%% Note: the game's name is "EarthBound", because WeWillUseWikiWordsInTheFuture. NOT "Earthbound" or "Earth Bound". Please keep this in mind when editing.
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/EarthBattle.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[WidgetSeries Yeah]], [[WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs it's kind of like that.]]]]

->"''[=EarthBound=]'' is not just one of the greatest [=RPGs=] of all time. And ''[=EarthBound=]'' is not just one of the greatest games on the Super Nintendo. ''[=EarthBound=]'' is, quite simply, '''one of the greatest games ever made.'''"
-->-- '''WebVideo/TheHappyVideoGameNerd'''

Some games go [[SugarWiki/NeedsMoreLove underappreciated]]. Fewer games go on to become {{cult classic}}s. A small number of games even have fanbases devoted enough to go to any lengths necessary to spread the word for anyone with an ear to listen.

...[[UpToEleven and then there's]] ''[=EarthBound=]''.

''[=EarthBound=]'' is a {{SNES}} RPG that follows the story of Ness, a seemingly normal boy who lives in {{Eagleland}}. Late one night, a meteorite landing outside town awakens Ness. The meteorite brings with it a bee ([[IAmNotWeasel or not]]) from the future, who tells Ness of [[ApocalypseHow its devastation]] at the hands of an indestructible being called [[EldritchAbomination Giygas]] -- a being Ness is destined to defeat. Ness' journey to stop Giygas will take him through time and space to meet the remainder of the [[TheChosenMany Chosen Four]] (Paula, Jeff, and Poo) and collect the Eight Melodies for his SoundStone to unite the power of the Earth as his own.

''[=EarthBound=]'' is also the second of a series of Japanese role playing games known as ''VideoGame/{{MOTHER}}'', an experiment in storytelling in a different medium by Japanese essayist ShigesatoItoi. ''MOTHER 2: [[RevengeOfTheSequel Gyiyg Strikes Back]]'' (''Earthbound's'' Japanese title) serves as a loose sequel to ''VideoGame/{{MOTHER|1}}'', since the two games share the same essential setting ([[{{Eagleland}} an affectionate homage]] to 1950s America). Of the three games in the ''MOTHER'' series, only ''[=EarthBound=]'' has received an official release in North America (as Nintendo has [[NoExportForYou no plans for a North American release]] for ''VideoGame/{{MOTHER 3}}'').

[[WhatCouldHaveBeen Nintendo initially planned to release]] ''MOTHER 1'' in North America as ''Earth Bound'', but Nintendo of America scrapped release plans after finishing work on its translation (the SuperNintendo had already launched, making it Nintendo's major focus). A prototype of the translation surfaced years later in the hands of a collector. The ROM of this translation eventually became known as ''[[VideoGame/{{Mother1}} Earthbound Zero]]''.

Fans remember ''[=EarthBound=]'' primarily for its unusual gameplay: fantasy monster-slaying gives way to a modern-day urban setting. Slingshots, frying pans, and baseball bats take the place of swords, axes, and magic staffs. Rather than goblins and orcs and other fantasy creatures, Ness and his friends battle drunks, hippies, angry taxicabs, a cult dedicated to worshipping the color blue, and ''a giant circus tent''. Most of ''[=EarthBound's=]'' famed humor focuses on how other parts of the world (particularly the Asian region and Japan specifically) views the West. The game also contains references to Music/TheBeatles to The BluesBrothers scattered throughout. As much as fans remember that humor, they also remember ''[=EarthBound's=]'' high level of NightmareFuel. Amongst the major sources of terror: a ''profoundly'' disturbing final dungeon and a final boss whose genuinely chilling MindScrew horror has led to tons and tons of MemeticMutation.

The original North American release of ''[=EarthBound=]'' included an official StrategyGuide with every copy despite costing as much as other games of its day (a sign of how much faith Nintendo had in the game's ability to sell). Because of an odd (and failed) [[http://earthboundcentral.com/2009/01/earthbounds-marketing-campaign/ advertising campaign]], a simplistic visual style (''Earthbound'' came out when ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry's'' advanced graphics had wowed the world), and a general lack of interest in [=RPG=]s (at the time), ''[=EarthBound=]'' didn't sell anywhere near enough copies to pay back Nintendo's significant advertising investment. In the intervening years, ''[=EarthBound=]'' has become a CultClassic (to say the least) that fans fondly remember (and recommend) for its diverse soundtrack, unique gameplay, and undeniable charm. WebVideo/TheHappyVideoGameNerd's half-hour, spoiler-free ''[=EarthBound=]'' review (found at [[http://retrowaretv.com/happy-video-game-nerd-earthbound-reedit/ Retroware TV]] or [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQ4AictvRdU YouTube]]) touches on all of those aspects and more.

''[=EarthBound=]'' spent years sitting on the unofficial list of Most-Requested Virtual Console Titles, most likely due to [[ScrewedByTheLawyers legal issues]] surrounding several songs on the soundtrack, including one battle song that contains a Chuck Berry sample. ''MOTHER 2'' eventually popped up on the WiiU Virtual Console in Japan, but ''[=EarthBound=]'' got no such love...

...until the 17th of April 2013, when Nintendo confirmed that it would release ''Earthbound'' for the [=WiiU=] Virtual Console in North America. It also announced a similar release for the game in Europe, marking the first release of ''Earthbound'' in that region. While fans wait for the Virtual Console release, they'll have to content themselves with a [=ROM=] of the game '''or''' track down an original cartridge -- which, due to intense demand and limited supply, usually doesn't go for less than $200 outside of garage sales and such. (That price usually just means '''the cartridge itself''', too.)

As a side note: Ness and Lucas (the protagonist of ''VideoGame/{{MOTHER 3}}'') [[MarthDebutedInSmashBros are probably best known to Western audiences via their appearances]] in the ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' games.[[hottip:*:They're only known this way in European audiences: [=EarthBound=] was never released in Europe to begin with, though at least the continent is seeing a release in the near future.]]

-----

!! ''VideoGame/EarthBound'' serves as the TropeNamer for the following tropes:
* AlmightyIdiot
* {{Eagleland}}: And, by association, its {{snowclone|s}}:
** EaglelandOsmosis
* NewAgeRetroHippie
* SoundStone
* YouCannotGraspTheTrueForm

!! ...and was the '''former''' Trope namer for:
* {{Wackyland}}: Formerly known as {{Magicant}}

-----

!! ''Earthbound'' contains examples of the following tropes:

