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EarthBound Beginnings

EarthBound Beginnings

|Japan|Adventure, Role-playing (RPG)

8.1 /10

Aww Great!

Niche

54 ratings
Trailers & screenshots
Why play it

EarthBound Beginnings is the first installment in the EarthBound / Mother series. It was developed by Ape Inc., Nintendo Tokyo R&D Products, and Pax Softnica, and was published by Nintendo for the Famicom on July 27, 1989. Though officially translated into English under the name EarthBound in 1990 complete with a variety of updates and new content, the planned release of the North American localization was ultimately cancelled due to Nintendo of America ending support for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Despite this, the updates made to the game for the English localization was included in the Japanese Mother 1+2 rerelease for Game Boy Advance in 2003. The English version was finally released on the Wii U Virtual Console on June 14th, 2015, 25 years after its intended release date.

Story and worldbuilding

EarthBound Beginnings follows the young Ninten as he uses his great-grandfather's studies on psychic powers to fight hostile, formerly inanimate objects and other enemies. His adventure leads him to new friends and eventually uncovering an alien plot that must be stopped.

Game highlights
Rating momentum

Aww Great!: 8.1/10 across 54 ratings. Word of mouth is strong — if you like the genre, go for it.

Play style

This is a Expanded game leaning into Adventure, Role-playing (RPG). Confirm the form and fantasy before you commit.

Reviews

1 media reviews

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Nintendo LifeTim Latshaw · 13 Feb, 2022
8/10

It feels like parts of this review might read more like a documentary, but much of the significance of EarthBound Beginnings - of Mother - lies in its spirit and the influence of such on subsequent games. EarthBound is absolutely the overall better title available to folks right now, and those who have yet to play either should definitely start with that. If you do enjoy EarthBound, however, then Beginnings is well worth investigating, especially given mod-cons such as save states and rewinding which help take the rough edges off a formative but less refined game. Sticking through its older style of play, with its difficulty and occasional fluctuations in balance, will yield a fine story and a strangely transcendental sense of nostalgia, like a letter of love written to a child who hadn't even been born yet.

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