History VideoGame / EarnestEvans

''Earnest Evans'' is a 1991 platform sidescroller made by [[Creator/TelenetJapan Wolf Team]], with music composed by Creator/MotoiSakuraba for the Creator/{{SEGA}} [[UsefulNotes/SegaCD MegaCD]] (in Japan only), with a watered down [[UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis Genesis/MegaDrive]] port released overseas. It is chronologically the first chapter of the "Earnest Evans trilogy" and the only game in which the player takes on the role of Earnest.

''Earnest Evans'' is a 1991 platform sidescroller made by [[Creator/TelenetJapan Wolf Team]], with music composed by Creator/MotoiSakuraba for the Creator/{{SEGA}} [[UsefulNotes/SegaCD MegaCD]] (in Japan only), with a watered down [[UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis Genesis/MegaDrive]] port released overseas. It is chronologically the first chapter of the "Earnest Evans trilogy", ironically being the only game in which you play as Earnest.

Up until April 2018, plot details were scarce due to a lack of interest in translating the game's dialogue up until a collaboration between [[https://shmuplations.com shmuplations]] and [=RageQuitter87=] helped shed light onto the game's story for westerners. You can read the translation of this game (as well as a general guide) in the Earnest/Annet trilogy shrine by [=RageQuitter87=] [[http://rq87.flyingomelette.com/RQ/A&E/EE/1.html here]], where he also has a look at ''El Viento'' and distant sequel ''Annet Futatabi''.

Or you can check out the game in its entirety via WebVideo/{{Retsupurae}}'s hilarious video of said game [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ukZGSqdjoI here]].

Or you can check out the game in its entirety via WebVideo/{{Retsupurae}}'s hilarious video of said game [[http://blip.tv/slowbeef/earnest-goes-to-anime-5467989 here]].

* OffModel: Oh boy, this game's got it bad. Firstly the main character, in game, is made up of several sprites put together for an illusion of more fluid movement. However the execution instead makes Earnest look very much [[DerangedAnimation freaky]], like a puppet operated by a guy with the tremors, especially when he flails his whip around, which looks exceedingly hilarious. This happens for a multitude of enemies too, though for the non humans it works slightly better.
** The cutscenes are hardly better either. Several characters are drawn with poor proportions and Earnest's cheek bandage keeps disappearing in random frames.
** In the city stage Annet is driving a car - but she's using her design as modified spritework straight from ''VideoGame/ElViento'', the ''sequel'' to this game, as opposed to her different design in cutscenes.

* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: The game's final boss is a piece of Hastur unleashed by the villains. Earnest is still able to whip it into submission allowing Annet to seal it back up. [[VideoGame/ElViento And deal with him again many years later.]]

-->''*seeing attacks that covers the entire screen or leave no space to dodge them*''

* WhipItGood: Evans' default weapon.

The Mega Drive/Genesis version goes a different route, set in the 1980s, thus attempting to make it a sequel to ''El Viento'', wherein you are Earnest Evans' grandson, also called Earnest Evans, as you attempt to collect three special idols before they are used by a never-appearing villain named Brady Tressider, to summon another dark god called Mavur. Or, at least, [[AllThereInTheManual that's what the manual says]].

* AnachronismStew: Though its set in 1926, at one point we see a newspaper advertising Music/IronMaiden's [[http://rq87.flyingomelette.com/RQ/A&E/EE/j2.png World Slavery tour]] as well as a random headline about British rock group Music/TheAdicts. Who knew they could time travel?

* LovecraftLite: Despite the presence of cults dedicated to the return of their lovecraftian dark gods, the series doesn't exactly convey a sense of existential cosmic dread.

* ShoutOut: An anachronism-tastic shout out to Music/IronMaiden at one point, as well as the recurring appearance of the Necronomicon as well as all the Cthulthu shout outs. The mooks in level 6 also have a stunning resemblence to [[Franchise/StreetFighter Guile]].

* WrapAround: A strange example in level 11's boss fight. It wraps ''vertically'' and is quite noticable, considering the room has no floor. So you can let yourself fall and watch yourself pass by the boss repeatedly.

* ShoutOut: An anachronism-tastic shout out to Music/IronMaiden at one point, as well as the recurring appearance of the Necronomicon as well as all the Cthulthu shout outs. The mooks in level 6 also have a stunning resemblence to [[StreetFighter Guile]].

* DangerouslyShortSkirt: After joining Earnest on his journey, Annet appears to be wearing what seems to be a maid outfit that barely touches her thighs.
-->'''LetsPlay/{{slowbeef}}''': All right. Why are you wearing that? Are you fucking joking with me?

* ChainReactionDestruction: It happens particularly with bosses.