* AbusiveParents: In the Japanese version, Porky and his brother are spanked 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 "speaking attacks", the idea being that he's just scolding them.
** 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, Pokey says, "My dad really got after me. He said I get no dessert for the rest of the decade..."
* AddressingThePlayer: Used [[spoiler:in one of the most emotional boss battle endings ever.]]
* AdventureTowns: One city is filled with delinquent children, another has a cultist group just around the corner, another is in the middle of a ZombieApocalypse...
* AerithAndBob: Ness, Jeff, Paula and... [[UnfortunateNames Poo]]? Heck, even Ness may qualify.
** Talk to the Sanchez brothers in the desert between Threed and Fourside. In order, their names are Pancho, Pincho, and ''Tomas Jefferson''.
* AIRoulette: More striking because there are multiple AI moves that do nothing, and still more that ''inflict bad status effects on the enemy that uses them''. Much of this, though, serves to enhance the game's odd world and contribute to the RuleOfFunny.
* AllCavemenWereNeanderthals
* AllInARow
* AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs: Giygas' agents invade Onett in the game's final act.
* AlmostDeadGuy: Buzz Buzz and debatably Everdred.
* AlwaysNight: Threed, at least until the zombie infestation is cleared up.
* AmazingTechnicolorBattlefield: in every battle.
* AmbidextrousSprite: It's the YAWAИUЯ van when facing left. Naturally, due to this trope, the Cyrillic letters are 100% unintentional.
** The same goes for Pokey's heli.
* AnimateInanimateObject: So many enemies. This is a game where stop signs, possessed garbage cans, and anthropomorphic molecules are likely to try and kill you.
* AnotherDimension: Both Moonside and [[{{Wackyland}} Magicant]] are sort of AnotherDimension-PhantomZone hybrids.
* AnthropomorphicFood: The coffee cups.
* ArcVillain: Prominent in the first half of the game, with Frank in Onett, Mr. Carpainter in Twoson and Happy Happy Village, Master Belch in Threed, and Monotoli in Fourside. Though the real Arc Villain of the first half of the game is the Mani Mani Statue, a corrupting illusion device.
* AshFace: Colliding with a person or obstacle when attempting to teleport causes the user to turn black with soot and a smile.
* AttackOfThe50FootWhatever: [[spoiler: When you get to the lost world,]] your size shrinks thanks to how huge everything (including the enemies) are compared to your normal size.
* AutobotsRockOut: [[spoiler:Pokey]]'s battle music starts out 8-bit and simple, reminiscent of ''Dragon Warrior'', the series which inspired this one. A minute in, the instrumentals revert to heavy metal.
* AwardBaitSong: "Smiles and Tears". It had official lyrics in the Japanese instruction booklet, but it didn't have official vocals until 2010.
* AwesomeButImpractical: The Casey Bat.
** The Casey Bat becomes AwesomeYetPractical when trying to find the Sword of Kings. But there are plenty of other relatively useless items covered under this trope, like the Pair of Dirty Socks.
*** [[http://www.baseball-almanac.com/poetry/po_case.shtml What this item is a reference to:]]
** The higher levels of PK Rockin' can feel like this because it requires significantly more PP than any other PSI move in the game. And unlike Paula and Poo, Ness doesn't have access to PSI Magnet to replenish PP. It does have its uses, like when you REALLY need to kill something fast, or when all the enemies are on separate "rows", making it impossible to hit everything with PK Fire.
* AwesomeYetPractical: Bags of Dragonite, the Bottle Rockets, and Jeff's Heavy Bazooka are among some of things.
* BadFuture: According to Buzz Buzz, this was the state of the future under Giygas's control. It was presumably averted with Giygas's defeat.
* BeamMeUpScotty: Giygas never actually said "I feel... h...a...p...p...y...", although many people quote him on this. He said "I'm h...a...p...p...y..." and "I feel... g... o... o... d..." but he never actually said "I feel... h...a...p...p...y...".
* BecauseDestinySaysSo
* BetterThanABareBulb: Brick Road's dungeon [[spoiler: and Dungeon Man]] has tons of signs that lampshade many dungeon cliches.
* BigBadDuumvirate: [[spoiler:Giygas and Pokey Minch]], or so it seems; no-one can be completely sure if they're equals, or if one is pulling the strings of the other.
* BigDamnHeroes:
** "All of a sudden, some guys rushed into the room! It was the Runaway Five!"
** Poo!
** Jeff is this to Ness and Paula, although not the player; you actually have to go save Ness and Paula while playing as Jeff.
** And ''[[spoiler:[[BreakingTheFourthWall the player]]]]''.
* BizarroUniverse: Moonside.
* BlahBlahBlah: If you talk to the officer next to Chief Strong who had scolded you for entering Giant Step, he'll say the following dialogue:
-->'''Police Officer:''' So here you are. You're the little delinquent that came back from Giant Step! Now you listen here... "Don't Enter" means just that-- DO NOT ENTER! You got that? And furthermore... Blah blah Blah blah It's usually those tax evaders who... Blah blah Blah blah We don't enjoy blocking off the roads, you know... Blah blah Blah blah It's usually the local whiners that make a big deal about emergencies and meteorites! Blah blah Blah blah Blah blah
** If you talk to him again:
--->'''Police Officer:''' Didn't you see the "Don't Enter" sign? That means I'm there to stop you when you're on your way out! So pay attention next time... And furthermore... Blah, blah Blah, blah
* BlindingBangs: Porky's and Picky's.
* BookEnds: That red static on the title screen sure looks like [[spoiler:the unstable Giygas being destroyed at the game's end]].
** The second scene of the game and TheStinger open with one of the Minch brothers pounding on your door in the middle of the night.
* BooksThatBite: See EverythingTryingToKillYou.
* BossInMookClothing: Final Starman.
* BoringReturnJourney: Subverted. It's entirely possible to have one after defeating Giygas, but since you can teleport by that point, there's really no reason to.
* BottomlessBladder: There are washrooms, but they're always occupied.
* {{Bowdlerization}}: As one would expect from a game localized in the nineties, there are quite a few of these; [[http://earthboundcentral.com/m2eb/ EarthBound Central compares and profiles them here]].
* BreadEggsBreadedEggs: When Ness takes Paula back to her house and talks to her mother, she says that she has made "a hand-made band-aid. Oooh! That rhymes! I'll call it a Hand-Aid!" This was actually [[{{Woolseyism}} added to the English translation]], as the Japanese version did not give a reason for the Hand-Aid's name.
* BreakingTheFourthWall: The fourth wall is [[SlidingScaleOfFourthWallHardness a bit soft]] in this game.
** In the beginning of the game, if you have your bat without having it equipped and talk to Pokey before leaving your house, he'll specifically tell you to equip it. If you respond no to his question of if you know what equip means, he'll say "'Equip' is used a lot in games like this, but you already knew that..."
** In the FirstTown, a dog tells Ness that he's been possessed by the spirit of the game designer to explain something.
** Those good moles who give you game advice. ''"Oh, I mean in front of you!!"''
** [[spoiler:You, the player, enter your name multiple times throughout the game, under the guise of Jeff's friend Tony contacting you via phone.]]
** Finally, [[spoiler:the ''player'' helps to destroy Giygas, and is thanked by name, as per above.]]
* BrokenBridge: {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d - the Onett police department is famous for closing roads, and are reportedly going for the world record of most roads closed because of emergency.
** Also played straight, in that there is also a literal broken bridge in Peaceful Rest Valley. When you first enter the dungeon, you must take the long way around the bridge, but after you complete the dungeon, it gets fixed and acts as a shortcut back through.
* BumblingDad: Paula's.
* ButThouMust: When Pokey wakes Ness up in the middle of the night, he asks him to help find his younger brother, Picky. If you refuse to help him, Pokey says he will say something that will "[[FelonyMisdemeanor cut you like a knife]]", and then bring up the Yes/No choice again. If you refuse again, he will say that he was just kidding, and won't actually say anything like that, and then asks you again, keeping you in a looped conversation until you say Yes.
