Bound for Earth, or Low-Key Entertainment
Remember the 1994 SNES classic RPG 'EarthBound' (known in Japan as 'Mother 2')? It was (and is still) a gem of a game, though it shows none of the marks of a gem or a classic. Music? Bleeps, blips, corny melodies sounding like they came straight out of the '70's. Graphics? Nothing to write home about, save for some interesting psychedelic backgrounds. Story? Four teenage kids, armed with baseball bats, yo-yos, frying pans and pop guns, set out into a world of fart jokes, Beatles references and Mr. T lookalikes to defeat Giygas, the Universal Cosmic Destroyer. Not really material for an epic movie (though if they did decide to make one, I'd probably be there on opening night). Gameplay? Good for one go-through, maybe two, but it lacks any real replay value.
So what is it that makes the game so great? How did it gain such a large cult following in Japan (and a smaller but equally devoted one here)? By every measure it looks to range from mediocre to okay, certainly nothing spectacular. But it has a certain je ne sais quoi, a certain charm, that still eludes the Final Fantasies and the Lord-of-the-Rings epic fantasy RPGs out there. Maybe it's that same je ne sais quoi that so distinguished the Matrix from its spinoff movies, Reloaded and Revolutions. Maybe there's something to be said for keeping a production low-key while at the same time pushing the envelope. EarthBound was revolutionary in that it was one of the first RPGs not to be set in a fantasy-style environment and not to rely so much on graphics for its popularity.
Both EarthBound and the Matrix did keep their worlds well-contained, not trying to stretch beyond their capacities. Yes, in EarthBound you fight such weird villains as New Age Retro Hippies, Abstract Art paintings and Li'l UFO's, but at the same time it never strains to make anything too grandiose or cinematic (with perhaps the exception of the final boss). The Matrix does push the envelope with the 'Bullet-Time' animation technique, but it also never does anything too over-the-top with it (the most effort being put into the now-famous rooftop bullet-dodging scene).
Two sides of the same coin? Perhaps.
So what is it that makes the game so great? How did it gain such a large cult following in Japan (and a smaller but equally devoted one here)? By every measure it looks to range from mediocre to okay, certainly nothing spectacular. But it has a certain je ne sais quoi, a certain charm, that still eludes the Final Fantasies and the Lord-of-the-Rings epic fantasy RPGs out there. Maybe it's that same je ne sais quoi that so distinguished the Matrix from its spinoff movies, Reloaded and Revolutions. Maybe there's something to be said for keeping a production low-key while at the same time pushing the envelope. EarthBound was revolutionary in that it was one of the first RPGs not to be set in a fantasy-style environment and not to rely so much on graphics for its popularity.
Both EarthBound and the Matrix did keep their worlds well-contained, not trying to stretch beyond their capacities. Yes, in EarthBound you fight such weird villains as New Age Retro Hippies, Abstract Art paintings and Li'l UFO's, but at the same time it never strains to make anything too grandiose or cinematic (with perhaps the exception of the final boss). The Matrix does push the envelope with the 'Bullet-Time' animation technique, but it also never does anything too over-the-top with it (the most effort being put into the now-famous rooftop bullet-dodging scene).
Two sides of the same coin? Perhaps.
posted by Anonymous at 6:41 PM
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