| 1 | [[quoteright:320:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mother_flyer.png]] |
| 2 | [[caption-width-right:320:''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQUN7QAnMp0 Try not to cry – at least until the end.]]'']] |
| 3 | ->''Take a melody\ |
| 4 | Simple as can be\ |
| 5 | Give it some words and\ |
| 6 | Sweet harmony\ |
| 7 | Raise your voices\ |
| 8 | All day long now, love grows strong now,\ |
| 9 | Sing a melody of\ |
| 10 | Love, oh love'' |
| 11 | -->-- "[[MagicMusic Eight Melodies]]" |
| 12 | |
| 13 | In the late 1980s, Creator/ShigesatoItoi got a hold of ''Franchise/DragonQuest'', the first video game he ever played. Though he definitely enjoyed the game, as a former famous copywriter[[note]]Yes, he rose to fame by writing ad copy. ''Only in Japan...''[[/note]], he couldn't help but be intrigued about the game's use of the unconventional medium to tell a story and say to himself, "I could do better." Several meetings with people from Creator/{{Nintendo}} and a Music/JohnLennon-inspired name later, that's exactly what he did. |
| 14 | |
| 15 | The game is a 1989 Platform/{{Famicom}} EasternRPG, the first installment of the ''VideoGame/{{Mother}}'' trilogy, and the predecessor to the significantly more famous (outside of Japan, at least) ''VideoGame/{{EarthBound|1994}}'' and ''VideoGame/Mother3''. Set in the year 1988 ([[YearX or "198X" in the eShop description]]), the story follows Ninten, a normal American boy. He's got a workaholic dad, a loving mom, twin kid sisters, and a pet dog. Everything is pretty normal and everyone is happy, up until the day [[EverythingTryingToKillYou his desk lamp suddenly attacks him]], another lamp attacks one of his sisters and a doll starts attacking his other sister. Calling his dad after settling this, Ninten learns that psychic powers run in the family, and to learn more about it, he has to get his great-grandfather's diary and discover what happened many years ago, including what happened to his great-grandmother Maria. Meanwhile, other strange phenomena are happening across the country, and it soon becomes apparent that an alien force is at work. Just what connection does Ninten's family have with the alien invasion? |
| 16 | |
| 17 | While always known as '''''Mother''''' in Japanese, [[ExecutiveMeddling the English version had a troubled history]]. It was initially planned to be released in North America as ''Earth Bound'', but Nintendo of America scrapped release plans after finishing work on the English localization (the Platform/SuperNintendo had already launched, making it Nintendo's major focus). A copy of the localized cartridge surfaced years later in the hands of a collector, the ROM of which was subsequently leaked on the Internet and became known as ''[[FanNickname Earthbound Zero]]'' after modifying it to run on the widely used NES emulator of the day, as well as adding "Zero" to the title screen to distinguish it from its sequel. On April 29th, 2011, a polished [[FanTranslation fan-retranslation]] intended for ''[[CompilationRerelease Mother 1+2]]'' was finished; however, on June 14th, 2015, the unaltered ''Earth Bound'' localization was [[LateExportForYou finally released]] as '''''[=EarthBound=] Beginnings''''' for the Platform/WiiU Platform/VirtualConsole in North America and Europe. This localization was also released in Platform/NintendoSwitch Online in February 9, 2022. This long, winding road from relatively obscure, Japan-only ''Mother'' to official English release ''[=EarthBound=] Beginnings'' is chronicled in great detail in the 2019 documentary, ''Mother to Earth''. |
| 18 | |
| 19 | Compared to the original Famicom release of ''Mother'', ''[=EarthBound=] Beginnings'' contains a mix of technical enhancements, {{bowdleri|se}}zation, modified maps to reduce difficulty, some altered graphics, and a significant lengthening of the rather abrupt ending. Several other pre-production cartridges have also turned up on eBay; [[http://earthboundcentral.com/2009/09/earthbound-zero-prototype-info/ four legitimate ones are known to exist, with at least one more theorized to be archived at Nintendo of America's headquarters]]. In the lead-up to the [[DevelopmentHell long-awaited]] release of ''VideoGame/Mother3'', this game was re-released in 2003 along with its immediate sequel as ''[[CompilationRerelease Mother 1+2]]'' for the Platform/GameBoyAdvance; it contained almost all of the modifications of what is now known as ''[=EarthBound=] Beginnings'', confirming then that it was indeed the real deal and that not all the work had gone to waste. This port was [[NoExportForYou only released in Japan]], though word has it that it was ''almost'' released internationally. When the game was released for the Wii U Virtual Console in Japan (alongside its international debut), many of the GBA changes have been retained. |
| 20 | ----- |
| 21 | !!This game has examples of: |
| 22 | * TwelveBarBlues: The Hippie battle theme uses this chord progression. |
| 23 | * TwentyMinutesIntoThePast: The original Famicom version came out in 1989 and is set in 1988; the English localization swaps this out for an AmbiguousTimePeriod, placed at a non-specific point in the '80s. |
| 24 | * TheEighties: Produced, released, and set in this decade. Interestingly, while the original release is explicitly set in 1988, the actual setting feels closer to 1980 (if only because of the NES's graphical limitations and the fact that most of the game is set in rural and suburban areas). |
| 25 | * AbsurdlyHighLevelCap: The max level cap is 99, but you're likely to be around the early thirties when you beat the game, possibly early forties with Ninten if you deliberately level grinded for Ana's PK Fire Ω. It's possible to beat the games in ''mid-to-low-twenties'' if you know what you're doing. |
| 26 | * ActionBomb: |
| 27 | ** The [=BigWoodoh=] enemies from [[FluffyCloudHeaven Magicant]] and the [=SuperEnergy=] enemies from [[DeathMountain Mt. Itoi]] explode when defeated, dealing damage to the whole party. And there's no scrolling HP to help you here. |
| 28 | ** Near the end of the game, on Mt. Itoi, [[spoiler:EVE explodes after she's defeated by [=R7038XX=], but she manages a TakingYouWithMe against it in doing so.]] |
| 29 | * ActionGirl: |
| 30 | ** Ana, from her FryingPanOfDoom to her PsychicPowers. |
| 31 | ** Pippi has the same level-up stat distribution as ''Teddy'', and far outranks Ninten in terms of physical offense and defense if you keep her around long enough to level her up some. |
| 32 | * AffectionateParody: As noted above, the game was inspired by ''Franchise/DragonQuest''. Thing is, it's set in a (then-)modern "{{Eagleland}}" as opposed to a generic fantasy setting. Instead of magic, you have PsychicPowers. Instead of swords and bows, you have bats and slingshots. Monsters are not killed but instead regain their senses, and said monsters include things like dogs and hippies. The juxtaposition of classical EasternRPG mechanics and tropes with the modern setting contributes to the surreal quality of the game. |
| 33 | ** Shigesato Itoi has accredited ''Franchise/{{Peanuts}}'' as a key inspiration for the ''Mother'' series. But for the sake of legality, two [=NPC=]s in this game had to be altered because they looked too similar to Marcie and Pigpen. |
| 34 | * AIRoulette: Many enemies have different attacks with varying effects, or even moves that do nothing at all, chosen at random. A Sky Yddet, for example, can attack normally, "[[SuicideAttack strike with its last blow]]," or just "grin and [[{{Pun}} bear]] it." |
| 35 | * AlienAbduction: Twice. One instance is the reason why, in the BackStory, [[spoiler:Ninten's grandmother and grandfather, George and Maria, disappeared for years.[[note]]George eventually returned, but Maria did not.[[/note]]]] The second is with most of the adults of Youngtown, turning it into a NeverLand populated almost entirely by children. |
| 36 | * AlienInvasion: [[spoiler:BigBad Giygas and his forces are in the early stages of one, but it's thwarted by the end of the game by Ninten and company.]] |
| 37 | * AliensSpeakingEnglish: An alien, [[spoiler:Giygas]], talks directly to Ninten's party when he appears. In all likelihood, the alien and humans are speaking telepathically. [[spoiler:There's also the possibility that, because Giygas was raised by Maria, a human woman, and because the faction he's a part of is implied to have been studying humans for some time, there are any number of ways he could've picked up the language.]] |
| 38 | * TheAllAmericanBoy: Ninten is a good-natured, popular and brave kid from a quaint American town with a strong love of baseball and his mother's home cooking. |
| 39 | * AllInARow: Started the series tradition of having additional party members follow behind the main character as opposed to [[PartyInMyPocket disappearing into the leader's sprite.]] |
| 40 | * AllThereInTheManual: Very little about the characters' backstories and personalities is stated in-game, but the supplementary guidebook ''Encyclopedia MOTHER'' contains a good deal of additional information about Ninten, Lloyd, Ana, and Teddy that you could never find out just by playing the game. Naturally, [[NoExportForYou the book itself is only available in Japanese]], but was [[FanTranslation translated into English by a fan,]] who made it available to read [[https://kenisu3000.blogspot.com/2022/03/encyclopedia-mother-introduction.html?m=1 here]]. It's notable that because of this guidebook, the main characters of this game are rather more fleshed out than the main characters of the rest of the series, even some of ''VideoGame/Mother3'''s main cast. |
| 41 | ** There's also the game's actual manual, which reveals the name of Ninten's mother (Carol), as well as the fact that the game's "Force" stat [[ShoutOut is supposed to represent a character's attunement to]] ''[[TheForce the]]'' [[TheForce Force]]. As in, from ''Franchise/StarWars''. |
| 42 | * AmbiguouslyAbsentParent: |
| 43 | ** Ninten's Dad doesn't appear until the ending (and only in the English version and the CompilationRerelease). |
| 44 | ** Lloyd's parents are essentially handwaved. His father shows up in/as a trashcan at a remote location in a swamp nowhere near where Lloyd goes to school, and all he does is ask the player's name - no story exposition of even a minor variety. However, in the novel adaption, his father is said to be in the swamp because he is looking for a special plant to cure a fatal illness Lloyd's mother has, and that appears to be another reason Lloyd joins Ninten. |
| 45 | * AnachronismStew: The game supposedly takes place in 1988, and while there is some stuff that is relevant for the time such as pay phones, [=ATMs=], and transit trains, a lot of the setting is notably far more rural in many areas and certain house designs look very old, to the point it somehow feels more like a mishmash between TheEighties and TheGayNineties. This made it somewhat easy for later versions to set the game at an ambiguous point in the 1980s rather than a specific year, influencing the AmbiguousTimePeriod direction of its sequels. |
