History EarthBound / TropesAToG

* BleakLevel: The final area of the game, Cave of the Past. It has a washed out white and grey color palette, and there seems to be no signs of life beyond the very strong late-game enemies you fight.

* AluminiumChristmasTrees: One of the Fourside newspapers mentions that Lucky, a member of the Runaway Five was a member of the state House of Representatives. This seems like another of the game's non-sequitur combinations of fun and serious, but rock stars have actually had very serious side-gigs. Brian May of Music/{{Queen}} has a doctorate in astrophysics, the singer of one-hit wonder The Vapors is now one of the most respected copyright lawyers in England, and most impressive of all, the frontman of alt-rock band Music/MidnightOil has since become a long-serving and respected member of the Australian parliament, its equivalent to the house of representatives

* CreativeClosingCredits: The background of the credits feature all of the photos taken by the flying photographer (the one that says, "Say, 'Fuzzy Pickles'!") The more photos you collect, the [[GottaCatchEmAll more complete the slide show is.]]

* GangBangers: The Sharks.

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

** While Ness [[MightyGlacier hits hard and has high HP, he's very slow]], so enemies usually get to go first. This means that every battle, even if Ness is capable of one shotting the enemy, he's still likely to take damage before he can do so and get whittled down. This is especially bad when facing multiple enemies at once, where Ness will be battered several times before even getting a chance to act. The rolling HP mechanic helps, but at this early point, not only does Ness not have enough HP to take full advantage of it yet, but most of the enemies aren't dealing enough damage in one hit for the HP to roll down for much longer than a couple seconds at most. The player can easily be left in a HealingLoop. Combining this issue with the PP recovery issue, PSI Rockin, Ness's only option for multi-target attacking's expensive PP cost (10 for α, 14 for β) has limited usage.

* EnfantTerrible: Porky takes this trope [[UpToEleven to a whole new and scarier level.]]

* BlindingBangs: Porky's and Picky's, although they seem to see just fine. They make Porky look like more of a slob and tie Picky to Porky visually, so that was probably the reason behind the design decision.

* DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist: While you lose half your money when your party is defeated, the ability to keep your money in an ATM (plus the fact that money usually is added to your ATM account rather than given directly to you) basically means that you never need to lose ANY amount of money. A game over is more or less an inconvenience, rather than any sort of peril to avoid.\\
It's worth it to note that dying and continuing leads to only your front character being alive (and with no PP). In certain areas, this leads to some difficult situations.

** In the Japanese version, Porky and his brother are beaten off camera by their father after you bring them back home at the start of the game. In the American version, the sound effect was changed to the one later used when enemies use "verbal attacks" (which has its own implications relating to emotional abuse), though Porky still ends up being banned from dessert for the rest of the decade (of course, since the game takes place in [[YearX 199X]], it's unclear exactly how harsh this punishment is). Their mother is also strongly implied to be abusive, as she says that her husband is "too soft" on them. At ''best'', she's terribly neglectful, as she clearly doesn't care a bit when the abuse is happening right in front of her, or even when [[spoiler:Porky disappears off the face of the earth]].
** Also, when you talk to Porky after that off-camera incident, he'll say, "My butt hurts!" in the original version, while in the U.S. version, he says, "My dad really got after me. He said I get no dessert for the rest of the decade..."

** There's also a [[InUniverse planning]] [[DevelopmentHell meeting]] for [[VideoGame/{{MOTHER 3}} [=EarthBound=] 2]] in Fourside. Which only twists the knife if you live [[NoExportForYou outside Japan]].

* DrunkOnMilk: Jackie's Cafe in Fourside was actually originally called "[[DubNameChange Borges]]'s Bar" in the Japanese version (a [[ShoutOut nod]] to Creator/JorgeLuisBorges) but was changed due to Nintendo's censoring guidelines. Of course, this means that the guy who is slightly pink and keeps drinking his "coffee" is...

* DrunkOnMilk: Jackie's Cafe in Fourside was actually originally called "[[DubNameChange Borges]]'s Bar" in the Japanese version but was changed due to Nintendo's censoring guidelines. Of course, this means that the guy who is slightly pink and keeps drinking his "coffee" is...

* DrunkOnMilk: Jackie's Cafe in Fourside was actually originally called "[[DubNameChange Boris]]'s Bar" in the Japanese version but was changed due to Nintendo's censoring guidelines. Of course, this means that the guy who is slightly pink and keeps drinking his "coffee" is...

You can view the main page [[VideoGame/{{EarthBound}} HERE!]]

** The Teddy Bear is a variation on this, since as long as you have it in your inventory, enemies have a chance to attack it instead of a party member until it takes too much damage and is destroyed; helpfully, this also applies to status-inducing moves, which are just plain wasted on the bears wtih no drawback to the player. Early on in the game, it's exceptionally useful for protecting yourself, and the one Paula comes with can help protect her long enough for her to start catching up to Ness. Later on, however, as your party grows, the enemy has more of a chance of hitting your party members(especially with [[HerdHittingAttack multi-target PSI spells]]) and the Teddy Bear is no longer durable enough to withstand those attacks.
** Ness's dog (default name King) is a more standard example. He's completely optional to recruit (he's only available when Ness and Pokey go to look for Picky), enemies can't target him, and he randomly acts in battle to help take down the carious dogs, crows and snakes that show up on the way to the meteor. Once you ''reach'' the meteor, he books it and never rejoins.

* CrutchCharacter: The Teddy Bear is a variation on this, since as long as you have it in your inventory, enemies have a chance to attack it instead of a party member until it takes too much damage and is destroyed; helpfully, this also applies to status-inducing moves, which are just plain wasted on the bears wtih no drawback to the player. Early on in the game, it's exceptionally useful for protecting yourself, and the one Paula comes with can help protect her long enough for her to start catching up to Ness. Later on, however, as your party grows, the enemy has more of a chance of hitting your party members(especially with [[HerdHittingAttack multi-target PSI spells]]) and the Teddy Bear is no longer durable enough to withstand those attacks.

* CrutchCharacter: The Teddy Bear is a variation on this, since as long as you have it in your inventory, enemies have a chance to attack it instead of a party member until it takes too much damage and is destroyed. Early on in the game, it's exceptionally useful for protecting yourself, and the one Paula comes with can help protect her long enough for her to start catching up to Ness. Later on, however, as your party grows, the enemy has more of a chance of hitting your party members(especially with [[HerdHittingAttack multi-target PSI spells]]) and the Teddy Bear is no longer durable enough to withstand those attacks.

* CerberusSyndrome: [[spoiler: The game for a majority focuses on giving the player specific emotions, Happiness, Sadness and Humour … when you reach the Cave Of The Past the game only tries to make you feel one specific emotion throughout the entire dungeon: Fear.

-->[[spoiler:'''Pokey''': Do you want to scream for help here in the dark?! ... I know you have telepathy, or something, so just '''''[[NiceJobFixingitVillain try and call for help]]'''''...]]