* CamelCase: ''VideoGame/EarthBound''.
* CarnivoreConfusion: One of the healing items in the game is the Hamburger. Later on, [[LetsMeetTheMeat you have a conversation with a cow]].
* CelebrityEndorsement: In Japan, ''[=EarthBound=]'' was heavily promoted by [[PeripheryDemographic Takuya]] [[EstrogenBrigade Kimura]] (who is still the ideal man of most Japanese women today) of the boy band SMAP. He was on the advertisements and commercials — granted that the game was also advertised towards young women, there's a likely chance that many women started playing the game because of him. Not only that, but all the nameable characters could be named after the members of SMAP using the "Don't Care" option!
** Similarly, one of the biggest selling points for the series as a whole in Japan was that Itoi is a popular celebrity and the games were something he made, to the point where tagging his name onto the ads was a big part of the campaign.
* ChekhovsGun: [[spoiler:The meteor that kicks off the adventure is used much, ''much'' later to provide what you need for time travel.]]
* ChurchOfHappyology: The Happy-Happyists, who are dedicated to painting everything blue, to the exclusion of all else -- including spouses, children, and even their own needs.
* CircleOfFriendship / ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve: [[spoiler:Giygas is ultimately defeated by people all around the world joining in prayer... including the player.]]
* ClimaxBoss: The Mani Mani Statue.
* CombinedEnergyAttack: The way to defeat Giygas.
* ContinuityNod: Ness's eight Sanctuaries, the places where he finds the Eight Melodies, use for background music a remix of Queen Mary's Lullabye, aka [[VideoGame/{{Mother 1}} the original Eight Melodies]].
** The first time you leave your house during the day, "Pollyanna" (the outdoor theme from ''VideoGame/{{MOTHER|1}}'' before you get any other party members) plays for a few bars before segueing into the Onett theme.
* CopyProtection: Legendary for its unusually fiendish brutality. If you ran the game from a copied cartridge or cartridge-copying device, bad things would happen. Like ''the game suddenly crashing and all your saves getting deleted during the final boss fight,'' for instance.
* CosmicHorrorStory: After the GenreShift from comedy, occurring roughly around the Stonehenge base assault.
* CoversAlwaysLie: On the cover, Ness is reflected in the [[BossInMookClothing Final Starman's]] visor. By the time you ''do'' encounter the Final Starman, you'll be in TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon. The offense? [[spoiler: You're in robotic bodies at that point, so Ness' face is not visible.]]
** It is possible that [[spoiler:the face is Giygas's and not Ness's; Giygas can and does have Ness's face at one point, and Final Starman can be directly taking its orders. The face seems to be inside a sphere, as well.]]
* CrapsackWorld: Eagleland is filled with [[MayorPain corrupt mayors]] (played straight with [[CorruptCorporateExecutive B.H. Pirkle]], subverted with [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Mr. Monotoli]]), gangs, an [[PoliceAreUseless incompetent police force]], [[ApatheticCitizens citizens]] who are anything ''BUT'' [[HumansAreMorons trustworthy]], and wild animals roaming around. In fact, when Ness has to go to Twoson, the cops deal with the situation by [[PoliceBrutality picking a fight with him]] just because he [[DisproportionateRetribution didn't read the sign on the traveller's shack that said "DO NOT ENTER" and went in anyway]]. Summers isn't exactly the nicest place to take a vacation either, thus earning the name "[[MeaningfulName Eternal Tourist Trap]]". And all that's ''before'' Giygas wreaks havoc upon the world. It's no surprise that four children are chosen to do some good for a world of immoral deadbeats.
* CreativeClosingCredits: Say, "Fuzzy Pickles"! Note that each image in Ness' slideshow is 100% accurate, including their statuses at the time. (KO'd characters still have halos over their heads.)
* {{Cult}}: The Happy Happists. Blue, blue...
* CurtainCall: The cast roll at the very end of the game.
* CutTheJuice: When Ness and Jeff inflict enough damage, the Runaway Five burst in, and turn it off by flipping a switch on its back. If you inflict enough damage by its own attack, the Runaway Five turn the robot off a second time because of a glitch.
* DamageOverTime: Whenever a character receives damage or healing, their LifeMeter rolls down or up to the new value over time (rather than instantly), the speed of which is governed by the character's individual "Guts" stat. Side effects like CriticalExistenceFailure do not trigger based on the raw damage a character has received, but the value that's currently shown on their meter instead.
* DamageSpongeBoss: The Clumsy Robot - your party is incomplete for this fight, and the Robot can take a lot of punishment. Worse, sometimes it eats a bologna sandwich ([[FridgeLogic somehow]]) and maxes out its HP again . . . [[spoiler:Except it doesn't. The sandwich does nothing, and the battle dialog actually lies to your face about it.]]
** [[spoiler:In other words, the bologna sandwich's effect [[FridgeBrilliance is nothing but]] [[StealthPun baloney]].]]
* DarkWorld: Moonside, though [[spoiler: it's a hallucination caused by the Mani Mani Statue]].
* DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist: While you lose half your money when your party is defeated, the ability to keep your money in an ATM 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.
** However, near the end of the game the ATMs are replaced by people that charge ridiculous handling fees, which encourages you to carry your hard earned cash on you at all times.
** 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.
* DebugRoom: Fairly elaborate, accessible only with these Game Genie codes: 6B88-54D4, 3188-5404, 3E88-5464. This menu contains, among other things, a {{Kirby}} sprite as the menu cursor -- an artifact left by a HAL Laboratory programmer, perhaps.
** Although, another more well-known debug menu exists as well -- one intended to be used during the game, similar to ''VideoGame/SuperMarioRPG''. This menu is also reachable via one of the options from the former... and is significantly trickier to figure out, since it remains untranslated from Japanese despite the lack of a Japanese font. Only a few words are recognisable as compressed garbled [[IntentionalEngrishForFunny Engrish]] -- "SUND" for Sound, "TRP-T" for Teleport, and "[=GtZStTI=]" for Goods Edit, for example.
* DefeatMeansFriendship: Frank Fly, Everdred, and a few other supporting characters.
* DegradedBoss: The Kraken.
* DesertSkull: You can actually have a conversation with a cattle skeleton in the Dusty Dunes Desert.
* {{Determinator}}: Any character, if their Guts stat is sufficiently high, will hang in there through repeated mortal blows for a very long times - enough, usually, to heal them completely.
** The HitPoints in this game rolls down, much like a odometer in your car. When a character takes enough damage to be knocked out, it will say "X has taken Y points of mortal damage!" but they won't actually die until the meter rolls down to zero. This will lead to you rushing to heal the party member or end the battle before their HP counter rolls down to zero and they die. There's a chance that the game will omit the "mortal" part in the message and the meter will stop at one instead of zero, the chances of this happening depends on the character's Guts stat.
** There's also an item called the "Sudden Guts Pill" that, when used in battle, will temporarily double the character's Guts stat for the duration. However, it's incredibly rare, and the one shop that has it sells it at a ridiculous price.
* TheDevTeamThinksOfEverything: In the PlayableEpilogue, Ness can finally return the map to the Onett library and the bike to the Twoson bicycle shop. How considerate!
** If you take said bike into the rain forest in said epilogue and ride it through the puddles, it gets its own unique sound effect that never plays at any other point in the game.
** You're in a cave, where you need to give monkeys a certain item so they'll let you pass. Depending on the items that you have, this may or may not turn into a ChainOfDeals-type quest. There are two monkeys that ask for Hamburgers... however, Double Burgers also fit the requirement.
* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: [[spoiler: Ness didn't, Paula didn't, Jeff didn't, Poo didn't, but '''''you, the player, sure as hell did!''''']]
* DismantledMacGuffin: In musical form: the Eight Melodies, scattered across the Your Sanctuary locations, combine to form the Sound Stone's song.
* DisproportionateRetribution: [[spoiler: Porky's motivation for the remainder of the game.]]
* DontExplainTheJoke: In the Japanese version, the welcome sign for Twoson tells you that it is the second town and asks, "Did you notice?" The English version [[{{Woolseyism}} handles this]] by saying, "We got this name because we weren't first."
* DoomyDoomsOfDoom: The Plague Rat OF DOOM.
* DubNameChange: Too many to list, but worthy of note is that the [[TropeNamers trope-naming]] New Age Retro Hippie was more simply known as a "carefree guy" in the Japanese version, with the English translation giving the trope name. Threek was changed to Threed due to an oversight by the original writers -- although it was most likely intended to sound like a combination of "three" and "eek!" due to the zombies, Nintendo of America didn't want people misreading it as "Three K," in other words, "KKK."
* DuelBoss: Ness's Nightmare. Also, the bosses encountered before rescuing Paula - Frank Fly, Frankystein Mk. II, Titanic Ant, and Mr. Carpainter.
** If you gave Ness a different name, then Ness's Nightmare will be [[TheDevTeamThinksOfEverything renamed accordingly as well]]!
* EasterEgg: Early in the game, the police chief will explain that "...kids like you should be at home playing Nintendo games in a time like this!"
** Then again, if you go back to Onett later on, you'll find the police chief talking about how he's having a hard time playing this game called ''[=EarthBound=]''.
*** If you visit a certain are in Onett after defeating Giygas, you can read a newspaper that has a story about Onett's police chief completing EarthBound, and asks, "Where is the sequel?".
** There's also a [[DevelopmentHell planning meeting]] for [[VideoGame/{{Mother 3}} [=EarthBound=] 2]] in Fourside.
*** Which only twists the knife if you live [[NoExportForYou outside Japan]].
** One of the Sharks, a local gang Ness fights early in the game, asks if you'd like to join. The correct response in order to continue the plot is "no". Answering "yes" will prompt the gang member to tell you to come back after completing ''[=EarthBound=]''.
* EccentricTownsfolk: Hippies, Angry Ladies, Drunks...
* EdibleThemeNaming: The Apple Kid and Orange Kid.
* ElaborateUndergroundBase: Giygas's army has one at Stonehenge.
* EldritchAbomination: Giygas.
* EldritchLocation: Moonside. Also, it's entirely possible that Giygas is sufficiently large and amorphous that once he's released from the Devil's Machine, he is one of these of his own accord instead of being just an EldritchAbomination.
* ElementalTiers: Elemental attacks have different areas of effect. Ice is a single-target, Fire hits a whole row but does less damage, and Lightning targets a random enemy and is prone to missing frequently unless there are many enemies. So even if you're facing a lightning-vulnerable boss you probably want to use ice, and same goes for if the fire-weak enemies are on multiple rows.
* EmergencyTransformation: Dr. Andonuts transplants the heroes' souls into robot bodies. Without them, you can't chase Giygas into the distant past.
* EnlightenmentSuperpowers: This is how Prince Poo gets two critical level ups. [[spoiler: Coupled with a JourneyToTheCenterOfTheMind, it's also how Ness gets his biggest level up of the game going into the GrandFinale.]]
* EscapeRope: The Exit Mice. They can even be found in [[ThatOneLevel long dungeons]]!
* EpilepticFlashingLights: Moonside.
* [[spoiler:EveryoneJoinTheParty: While fighting the BigBad, the only way to beat him is to use the up until then useless skill "Pray," which causes all the [=NPCs=] in the world, plus the player, to pray together, which destroys him.]]
* EverythingTryingToKillYou: Animals, stop signs, hippies, robots, animate ''cups of coffee'', and [[OurMonstersAreWeird a hundred other weird monsters]], including those god-damn exploding trees!
* EvilTowerOfOminousness: The Monotoli Building.
* {{Expy}}: Ness, Paula and Jeff are near-identical to their original ''Mother'' counterparts Ninten, Ana, and Loid, and even hold many of the same abilities. Frank Fly appears to be an expy of Teddy, but he's not playable.
** The main two of The Runaway Five (Lucky and Gorgeous) bare a striking resemblance to TheBluesBrothers.
** The Starmen feature an uncanny resemblance to the...figure in the infamous 'Solway Firth' photograph. [[http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/solwaystarman_5765.jpg Note the white suit/skin, the dark visor where the eyes should be, and the Starman's trademark Superman pose.]]
* FanSequel: [[http://cogdis.tazmily.com/ Cognitive Dissonance]]. - or Fan Prequel, rather.
** Not to mention it heavily inspired ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}''; the name of which is intended as a ShoutOut to this game.
* FantasyCounterpartCulture
** {{Eagleland}}: Both the TropeNamer and a solid Flavor 1.
** {{Wutai}}: Dalaam
** {{Qurac}}: Scaraba
** DarkestAfrica: Deep Darkness
** Winters has features of Britain (albeit with [[SlippySlideyIceWorld even worse weather]]), and Summers is a vaguely southern European resort town.
* FightWoosh: There are four different kinds. The gray woosh means that the battle will go on as normal. Sneak up behind an enemy to get a [[color:green:green woosh]] and a surprise attack. Don't let the enemy sneak up behind you or you'll get a [[color:red:red woosh]] and ''they'll'' get a surprise attack on ''you!'' The fourth kind is the spiky one used for bosses.
* [[FiveManBand Four Man Band]]:
** TheHero: Ness
** TheLancer / TheChick: Paula
** TheSmartGuy: Jeff
** TheBigGuy: Poo
** And an oddly straight example, The Runaway Five! An actual band made up of five people (actually six with the keyboardist who is only seen on stage... seven if you count Venus).
* ForcedLevelGrinding: A little, mostly just to get Ness and Paula's levels up early in game.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: "Ness! Now, I... well... It's going to seem like I'm running away, but perhaps I'll just [[VideoGame/{{Mother 3}} sneak away to another era]] to think about my next plan."
* FollowTheLeader: The Tengi Makyou/Far East Of Eden, which shares this series's offbeat humour, with hilarious writings, taking place in a fictional Japan based on exaggerated conceptions by the west. The fourth one even takes place in a fictional America, with hilarious results. The first game appeared after Mother 1, in 1989. It unfortunately shares its NoExportForYou status.
* TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou: [[spoiler:Inverted; the fourth wall doesn't protect Giygas from ''you'']].
* FreeRangeChildren: The Chosen Four themselves, as well as some of their [[GuestStarPartyMember friend]][[NonPlayerCharacter s]] from around the region.
* FromBeyondTheFourthWall: [[spoiler: You kill Giygas. You, personally, called by your name when everything else has failed.]]
* GettingCrapPastTheRadar:
** The person in the hotel room in Twoson when you first arrive, who's been Mushroomized. S/he asks "Do I have a mushroom on my head?" Ness answers "Yes," and the person says "That's what I thought... Recently, I couldn't walk quite right. It's because of this mushroom. [[MushroomSamba It's actually kind of fun, so I'll leave it there]]." DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything?
** "You will be gone, and you'll be burning in... Well, you'll go to heaven!"
** "You strange, unmasked fellow! Don't go to heaven!" Actually, this line was left intact from the Japanese version.
** One grandma asks Ness if he has grandchildren. If he answers "Yes", her answer is hilarious. Also, when you control Jeff for the first time, Tony's attempt to help you escape is rather... um.
** On some occasions, they had literally got the word "Crap" past the radar.
** When Picky and Pokey's father beats them, the sound effect was changed to something sounding a bit more cartoony in the American release. However, the implications of child abuse was ''not'' lost on any older gamer.
* GirlOfMyDreams: Can happen with Ness -- if he sleeps in inns before he battles the Happy Happyists, he will receive psychic pleas from the imprisoned Paula. And it also happens with Jeff, who receives similar psychic pleas from Paula when she and Ness are trapped in Threed.
