?

Also, the Wii U version comes with the original player's guide. If you're emulating, you can find the player's guide online as a PDF or the like

15:00 "I need to track down some remix soundtracks"

http://starmen.net/rockcandy/

Save states, walkthrough, big bottle rockets. Such a cheater!

"A game I've never played before...played it over the last month"

Kinda missing the point of Encyclopedia Bombastica there. It's about games from the past you used to play a long time ago, not games you're bandwagoning on.

"It's so weird, SO WEIRD" repeating yourself and shouting doesn't make it funny.

This is proper.

Oh my gosh Patrick, after watching this I feel like playing EarthBound. I play it at least once every year, but I pretty much always have a file going and always feel like playing. My current file has me near Scaraba, I think.

If you want, I'll send you my Mother 3 cart [fan translation on GBA flashcart] to borrow, if you're opposed to emulation. PM me if you're interested =]

Nearly bought a Wii U for this. Which is really sad since it isn't even a real Wii U game.

One day they will grow a set of brains and release this game combined with Mother 3 (and maybe Mother 1 as well) in the West.

i know patrick reads the comments, but lemme tag him to the message just in case @patrickklepek

as i personally would like to see patrick do mother 3. and your awesome for offering to lend him your cart :)

@patrickklepek I can recommend some really fantastic remix albums. I'll PM you when I find their exact names and locations. The music in this game is just so damn rad and the remixes some folks have put together are fantastic.

Here's to Mother 3 getting an international release. The last thing that game deserves is to live in obscurity.

As Earthbound was never released in the UK and i not spending £300 on a Wii U i'm just going to suggest it:

EarthBound Endurance Run!!

Soundtrack to earthbound is amazing... games good, pretty, pretty, pretty good.

Only Chrono Trigger stands a chance against this game in the best RPG of all time considerations. At least in my book.

Watching this makes me want to play it again... So good.

The guide that came with this game was also the most amazing guide I've ever seen. It had tons of original illustrations and clay figure pictures and it was made out to sort of resemble a travel guide. Also, scratch-n-sniff.

I'm wiping off the ol' GBA to play Mother 3 for the first time. I have excitement.

@patrickklepek I know you are not fond of Penny Arcade, but if you like this, I think you'll like the Penny Arcade games.
Also, are you emulating this, or are you actually playing this through a Wii U??

perfect timing :D i just beat the game for the first time last week.

now i'm playing lost vikings.

https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAABAADMUKlZfqm17w

He played it on Wii U.

You missed the price drop, I take it?

I mean, is he playing it on Wii U in the video...

I mean, is he playing it on Wii U in the video...

@patrickklepek and anyone else playing this for the first time: You can hit L to Check/Talk To. In fact you can play the entire game with just your left hand. Select acts as a cancel button, and to get to the menu outside of battle you hit Select to bring up your party's health and then L to bring up the menu.

EDIT: this applies to the SNES version, unsure about WiiU.

@smcn: It works on the WiiU too

Dali's clock, haha, this game does seem pretty great!

Patrick, maybe if you didn't put your face in every video you make I would actually watch any of them. But, since you're so insistent that having a camera pointed at your face talking to no one "connects you with the viewer" more, I won't watch this video (of a game that I'm interested in) or any of your other ones (which are also often games that I'm interested in).

I'm not trying to be a hater and I'm not trying to make any jabs at you about your face or anything petty like that. I just find a person's face superimposed next to a video game to be extremely distracting and off-putting.

However it happens, you've got to play Mother 3. I adore Earthbound, but for as special as it is Mother 3 is on another level.

Well I pressed pause... Sorry Patrick, I just had to:

This game is awesome, i started playing when Patrick initially talked about it and i loved it! Well worth the 10$ if you own a WiiU.

*also: My favorite homemade food was STMPOT! ( it should be stampot but that did not fit.)

Favorite thing: G-Bomb!

I don't think there's any moral ambiguity in emulating Mother 3. It wasn't released in America, there is nothing for you to buy, Nintendo doesn't want your money for it. Simple as that. Next time there's a major release schedule lull, (i.e. after the first wave of new console releases) I highly recommend giving it a go. Not to spoil anything, but it builds off Earthbound story-wise in some truly unexpected and moving ways.

Absolutely not the point of the Encyclopedia Bombastica-- it is as Jeff described it, part of their effort to quick look everything.

And what do you mean by "bandwagoning"? Does that mean anyone who didn't play a game during its release is bandwagoning when they play it years later?

@abdo: I always see Encyclopedia Bombastica as classic or historic games in the eyes of the person presenting them, rather than 'look at this game I played once upon a time' as you do.

Just because Patrick has only recently discovered Earthbound, is he not allowed to regard it as a classic? The dude has already written two articles on it already, he clearly cares a great deal about it.

Since when has having a newly found appreciation of something old and well-regarded immediately have to mean that there's a bandwagon involved?

Seems to me like you're just trying to come up with reasons to take pot-shots.

@peterh: Yeah, while I usually don't get the vitriol that is spilled anytime somebody from GB is less-than-perfect at video games, it did drive me a little crazy to watch him ignore the L button.

@rockyraccoon37: GMTA :)

You clearly haven't watched any other installment in this feature. :P

Ugh why wouldnt they put this on the 3ds

Alright, Patrick you've done it (again)...now I'm totally playing Earthbound again. And I probably should, because I've never actually finished it.

*Thumbs up* for all the content you're putting up lately.

If you weren't trying to be a hater, you wouldn't have spent the time hating. Also is this your first Encyclopedia Bombastica? If not, I'm expecting to see you go to every past video in the feature and spread your distain to the other staff members that have the NERVE to show their faces while playing a game solo. If your going to hate, at least be consistent.

I really like the name Pixel for a dog.

How much of the story does he touch here? Any major spoilers? I want to watch it but I'm currently playing it. I just got the teleport power, going to Fourside... Got an item for "master" Pokey.

I don't see the sense in being morally against the use of emulators, buy the game first then play the translation via an emulator, with the advancement of TV's the quality of low resolution analog signal is atrocious, emulators preserve history in ways modern technology has ignored. It's great that people will go to extreme lengths to archive older games physically, in my view it's equally great people have archived them digitally, video game history is important and should always be available to its intended audience.

@von_wemberg: In the last half of the video, he covers something that happens in Fourside but really doesn't give any context for it... so minor spoilers? If you still care, just finish Fourside and then watch it.

That voice sample you hear when naming you characters is of series creator Shigesato Itoi saying "OK desu ka?"