| 46 | * AndTheAdventureContinues: [[spoiler:Ninten's father calls him at the end of the game about an unspecified important matter that has come up; presumably, something that would warrant his son's attention.]] |
| 47 | * AnimatedArmor: There is an enemy that appears in Rosemary Manor that is an animated suit of armor, called, well, Armor. |
| 48 | * AnimateInanimateObject: Your journey starts off with you being attacked by one of two moving lamps. Then you fight your first boss, a possessed doll, to get your first PlotCoupon. The things you fight along the way just get stranger from here. |
| 49 | * AntiPoopSocking: Whenever you save your game, your dad will urge you to turn off the game and go to sleep. If you play for two hours in one sitting, he'll call you out of nowhere on some sort of telepathic phone to pester you about it some more. He will also allow you the opportunity to save and quit ''wherever you happen to be'' when he calls you this way. |
| 50 | * ArtworkAndGameGraphicsSegregation: |
| 51 | ** Ninten's clay model depicts him in a striped blue and yellow shirt. However, his in-game sprite only features a single black stripe, changed to peach in the international version. |
| 52 | ** Queen Mary's official art depicts her in a small gold tiara and an elaborate pink dress. Due to graphical limitations, her in-game sprite depicts her in a simplistic pink gown with a matching large pink crown. |
| 53 | ** Teddy's in-battle sprite depicts him with a small tattoo on his left bicep, which is absent from his clay model. |
| 54 | ** Official illustrations of the Flying Men showcase them wearing red overalls; their in-game sprites, meanwhile, wear pink overalls, despite the fact that their hair and beaks are still red. Their sprites in ''VideoGame/{{EarthBound|1994}}'', for comparison, correctly depict their overalls as red. |
| 55 | * AshFace: Fail to use Teleport, and after an explosion noise, the party will be covered in soot from head to toe for a moment. It's something else that carried over to the sequel. |
| 56 | * AsthmaPeril: Ninten suffers from asthma, and it becomes a health-draining status effect if he's hit by [[DeadlyGas truck smog]]. An inhaler is a purchasable item to help remedy this. |
| 57 | * AttackReflector: The [=PowerShield=] PSI power reflects enemy attacks back at them. |
| 58 | * AwardBaitSong: |
| 59 | ** "Pollyanna" in its full version (not the 8-bit theme, obviously), which later went on to become the BootstrappedTheme for the entire ''Mother'' series. |
| 60 | ** The Eight Melodies. "[[ThePowerOfLove Take a melody, simple as can be, give it some words and sweet harmony. Raise your voices all day long now, love grows strong now, sing a melody of love, oh, love.]]" The vocal version even has a CherubicChoir! |
| 61 | ** The entire soundtrack album for ''[=EarthBound=] Beginnings'' is made of these. |
| 62 | * BadassAdorable: Let's just sum up the three main characters as this. Admittedly, in Lloyd's case, [[TookALevelInBadass it took a while for it to shine through]], but still. |
| 63 | * BadassNormal: Lloyd and Teddy lack PSI, but make up for it with gadgets and [[CoolSword swords]], respectively. |
| 64 | * BarrierWarrior: Ninten's [=PSI=] Shield, which halves ''all'' incoming damage—even from non-[=PSI=] attacks!—and Power Shield, which reflects enemies' attacks back at them. |
| 65 | * BatterUp: Ninten's most powerful weapons are bats, which would carry on to his successor in the ''[=EarthBound=]''. |
| 66 | * BearsAreBadNews: Bear enemies are pretty consistently |
| 67 | ** The real-world bear enemy and its polar and grizzly variations. The latter variant can hit you multiple times in a row and can [[SuicideAttack sacrifice itself to knock you out in one hit]] with its "last blow." |
| 68 | ** The Sky Yddet, known in the Japanese version as Sky Bear. It's often summoned by the Raeb Yddet and has the "last blow" attack that, at the time it's first encountered, is a sure OneHitKill. |
| 69 | * BeefGate: |
| 70 | ** You're required to recruit Lloyd to activate the rocket in Duncan's Factory, but you can ''technically'' still go there as soon as you get to Merrysville. The problem is that Ninten will face quite a few nasty enemies by himself, most notably the Mad Cars/Trucks and co. Not only does their exhaust attack hit decently hard, they also send Ninten into an asthma attack that leaves him unable to do anything but use his asthma spray. The extra detour you have to make to recruit Lloyd (who ''doesn't'' have asthma) will typically ensure you've grinded enough to make these enemies a non-issue. |
| 71 | ** Once you unblock the railroad leading to Union Station, it's possible to go ''anywhere'' in the Overworld at that point. Heck, it's even possible to reach places before unblocking it by traveling the train tunnels. However, while this ''is'' possible, it's a very, ''very'' unwise thing to do. Doesn't stop people from SequenceBreaking to get Ana earlier than they're supposed to. |
| 72 | ** There's also a big difference between when you ''can'' wake the dragon in Magicant and when you ''should'' wake it. Experienced players may wait until they have Teddy for his raw damage output before fighting it. Alternatively, leveling Ana to Level 21, when she learns PK Freeze γ, followed up with even just a normal physical attack from anyone can take out the dragon in two hits, Teddy or no Teddy. |
| 73 | * BigBad: [[spoiler:Giygas.]] The leader of the alien forces attacking the planet. Of course, there's ''zero'' exposition hinting at his existence until all the melodies have been collected. |
| 74 | * BigBoosHaunt: South Cemetery which does have a few ghosts, but is primarily populated by zombies, who have kidnapped Pippi and hid her in a casket. A more straight example is Rosemary's House outside of Spookane, which is a classic house full of both zombies and ghosts. |
| 75 | * BigDamnHeroes: After [=R7038=] nearly defeats the party (and severely injures [[spoiler:Teddy]]), Lloyd shows up and destroys it with a ''tank''. |
| 76 | * BigFoot: He appears as an enemy encounter in Snowman, who can also use PK Freeze. |
| 77 | * BittersweetEnding: [[RevisedEnding Outside the Famicom original and Japanese Virtual Console versions]], the strange happenings in the world are put to an immediate cease, things quickly return to normal, [[spoiler:and Teddy becomes a singer]]. However, [[spoiler:Magicant vanishes, along with Maria, who never gets a chance to reconcile with her adopted son. Not to mention that Giygas is still out there somewhere, [[VideoGame/EarthBound1994 plotting to return one day.]]]] |
| 78 | * BookEnds: The game begins and ends with Ninten getting a literal CallToAdventure from his father. |
| 79 | * {{Bowdlerise}}: The English translation got quite a few changes as a result of Nintendo's censorship policies at the time. Infamously, blood was edited out of sprites, and cigarettes were removed from the battle sprites of the Crow and Bla-Bla Gang (originally called the Black Blood Gang) as well as the knife Teddy was holding, the nipples on the {{Fembot}}s' breasts were replaced with smooth shines, and crosses and religious text were also removed. Other changes were made to avoid lawsuits, such as some overworld characters lessening a resemblance to ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'' and a mention of ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIII'' and ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIV'' was changed to ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3'' and ''[[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Super Mario Bros. 7]]''. Some stuff got past the radar, like the strip club in Merrysville (originally called Thanksgiving, as all the town and city names were holidays) and the Merrysville doctor, Old Sawbones Benny, saying "Fine, '''die''' all on your own. I'll phone a mortician." if you refuse his services. All of these changes were also in ''Mother 1+2'' and the Japanese Wii U Virtual Console release, with the strip club entirely removed and the ''Dragon Quest'' reference was further changed to "that one game" as opposed to a fictional ''Mario'' title, with no reference to another title in the series. In addition, the riddle of "Who has lost his tail?" in Ninten's grandfather's diary is "Where is God's tail?" in the Japanese version. Itoi was quite involved in the localization of this game and every {{Bowdleri|se}}zation and {{Woolseyism}} that occurred had to have his approval. This may also explain their use in ''Mother 1+2''. |
| 80 | * BoyOfMyDreams: In ''[=EarthBound=] Beginnings'', Ana says that she fell in love with Ninten as soon as she started seeing him in her dreams. This line doesn't exist in ''Mother'' and ''Mother 1+2'', however. |
| 81 | * BrainInAJar: The Cerebrum enemy, found at the caves of Mt. Itoi, has a lot of PSI attacks and huge defense, but, if you manage to block its PSI, it'll be an easy fight, although tedious. |
| 82 | * BratsWithSlingshots: An obtainable (and very weak) weapon early in the game. The only character who's likely to get much use out of it is Pippi, since it's the only weapon in the entire game that she can equip.[[note]]Technically, she's also able to equip Boomerangs, but none of those are obtainable during her brief stint as a party member.[[/note]] |
| 83 | * BubblegloopSwamp: The Swamp connecting Youngtown to Ellay. While it ''is'' supposed to be a swamp, complete with an enemy population to match, it looks more like a marshland or a large pond in-game, due to tileset limitations. |
| 84 | * ButtMonkey: Lloyd. Everyone in his school either points out how much he's been picked on or how much of a weenie he is and Teddy kicks him out the moment he joins your team. Even the descriptions for some of his items don't have nice things to say about him. |
| 85 | * CallAHitPointASmeerp: Psychic Points, or [=PP=], take the place of standard [[ManaMeter MP]] to match with [[PsychicPowers PSI]] being [[MagicByAnyOtherName the series' equivalent of standard RPG magic.]] Also, [[CriticalHit critical hits]] are called "SMAAAASH!!" hits instead. |
| 86 | * CamelCase: The first part of the official release English title: ''[=EarthBound=]''. Averted with the original title of the unreleased prototype: ''Earth Bound.'' |
| 87 | * CharacterNameLimits: In the English version, just like in many older video games. There's the deleted spaces in enemy and object names, and in many instances letters were removed ("[=SuprHealing=]" instead of "Super Healing," for example). |
| 88 | * ChekhovsGun: There's a war veteran with a tank in Yucca Desert. If you get enough ticket stubs from him, you get to ride it, and he warns you to be careful with it because it's his most prized possession. [[TropeTelegraphing Inevitably]], it breaks, and when you get to Ellay you have to pay him to replace it. Also, in an optional subplot that you can do later, Lloyd gets a BigDamnHeroes moment with a tank. What other tank could he possibly get access to? If you do both those events in order, it's ChekhovsBoomerang. |
| 89 | * CherubicChoir: The vocal version of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrtM4onLQ1I The Eight Melodies]]. Also used in the 1989 Japanese [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQUN7QAnMp0 commercial.]] |
