History EarthBound / TropesNToS

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

* NiceJobFixingItVillain: [[spoiler:Giygas's forces abduct Dr. Andonuts, Apple Kid and one of the Mr. Saturns, and places them all in Stonehedge. This allows the three of them to meet and develop the Phase Distorter, the device that sends the party back in time to defeat Giygas.]]

* NoCommunitiedWereHarmed: Fourside is very clearly designed after Las Vegas, Nevada, with it being an enormous, bustling city with heavy emphasis on tourism just on the outskirts of a desert, being Dusty Dunes Desert.

* NonindicativeName: There's actually ''six'' members of The Runaway Five. {{Handwaved}}, as it's implied that the keyboardist was just hired by the house to play backup, and isn't an actual member.

* OnlyIdiotsMayPass: Advanced to an art form!

* StandardStatusEffects: As well as many non-standard ones. Characters can be affected by sickness, heat stroke, ghostly possession, homesickness (in Ness's case -- this happens at random, and it's cured by calling Mom), mushroom growth, the common cold, uncontrollable crying...

** A potentially subtle one to Franchise/{{Terminator}} that some might miss- the Phase Distorter 3 can only send back inorganic objects to the past, a reversal of Terminator's time travel only being able to send back organic life.
** The two lead members of the Runaway Five are basically Jake & Elwood Blues- they actually wear black suits in Japan, it's suspected the American colored suits were to make them different enough to avoid legal hassles.

** The Lost Underworld level features a massive underground cavern full of dinosaurs, no doubt a reference to Jules Verne's Literature/JourneyToTheCenterOfTheEarth

** "Say Your Name, Please," the character naming screen, includes a distorted sample of the theme song to ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'' (which itself is John Philip Souza's "The Liberty Bell.")

** The bar ([[FrothyMugsOfWater or cafe]]) in Fourside samples the theme song to ''[[Film/TheLittleRascals Our Gang]]'' (which in turn is Leroy Shield's "Good Old Days"), and also contains a MIDI patch playing a portion of "The Star-Spangled Banner", the national anthem of the United States.
** "Moonside Swing" is made entriely from the intro to Ric Ocasek's "Keep On Laughin'" layered on top of itself in a form of proto-{{Vaporwave}}.

** The Cave of the Past music consists of a sample of the trumpet intro to The Beatles' "All You Need Is Love"; once the party travels to the distant past, the music is made out of a sample of "Deirdre" by Music/TheBeachBoys.
** Their are other distinct samples, such as a riot on the title screen, and sounds heard in the final battle, that have not yet been identified. Several of these samples were tailor-made by the game's composers, Keiichi Suzuki, Hirokazu Tanaka, Hiroshi Kanazu and Toshiyuki Ueno, out of their own (heavily processed) voices or instruments. The famous "I miss you" during the game credits' final moments is Suzuki's own voice.

** {{Telekinesis}}: Several subtypes show up in combat, including pyrokinesis (PSI Fire), cryokinesis (PSI Freeze), fulgurkinesis (PSI Thunder), and psychic healing, as well as less easily defined attacks such as Ness's signature attack or PSI Starstorm.

** The game guide packaged with the English language release of the game adds in a few that aren't in the game itself, such as saying the Onett arcade has ''KillerInstinct''.

** {{Teleportation}}: Used by both Ness and Poo to travel the world without a plane ticket.

* ShiftingSandLand: The Dusty Dunes Desert located between Threed and Fourside midway through the game and is by far the biggest area seen yet. Later on the groups visits Scaraba, an arid desert town with an Egyptian feel.

* {{The Numbered Things}}: The Eigh Melodies (not the same as the ones in the first game).

** Similar to the previous example, An Insane Cultist finds a kid friendly way to tell Ness to "go to Hell":

* NerfArm: Several of the earlier weapons are based on not-at-all dangerous toys. Examples include the tee-ball bat (which are typically made of thin plastic and hollow) and the yo-yo.

* Sampling: The soundtrack for ''Earthbound'' features a large variety of sampling throughout its soundtrack, with many clever and creative uses:

* StylisticSuck: The music that plays while exploring Dungeon Man is a ([[EarWorm rather catchy]]) mess of high-pitched violin screeches and a man trying to sing along. Dungeon Man claims to have written it himself.

* Sampling: The soundtrack for ''Earthbound'' features a large variety of sampling throughout its soundtrack:

** The backing track of the Sound Stone music is Music/JohnLennon's "Give Peace a Chance", pitched down.

** "Moonside Swing" is made from the intro to Ric Ocasek's "Keep On Laughin'".

** Their are other distinct samples, such as a riot on the title screen, and sounds heard in the final battle, that have not yet been identified.

** The bar ([[FrothyMugsOfWater or cafe]]) in Fourside samples the theme song to ''OurGang'' (which in turn is Leroy Shield's "Good Old Days"), and also contains a MIDI patch playing a portion of "The Star-Spangled Banner", the national anthem of the United States.

* OnlyTheAuthorCanSaveThemNow: [[InvokedTrope Deliberately pulled off]] in an extremely rare example that ''[[TropesAreNotBad actually works]]'', since it's cleverly subverted into [[spoiler:only The ''Player'' Can Save Them Now.]] And not in the way you're thinking either.

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

** No enemies in ''[=EarthBound=]'' 'die.' See NonLethalKO below.

* NewAgeRetroHippie: [=EarthBound=] is the {{Trope Namer|s}}, after one of the enemies with the same name.

* NonLethalKO: No one "dies" in ''[=EarthBound=]''. Instead, they:

* OutOfClothesExperience: In ''MOTHER 2'', Ness is naked in Magicant[[note]]Ness still has his hat on, but he has no clothes, so he's still naked[[/note]]. This was given a nice {{Woolseyism}} in ''[=EarthBound=]'' so that Ness is in his [=PJs=] instead.

** 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?'"

* Sampling: The soundtrack for ''EarthBound'' features a large variety of sampling throughout its soundtrack: