"Your average policeman is stronger than any superhero!"
- Cop, Onett

I've been sitting in front of this keyboard at a complete loss for the last ten or twenty minutes or so. My task at hand seems simple enough, as the subject material is something I've always felt I could self-indulgently prattle on about, but when it finally comes down to being able to write an appropriate introduction to a video game that irrefutably changed my life like Earthbound did, I feel a bit flustered as this game has become so much a part of me that writing an introduction to this game is almost like writing about the contents of my soul(hyperbolic, perhaps but fuck it). I suppose so I will begin with setting the scene.

It was one of those aimless, wasted days of my youth cerca 1995. School was out for the summer and unfortunately my inclination towards playing outside or throwing the ball around with the other kids outside was very low on my list of priorities, almost to the point of embarassment.

Actually, I suppose there is really no point in living in denial, I spent most of my childhood shamelessly cooped up in the basement of my parents house playing video games, but can you really blame me? I was living amidst a golden age that I was relatively oblivious about. The mid 90s were a time when one could close their eyes and pick a random RPG from the rental store and you'd pretty much be guaranteed an absolute classic. This was a time when companies like Squaresoft were putting out such classics as Final Fantasy III, Secret Of Mana, and Chrono Trigger, while Enix were putting out overlooked but still unbelievable classics such as Ogre Battle, Robotrek, and Illusion of Gaia. It was a time when the RPG genre was still just a niche, a conversation about them only seemed to be appropriately communicated with hushed whispers in only the most elitist of gaming circles. It was a time where Final Fantasy had yet to become a household name in the gaming community. Keeping all of this in mind, it still seems unbelievable that a game like Earthbound came and went through the gaming community with little to no fanfare. Sadly, it was a game I don't think North American audiences were quite ready for.

Nintendo, to their credit, poured a decent amount of effort into marketing this game as the game that would break the RPG market in America. Honestly though, I can't think of a less likely candidate to be a huge financial success. The game's sense of humor of off-kilter character design, dysfunctional monsters, and bizarre, fourth wall smashing dialogue were a treat to some but a headscratching anomaly to most. Despite the games realistic beginnings of wandering the streets of modern suburbia, there was always just something a little "off" in Earthbound's design. This was a game that's western appeal was merely skin deep, but what lay under the surface was just as distinctly Japanese as a poorly dubbed Godzilla flick, and had more or less the same amount of cult appeal.

Earthbound's charm cannot possibly be understated. It was without a doubt the most refreshing gaming experience my nine-year-old mind had been privileged too, and thirteen years later I've yet to find a game to even enter that same stratosphere. Even these days I still find myself coming back to Ness, Paula, Jeff, and Poo for a every couple years just like I would visit any old friend, and even though I've been playing it for over half my life, every time I come back I feel I've just experienced something life-changing and bewildering all over again.

I mean, what other game can simultaneously send chills down my spine and bring a tear to my eye?