* ScenicRoute: At one point Earnest travels from South America to Europe. However, because the world map doesn't WrapAround, he ends up traveling from South America ''across the Pacific and Asia'' to get there.

* AnachronismStew: Though its set in 1926, at one point we see a newspaper advertising Music/IronMaiden's [[http://rq87.flyingomelette.com/RQ/Annet/earnestl10bonus1.png World Slavery tour]] as well as a random headline about British rock group Music/TheAdicts. Who knew they could time travel?

** In the city stage Annet is driving a car - but she's using her design as modified spritework straight from ''VideoGame/ElViento'', the ''sequel'' to this game where she doesn't quite look the same.

The game takes place in 1926, in various different ruins and temples around the world, as U.S. treasure hunter Earnest Evans finds himself entangled in a sinister plot hatched by mafia bigwig UsefulNotes/AlCapone and cult leader Ulrich to resurrect the dark god Hastur. Along the way, Earnest is joined by Annet Myer, the heroine of ''VideoGame/ElViento'', whom he finds in an old temple, offered as a sacrifice to Hastur, and the enigmatic Zigfried Munchaunsen, a man who also seeks to stop the return of Hastur.

* AnachronismStew: Though its set in 1926, at one point we see a newspaper advertising Music/IronMaiden's [[http://rq87.flyingomelette.com/RQ/Annet/earnestl10bonus1.png World Slavery tour]]. Who knew they could time travel?

* OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: Earnest is able to rescue Zigfried from Capone's clutches, get captured himself and escape and even get Capone arrested...and all these are merely told to us by Earnest in cutscene form.

Up until April 2018, plot details were scarce due to a lack of interest in translating the game's dialogue up until a collaboration between [[shmuplations.com shmuplations]] and [=RageQuitter87=] helped shed light onto the game's story for westerners. You can read the translation of this game (as well as a general guide) in the Earnest/Annet trilogy shrine by [=RageQuitter87=] [[http://rq87.flyingomelette.com/RQ/A&E/EE/1.html here]], where he also has a look at ''El Viento'' and distant sequel ''Annet Futatabi''.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Ulrich the cult leader, who speaks with UsefulNotes/AlCapone in level 6's cutscene never appears again afterward, though its likely he was the penultimate boss in level 12.

Further details about its plot are scarce due to the fact that no effort so far has been made in translating the cutscenes to English. For a more detailed attempt at analyzing this game, you can check out the Earnest/Annet trilogy shrine by [=RageQuitter87=] [[http://rq87.flyingomelette.com/RQ/A&E/EE/1.html here]], where he also has a look at ''El Viento'' and distant sequel ''Annet Futatabi''.

%%* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu

* HeelFaceTurn: When Zigfried first appears to Earnest and Annet, he is not on their side, giving a good dose of EvilLaughter and hostility as well as holding the Necronomicon. By level 6, he's suddenly switched sides.

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Al Capone appears in the cutscene preceding level 6. Sega CD only, though. Its arguable whether Brady was meant to be this for him in the Genesis port.
* NoExportForYou: The UsefulNotes/SegaCD version. Overseas territories only got the Genesis version with no in-game story.

* RaidersOfTheLostParody: The game is pretty much this, all the way to the "rolling boulder scene" in the closing credits [[spoiler: that squashes Earnest in the end]]. The titular hero is a whip-wielding archaeologist, chasing after a macguffin that would summon the dark god Hastur and end the world. The first level is very much like the opening of ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk'', rolling boulder and all (though a bug allows you to get ''behind'' the boulder) and subsequent levels have Earnest travel the world shown with a red line along a map. About the only element absent is the Nazis, replaced by both the cult of Hastur, and the Mafia.

* {{Expy}}: The game itself could be considered one big ''Franchise/IndianaJones'' ripoff, with Earnest wielding a whip, outrunning a boulder (When the game works right), the game itself being set in the 1920s similar to the Indy movies generally being set around UsefulNotes/WorldWar2 and at one point you can get a powerup which has Earnest don a hat. Which also gives him a [[VideoGame/CastlevaniaIISimonsQuest flame whip]], leading to comparisons with ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'', including to do with the platforming elements and Earnest using a whip.

''Earnest Evans'' is a 1991 platform sidescroller made by [[Creator/TelenetJapan Wolf Team]], with music composed by Creator/MotoiSakuraba for the {{SEGA}} [[UsefulNotes/SegaCD MegaCD]] (in Japan only), with a watered down [[UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis Genesis/MegaDrive]] port released overseas. It is chronologically the first chapter of the "Earnest Evans trilogy", ironically being the only game in which you play as Earnest.

* RyoHorikawa: Voices Zigfried.