* GlobalCurrency: Slightly more acceptable here. Sure, the world only uses one currency, but it's ''dollars''. And stuff in other countries is more expensive, but this may be because of the SortingAlgorithmOfWeaponEffectiveness, and one of the last towns is a tourist resort. The signs for stores in other countries also make a point of stating that they do indeed accept Eagleland currency, something real foreign stores would do to promote tourist spending.)
** It starts to get ridiculous though when a FLOATING KINGDOM only accessible by teleportation is seen to accept them...
* GoBackToTheSource: Ness and the others must fight Giygas at a point in time when he was much weaker.
* GoodHurtsEvil: How Giygas meets his end.
* GoodMorningCrono: {{Justified|Trope}} by the fact that the game begins in the middle of the night. The main character is wide awake by the time the sun rises.
* GuestStarPartyMember: Quite a few, ranging from Porky, his brother Picky, Ness's dog King, an [[ItMakesSenseInContext alien insect from the future]], Jeff's friend Tony, to an {{invisib|ility}}le man with a unibrow and a gold tooth, a [[ItMakesSenseInContext giant animated tower, to inanimate teddy bears, demonic ghosts that can possess you, and manifestations of Ness's subconscious]]. Some of them are more useful than others.
** In the last moments of the final battle with Giygas, [[spoiler:the player -- as in, the one holding the controller -- as in, ''YOU'']] join the party. And it is ''awesome.''
* GuideDangIt: Figuring out that you're supposed to [[spoiler:pray]] in the final battle can be tough without checking a guide, as the game only drops a few subtle hints.
-->[[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]]'''''!]]
** Buzz Buzz does somewhat tell you even from the start. His final words are of you having to "unite with the Earth's power". This can be seen as [[spoiler:both having to find all Eight Melodies and as uniting all as one in prayer.]]
** Possibly making it even tougher is when, the eighth time you [[spoiler:pray]], you get a message saying "Paula's [[spoiler:prayer]] was absorbed by the darkness." This can make players think that [[spoiler:prayer]] no longer works and you're supposed to return to simply beating Giygas up again. Actually, you're supposed to [[spoiler:pray]] AGAIN, one last time, to finish the battle.
** Original copies of the game were bundled with the complete strategy guide at no extra charge. So if you must shout "guide dang it!" [[ReadTheFreakingManual you need not shout too loudly]].
* TheHeartless: Many of the enemies in the game are influenced to fight Ness through Giygas's control over their inherent evil. Right before Ness gets charged with a great deal of power, [[spoiler:he has to fight Giygas's influence over the evil in his mind via a boss battle.]]
* HeelFaceRevolvingDoor: [[spoiler: Pokey seems to like trying to pretend he's ready to repent of his misdeeds for just long enough to make a getaway. And boy, does he ever run fast for a little fat kid]].
* HeroicMime: Whoever the player is controlling at the time. As soon as they meet up with the main group, they start talking and introduce themselves. The only exception is at two points in the game, where a special wall displays Ness' thoughts, and where Ness talks to himself telling him where he needs to go next near the end of the game.
** Lampshaded in the Japanese version. See LostInTranslation below.
* AHomeownerIsYou: You can buy a "house" (or rather, a hovel) in Onett for $7,500. It contains a photographer location, so you'll need it for OneHundredPercentCompletion. But more importantly, there's the [[CrackFic hilarious magazine excerpt]]...
* IKnowKungFaux: Onett police force Cpt. Strong uses Super Ultra Mambo-Tango-Foxtrot Martial Arts.
* ImprobableWeaponUser: From yo-yos to frying pans.
* ImpossiblyDeliciousFood: Delisauce is an impossibly delicious ''condiment,'' which goes with all foods and maxes out their recovery potential.
* InstantAwesomeJustAddDragons: The bag of dragonite, which turns the player into a dragon temporarily, has no explanation where it comes from or how it is made.
** Although a monkey wonders, "is it really made by dragons?"
* InsurmountableWaistHeightFence: Parodied - at one point your path is blocked by a statue of a pencil. In the original Japanese, it was of an octopus.
** Later on is another parody, where the blockade is an eraser statue. Originally, it was a statue of a type of doll (the item to remove it forms a play on words in Japanese). [[{{Woolseyism}} The English version]] [[CulturalTranslation retains that sort of pun]]--the pencil statues are removed using a Pencil Eraser. No prizes for guessing what removes the eraser statue.
* InterfaceScrew: In Moonside, yes means no, and no means yes.
** Also, if any player character gets mushroomized, the game's interpretation of D-pad inputs will rotate 90 degrees clockwise every thirty seconds. This can only be cured by the healer in the hospital, and you ''will'' have a hard time getting there.
* ItemAmplifier: Using the right condiment with the appropriate food increases the healing power of the latter.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Everdred, boss of Burglin Park.
* JokeCharacter: The worthless protoplasm, fobbies, and foppies are joke enemies, and Porky amounts to a joke ally for the short time he travels with you.
* JokeItem: The Insignificant Item, among others.
** Ruler: "It can be used in battle! Can be used many times." Ditto the Protracter.
** The Super Orange Machine, or Suporma for short. It plays an "Ode to Orange Kid" and immediately breaks down after that.
* KarmaHoudini: Porky Minch. [[spoiler: Naturally, he returns as the Big Bad in ''VideoGame/MOTHER3''.]]
* KidHero: All the main cast. {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d in Ness's case - he randomly suffers homesickness as a status effect. This is cured by calling or visiting his mom.
* KleptomaniacHero: Parodied, when the protagonist Ness can get items from trash cans. And this includes food items. He also gets the chance to properly steal food items, but will be attacked for it.
** There is also an NPC (in Summers, if memory serves) that {{lampshade|Hanging}}s the use of this trope in "other" games.
* {{Leitmotif}}: The Runaway Five, Pokey, and Paula all have theme music - the latter's doesn't play all that often, though.
** Paula's theme is actually a ShoutOut of the theme of Youngtown, a place where only children live because all of the parents were abducted by Giygas. So it's saying that she's tied down to a place with no adults to guide her and she's scared, helpless. Its only major appearance was in Paula's cell. Get why now?
* LampshadeHanging: ''[[BetterThanABareBulb Everywhere]]''.
* LethalJokeCharacter: You wouldn't think that the mystical record or that animate cup of coffee wouldn't be ''that'' deadly, would you?
** [[HappyFunBall The Smilin' Sphere]]!!
** Yeah, they're all over the place. Floating lips, electric guitars, phonograph records, angry ladies, hippies, surfer dudes...
** ''Territorial Oaks''...
* LetsPlay: As for an official LP, Travis343 did one [[http://lparchive.org/LetsPlay/EarthBound/ narrated from Ness's point of view.]]
** [[http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmuCNoOBEgjSF5j5Gar1h-3wGHdUyzJYO Here's another Let's Play that's fully voice acted.]] "Voice acted by over 40+ [=LPers=], fan dubbers, and rising voice actors!"
** ''[=EarthBound=]'' is where Website/YouTube's most popular Let's Player, {{LetsPlay/Chuggaaconroy}}, got his start.
* LighterAndSofter: The story is taken with arguably less seriousness than in ''VideoGame/{{MOTHER|1}}'', and it often becomes simply for humor's sake... [[MoodWhiplash until the end]], when it's just horrifying.
* LookWhatICanDoNow: Poo returns from training to demonstrate new power on a boss obliterating it with PK Starstorm.
* LossOfIdentity
* LostInTranslation: Several puns make more sense in Japanese.
