Old Games: Encyclopedia Bombastica: EarthBound

Oh. He doesn't have a console-capture kit and he previously used PC emulation for that Michael Jordan game so I'd say he's playing on PC in that video. Besides, you can see him sitting at his desk and I doubt that's how he'd play the console game. Also, there's only one save state available on Wii U so he surely has used one later than where he is in that video.

Hope that explains it.

@captburgundy: the original pitch for it was just to give video content to every game in the giant bomb wiki.

I love this game so much, it's the only rom I have for my Windows Phone SNES emulator. That way i can play it anywhere I am. I own the original cartridge from when it first came out in North America btw... back in the THIS GAME STINKS era

Really hope Nintendo releases this for the 3DS eShop at some point.

Missed opportunity to name the character Bess, Baula, and Boo

If I were to ever get a Wii U, I might have to get this game. It's aggressive weirdness sure does seem to compensate for the basic mechanics.

If I were to ever get a Wii U, I might have to get this game. Its aggressive weirdness sure does seem to compensate for the basic mechanics.

He might have bought an El Gato! There's no need to jump to piracy!

My sister would not have become a gamer if not for Earthbound.

It's ironic that Nintendo had one of the best possible cross gender appeal games since 1994 and basically just tossed it in the trash bin.

Fingers crossed that it gets relased on 3DS...no way in hell I'll ever buy a WiiU.

Played the fan translation of Mother 3 a while back. Pretty amazing game, wish they would have brought it over.

Hey Patrick, I'm glad you are giving this game the attention it deserves.

@patrickklepek Bound Together is a fantastic remix album of the game's soundtrack.

http://www.wushuplaya.com/boundtogether/

I actually prefer when someone has their face on video when doing something. If I wanted to just watch a game I would play it. I like hearing and seeing the person's reactions. Which is why i am still super happy someone bought Patrick that night vision webcam for Spookin' With Scoops.

Earthbound and Mother 3 are definitely one of my favorite JRPG games. I should make it a yearly or bi-yearly thing to replay the games.

In a lot of ways I think the fan translation for Mother 3 is BETTER than what Nintendo would produce. There is a lot of stuff in that game that could just be butchered by censorship-- references to religion, drug use, sexuality, gender politics...

Moreover I think it takes more effort than even Earthbound/Mother 2's official english translation to capture Itoi's unique style of writing

The dude at 32:13 totally looks like Ryan.

Nice video Patrick

If Earthbound ever comes out on a platform that I own, I'll play it. Until then...well, it seems pretty awesome.

I would think the chances of Mother 3 ever seeing an official translation are pretty much nil. It's a shame though; I've been playing it using the fan translation (which is remarkably well done and hews close to the humor and style of Earthbound) and it's a lot of fun. Definitely looking forward to the fan-created Mother 4 later this year as well, which also seems to preserve the style.

Eight minutes in, I had to shut it off. I feel like this is a game I have to experience completely blind. This'll probably be the first thing I buy if and when I eventually nab a WiiU.

I think the guy 52 seconds in looks like Ryan...but once I get 32 mins in we will see who is right.

Earthbound and Final Fantasy VI were the two games that created a unique bond between my once best friend and I when we were just kids. Thanks Patrick for this video!

@baldgye: it's funny and really kind of sad that the first time I played Earthbound was on a PSP. It is a wonderful pocket game.

Nintendo needs a combo Earthbound and Mother 3 3DS release..

@cooljammer00: If you own something on one platform where is the moral issue with emulation?

@patrickklepek: For someone who only just played this game recently, this is a worthy encyclopaedic entry.

Yes. My copy of the OST has it as a sound effect track, translated as "Ok 'ska", which is a jokey hybrid of O.K.? and So desu ka? Meaning simply, "is that ok?"

The official player's guide is a really great companion for the game. It's written more like a travel guide, which fits with the game really well and provides lots of extra information. Nintendo scanned it and made it gamepad/tablet friendly (http://earthbound.nintendo.com/playersguide/).

I've never actually seen Earthbound running, the graphics are pretty crisp. I'm surprisingly impressed.

My very first play through of EB I chose Pizza as my favorite food. It was the best and only full play through ever.

