I played EarthBound without any nostalgia for it and with relatively few expectations. My overall impression was that it was broadly enjoyable despite its moments of tedium; frequently clever and fun, but never really taking its oddball setting much farther than vague pseudo-satire. It's storytelling meanders between a delightfully absurd jumble of earnest heroism, creeping horror, offbeat comedy, and wild psychedelia, all of which help to keep the experience varied and unexpected.

The game has a number of small mechanical twists that demonstrate its "not like other JRPGs" philosophy pretty nicely, as well as a number of aesthetic changes to the usual genre trappings that are fun to puzzle out (e.g. figuring out what the heck the "crying uncontrollably" status does).

Actual moment-to-moment gameplay can be rather tedious to at times, despite the twists; I recommend leaning on emulator save states (if available) to avoid retreading a dungeon if you whiff a boss fight. There is an in-built hint system that's also quite handy, so you'll pretty rarely need to look up anything even if you're playing casually.

A lot of folks have a deep connection to this game that comes from playing it at a formative time, and I can certainly appreciate how impactful that can be. For me, EarthBound didn't manage to pull on my heartstrings at all; its own irreverence and paper-thin characters got in the way of any real emotional investment.

That said, it was consistently fun to see what kind of nonsense the game had hidden around each subsequent corner, and that's a perfectly good reason to play. I liked it well enough!

"Ness thought he heard his mother from far away."

Earthbound has been a presence in my life since I was a child, though initially it was from quite a distance. I would see the game referenced in magazine articles, or ScrewAttack Top 10s. I would see it mentioned in forum posts as an underrated classic, ballooning in importance as the years went on until it was eventually championed as one of the all time great video games. When Earthbound was released for the Wii U in 2013, I finally had a chance to play it. I enjoyed it quite a bit, but somehow got stuck in Twoson and dropped the game there. Many years later it was again rereleased, this time for the Switch. "Finally, I can redeem myself and finish Earthbound." I thought. Once again, my playthrough ended in Twoson. Years have passed, and I'm happy to report that over a decade after my first attempt to play Earthbound, I've finally rolled credits. It is an odd feeling.

Earthbound has plenty of faults. Its battle system is pretty good, but can be overbearing at times when there exist some fights that simply will not let you win. Endgame enemies deflection your damage and causing a guaranteed HP loss for multiple party members upon death is a good idea to force cautious resource management on the player, but by the time you've reached that final dungeon you're probably too busy wanting the game to be over to be welcoming of that added stress. Earthbound's narrative progression is gated by a lot of little fetch quests and point A to B navigation, none of which are particularly obtuse but some of which definitely grate. Completing a dungeon only to be told you have to spend 10 minutes returning to a prior area, talking to an NPC, and then going back to the dungeon location to continue to the story happens on several occasions and it never feels like anything other than padding. The game ultimately feels quite a bit longer than it should.

The core of the game's content is quite strong, however. Bosses are fun and interesting, a lot of the enemies are charming and likeable, and every area you enter has great appeal. The art and music are unique as hell, and lends the game an irresistible charm. No other game has ever quite managed to have the 'flavor' of an Earthbound, even a game like Undertale that you can tell is trying its hardest. I think that's because, for all its irreverence, Earthbound is hiding within itself one of video gaming's most melancholy hearts. The nostalgia people have for Earthbound today is due to the game itself being a total pincer attack - on one hand, you have its inimitable style, and on the other, it's a game very much about nostalgia itself.

I remember the first time I played Earthbound, back in 2013. I was still in high school, though not for long. I would finish school and come home most days to walk my dog and handle errands around the house. Often I'd snack on a few strawberries - my favorite fruit. Eventually my mom would come home. She'd cook dinner, we'd all eat, and after dishes were done I'd head to my room to do homework or watch TV or play a game. Usually the latter. Playing Earthbound now, I can't help but reflect on those days. Things are a lot harder now - that's how it goes everyone, right? Things get tougher the older you get and the less connected you get from the way things used to be. One thing people do to help cope is to remember. Remember sitting down with their family and eating their favorite meal. Remember their childhood friends playing a game at the park. Remember their mother's laugh when they would tell a silly joke. As we get old, we all go through a terribly difficult journey, each our own. We battle forces from outside as well as within. Often, we overcome them. We forge our paths with determination, vision, and love. And that courage and love doesn't come from nothing, it gets instilled in us when we are young. By our mothers, our fathers, our teachers, our friends. It is through them that we are made to become the versions of ourselves that can overcome trials and succeed at tasks once unimaginable. And it is through our memories of them that we can keep ourselves level.

Yesterday was Mother's Day. I couldn't afford to buy my mother a gift. She smiled at me and we ate quiche and strawberries.