| 90 | * ChestMonster: Checking certain objects will get you drawn into a battle. |
| 91 | * ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve: [[spoiler:Giygas is defeated by singing Queen Mary's Lullaby to him, similar to how he's finally defeated in ''VideoGame/{{EarthBound|1994}}''.]] |
| 92 | * CombatMedic: Ninten and Ana. Ninten is unique in that he learns no offensive PSI at all and can only physically attack, while only Ana can learn the [[SpellLevels ultimate level]] of [=LifeUp=], [=LifeUp=] Ω. |
| 93 | * CoolSword: Teddy's strongest weapons are swords, and of course KatanasAreJustBetter. |
| 94 | * CreepyDoll: The possessed doll in your sister's room. |
| 95 | * CriticalHit: [[CallAHitPointASmeerp "SMAAAASH!!"]] attacks ignore the target's physical defenses, dealing a lot more damage than normal hits. However, enemies can also perform these "SMAAAASH!!" hits, with roughly the same odds as your own party members. Since your party is generally much better defended than them, and you have to fight a lot of them, the chance of a defense-piercing hit becomes bad news for you. |
| 96 | * CrutchCharacter: The enemies on Mt. Itoi are so dangerous that EVE the robot is the only character that's strong enough to take them out quickly. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, EVE doesn't remain in your party for long.]] |
| 97 | * CurtainCall: Done at the end of the game, all the characters and [=NPCs=] running along the bottom of the screen and looking towards the player before running back off. |
| 98 | * CuteBruiser: Pippi may not have the typical personality of this trope, at least as far as can be discerned, but she has the same level growths as Teddy. Shame you can't keep her for long. |
| 99 | * DamselInDistress: [[OverlyNarrowSuperlative Probably]] the only RPG in existence in which you have to rescue [[LawyerFriendlyCameo Pippi Longstocking]] from zombie gangsters. |
| 100 | * DanceOfRomance: An optional scene with Ninten and Ana alone inside the bedroom of a healer's house. |
| 101 | * DarkReprise: A slow, melancholic version of ''Pollyanna'' plays [[spoiler:in the room where Teddy is recuperating after R7038's attack, as well as when George speaks to Ninten through the black crystal before his grave atop Mt. Itoi.]] |
| 102 | * DeadAllAlong: [[spoiler:Queen Mary, or rather, Ninten's grandmother Maria. Magicant is the result of her lingering consciousness, and after Ninten helps her remember the melody to stop Giygas, she can rest at last, and she and Magicant disappear.]] |
| 103 | * DeathMountain: Mt. Itoi is this, as well as the DefinitelyFinalDungeon due to its difficulty and the fact that [[spoiler:Giygas]] is confronted at the top. It is also where the team meets EVE and gets the seventh melody. |
| 104 | * DeathRay: PK Beam γ is always a OneHitKill, as long as the target isn't wearing a Franklin Badge, AnimatedArmor, or a giant robot. |
| 105 | * DefeatMeansFriendship: Though the fight ends before there's actually a winner, you can get Teddy to join this way. |
| 106 | * {{Delinquent}}: Teddy is the leader of a gang that hangs around the streets of Ellay, has a smoking habit, and during the game gets into a knife fight with 12-year-old Ninten right before he's recruited. |
| 107 | * DevelopersForesight: You cannot name anyone Nancy, Kelly, or Juana (or any of those enemies' Japanese names in ''Mother''). For that matter, you can't use the names of any named [=NPC=]s for your party members, either, nor the BigBad's name. ''[=EarthBound Beginnings=]'' will not let you violate the OneSteveLimit. |
| 108 | * DidntThinkThisThrough: The clerk of the Spookane Hotel is actually a Starman in disguise, who will attack you after luring you into staying. Unfortunately for him, he waited until ''after'' you've gotten the benefits of resting at a hotel (full HP and PP), which can turn the fight into a CurbStompBattle in your favor. |
| 109 | * DrJerk: Old Sawbones Benny, a sleazy doctor who always charges you exactly half the money you have on hand (rounded down) for his services. |
| 110 | -->'''Old Sawbones Benny (if you don't pay for his services)''': Fine, die all on your own. I'll phone a mortician. |
| 111 | * DubNameChange: ''[=EarthBound=] Beginnings'' changed the names of many things, including most of the major locations: Mother's Day to Podunk, Choucream Zoo to City Zoo, Thanksgiving to Merrysville, Tinkle to Twinkle Elementary School, Santa Claus Station to Union Station, Halloween to Spookane, Advent Desert to Yucca Desert, Easter to Youngtown, Valentine to Ellay, and Holy Loly/Rolly Mountain to Mt./Mount Itoi. The reason for the holiday theme being removed was due to the game's lead localizer, Phil Sandhop, seeing the original naming scheme as childish—and therefore potentially offputting to older players—rather than welcoming. Some other changes were made to enemies, items, and weapons due to space constraints, censorship issues, or just plain preference. Since the sequel only had one returning translator in the localization team, most of these changes (like Giegue in favor of Gyiyg/Giygas) were dropped, but a few others (like Starman Junior over the Japanese original Starman's Son) were retained. |
| 112 | * DuelBoss: When you reach Ellay, you can do a dance show if you have a team of three (which you should by this point normally). Teddy will come onstage and demand to know who is beating up his gang, taking Ninten into a one-on-one fight with no PSI. It ends fairly quickly, after which Teddy sends Lloyd off and [[DefeatMeansFriendship joins your team]]. |
| 113 | * DungeonCrawling: Duncan's Factory is an annoying large version of this that you are required to go in to continue the plot, although if you're persistent (or lucky) enough to find the right rooms, you can find a second Franklin Badge. The factory also contains the Super Spray, an unlimited-use item that can be used to OneHitKill ''all'' bug-like enemies in battle without fail. It's more helpful than it sounds, considering the game's arthropod foes tend to be [[DemonicSpiders Demonic (sometimes literal) Spiders]]. |
| 114 | * DungeonTown: Spookane, unlike other towns where enemy encounters stop upon entering, they can still happen even after entering the town limits. |
| 115 | * DynamicAkimbo: The Starmen enemies always stand with both of their tentacle-like "arms" on their hips. |
| 116 | * {{Eagleland}}: Much like its [[TropeNamer Trope Naming]] follow up, though unlike ''[=EarthBound=]'', it explicitly takes place in America. |
| 117 | * EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: ''[=EarthBound=] Beginnings'' is noticeably different from its successors in a number of ways: |
| 118 | ** Firstly, [[JustifiedTrope since the NES wasn't powerful enough for it at the time]], the PreexistingEncounters found in ''[=EarthBound=]'' and ''Mother 3'' weren't introduced yet; the game uses the genre staple of RandomEncounters instead. |
| 119 | ** Similarly, once again because of limitations, the HP odometer system and AmazingTechnicolorBattlefield that ''[=EarthBound=]'' and ''Mother 3'' had are also absent. |
| 120 | ** Unlike its successors, the world is very open and nonlinear, which can lead to fans who are used to the more linear and guided progression of the latter two games becoming lost due to a comparative (and, admittedly, somewhat objective) lack of direction. Many scenes and even entire party members that would be mandated in order to complete most other [=RPG=]s are actually completely optional; Ana and Teddy, who together account for a full half of the four main characters named at the start of the game, don't even need to be ''encountered'' in order to complete it. To note, the possible endgame party configurations are... |
| 121 | *** Ninten, Ana, Lloyd [[note]]The standard ending team; simply recruit all three of them, then either ignore Teddy or proceed with Teddy as normal.[[/note]] |
| 122 | *** Ninten, Ana, Teddy [[note]]Get the melody from EVE before recruiting Teddy, then recruit him and avoid triggering the R7038 fight.[[/note]] |
| 123 | *** Ninten, Lloyd [[note]]Don't recruit Ana.[[/note]] |
| 124 | *** Ninten, Ana [[note]]Get the melody from EVE, recruit Teddy, and fight R7038. Walk out without talking to Teddy afterwards, and you can finish with just these two.[[/note]] |
| 125 | *** Ninten [[note]]The most complex ending setup. Get the melody from EVE, recruit Teddy, then go to the back room of the Healer's house on Mt. Itoi. Rather than talk to Ana and trigger the dance and R7038, use the Onyx Hook to go to Magicant. Ninten will be alone, and since you don't need Lloyd to get EVE anymore, you can finish the game now.[[/note]] |
| 126 | *** Ninten, Ana, Lloyd, EVE ''(Japanese Famicom version only)'' [[note]]Recruit Ana, Lloyd, and EVE, enter the [=R7038XX=] fight, and repeatedly use the Flea Bag item to prolong the battle past the 255-turn limit. The battle will automatically end, and the game will act as if EVE died normally, displaying her corpse on the mountainside and allowing you to obtain the seventh melody and move onwards. However, because EVE's self-destruct mechanism was never activated, she is not eliminated from the party, and you can proceed to the end of the game with her still on-hand. This is only possible because of a GoodBadBug exclusive to the Famicom version, in which the Flea Bag is capable of working on inorganic enemies-- something it is not meant to do. This glitch was fixed in the 1990 localization and all later versions of the game, which use the localization as a base.[[/note]] |
| 127 | *** Ninten, Lloyd, EVE ''(Japanese Famicom version only)'' [[note]]Same as the above, except don't recruit Ana.[[/note]] |
| 128 | ** [=PSI=] in ''[=EarthBound=] Beginnings'' is rather strange compared to the latter two games. For starters, it has the highest count of PSI moves unique to it in the entire series (Telepathy, 4th-D Slip, Super Healing, Quick Up, PSI-Block, Darkness, Power Shield, and Shield-Off). The Healing series each cure a single specific status ailment, rather than curing all status ailments from a progressively-larger list. There are also some [=PSI=] moves with different names from their appearances in later games; Brain Cyclone is better known to most fans of the series as Brainshock Ω, and generally-speaking, PSI abilities that have only two power levels are ranked as α and β, rather than α and Ω as in later games. The [=PK=] Thunder series in general had having the tightest damage range as its distinguishing feature instead of attacking multiple times randomly with a good chance of missing. There's also the fact that Offense [=PSI=] moves did not have a constant effect sans power level across all their stages; [=PK=] Freeze γ [[HPToOne reduces the target to critical HP]], [=PK=] Beam γ and [=PK=] Fire Ω [[OneHitKill attempt to instantly annihilate one enemy or all enemies]], respectively, and [=PK=] Freeze Ω, [=PK=] Beam Ω, and [=PK=] Thunder γ all target all enemies instead of one. Oh, and [[MissingSecret [=PK=] Thunder Ω just doesn't exist at all.]] |
| 129 | ** Rather than the [=PSI=] moves being sorted into three smaller menus by effect category and then arrayed in a column, with the power level selected from a row, ''[=EarthBound=] Beginnings'' lists each level of each [=PSI=] move as its own entry in a single standard [=RPG=] skill menu. |
