Earthbound is Ness' escapist fantasy

• Ness is actually a nerdy boy. This will be explored in-depth later.
• Ness' father is only present in voice because Ness' father and Ness' mother got divorced when Ness was young. Ness' father deposits money and gives encouragement to Ness because that is how Ness thinks his father should be.
• Pokey/Porky is the bully that picks on Ness in school. Pokey's cowardice and pathetic demeanor is really Ness' desire to see Pokey as inferior to him. Pokey's desire to be Ness' friend is actually Ness' desire to be Pokey's friend, as Ness admires Pokey in real life.
• Buzz Buzz is really Ness' desire to confront his problems, as Buzz Buzz gets Ness started on his quest to defeat Giygas.
• Giygas and the Mani Mani statue are imaginary things that Ness blames for his problems. (Cultists attacking you? Mani Mani's fault. Parents get divorced? The Mani Mani is manipulating their emotions. Pokey bullying you? He's really being used by Giygas.)
• The various monsters are really representations of Ness' problems. The more powerful monsters could be representations of particularly traumatic experiences. (Master Belch could be that time he vomited in front of the whole school, The Kraken could be Ness' seasickness/inability to swim)
• PSI is really Ness' desire for self-empowerment. PSI gives Ness the ability to confront monsters and Pokey (representations of his problems) and win.
• Jeff is Ness' friend in real life. Jeff is smart in Ness' fantasy because actual!Jeff goes to a good school.
• Paula is probably also a kid that gets picked on at Ness' school. Paula's ability to use PSI is Ness' desire to see Paula empowered like him.
• Poo is the Foreign Exchange Student in Ness' class. Poo's inability to eat "Western food" is because actual!Poo has a severe MSG allergy. Poo trains in some martial art, which is why he has PSI in Ness' fantasy and why he has a martial arts outfit.
• Dr Andonuts (Jeff's father), like Buzz Buzz, is Ness' desire to see his problems solved. actual!Dr Andonuts is really nice to Ness and may be an actual scientist, which is why he serves as the person who enables Ness and his friends to confront Giygas. (Ness may believe that Dr Andonuts is smart enough to solve all of his problems, but still wants to deal with them himself)

Oh my God, that actually makes sense somehow.

HA HA HA—No.

As much as this theory makes sense, do not turn my favorite video game of all time into an Angst-fest. I prefer to imagine the events of Earth Bound as not inside Ness's head, and actually happening in universe.

At least I didn't play the "autistic kid" card.

Why is Jeff not empowered? Ness is a jackass. And why does Buzz-Buzz die about 5 minutes in? And where is the representation of Ness' obvious LSD addiction?

Magicant.

And what are Mother 1 and Mother 3?

NON-CANON OK

Why is Paula who ends up saving the day?

If it was an escapist fantasy, why is Giygas so fucking scary? I am pretty sure that's way more horrible than his real life ever could possibly be.

And why does Dr. Andonuts abandon his kid in the escapist fantasy?