** And it's Porky Minch, not Pokey Minch. SuperSmashBrosBrawl got this right.
** The Apple of Enlightenment, mentioned several times throughout the game, is revealed towards the end to be a future-telling machine used by the evil forces. In the English translation, this line is removed, and as a result fans speculated for years about what the Apple was meant to be.
** Also, Pokey's motive. After rescuing Paula the first time, Pokey says "Let's be friends again. Just kidding!" and is pretty much the bad guy for the rest of the game [[spoiler:and the next game]]. In the original Japanese version, it wasn't because Pokey was a jerk, but because ''[[WhatTheHellHero Ness]]'' was. Pokey asked Ness if they could be friends again, but Ness [[HeroicMime refused to answer]], causing Pokey to storm off angrily.
* LuckyTranslation: A sign in Threed advertising a hint shop features a pun based on the cry of a horse that works in both English and Japanese.
* MadeOfExplodium: ''Trees!''
** The Smilin' Sphere!!
** Nuclear Reactor Robots too.
* MadnessMantra: Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness...
* MagicMeteor: The meteor that starts Ness' adventure. Not only was the time traveler Buzz Buzz riding in it, but the meteor contains a material needed for time travel.
** Which actually [[FridgeLogic makes a lot of sense]] if you consider that the Metorite might have been a wrecked [[spoiler: Phase Distorter]].
* MayorPain: Mr. Monotoli. [[spoiler:Or so it seems at first.]]
* MechanisticAlienCulture: The Starmen. They're visibly metallic and they have RoboSpeak, but they're able to cast spells, and come back as ghosts, something one would not expect from robots.
* MeetCute
* MindScrew: Oh, ''that's'' putting it lightly.
* MirrorBoss: Ness's Nightmare, which uses the same PSI Rockin, Flash, and Lifeup techniques as Ness.
* MirrorWorld: Moonside is one to Fourside.
* MoneySpider: {{Averted|Trope}}. As with the [[VideoGame/{{Mother1}} previous game]], money is not dropped by monsters, but is instead received through transactions with your father. However, enemies will still drop... ''odd'' items at times.
* MoodWhiplash: One of the most memorable examples in gaming. It's nowhere near as sudden as many assume and there's a good deal of buildup to it, but it's there.
* {{Mooks}}: [[CaptainObvious Giygas's henchmen]], which include Starmen, Octobots, unidentified flying objects, and...''[[SquishyWizard Mooks]]''?
* MouthOfSauron: The Mani Mani statues and [[spoiler:Pokey]], alternatively.
* MuckMonster: Master Belch, Master Barf, and the Big Pile of Puke. There's also the Slimy and Even Slimier Little Piles!
* MultinationalTeam: Four kids from three continents.
* MusicalPastiche and {{Sampling}}: It's used so frequently that the resulting legal muck is the most common theory behind why this game would not see an international re-release until ''2013!'' [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0n4cs7Z7mDY This video]] shows the nearly insane amount of sampling that's gone into the soundtrack. It's amazing how being a small unheard-of RPG that's a commercial disaster in the USA allows this sort of [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar Getting Unlicensed Sampling Past the Radar]]. Most notably:
** The almost surely lawsuit-inducing [[Music/TheBeatles Beatles]] SuspiciouslySimilarSong version (the Saturn Valley music is supposedly inspired by "Wild Honey Pie", the "waking up in a hotel theme" starts with a short quote from "Good Morning, Good Morning", and the shop theme resembles "When I'm Sixty-Four") and samples (the Dungeon Man theme samples the beats from "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)", entering Giygas' lair gives a short sample from the opening ''Marseillaise'' bit of "All You Need Is Love").
*** The latter of which is a bit of FridgeBrilliance, if you [[spoiler:[[ThePowerOfLove think about how Giygas is defeated.]]]]
** The "Sky Runner" theme uncomfortably resembling the opening synth from TheWho's "Won't Get Fooled Again", one of the battle themes being an outright rip from The Champs' 1956 hit "Tequila", the naming screen theme using a short sample from the ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'' theme, "Moonside Swing" sampling from [[Music/TheCars Ric Ocasek's]] song "Keep On Laughing"
*** The Sky Runner theme gets a special mention in that, [[http://earthboundcentral.com/2012/07/earthbounds-specific-legal-issues/ according to this]], it and the "Johnny B. Goode" soundalikes are the ''only'' things on the soundtrack that are considered a little bit too risky on the copyright side of things for the game to get rereleased (the one problem not pertaining to the soundtrack is the painting mentioned below). Considering just how much sampling and general musical grey area this game is dabbling in, it's quite amazing.
** The Jackie's Cafe song sampling the ''OurGang'' theme and interpolating "The Star-Spangled Banner"
** The Runaway Five's final performance resembling Music/TheDoors' "The Changeling"
** "Belch's Factory" a SuspiciouslySimilarSong version of "Welcome to the Machine" by Music/PinkFloyd
** One of the most widely-remembered ones is the passing resemblance the Frank / NewAgeRetroHippie theme bears to Music/ChuckBerry's "Johnny B. Goode", but they're not even close to identical as so many assume
*** Ironically, it's been said that it isn't music that's problem for re-release in the United States... it's the fact that one of the monsters is based on a real-life painting that's currently surrounded in legal red-tape.
** The Cave of the Past is made entirely out of manipulating the opening to Music/TheBeachBoys' Diedre.
* NakedPeopleAreFunny[=/=]OutOfClothesExperience: In MOTHER 2, Ness is naked in Magicant[[hottip:*:Ness still has his hat on, but he has no clothes, so he's still naked]]. This was changed in [=EarthBound=] so that Ness is in his [=PJs=] instead.
* NerfArm
* NeverSayDie: No enemies in Earthbound 'die.' See NonLethalKO below.
** The Dept. Store Spook in Fourside goes out of his way to avoid pronouncing "hell":
--> You will be gone, and you'll be burning in... Well, you'll go to heaven!
* NeverTrustATrailer: Probably one of the most severe cases; the ads tried to make it look like a [[GrossoutShow Grossout Game]] from beginning to end....[[hottip:*:The slogan for the game is "This Game Stinks", for an example.]] There's maybe ''two'' parts of the game with any kind of ToiletHumor, and even then it's never too over-the-top.
* NiceJobBreakingItHerod: Giygas receives a prediction of his defeat and begins his invasion early in an attempt to reverse this. This likely would've worked, except that Ness is visited by an alien bee from the future and the two events end up canceling out.
* NintendoHard: Especially early game and during the Zombie part of Threed.
* NobleShoplifter: In [[CrapsaccharineWorld Happy Happy Village]], there's a food stand with a sign saying they trust you to take what you need, as long as you leave the money. However, in this case, the player ''does'' have the option to [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential leave without paying]], so this trope depends on the player.
* NoMeansYes: Moonside.
* NonLethalKO: No enemies "die" in Earthbound. Instead, they:
** "become tame" (animals)
** "stop moving" or "are broken into pieces" (AnimateInanimateObject)
** "went back to normal" (angry/brainwashed people)
** "return to the dust of the earth" (zombies, mummies, etc)
** "melt into thin air" (gases/ghosts)
** "are defeated" (everything else)
* NonLinearSequel
* NonStandardSkillLearning: Spells are acquired by leveling up, except for the two tiers of Teleport for Ness. The first Teleport must be learned [[ItMakesSenseInContext from a talking monkey]], and the second one is automatically acquired after completing the Magicant level.
* NostalgicMusicbox: The final rendition of the Eight Melodies, just before entering Magicant.
* NPCRoadblock: The Happy Happyists' hideout contains a maze made of cultists; you have to talk to them or battle them to get them to move.
* OfficialCouple: Ness and Paula. They're [[PuppyLove so cute together]]!
* OlderThanTheyLook: Most of the main cast, thanks to the graphics style. WordOfGod says that Ness is 13 years old, but based on his appearance in the VideoGame/SuperSmashBros series, you'd think he was between eight and ten.