| 130 | ** Unlike following games, which rely on an AmbiguousTimePeriod setting, the Famicom release of ''Beginnings'' is explicitly set in the year 1988. The English localization and later Japanese releases would change this to an unspecified point in the 80's, and the [=eShop=] description would use [[YearX "198X"]] to keep in line with ''VideoGame/{{EarthBound|1994}}'''s "[=199X=]" setting. |
| 131 | ** Perhaps the biggest difficulty fans of the latter two games encounter when playing ''[=EarthBound=] Beginnings'', however, is the fact that the game is significantly harder—with a much steeper difficulty curve—compared to ''[=EarthBound=]'' and ''Mother 3''. While it was likely balanced for a player who would be figuring things out for themselves --and thus would gain a lot of levels simply exploring the world--, those following a walkthrough will likely have to spend a lot of time LevelGrinding. |
| 132 | ** While ''[=EarthBound=] Beginnings'' does still have its share of outright whimsical enemies, its bestiary is comprised predominantly of enemies that are more [[AccidentalPun down-to-earth]] and sensible for the setting and story; lots of violent wild animals, rowdy citizens, and alien soldiers, and fewer wacky, out-of-nowhere enemies like the Worthless Protoplasm of ''[=EarthBound=]'' or the Negative Man of ''Mother 3''. |
| 133 | ** ''[=EarthBound=] Beginnings'' is also devoid of [[RidiculouslyCuteCritter Mr. Saturns]], the strange, helpful little critters who would go on to become the [[SeriesMascot series' mascots]] following their introduction in ''VideoGame/{{EarthBound|1994}}''. |
| 134 | * EasterEgg: In Yuuca Desert, a single mine was left in the desert. If you find it and step on it, you'll get a message from Creator/ShigesatoItoi. |
| 135 | * EnergyWeapon: The PK Beam series, which notably didn't reappear in either of the subsequent games. Beams are also a favorite weapon of the Starman enemies, and two of Lloyd's tools are laser guns. |
| 136 | * EpicFail: It is actually possible to get a game over from someone sneezing on you and not having any means to treat the "Cold" status condition before your HP runs out. |
| 137 | * EquipmentSpoiler: Teddy's Butter Knife and Sword weapons can be obtained well before reaching Ellay, where he's encountered. [[DownplayedTrope Of course, it's a good deal less spoilery than most examples, considering you see Teddy's sprite and enter his name at the beginning of the game,]] but even so. |
| 138 | * EscapeBattleTechnique: Ninten's signature 4th-D Slip, which allows a guaranteed escape from battle. Considering how brutal the late game enemies are, it's very helpful at times. |
| 139 | * EscapedAnimalRampage: Happens early in the game, orchestrated by the alien invaders. Fighting through escaped crocodiles, tigers, and elephants to investigate the cause of the recent disturbances around Podunk serves as the finale to the first arc of the game's story. |
| 140 | * EscapeRope: The Bread Crumbs are used as this. You use Bread wherever you want to get back to, roam into a dungeon or elsewhere, then when you want to leave you follow the breadcrumbs all the way back where you placed them. |
| 141 | * EternalEngine: Sweet's Little Factory is visited fairly early on, but is relatively small and doesn't really have any threatening enemies. Later on the group visits Duncan's Factory, a more proper dungeon, where bottle rockets are made. |
| 142 | * EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: [[spoiler:It's Giygas's memories of his adoptive human mother, Maria, that end up defeating him.]] |
| 143 | * EverythingsDeaderWithZombies: The Podunk Graveyard features two kinds of zombie enemies as random encounters, while stronger forms of those same enemies appear in Rosemary Manor. Additionally, there are a couple of [=NPCs=] near the south end of Podunk who will reveal themselves to be zombies and attack Ninten when interacted with. |
| 144 | * EverythingTryingToKillYou: Your first enemies are two desk lamps and a baby doll. It just gets wilder from there. |
| 145 | * {{Expy}}: Pippi is a clear one of the title character of the ''Literature/PippiLongstocking'' books, sharing a name and a very similar design, as well as being [[CuteBruiser abnormally strong]].[[note]]Likely a reference to the book character's SuperStrength.[[/note]] The Encyclopedia also reveals that her mother is named Lindgren, just like Pippi Longstocking's [[Creator/AstridLindgren "mother"]]. |
| 146 | * FireIceLightning: The main trio of offensive PSI: PK Fire, PK Freeze, and PK Thunder. |
| 147 | * FirstTown: The town of Podunk. Ninten is a resident of Podunk and lives on the town's outskirts. |
| 148 | * FluffyCloudHeaven: The land of Magicant appears as a kingdom resting on a group of puffy pink clouds in the sky. |
| 149 | * ForcedLevelGrinding: The [[PerfectlyCromulentWord grindiest]] game in the whole series. You even have to grind at the very start of the game to avoid getting annihilated by enemies ''right outside your house.'' |
| 150 | * FreeRangeChildren: Nobody seems to mind that Ninten, Ana and Lloyd travel across America completely unattended by adults.[[note]]Teddy ''may'' count as an adult supervisor when he's in the party, but he's got a VagueAge.[[/note]] |
| 151 | * AFriendInNeed: Ninten finds Lloyd cowering in a garbage can from some bullies, who then tells him that all he really would like is to fire a rocket. Ninten then goes and gets him one, and they are buddies from then on. |
| 152 | * FryingPanOfDoom: Ana's most powerful weapons are frying pans. Like with [[BatterUp Ninten and Ness]], it would carry over to Paula in ''[=EarthBound=]''. |
| 153 | * GalacticConqueror: [[spoiler:Giygas.]] |
| 154 | * GangBangers: The Bla-Bla Gang members of Ellay, with Teddy as their leader. The Gang Zombies are the [[EverythingsDeaderWithZombies reanimated, malevolent corpses]] of these. |
| 155 | * GardeningVarietyWeapon: Wally, one of the first enemies you find in the game; his sprite includes a farmer pitchfork. |
| 156 | * GhostTown: The town Spookane after it became infested with monsters and ghosts. |
| 157 | * GirlishPigtails: Ana and Pippi have these. |
| 158 | * GlassCannon: Ana, who by the time she gets some good levels on her can dish out OneHitKill moves like nothing…as long as her abysmal HP and defense don't get her obliterated by an enemy first. |
| 159 | * GlobalCurrency: Dollars, with the game mostly taking place entirely in America. They're also good in Magicant, as the shopkeepers there are all from the real world, just like Ninten and friends. [[spoiler:Magicant being the MentalWorld of Maria, a Rural American woman, means that dollars would probably be a valid currency even between those native to Magicant.]] |
| 160 | * GuestStarPartyMember: Pippi, EVE, and, optionally, the Flying Men. [[spoiler:Teddy is a bit of a downplayed example, as the player is intended to fight R7038—and lose Teddy in the process—before completing the game, but the fight is technically optional if you know how to skip it, in which case it's possible to make Lloyd the GuestStarPartyMember instead]]. |
| 161 | * GuideDangIt: |
| 162 | ** The game, when compared to its successors, is exceptionally open-ended and nonlinear. As a result, there is no exact direction to how to progress and getting any set objective will require some deep exploration throughout the ''tremendously'' large overworld and[=/=]or talking to [=NPC=]s you might not think are important (it doesn't help that, due to graphical limitations, the character sprites are sometimes indistinguishable from others). Ironically, using a guide can actually make the game ''harder'' since players were encouraged to explore and thus level grind in the process. |
| 163 | ** The effects of PSI attacks. The game itself doesn't give you any clues on what most of them do. This becomes crucial when you need to figure out which "Healing" skill to use, because unlike in its successors, each level cures only a specific ailment. Plus, Healing γ doesn't revive unconscious party members; rather, it cures petrification. |
| 164 | ** It's also fairly easy to miss several parts of the Eight Melodies if you don't pay attention to the environment. Most notable is the second melody—obtainable even before rescuing Pippi—which requires you bring a baby canary to Canary Village. However you only get told where Canary Village is once, by an [=NPC=], and the directions they give you are vague at best. Even if you did get the baby canary, you may end up lugging it around for half the game and not realize that it's the key to the second melody. |
| 165 | * HandicappedBadass: Ninten is asthmatic, but it doesn't stop him from being a badass for the most part, although the vehicular enemies can cause him to have asthma attacks that prevent him from acting. The condition can be alleviated with the purchasable asthma spray. |
| 166 | * HauntedHouse: The old Rosemary Manor near Spookane is chock full of a variety of ghosts, animated armors, and pianos that mysteriously play by themselves. |
| 167 | * HellHotel: The hotel at the abandoned GhostTown, Spookane. The clerk at the hotel is actually a Starman in disguise, who, after charging a much cheaper than normal lodging fee, attacks you immediately the next morning. |
| 168 | * HeroicMime: Ninten is never seen speaking in-text dialogue, setting a tradition that would be followed by the other two protagonists of the series. |
| 169 | * HopelessBossFight: The three giant robots. The first two can be destroyed only by a tank (and, with a tank, the first one is hopeless for R7037). However, [=R7038=] attacks the party when they don't have any heavy artillery to defend themselves. While there's no way to avoid it decimating the heroes—[[spoiler:and gravely wounding Teddy in the process, hospitalizing him for the remainder of the game]]—Lloyd shows up in the nick of time to destroy it with a tank. [[spoiler:When you fight [=R7038XX=], even your new giant robot buddy deals only about 50 points of damage per hit, and only when she explodes does [=R7038XX=] die. Fortunately, it doesn't try to attack you, it only attacks EVE. So, you win, but for EVE, it was hopeless.]] |
| 170 | * HPToOne: If PK Freeze γ connects, it always reduces the target to critical status, regardless of any defensive stats. |
| 171 | * HumansAreBastards: Implied to be how [[spoiler:Giygas]] sees humans, and his reason for invading Earth and abducting people. [[spoiler:His adoptive father and Ninten's biological great-grandfather, George, had stolen information that could be used against Giygas's people. It is not directly stated what exactly this information is, but it is suggested that it could be related to [=PSI=] or to the technology used to construct [=EVE=], or perhaps both.]] |
| 172 | * HumongousMecha: The three aforementioned giant robot bosses, as well as EVE. |
| 173 | * AnIcePerson: The PK Freeze series of PSI involves psychically conjuring ice to attack enemies. |
| 174 | * ImprobableWeaponUser: Similar to the sequel, almost nobody uses a real weapon. Teddy, a leader of a gang, is an exception: he can use a knife, a sword, and eventually [[KatanasAreJustBetter a katana!]] |