As someone else who hasn't, to me, it just looks like an NES game with some fancy background effects.

Granted, that's what it was, but still...

I'm just gonna leave this out here: you can be really gross with the favorite homemade food question since your mom will offer it to you later. Immature? Sure. Funny? Absolutely.

Also, I still wish this was getting the Endurance Run treatment.

It makes sense that he does, though. In the Encyclopedia Bombastica feature, everybody puts their face in. In Spookin' With Scoops, half the fun is seeing Patrick's face react to the scares. Other than that, I agree with you that a face can be distracting. But given that he's not in the Giant Bomb offices anymore, I'm fine with him putting his face in stuff, otherwise we'd never see him.

My only problem with Patrick's style is that he tends to overanalyze stuff a lot, which, I mean, is fine--he's an analytical guy and I'm glad he looks at games in a deeper way--but sometimes I'd rather just watch him experience a game instead of narrating every second of it and the genre and giving context to the game's place in the pantheon of video games and how every mechanic works and etc. In an Encyclopedia Bombastica, sure, it makes sense. But like, in Quick Looks, I remember occasionally wishing he'd turn off that noggin of his for 20 minutes and just enjoy the game. Like the Dishonored one. Man, you could make a drinking game for how many times he said "these types of games."

Not trying to criticize too much or make a big deal out of it. This stuff is hard and I have no idea what weird quirks I'd have recording video like this. Just wanted to throw my two cents out there as some hopefully constructive criticism. Thanks for playing through Earthbound, Patrick. Such an awesome game. Glad to see it finally get its due.

See, I can't play horror games, and I watch every Spookin' with Scoops - the cam pointing at him is so perfect in that feature, and I essentially expect it now with every Patrick video. Especially since we don't see him on UF anymore, for obvious reasons.

As for him analyzing stuff.. yeah, I mean, that's what he does. It's him. Doesn't bother me at all, but then again I'm not the type of guy who gets super worked up about anything.. although, the lack of Brad running during the Rayman Legends QL nearly caused me to have a stroke.

Anyhow. Keep it up Scoops.

This was the REAL third best video.

I can see why people hold this game in such reverence.

I can see why people hold this game in such high reverence.

I wrote a tweet to Patrick about the fact that he seems to not realize you can push R to contextually talk/check/read whatever's in front of you instead of using that asinine menu. He apparently played through the entire game not knowing that...holy crap...I figured that out very quickly because I thought there was no way a game released in 1995 or whenever still had only the old Dragon Quest system of doing things.

Localize Mother 3, please!

@captburgundy

You'd be a better troll account for hating on Patrick if every Encyclopedia Bombastica didn't have a facecam of the person playing. I'd refer to you by a name that implies you are stupid, but that would be a waste of effort on my part because you've done such a great job of pointing that out yourself.

You and abdo should be ashamed of yourselves. I don't read comments on this site often, I prefer to browse through smaller forum topics where people have meaningful discussions. However, it's been nice, at least in my case, to not see a lot of the absurdly petty bullshit that was so prevalent in comments and in the forums prior to July. The majority of these comments are positive, even the spam comment is more enjoyable than the filth you two spat.

CaptBurgundy, you're just spreading hate. abdo, you're acting like you helped create EB, like you run the site and it's your definition that determines what the feature should be. It's not though, the feature is whatever GB wants it to be, and if anyone on staff thought this wasn't okay it probably never would have seen the light of day. Way to fling shit around a site and a community that has been collectively more positive than any other place on the web over the last couple months.

cc @abdo

@von_wemberg: I'd say watch up until you get to the part where he says he's going to spoil, because you're not there yet, and it's one of the best bits of the game.

Maybe you can see a little of yourself in Poo?

I am incredibly shocked that this holds up. I've always thought people that sung it's praises were a bit crazy, but if Patrick can call it one of his all time favorites and played it only recently, then I suppose it might be worth checking out.

This game's tone always reminds me of Maniac Mansion for some reason.

I need to get around to this one day.

The more recent game design forgets the wisdom of the past, the less this reaction occurs.

I'm so glad that Patrick loves this game.