** Only the American guide says he's 13. Although that is a reasonable age (since he is supposed to be the same age as Jeff, who is in boarding school and has been separated from his father for around ten years), it's not actually his official one.
* OminousMessageFromTheFuture: The events of the game are set in motion when Buzz Buzz comes from the future to warn Ness that Giygas has destroyed the world in the future and that a boy named Ness would defeat him.
* OnlyIdiotsMayPass: Advanced to an art form!
* OutsideTheBoxTactic: Continuing the series-wide trend, the FinalBoss, [[spoiler:Master Giygas]] cannot be defeated via normal tactics. You must [[spoiler:use Paula's ''Pray'' command ten times before you, the player, defeat him.]]
* PaletteSwap: Several enemies are like this, including a stronger version of the Territorial Oak, Foppies and Fobbies, and the Mani Mani Statue/Ness's Nightmare.
* ParentalAbandonment: Ness' father communicates over the phone often enough, but is never home. Jeff's father hasn't seen him in ten years despite living fairly near his boarding school (and this is a twelve to fourteen year old boy) and seems to think nothing of it; his mother is [[MissingMom never mentioned]]. Poo's parents are nowhere in sight--affairs of state, perhaps? Paula is the only one of the four protagonists to have parents that are both alive and present.
* ParentalBonus: Oh God. Too many to list. A yellow submarine, the Runaway Five, the New Age Retro Hippie's battle music...
* ThePasswordIsAlwaysSwordfish: The one password was not of the "easily guessed" type, but was ridiculous nonetheless: It consisted of ''waiting three minutes''. Who would guess that?
** This is later subverted by another character asking for the password. As the PlayerCharacter does not answer, he (or it) attacks ("someone so quiet is either extremely shy, or extremely dangerous").
* PhotoMontage: The ending credits.
* PlaceWorseThanDeath: If you remain in Moonside for too long, you'll "end up frying your brain."
** Yes, you will. No, you will...not. Yesno, you will won't.
* PlayableEpilogue: After the final battle, you are free to roam the entire world as you please, with no enemies in your way, until you decide to visit Ness's mother.
* ThePlayerIsTheMostImportantResource: In the final battle, [[spoiler: your faith in the characters is what defeats Giygas.]]
* PoliceBrutality: When Onett's police force is asked by a little boy to remove a roadblock and help him get to the next town, they decide it'd be fun to take him to the back room of the station and beat him up. They quickly learn challenging Ness to a fight is a bad idea if you don't want your butt kicked.
* ThePowerOfFriendship: [[spoiler:How Giygas is defeated.]] In some way or another, isn't this trope the lesson learned in every Mother game?
* PowerUpFood: Ramen noodles ''bring back the dead''.
* PsychicPowers
* PunnyName: By the bushelful.
** The first four towns are called '''One'''tt, '''Two'''son, '''Three'''d, and '''Four'''side.
*** And what are those numbers added up? Nin'''Ten'''do! Although that might not have been intentional.
** And then there's '''Sum'''mers and '''Ten'''da (possibly also a pun on "tender"). Think about that for a while.
** The main character, named after the NES. Alternately, the main character's name is an anagram of the system he first appeared on (SNES).
** The bicycle shop in Twoson is called "Punk-Sure".
** One removed from the American version: the third town was originally named Threek, combining both the numerical theme along with a scream of surprise and alarm. Perfect for a haunted town. Nintendo had it changed to "Threed" out of fears that it could be read as a reference to the KKK.
* PuppyLove: Ness and Paula.
* RandomDrop: The infamous 1/128 items are this. The list of enemies that dropped items at a 1/128 rate in this game is '''huge''', and most of those enemies dropped arguably worthless items. Some enemies that dropped valuable equipment at this rate had methods of expending your time...
* RandomEffectSpell: Pray, on the occassions when it's ''not'' used outside of the final battle.
* RaygunGothic: The style of the Starman and the robots seems to be based around this.
* RecurringTraveler: the photographer who descends from the sky in certain places.
** "Say 'Fuzzy Pickles'!"
* RecursiveCanon: One NPC wonders if the new video game ''VideoGame/EarthBound'' has been released yet.
** In addition, the newspaper headline in Onett after beating the FinalBoss is "Chief Strong finishes [=EarthBound=], asks 'Where is the sequel?'"
* RecursiveTranslation: The script for ''MOTHER 2'' in the ''MOTHER 1+2'' UpdatedRerelease shows signs of being a Japanese retranslation of the English ''[=EarthBound=]'' script, at least according to [[BigNameFan Clyde Mandelin]].
* RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver: The bizarre void known as Giygas. The Ghost of Starman and Pokey's business attire also suit this trope.
* {{Retraux}}: Giygas and [[spoiler:Heavily Armed Pokey]]'s battle theme starts out with some {{N|intendoEntertainmentSystem}}ES {{chiptune}}-sounding music (ironically, nothing from Earthbound Zero, though, where Giygas actually just had an incessant screech as his "battle theme") before spontaneously jumping into [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic a rock version of the same tune]].
** The song that plays inside the Minch household would also count.
* RisingCostOfHealthInsurance: Practically the TropeNamer (though not [[AdamSmithHatesYourGuts its supertrope]]).
* RoadBlock: The game uses road blocks in the prologue to [[BrokenBridge keep Ness from going downtown, and later from going into Twoson]], under pretense that [[PoliceAreUseless the police]] are going for [[GuinnessEpisode the world record for how many roads they can close at once]].
* RodentsOfUnusualSize: The Plague Rat of Doom.
* RuleOfThree: Inside the mines, you'll fight [[EliteMook the third-strongest mole]], followed by [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment the third-strongest mole]], and then [[RunningGag the third-strongest mole]], and [[SelfDemonstratingArticle then...]]
* SayMyName: One of Giygas's attacks has him saying the hero's name over and over. Which can lead to a hilarious or disturbing results if one abused the HelloInsertNameHere feature.
* SeeYouInHell: Amusingly subverted where a villain ''starts'' to say this trope, then admits that the heroes will probably go to Heaven after he kills them.
* ShallIRepeatThat: ''{{B|lackComedy}}rutally'' {{parodied}} with Buzz Buzz, who does this with his ''[[AlmostDeadGuy last words]]'', [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential and will not die until you tell him to]].
* ShaveAndAHairCut: When banging incessantly on Ness' door doesn't work, Pokey tries this.
** [[spoiler:Picky also does this in the PlayableEpilogue after the end credits.]]
* ShopliftAndDie: In Happy Happy Village. Though you can attack the storekeeper as a BallisticDiscount.
* ShoutOut: Many, a good majority of them to Music/TheBeatles.
* SinglePaletteTown: The Happy Happy Village.
* SinisterGeometry: Giygas's robots appear in the overworld as blue octahedrons (presumably they're inside; there's an unused capsule sprite that might have been originally used, same as the starman capsules from VideoGame/{{MOTHER 1}})
* SkippableBoss: Many players don't even realize they can just not fight Everdred.
* SongStyleShift: Pokey's battle theme, ''Cease to Exist'', starts out as an 8 bit tune and then shifts into hard rock/metal one minute in.
* SortingAlgorithmOfEvil: Mostly played straight, but for a moment at the beginning when Giygas, in a moment of being DangerouslyGenreSavvy, decides to [[NoNonsenseNemesis just kill Ness]] before he becomes a nuisance by sending a [[WarmupBoss Starman Jr.]] at them at the start of the game. Thankfully, the good guys were equally smart and sent in [[CrutchCharacter Buzz Buzz]] too, thus canceling each other out.
* SoundtrackDissonance: Some of the (great) music in this game is so out there, it is hard to tell what kind of mood the composer is trying to evoke.
* SpellLevels: The tiers for PSI powers are given by the Greek letters alpha, beta, gamma, and omega.
* SpikesOfVillainy: The Starman Deluxe and the Final Starman are respectively stronger versions of the Starman and the Starman Super [[RecycledINSPACE WITH SPIKES!]].