| 175 | * InconsistentSpelling: |
| 176 | ** Roid/Loid/Lloyd. The first was the official romanization in Japanese, the international fanbase used the second for quite a while, and ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosBrawl'' and the ''[=EarthBound=] Beginnings'' trailer use the third. While the middle spelling has been used the longest in the fanbase and is still the preference in certain circles, the last spelling is more likely since the term ''roido'' comes from silent film star Harold Lloyd (after his usual round glasses). |
| 177 | ** Ana/Anna. Despite the name being closer in katakana spelling and pronunciation to the former, the latter was preferred in Japanese merchandise. However, ''Super Smash Bros. Brawl'' uses the former. |
| 178 | ** Also shown by [[spoiler:the main villain - his name is written ギーグ (giigu) in katakana, written as "Giegue" in the localization, and is finally shown to actually be "Gyiyg" in the sequel. Eventually, Nintendo just made up a new English name for him ("Giygas"). But before that, his name was apparently going to be localized as [[TomTheDarkLord "The Geek".]]]] |
| 179 | * InfinityMinusOneSword: |
| 180 | ** The Boomerang. Not only can anyone equip it, outside of Teddy, it's ''three quarters of the party's'' second strongest weapon. It's a bit pricey, costing $1100, but once you have one for everyone, it becomes an effective DiscOneNuke. |
| 181 | ** Teddy's InfinityMinusOneSword, however, is the [[HeroesPreferSwords Sword]]. You can pick up in Magicant long before you'll ever encounter Teddy. |
| 182 | * InnSecurity: In Spookane. $18 for a single night is very inexpensive! [[spoiler:…[[OhCrap And then the party is jumped by Starman the next morning.]]]] |
| 183 | * InstakillMook: Two kinds appear throughout the game. |
| 184 | ** Certain enemies know PK Beam γ, an attack that instantly KO's its target if it hits. It ''can'' be reflected by a Franklin Badge, but given how there are only two in the game and three party members, there'll always be one character in your party left vulnerable. Additionally, these kinds of enemies appear even before the second party member joins, so if you neglect to get the Franklin Badge [[GuideDangIt (which isn’t obvious)]], you could be in trouble. |
| 185 | ** A few enemies are capable of casting Petrification, which counts as an instant KO and can only be healed via Healing γ and Healers. A petrified party member will drag behind the rest of the party as a static sprite. |
| 186 | * InstantAwesomeJustAddMecha: EVE, a gigantic HumongousMecha that [[spoiler:George created to assist Ninten and company.]] The three giant robot bosses also count, for villainous examples. |
| 187 | * InterfaceSpoiler: After Lloyd and Ana join you, you'll notice that your status window during a battle will be barely touching the feet of the enemy sprites. The first and only hint that all four main characters can't be together at the same time. |
| 188 | * InterspeciesRomance: One of the monkeys in the Monkey Cave flirts with Ana. |
| 189 | * IrrelevantImportance: That some items can't be discarded is alleviated by the fact you can leave stuff at home, freeing up the 8 slots per party member. But you'd need to go all the way there, until you get teleport. |
| 190 | * ItsAllUpstairsFromHere: The final battle is at the peak of Mt. Itoi. |
| 191 | * JokeItem: |
| 192 | ** The Swear Words and Words O' Love, both of which require a small sidequest, only display the words "I hate you!" and "I love you!" respectively, when used in battle. The Last Weapon [[FridgeBrilliance tells you how to reset the game]]. Much like the Last Weapon, the Real Rocket is available to buy for a steep price in the Twinkle laboratory. From the name of it, it seems like it would be quite a cut above the Bottle Rocket item. But if you buy it… it never even makes it into your inventory. |
| 193 | -->'''Scientist''': "Oops! It's gone into orbit. A success… sort of." |
| 194 | ** The Time Machine was an item in the original Family Computer version that did something similar when you bought it, but it was removed from later versions. |
| 195 | * KatanasAreJustBetter: The Katana is Teddy's InfinityPlusOneSword. It's better than the presumably European-style Sword found in Magicant. |
| 196 | * KidHero: Ninten and Ana are 12, while Lloyd is 11. Doesn't stop them from [[spoiler:saving America from an AlienInvasion.]] |
| 197 | * LazyDragon: The sixth melody is known by a dragon sleeping in Crystal Cavern. However, the dragon is asleep, and won't awaken until Ninten's strong enough for it to sense his presence. (Level 25) |
| 198 | * LeftHanging: The original Famicom version ended like this. You beat the FinalBoss, the boss flees, and the credits roll right then and there. And that's it, that's the entire ending. |
| 199 | * LevelGrinding: The player is forced to do this after recruiting Lloyd and Ana. They come at a low level, and so one naturally goes to Magicant to train them. |
| 200 | * LostInTranslation: [[spoiler:After Lloyd has his BigDamnHeroes moment in the tank while Ninten, Ana and Teddy were getting their butts handed to them by R•7038. However, due to how his speech was translated, it seems as if [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Lloyd accidentally shot Teddy, and that it's actually his fault that Teddy is critically injured]]. Turns out that, as shown in the ''Mother 1+2'' FanTranslation, Lloyd was supposed to instead say that he was too late.]] Of course, there are more moments than this, but this is one of the most notable. |
| 201 | -->'''Lloyd (''[=EarthBound=] Beginnings'')''': "Shoot! I missed!"\ |
| 202 | '''Lloyd (FanTranslation)''': "Oh no! I'm too late!" |
| 203 | * LukeIAmYourFather: [[spoiler:Queen Mary is actually Ninten's great-grandmother, Maria, whose consciousness lingered within Magicant after her death.]] |
| 204 | * MadBomber: The Bomber enemy at Duncan's Factory, and its more powerful variant, the Star Miner, found at Mt. Itoi; both attack by throwing bombs that damage your entire party. |
| 205 | * MadScientist: The Dr. Distorto enemy, found at Duncan's factory. |
| 206 | * MagicalMysteryDoors: The Rosemary's house dungeon is a maze of doors, stairs, and rooms, complete with lots of dead ends. |
| 207 | * MagicByAnyOtherName: [[PsychicPowers PSI]] is the game's stand-in for magical powers, just like in its successors. |
| 208 | * MagicIsRareHealthIsCheap: Notably, the only Mother game to [[{{Inverted}} invert]] this trope: there is only one PP-restoring item in the game, the Psi Stone, which heals 20 PP, and while it cannot be bought in any store, it can be reused multiple times, found around in the game world and is dropped by various enemies, including the relatively common Starmen. By contrast, the HP-restoring item you will be using the most is the [[HealingHerb Magic Herb]], which heals 30-HP and will eventually become obsolete once Ninten and his party grow a bigger health pool. Most other items that restore HP heals as much or less than the Magic Herb, and the few ones that heal more (The Hambuger heals 50, the Sport Drink heals 100 and the Life Up Cream fully heals you) are incredibly rare to find and/or expensive to buy. You ''do'' eventually meet someone that gives away an infinite supply of Life Up Cream, but only once you are at the base of [[TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon Mt. Itoi]]. |
| 209 | * ManaDrain: PSI Magnet drains an amount of the target's PP to add to the user's reserves, depending on the [[SpellLevels level]]. |
| 210 | * MarathonLevel: [[http://starmen.net/mother1/miscinfo/maps/duncanfactory.png Duncan's Factory is really huge;]] even bigger than ''the entirety of Magicant''. If you know where you're going, it's not ''too'' bad, but the place is designed like a maze with multiple paths, and the overall aesthetics are very samey, so it's very easy to get disoriented and turned around, even with a map of the place. |
| 211 | * MatingDance: Although you need the specific party lineup of Ninten, Ana, and Teddy in order to see the scene, there is a house on Mt. Itoi where Teddy will leave Ninten and Ana alone to be together in a room with two beds, in which Ana will ask if Ninten likes her and they will engage in a very intimate dance. Teddy returns after and asks why they're blushing. |
| 212 | * TheMaze: There are a quite few. Duncan Factory, the Swamp, Mt. Itoi caves… |
| 213 | * MentalWorld: [[spoiler:Magicant turns out to be a figment of Maria's consciousness lingering after her death.]] |
| 214 | * MemoryRestoringMelody: Queen Mary is glum because she can’t remember her song. She asks Ninten to find the Eight Melodies. [[spoiler:Once they’re all found, Queen Mary remembers that she’s Ninten’s missing great-grandmother Maria and that she would sing the song to Giygas (called Giegue here) during his infancy]]. |
| 215 | * MetalSlime: Red Snakes, which are pretty uncommon and frequently run away from battle. If you manage to defeat them, though, they give a hefty chunk of experience, and may drop Magic Coins. |
| 216 | * MinimalisticCoverArt: The boxart is just the logo over a plain red background. |
| 217 | * MissingSecret: The game has four main Offense [=PSI=] series; [=PK=] Freeze, [=PK=] Fire, [=PK=] Thunder, and [=PK=] Beam. All of these have four power levels, going through α, β, γ, and ending on Ω… Except [=PK=] Thunder, which ends at γ for some reason, having only three power levels. |
| 218 | * MomentKiller: Right after Ninten and Ana confess their feelings (maybe), Teddy barges in the room and asks the pair why they are blushing. To be fair he does apologize for interrupting, but did so because he was hearing odd noises outside, [[FromBadToWorse and then a giant robot attacks them]], [[spoiler:critically wounding Teddy.]] Real moodkiller there. |
| 219 | * MrsRobinson: The Rosemary mother. Somehow this stayed in ''[=EarthBound=] Beginnings''. |
| 220 | * MugglesDoItBetter: In both instances where you're forced to fight the giant, alien-made R7030-series robots, they're {{Hopeless Boss Fight}}s if you attempt to take them on normally… However, they're surprisingly weak to [[TankGoodness tanks]]. |
| 221 | * MutuallyExclusivePartyMembers: Teddy and Lloyd are functionally this; though over the course of normal gameplay it's meant as a GuestStarPartyMember situation, with some SequenceBreaking (and a willingness to hold off on recruiting him) you can keep Teddy to the end of the game. |
| 222 | * NerdGlasses: Lloyd wears the round-rimmed version of these. |
| 223 | * NeverLand: Youngtown is populated almost entirely by children, due to AlienAbduction of all of the [[OnlyFatalToAdults adults]]. |
| 224 | * NeverSayDie: |
| 225 | ** Similar to the sequel, enemies "become quiet", "don't move anymore", etc. {{Justified|Trope}} because you're not using real weapons (for the most part) and you're fighting possessed animals and humans, as well as supernatural beings. You're not beating them to death, you're beating them until they stop attacking you. The implication is that you're only reacting in defense against these enemies. |
