@thewafflrman5326

2 years ago

I'm still really young (only an early teen). I don't have a crazy story but Earthbound is still really important to me. It started when I was a wee child. I was watching Jackspticeye play Undertale for the first time and he briefly mentioned it being inspired by Earthbound or one of the other games from the Mother series. I didn't pay much mind to it until later when I watched Markiplier play Escape the Facility and he encountered the earthbound fight and he got really excited about it. Markiplier mentioned Earthbound a few more times and it really stuck in my mind. I thought of it as a popular old game that a lot of YouTubers used to play. That was really it for me until a few more babby years later. I found out that my mom used to play it and that it was her favorite game when she saw it at a little game shop and immediately bought it. When we got home, she started playing it. Sadly I didn't remember much and because of her weird work schedule. Every time she would continue to play it, I'd be asleep. At this point I really liked Earthbound, I thought everyone knew it and that was it for most of my years. Until... After we moved and settled down, I as a new teenager had wanted to actually talk to my mom about something other than Art tips and the downward spiraling of my grades, So, I asked her what happened to earthbound and if we could play some of the soundtracks in the car. (She was always enthusiastic about the game and played her favorite themes in the car). We did, and I asked her a few questions. The way we spent time together was, On her off days from work and if the house was clean and she wasn't feeling exhausted, she come into the living room and we'd play a game together or I'd convince her to play a game I loved and I would watch her play. Well, since she finally finished her first run of Undertale (Pacifist, though I had to REALLY stop her from ruining her perfect run and accidentally killing a monster), I asked her if I could watch her play Earthbound again because I didn't get to see much of it the last time I saw her play and she turned to me in the car and said, "Do you wanna play?" Needless to say, I was very excited and every day when she was off work, we would sit down with the SNES and she would watch me play Earthbound for the first time. I absolutely fell in love with it. There was nothing I really hated in the game (except for a few annoying things here and there) and I always would joke around about the characters. I loved every enemy and I never really got mad when I was feelin funky or when I was diamondized. I could really just appreciate the entire game. Earthbound was easily my favorite game and I really needed to find something to support my newfound obsession with it. Usually, fanfictions, friends who I know that I can about the game to, looking at fanart or TikToks or making my own, reading fan comics, etc but I couldn't oddly enough. I know there's a lot of art and stuff out there but none of it really satisfied me the way the Overwatch, Invader Zim, or Deltarune community did. Mostly because when I asked about it at school, no one knew what it was, not even the boy who brags about being the gamiest gamer and hacker in all the lands and ridicules me about how not playing the old Kingdom Hearts game or knowing every pokemon move in existence. The ONLY person I could talk to about the game was my mother. So I went from thinking that Earthbound was this really popular game that all gamers have played once or twice in their lifetime to thinking that it's a really rare game that no one knows the true beauty of. This happened last month and I already kinda feel nostalgic. I'm a little late to the game but this will never not be my favorite videogame, ever. It's really heartwarming to read everyone else's stories about this peculiar game. It really scares me though that It will eventually be forgotten. I can't help but feel like I want to cry when I discuss amazing games because, with my neverending fear of passing time, I just can't help but think about it. Sorry for the Essay, I need to go cry now. FUN FACT: After I finished Earthbound's sweet ending, both me AND my mom wanted to replay it right there. I was still itching for more genocide and walking around and talking to the amazing characters. And yes, and me and my mother are looking for Mother 1 and 3 to fuel our need for more Earthbound.

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