* SpinningOutOfHere: Like in ''VideoGame/{{MOTHER|1}}'', teleporting requires rapid, uninterrupted acceleration before zooming off to the destination, so areas with limited space to build speed require moving in circles to avoid crashing. One teleport ability requires the player to turn manually, the other one automatically makes the party move in a tight spiral.
* SquishyWizard: Paula. Her PSI Freeze spells rip enemies into shreds, but her HP is so low that even two hits of PSI Thunder obliterate her.
* StandardStatusEffects: as well as many non-standard ones. Characters can be affected by sickness, heat stroke, ghostly possession, homesickness (in Ness' case -- this happens at random, and it's cured by calling Mom), mushroom growth, the common cold, uncontrollable crying...
* StockNessMonster: Tessie, a friendly monster who resides within Lake Tess in Winters.
* SuddenDownerEnding: Its horrifying final level is probably what it's best known for. The actual ending once Giygas is out of the way definitely doesn't fall into this, though.
* SurpriseCreepy: Most of the game is a gloriously strange and funny romp through childhood, and then [[spoiler:you enter Giygas' Lair.]]
* TacticalSuicideBoss: Mr. Carpainter, although it's still possible to damage him without reflecting his lightning.
* TerminatorTwosome: Giygas apparently destroys the universe, forcing Buzz Buzz to go back in time to find someone who can stop him, and Starman Junior goes back in time to stop Buzz Buzz. Starman Junior fails although Buzz Buzz ends up dying anyway.
* ThemeNaming: The towns are named by numbers, for their climate, or for musical references. Also, in the Japanese version, the "Don't Care" preset names for the main characters were grouped by the following themes: The Beatles, SuperMarioBros, primates, the Japanese band SMAP, the character's signature head ornament, and dog commands, in addition the starting "Ness, Paula, Jeff, etc." Of course, those sets, like some other things, got LostInTranslation.
** Parodied with Slot Machine Brothers -- Pincho, Pancho, and Tomás Jefferson.
** Some fans have noticed the following in the town names: '''One'''[-tt-] + '''Two'''[-son-] + '''Three'''[-d-] + '''Four'''[-side-] '''Sum'''[-mers-]/= '''Ten'''[-da Village-]. It probably wasn't intentional given that the Tenda were originally called "Gumi" in Japanese.
* ThisLoserIsYou: Porky and to a lesser extent, [[SmallNameBigEgo Orange Kid]].
* TimeToUnlockMoreTruePotential: The massive powerup Ness gets at the end of Magicant.
** Or the one Poo gets in the form of a 'Message that has stat gains written on it.'
* [[TitleDrop Subtitle Drop]]: [[spoiler:"''The war against Giygas'' is over."]]
* ToiletHumor: While there's a bit in the game itself, with its talking piles of vomit and the ability to root through trash cans, the game's infamous American ad campaign made it seem like this was all there was to the game.
* TooAwesomeToUse: Bags of Dragonite, of which there are only 6 in the game.
* TooDumbToLive: Exactly ''why'' does Buzz Buzz hover over to Lardna after Pokey and Picky are sent to their room?
* TorturedAbomination: Giygas. "...It hurts, ...it hurts... Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness... I'm... h... a... p... p... y..." It's even worse if you've played [[VideoGame/MOTHER1 the game before this]], because you'll understand why.
* TraumaInn: Subverted; hotels restore HP and MP, but don't heal status effects -- you have to go to a hospital for that.
* TwoDecadesBehind: Although it takes place in [[TheNineties "199X"]], pay phones are still widely used, there are no household computers (but they do appear to have [[EasterEgg Nintendo games]]), and a lot of the slang is TotallyRadical.
* TwoGuysAndAGirl: Although in fact it would be ''three'' guys and a girl, for a long part of the game this is the basic formation.
** It even goes back to TwoGuysAndAGirl later in the game, as Poo leaves temporarily in order to learn PK Starstorm and re-joins them later.
* UndergroundMonkey: Many later enemies are palette swaps of earlier ones, like the Manly Fish and the Manly Fish's Brother. Most notable with the Starmen.
* UndisclosedFunds: Played straight in ''MOTHER 2'', but not in ''[=EarthBound=]''. During localization, for some reason a couple of vague references meaning roughly "a bajillion dollars" were changed to real numbers (Ness' family's debt to Pokey's family is "a hundred thousand dollars or more" and the Diamond "could pay off a million dollar debt easily").
* {{Unobtanium}}: The Phase Converter runs on this -- it's called Zexonyte and you get it [[spoiler:backtracking to the meteorite]].
* UpdatedRerelease[=/=]CompilationRerelease: This game and [[VideoGame/MOTHER1 its predecessor]] have been compiled into a single cartridge and rereleased for the GameBoyAdvance under the title ''MOTHER 1+2'' ([[NoExportForYou only in Japan, of course]]).
* VideoGameCaringPotential: Take care of those Flying Men. [[YouBastard You don't really want to use them all up.]]
* VideogameSettings:
** AbsurdlySpaciousSewer[=/=]SewerLevel: The sewers under Fourside.
** BossCorridor[=/=]WombLevel: The tubing of the Devil's Machine leading to Giygas.
** BubblegloopSwamp: Deep Darkness.
** BubblyClouds[=/=]FloatingContinent[=/=]{{Wutai}}: Dalaam.
** BuildLikeAnEgyptian: The pyramid in Scaraba.
** DugTooDeep: The mole tunnel in the Dusty Dunes Desert.
** ElaborateUndergroundBase: Giygas's army has one at Stonehenge. The second half of it counts as a BlackoutBasement.
** FirstTown: [[MeaningfulName One]]tt.
** HiddenElfVillage: Saturn Valley.
** LethalLavaLand: The Fire Spring dungeon.
** TheMaze: Talah Rama's monkey tunnels and the mole maze in the Dusty Dunes Desert, Brick Road's dunegon (and his insides as Dungeon Man), Moonside's teleportation [=NPCs=], and the inside of the Stonehenge Base, just to name a few.
** MirrorWorld: Moonside is one to Fourside.
** PortTown: Summers, and its sub-town Toto.
** {{Prehistoria}}: The Lost Underworld. Doubles as a MacroZone.
** ShiftingSandLand: The Dusty Dunes Desert and Scaraba.
** SlippySlideyIceWorld: Winters.
* VitriolicBestBuds: Ness and Porky. [[spoiler: Until the latter's [[StartOfDarkness road]] [[FaceHeelTurn to]] [[FromNobodyToNightmare villainy]].]]
* WakeUpCallBoss: Frank Fly and his robot, Frankystein Mk II.
* WebcomicOfTheGame: ''Webcomic/TheChosenFour''.
* WhatTheHellHero: When you first take control of Jeff at the boarding school, opening all the presents a fellow student has recently wrapped will elicit a similar response.
* WhenAllElseFailsGoRight: A sign in the Dungeon Man points this trope out. In this case, there's an inn to the left just out of sight.
* WhenTreesAttack: '''Exploding''' trees, as a matter of fact...
* WhereItAllBegan: In order to enter the VeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon, you need to get a piece of the meteorite that started everything in Onett. Of course, it has been [[DoomedHometown taken over by aliens]] at that point.
* [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds Woobie, Destroyer of Universes]]: See Tear Jerker in the YMMV tab. If you've played the first game, Giygas' lines come off very differently. This doesn't make him any [[EldritchAbomination less]] [[YouCannotGraspTheTrueForm terrifying]].
* YouALLLookFamiliar: a few NPC sprites, including what some gamers call "Creator/MrT".
* YouBastard: Mocked with the food stand in Happy Happy Village. 'Forget' to pay, and the salesman will hover over you and claim that you'll never know righteousness again.
** The sign asking people not to trample the flowers -- that can only be read when Ness is standing ''right'' in the flowerbed.
* YoungerThanTheyLook: Frank Fly is said to be about 20 years old in some of the literature based off the games.
* ZillionDollarBill: You are at one point given ten thousand dollars in cash and later an extremely valuable diamond, both of which you must use shortly afterwards to get the Runaway Five out of a bum contract. You'd think they'd have learned their lesson the first time.
** At least they return the favor during a HopelessBossFight. [[ThatOneBoss IF you didn't get killed during the fight...]]
* ZombieApocalypse: Happens in the town of Threed. Sort of.

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-->''"Welcome to Moonside. Wel come to moo nsi ns dem oons ide."''