| 226 | ** Another example is in the {{Bowdlerisation}} with the Plasma Beam, the [=UltraBarbot=] and [=ManiacTruck=] enemies; in the Japanese version, they're known as the Death Beam, Death Barbot and Death Truck, respectively. |
| 227 | ** During the FinalBoss when [[spoiler:Ninten refuses to join Giygas on the mothership, in the Japanese version, Giygas tells Ninten in his companions to perish with the rest of the humans. In the American version, he tells them to [[DeadlyEuphemism "fall into a long sleep"]].]] |
| 228 | * NeverTrustATrailer: The Japanese TV spot had Ninten and Ana defeat R•7037 or one of its upgraded model robots. This is impossible to do in-game, where all of those enemies need heavy weaponry to defeat. |
| 229 | * NintendoHard: Lots and lots of RandomEncounters, oft-unbalanced enemies, a huge proliferation of OneHitKill moves, and too much ForcedLevelGrinding make this the hardest game in the whole series. Itoi even admitted to completely skipping over balancing out the later sections of the game because, by the end, the whole development team was so tired. |
| 230 | * NoEnding: The original release ended with [[spoiler:Giygas, defeated, leaving in his spaceship, the party solemnly looking back at the player one by one, and the credits playing in the black sky. It didn't explicitly tie up any loose ends and left some FridgeHorror / NoEndorHolocaust.]] ''[=EarthBound=] Beginnings'' and ''Mother 1+2'' significantly extended the ending, although it automatically assumes that the player recruited all characters. Given the game's non-linear structure, this is in some respects more of a mixed bag than it would seem. |
| 231 | * NonStandardSkillLearning: New PSI moves have a 25% chance of being learned after each battle if Ninten or Ana is at or above the required level, but Teleport is only learned from the Garrickson baby in Youngtown. |
| 232 | * NoSell: During the [[spoiler:final battle against Giygas, no regular attacks or PSI will affect him at all. While attacking abilities still display damage numbers, his HP is effectively bottomless. No offensive actions are effective against him except for singing the Eight Melodies.]] |
| 233 | * NoSmoking: The Crow and B.B. Gang enemies are depicted with cigarettes in the Japanese Famicom version, but lost them in the English version and the subsequent Japanese releases. Notably, this {{Bowdlerisation}} was one of the changes Itoi himself approved of, as he had quit smoking around the time of ''Mother 1+2'' and wanted to reflect it in the game. |
| 234 | * NostalgicMusicbox: The ending tune starts and ends with a music box rendition of the Eight Melodies. |
| 235 | * NotDrawnToScale: If the surrounding panorama is to be believed, the rooftop of the Twinkle School is several hundred stories off the ground --[[FridgeBrilliance then again, maybe that's just what it looks like to Ninten…]] |
| 236 | * {{Novelization}}: It calls Ninten "Ken," for starters, and explains the deal with Lloyd's father randomly being in the swamp. |
| 237 | * NPCAmnesia: Often just for fun but there are some particularly complex trees that must be solved through trial and error in order to proceed. |
| 238 | * TheNumberedThings: The Eight Melodies. |
| 239 | * ObviousRulePatch: Power Shield, a [=PSI=] technique that [[AttackReflector indefinitely redirects all incoming damage back at the attacker]], cannot be used in scripted boss battles to prevent the player from breaking those scripts or otherwise cheesing the fight. |
| 240 | * OminousMusicBoxTune: The first of the Eight Melodies is a music box hidden in Ninten's sister's formerly possessed naked doll. |
| 241 | * OneSteveLimit: The player cannot give the party members the names of important [=NPCs=] in the story. The game will force the player to use a different name if they try. |
| 242 | %%* OpaqueNerdGlasses: Lloyd's glasses are these. |
| 243 | * OpeningNarration: |
| 244 | --> In the early 1900's, a dark shadow covered a small country town in rural America. At that time, a young married couple vanished mysteriously from their home.\ |
| 245 | \ |
| 246 | The man's name was George, the woman's name was Maria.\ |
| 247 | \ |
| 248 | Two years later, as suddenly as he left, George returned. He never told anyone where he had been or what he had done. But, he began an odd study, all by himself.\ |
| 249 | \ |
| 250 | As for Maria, his wife… She never returned.\ |
| 251 | \ |
| 252 | 80 years have passed since then. |
| 253 | * OptionalPartyMember: Lloyd is the only other major party member required to beat the game, and even he's optional to ''keep'' after reaching Ellay. Ana can be completely ignored, and Teddy can't join unless you have Ana. |
| 254 | * OneHitKill: |
| 255 | ** PK Beam γ, a favorite PK attack of Starmen. Fortunately, the Franklin Badge just reflects the attack back at the attacker. Unfortunately, there's only two in the entire game, meaning that one party member will be vulnerable at all times. On the plus side, Ana's own PK Beam γ works frequently on late game enemies, although mechanical enemies are immune to PK Beam γ; both their own Beams reflected back at them and Ana's. |
| 256 | ** PK Fire Ω destroys all enemies instantly. |
| 257 | * OnlyFatalToAdults: All the parents of Youngtown are gone, due to their being abducted by aliens, leaving their children to fend off the other aliens by themselves. |
| 258 | * OurGhostsAreDifferent: The many ghost enemies encountered in the game. One variety, the Alarm Ghost, can summon other, more dangerous enemies to the fight. |
| 259 | * OutsideTheBoxTactic: Necessary or possible at a few points throughout the game: |
| 260 | ** [=R7037=] in the Yucca Desert can't be defeated through normal combat. Instead, you need to get [[TankGoodness a Tank]] from the old war veteran camping out in the desert. |
| 261 | ** Unintentionally, in the original Japanese Famicom version only, the [=R7030-series=] robots were vulnerable to Fleas, which render them harmless, allowing the player to easily (if tediously) wait out the 256-turn limit on the battle and "defeat" them that way, instead. |
| 262 | ** In a convention to be continued throughout the series, the FinalBoss [[spoiler:Giygas]] cannot be defeated by ordinary methods. You must [[spoiler:sing Queen Mary's song eight times after he stops talking to subdue him]]. |
| 263 | *** Alternatively, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmFhiICcxSU it's actually possible to time out the final boss battle]] and complete the game that way instead. It's ''by far'' the harder method, and ''definitely'' unintentional, but it ''is'' technically possible, and the game proceeds on to the ending as usual afterwards. |
| 264 | * TheOverworld: |
| 265 | ** Almost uniquely among [=NES=] [=RPGs=], it doesn't really have an overworld as such. Everything outside of combat takes place in the same localized view, and for its day, [[http://starmen.net/mother1/miscinfo/maps/eb0map_big.png its world was]] ''freaking massive''; unlike ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaI'', it wasn't divided into separate squares, and unlike ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'', ''Franchise/DragonQuest'', and other [=RPGs=], there was no world view between towns and dungeons. One could even argue it's bigger than ''VideoGame/{{EarthBound|1994}}'' and ''VideoGame/Mother3'''s world maps! It's pretty easy to get lost in it, but overall falls into somewhere around [[SlidingScaleOfLinearityVSOpenness scale four and five of openness.]] In a minor violation of TheLawOfConservationOfDetail, entire chunks of the map are largely irrelevant to anything at all and exist for no purpose other than for you to wander around [[GhibliHills the edge of town]] in. |
| 266 | ** The world's size is noteworthy in that, aside from Magicant, Snowman and Mt. Itoi, nearly everything is part of a single map that can be explored from end to end without even a transition screen. ''[=EarthBound=]'' is many smaller maps connected by doorways, by comparison. |
| 267 | * PachelbelsCanonProgression: The first half of the Eight Melodies is built on a slight variation of this progression. |
| 268 | * PaletteSwap: As an early RPG, nearly everywhere. Some palette swaps at least slightly modify the sprites by overlaying new graphics to make them seem different, such as adding a collar to the Wolf to make it a Stray Dog, or adding defects in the Old Robo to make it a Scrapper. The sprite changes actually are not present when the enemies fade in and fade out at the beginning and end of battle respectively, so you can see what changes were made and what the sprites originally looked like before they added the extra details. |
| 269 | * PatchworkMap: This game is allegedly set in America, yet the desert is in the north and the arctic town is in the south -- the opposite of the real country's geography. The desert is also right next to the ocean, with nothing separating the two. |
| 270 | ** The games' logo implies that, relative to the real world, the world of the series is flipped upside-down, explaining the climate shift. This doesn't explain the second point, though. While coastal deserts ''do'' exist, there's none of these in (the United States of) America, no matter how you rotate it. |
| 271 | * ParentalSubstitute: [[spoiler:Ninten's grandmother, Maria, raised Giygas from infancy. The [[PlotCoupon Eight Melodies]] combine to form the lullaby that she used to sing him, and it's what [[EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas ultimately repels]] his AlienInvasion.]] |
| 272 | * PeninsulaOfPowerLeveling: Early on when you get Pippi, there's a small area just above and beyond the police guarding the route to the next city that allows you to encounter enemies you're normally not suppose to until you actually make it to the town. Once you have Pippi leveled up enough to where she can one shot most of them, [[note]]which is a surprisingly easy feat, since she levels up far quicker than Ninten and has sky high attack growth[[/note]] it becomes a good spot to grind Ninten up so he can reasonably take on the Podunk Zoo by himself. |
| 273 | ** Magicant, with its abundance of free healing and decently tough enemies, is another one. Not only can you level up Ninten there to be able to take on the outside world, but you can teleport back there everytime someone joins your party. |
| 274 | * {{Permadeath}}: The Flying Men. If one of them runs out of HP and faints, unlike your other party members, he cannot be revived at all. |
| 275 | * PhysicalMysticalTechnological: Ninten's three nameable companions are differentiated this way, with Ninten himself being more of a JackOfAllStats. Teddy is Physical, Ana is Mystical, and Lloyd is Technological. |
| 276 | * PlayingWithFire: The PK Fire series involves psychically-conjured fire, which hits multiple enemies. |
| 277 | * PlotCoupon: The Eight Melodies. |
| 278 | * PlotlineDeath: [[spoiler:Eve. For players of the original Family Computer version, Teddy remains bedridden and silent after/if Lloyd returns, so the general assumption is that he didn't survive. However, in later versions of the game, it's made clear that Teddy survived his injuries.]] |
| 279 | * {{Poltergeist}}: At the start of the game one of these attacks your house…or so the characters think. [[spoiler:Turns out it's actually the same psychic influence from Giygas and his race that's bringing other inanimate objects to life, such as vehicles and suits of armor, and making people and animals hostile.]] |
| 280 | * PowerNullifier: PSI Block prevents a PSI user from using any of their PsychicPowers for the remainder of the battle. |
| 281 | * ThePowerOfFriendship: Like every game in the series. |
| 282 | * ThePowerOfLove: [[spoiler:Singing Maria's lullaby to Giygas is the only way to defeat him.]] |
| 283 | * ThePowerOfRock: [[spoiler:Singing that lullaby is the ''only'' thing that's [[NoSell effective against Giygas at all.]]]] |
| 284 | * PsychicPowers: Started the series-long tradition of [[MagicByAnyOtherName using PSI as the series' equivalent of magic.]] |
| 285 | * PsychicTeleportation: Only one level of it, unlike in the ''[=EarthBound=]''. It allows the player to revisit towns they've already been to. |
| 286 | * RandomEncounters: There's a lot of them. The world of ''[=EarthBound=] Beginnings'' is massive and would be quite fun to explore if it weren't for these. Although you can't really blame it because it's a Family Computer game, so technical limitations at the time made PreexistingEncounters impossible. This gets less aggravating once you get access to Magicant, and more importantly, Repel Rings which prevent fights against weaker enemies. |
| 287 | * RayGun: The purchasable guns that Lloyd can use, the Laser Beam and the Plasma Beam. Strangely, they're used as items rather than being equipped as weapons. |
| 288 | * RecurringRiff: Several, including "Pollyanna (I Believe In You)", the battle theme for the [[NewAgeRetroHippie Hippie]], and "Eight Melodies (Queen Mary's Lullaby)", occur frequently and are used in the later games. |
| 289 | * RedSkyTakeWarning: The Peak of Mt. Itoi is shown being enveloped by an ominous dark cloud. The original Japanese advertisement also provides a glimpse of [[spoiler:Giygas' ship]]. |
| 290 | * RequiredPartyMember: When you reach Mt. Itoi, Lloyd is required to find the 7th melody, as he's the only one who can fix the boat at the lake, and gain access to the underwater lab where they can find EVE. |
| 291 | * {{Retronym}}: The English NES release was going to be titled ''Earth Bound'', as shown in an nearly-complete leaked ROM. When the ''official'' English release came out years later on Wii U Virtual Console, this would've clashed with [[VideoGame/EarthBound1994 the sequel that did get localized]], so the title was changed to ''[=EarthBound=] Beginnings'' -- though the in-game title screen was left untouched. |
| 292 | * RevisedEnding: The 1989 version's ending featured Giygas flying off, the player's party turning to face them, and the credits rolling behind them. This left ''many'' plot threads unresolved and made for a rather abrupt ending, so during production of the 1990 localization, Nintendo of America understandably replaced the fourth wall-breaking credits sequence with a WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue that resolves all of these subplots. Though despite the game's non-linear nature, it makes the assumption that the player went along what is commonly considered the default/canon route. This new ending also features a cast roll call, a new credits sequence with a remix of the airplane theme and a little bit of Youngtown's at the end (the original song plays during the epilogue & roll call), and a SequelHook courtesy of Ninten's dad. |
| 293 | %%* SavageWolves: The Wolf, Silver Wolf and Lone Wolf enemies. Also, the Stray Dog. |
| 294 | %% |
| 295 | %% Are examples how? |
| 296 | %% |
| 297 | * SavePoint: You can only save your game by calling Ninten's dad and [[JustifiedSavePoint recounting your adventure]]. This means you can only save at phones... ''usually''. [[AntiPoopSocking If you've been playing for a very long time]], Ninten's dad will call ''you'', asking if you need to take a rest, and offering to let you save and quit wherever you are. |
| 298 | * SchizophrenicDifficulty: An interview with Shigesato Itoi confirmed that the last parts of the game, specifically Mt. Itoi, had not been tested sufficiently for balance issues. |
| 299 | * SchoolSettingSimulation: Early on in the game, you have to go to Twinkle Elementary School in [[FictionalProvince Merrysville]] to recruit Lloyd. The nurse at the school heals you to maximum [[HitPoints HP]]. You have to talk to the janitor to get the key to the rooftop, where you talk to Lloyd who is [[GarbageHideout hiding in a trash can]]. Then, you go to the science lab, where you blow up the room, and you can visit it later anytime to buy [[JokeItem joke items]] from a teacher. |
| 300 | * SdrawkcabName: In the official localization, the Raeb Yddet (and by extension, the Sky Yddet) in [[{{Wackyland}} Magicant]]. |
| 301 | * SequelHook: In ''[=EarthBound=] Beginnings'' and ''Mother 1+2'', there is a PostCreditsScene of Ninten's Dad calling him, saying that 'something new has come up'. It's an unusual example in that obviously there [[VideoGame/EarthBound1994 were]] [[VideoGame/Mother3 sequels]], but neither actually followed up on this, at least not in any overt or obvious way. |
| 302 | * SequenceBreaking: |
| 303 | ** Besides generally grinding to do things out of order, you can completely skip the whole thing with Teddy if you don't really think about trying to meet him, and are just looking for the melodies without using the ticket. You can carry this out to such an extreme that you never even hear his name. The same goes for Ana. |
| 304 | ** Alternatively, you can recruit him and leave Lloyd in the dust for the rest of the game with further sequence breaking, if you so choose, provided you've already acquired EVE's melody. |
| 305 | ** Via an exploit involving Bread Crumbs, it's shown that Pippi is the only mandatory recruit in the game (despite having a temporary slot); you don't even need Lloyd if you carefully glitch your way into Magicant's farewell scene and open the final area with the Sing command, although he is necessary in normal gameplay to progress the story. |
| 306 | ** On the side of things that doesn't include skipping party members, most people who unlock the Paradise Line immediately go to Snowman to get Ana in their party, despite the fact that a lot of the enemies there can easily kill the party at that point. [[note]]You're suppose to go to Reindeer and do the side quest there first in order to level up the party a bit more to survive against the enemies in Snowman. It also has an item that triggers Ana joining the party too. However, most people just make it a pit stop to get the item, then come back with Ana and do it.[[/note]] |
| 307 | * ShadyScalper: To get inside the Live House in Ellay, the player needs to get a ticket. Just outside, there's a man selling tickets for $1200, claiming they're sold out. However, the player can go to the city's department store and buy one for only $350 instead. |
| 308 | * SheatheYourSword: While it's not necessary to defeating them, the Groucho enemies in Magicant reward the use of this tactic with a hefty sum of experience to a random party member when they say "Hello!" and just walk away. [[spoiler:At the very end of the game, it ''is'' necessary to defeat Giygas.]] |
| 309 | * ShiftingSandLand: The Yucca Desert. Ninten has to walk through here on foot because upon his first trip via train, he finds the tracks are broken. A singing cactus that knows one of the Eight Melodies lives within the desert. |
| 310 | * ShockAndAwe: The PK Thunder line of skills involves shocking enemies with psychically-conjured electricity. |
| 311 | * ShoutOut: |
| 312 | ** Ninten fights a Kewpie doll in the beginning of the game. |
| 313 | ** Two of the towns (Merrysville and Spookane) are named after cities in Washington State, where Nintendo of America is located (Marysville and Spokane, respectively.) There's also Ellay, a pun on L.A. (a.k.a. Los Angeles). |
| 314 | ** The character designs, setting and overall aesthetics seem to borrow a good deal from ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}},'' so much so that two character sprites were altered by Phil Sandhop for the translation as he believed they were too close to existing ''Peanuts'' characters, risking a potential lawsuit. Similar influences can also be seen in ''VideoGame/{{EarthBound|1994}}''. |
| 315 | ** Pippi is an obvious one to the ''Literature/PippiLongstocking'' books, being an {{Expy}} of the title character herself. |
| 316 | ** If you use the Check command on the regular-world Bear enemies, you'll notice the localization team took a few pages from ''Literature/{{Goldilocks}}.'' |
| 317 | ** The "Groucho" enemies in Magicant occasionally end battle with the player by simply saying "Hello" and leaving. This is a subtle reference to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kHhx2SJ51Y "Hello, I Must Be Going"]], sung by Groucho Marx. |
| 318 | * SlippySlideyIceWorld: The wintry town of Snowman, from which Ana hails. |
| 319 | * TheSmurfettePrinciple: Ana is the only female character of the main party. |
| 320 | * SnowySleighBells: The beautiful theme played in the wintry [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieapBou_3cs Snowman]] has sleigh bells playing through the track. |
| 321 | * SoundtrackDissonance: |
| 322 | ** Ninten and Ana have a dance near the end of the game, to relax (and to show them growing fond of each other). The tune that plays, "Fallin' Love", is ''extremely'' melancholy. |
| 323 | ** The 8-bit version of the song is, but the soundtrack version has a typical romantic adult contemporary feel to it, but with no lyrics. |
| 324 | * SpellLevels: The tiers for PSI powers are given by the Greek letters α, β, γ, and Ω. Notably, this is the [[EarlyinstallmentWeirdness only game]] in the ''Mother'' series that features π as a level. |
| 325 | * SpinningOutOfHere: The Teleportation spell is executed by having the character move around while accelerating rapidly before zooming off; because colliding with anything stops the teleport, the better the player is at moving in a small circle, the more places he or she can teleport from. |
| 326 | * StatusBuff: The PSI powers [=OffenseUp=] and [=DefenseUp=] temporarily raise physical attack and defense, respectively, as well as [=QuickUp=], which temporarily raises speed. |
| 327 | * StatusEffects: |
| 328 | ** Ninten has asthma and the exhaust from truck enemies can render him unable to act unless he uses an inhaler. |
| 329 | ** All of the standard effects are here, from "Blindness" making attacks less accurate to "Sleeping" and "Petrification" rendering a character unable to act. Notably, the standard "Poison" effect (losing an amount of HP a turn) is flavored as the character having a cold and sneezing each turn... alongside an effect actually called "Poison" that does the exact same thing. |
| 330 | * StuffBlowingUp: One of the first things that Lloyd does after joining your party is blow up the science lab. |
| 331 | * SufficientlyAdvancedAlien: It's strongly implied that [[spoiler:Giygas]] and his kind are this. While only one member of the race is ever actually seen in the entire series, they are implied to be immensely powerful, capable of wielding [=PSI=] powers beyond what humans are able to comprehend, and if the various mechanical enemies the player encounters throughout the game, [[spoiler:as well as the alien laboratory and mothership found on Mt. Itoi,]] are any indication, their technological prowess is nothing to sneeze at, either. |
| 332 | * SugarApocalypse: [[spoiler:Once you show all eight melodies to Maria in Magicant, she disappears, taking the entirety of Magicant with her]]. |
| 333 | * SupportPartyMember: Ninten, to an extent. He has no offensive PSI at all, instead being focused around buffing the party's physical strength, defense and speed and creating barriers against both physical damage and PSI attacks, and he possesses the only EscapeBattleTechnique in the game. |
| 334 | * SuspiciousVideoGameGenerosity: At the base of Mt. Itoi there is a doctor who will let you sleep there for free and gives you the best healing item in the game also for free. Naturally, Mt. Itoi is a rather nasty spike compared to what came before it. |
| 335 | * TakingYouWithMe: [[spoiler:EVE is no match for [=R7038XX=], but she explodes when defeated, instantly destroying the foe and leaving behind a PlotCoupon.]] |
| 336 | * TankGoodness: A rental. Lloyd shows up in another tank to defeat the second giant robot. |
| 337 | * ATasteOfPower: The game does this ''twice'', both at the end of the game. Once with [[spoiler:Teddy]], who can actually defeat the DemonicSpiders on Mt. Itoi without much LevelGrinding, and [[spoiler:who goes away if you activate a certain cutscene.]] The second time is with [[spoiler:Eve, who joins you in the middle of TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon, is insanely powerful, and can defeat any of the RandomEncounters in one blow. But if you backtrack, or go forward past a certain point, you are forced to fight a robot that Eve sacrifices itself to defeat.]] |
| 338 | * {{Telepathy}}: One of Ninten's and Ana's PSI powers; it's used a few times in the game to read the minds of important [=NPCs=] in order to progress. |
| 339 | * TempleOfDoom: The ruins in the Yucca Desert. However, they're being guarded by an enormous robot that can only be defeated using a tank. The ruins were first built about one thousand years before the game's events, and were destroyed for unknown reasons. |
| 340 | * TerribleTicking: The animals at Poduck Zoo are driven mad by the sound of the Starman Jr.'s ship at the nearby building. |
| 341 | * ThemeNaming: Pretty much every location is named after a holiday in the Japanese release. In ''[=EarthBound=] Beginnings'', these names were changed because the translator thought they sounded juvenile and would be offputting to older players. When Tomato was doing the fan translation of the ''Mother 1+2'' version, he agreed with the sentiment, but kept the holiday-themed names anyway. |
| 342 | * ThemeTwinNaming: Ninten's little sisters are named Minnie and Mimmie. |
| 343 | * ThrivingGhostTown: Averted. This game's towns are the biggest in the whole series, and seem to extend past the cluster of houses into the vast rural areas. Most of the houses' doors are locked, however, preventing the KleptomaniacHero (or a thief) from getting in. |
| 344 | * TinCanRobot: The Old Robot and Scrapper enemies at Duncan's factory; the latter is a PaletteSwap of the former. |
| 345 | * TookALevelInBadass: You first find Lloyd in a trash can hiding from bullies. Later, he shows up in a tank to destroy a giant robot that your party could not hope to defeat otherwise. |
| 346 | * TouchedByVorlons: The details are left vague, but something definitely like this happened between George and the aliens, possibly opening the door to humankind getting technology and/or PSI. [[spoiler:And he did it completely without the aliens' permission.]] |
| 347 | * TrademarkFavoriteFood: Ninten's is prime ribs by default, but the player can enter a food of their choice at the beginning of the game that Ninten's mother will cook for him whenever he returns to rest at home. |
| 348 | * TrailOfBreadCrumbs: You can eat the Bread item to recover some HP. However, if you Use it instead, you get Crumbs, and by using Crumbs, you return to the spot you were at when you used the bread. |
| 349 | * TwoPartTrilogy: Aside from PSI and [[spoiler:Giygas]], there is barely any evidence that the world of this game is the same world as ''VideoGame/{{EarthBound|1994}}''. This game was hit especially hard, as despite the rerelease, it only really had any notable publicity back in its day. The CompilationRerelease's commercials focused mainly on the second game, showing only a very brief clip of this one, which, while this game got a significant update, the only thing that was changed from the second game, besides the inevitable quality drop in porting from Platform/SuperNES to Platform/GameBoyAdvance, was a few bug fixes and an incredibly minor rewrite. At the same time, because Giygas does not appear in ''VideoGame/Mother3'' and Porky does not appear in this game, the ''Mother'' Trilogy is easy to break up into two different parts - Giygas and Porky. |
| 350 | * UniqueEnemy: The Fish. Only a single variant is fought once and never appears again for the duration of the game. |
| 351 | * UpdatedRerelease[=/=]CompilationRerelease: This game and [[VideoGame/EarthBound1994 its sequel]] have been compiled into a single cartridge and rereleased for the Game Boy Advance under the title ''Mother 1+2'' ([[NoExportForYou only in Japan, of course]]). |
| 352 | * UselessUsefulSpell: Averted with PK Beam γ, which one-shots the majority of the game's organic enemies, and PK Fire Ω, which '''instantly nukes''' every single random encounter in the entire game. [[BraggingRightsReward You have to do a considerable amount of grinding for the latter, however.]] |
| 353 | * TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon: Mt. Itoi, the highest point in the overworld, with its peak surrounded by an ominous cloud. It's also by far the most difficult area of the game and where the BigBad arrives on Earth. |
| 354 | * VictoryByEndurance: An unintended alternative method to defeat the final boss. Seeing as it requires surviving for ''255 turns'', though, it's ''much'' harder than just doing things normally. |
| 355 | * VideoGameCrueltyPotential: |
| 356 | ** The Flying Men. Seeing the graves next to their former home is just heartbreaking when you realize that if you hadn't come along they would still be alive. |
| 357 | ** Also, using the Bullhorn on [[spoiler:Giygas]], especially in the fan-translated versions. |
| 358 | --->Ninten used the Bullhorn! "You're a disgrace to your mother!" |
| 359 | * ViolationOfCommonSense: You actually get more experience letting Grouchos say hello and leave the battle instead of beating them. |
| 360 | * {{Wackyland}}: Former {{Trope Namer}}, though the sequel's Magicant is most likely what was envisioned when it was named. They're not the same place; in this game it was [[spoiler:a manifestation of Maria's mind trying to regain her memories,]] while the one in ''VideoGame/{{EarthBound|1994}}'' was a representation of Ness's mind after completing the Sound Stone's melody. |
| 361 | * WeaponsGradeVocabulary: Enemies can "attack" with Threatening Words and Swear Words, both of which decrease someone's Fight stat. Your party can get some words of their own to "attack" with, but they do nothing. |
| 362 | * WeCanRuleTogether: [[spoiler:Giygas gives Ninten alone a chance to board his mothership, [[ButThouMust although the game never gives you any choice as to how to respond, and Giygas's next lines indicate that Ninten refused]].]] |
| 363 | * WeNamedTheMonkeyJack: [[MrsRobinson Mrs. Rosemary]] renames her son [[VideoGame/ZeldaIITheAdventureOfLink Buggerror]] after Ninten. Evidently she likes his namesake better than her own son. |
| 364 | * WestminsterChimes: The basis for the background music of Twinkle Elementary School. |
| 365 | * WeWillMeetAgain: [[spoiler:Giygas promises to meet Ninten again before he leaves.]] |
| 366 | * WhatHappenedToTheMouse: While the Magicant merchants of ''[=EarthBound=] Beginnings'' explain that their shops work similarly to the outside world, the FanTranslation instead has them claiming that they ''are'' from the real world. [[spoiler:[[FridgeHorror This is especially concerning once you realize that they end up vanishing without a trace along with Magicant.]]]] |
| 367 | * WhatTheHellHero: Accepting a drink from a woman in the Live House will cause a cop to show up, chastise Ninten for drinking under age, and arrest him and his friends. The cop also confiscates his weapon and you need to ''buy it back''. |
| 368 | * WhenTreesAttack: The Woodoh and [=BigWoodoh=] enemies of Magicant are animated trees with faces. And the latter [[ActionBomb go boom upon defeat.]] |
| 369 | * WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue: The game's ending explains what happened to the heroes after [[spoiler:they defeat Giygas.]] This ending wasn't present in the original Famicom version, where the game abruptly ends with [[spoiler:Ninten and his friends simply turning to face the player one-by-one after a defeated Giygas flees back into space, and the credits roll in the background.]] |
| 370 | * WhiteMagic: The [=LifeUp=] series of PSI, the Healing and [=SuperHealing=] PSI, and the series of offensive and defensive buffs are the game's equivalent to this. |
| 371 | * AWinnerIsYou: The original Famicom version ended with [[spoiler:Ninten and his friends turning to the screen and the credits rolling after they defeat Giygas.]] The American version adds a WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue and the now series-standard [[CurtainCall cast roll]] before the credits, which carried over to the Japan-only GBA port. |
| 372 | * WiseBeyondTheirYears: Exaggerated with the Garrickson baby of Youngtown, who is limited to speaking meaningless baby talk, but whose thoughts are in complete, understandable sentences. There's also the fact that it has PsychicPowers and [[{{Telepathy}} telepathically]] teaches Ninten and company [[PsychicTeleportation Teleport]]. |
| 373 | * WolfInSheepsClothing: Talking to certain [=NPC=]s will get you drawn into a battle. |
| 374 | ** There are also [=NPC=]s that will sneeze on you if you talk to them which results in the "Cold" status condition. |
| 375 | * WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: [[spoiler:Giygas, now that you know his backstory.]] |
| 376 | * YearX: Averted with the Japanese version (both the Famicom release and the Game Boy Advance port in ''Mother 1+2''), which explicitly states that the game takes place in 1988. Played straight in the English [=eShop=] release, which gives the year as "198X." The in-game text in the English version, meanwhile, states that it's set 80 years after "the early 1900s," which would imply that the game takes place between 1980 and 1983. |
| 377 | * YouCannotGraspTheTrueForm: [[spoiler:As true of Giygas's attacks in this one as in the sequel, though at least he has a physical body here.]] |
| 378 | -->''[=EarthBound=] Beginnings'': [[spoiler:"The form of Giegue's attack was inexplicable!"]] |
| 379 | * YouCantThwartStageOne: You can't stop EVE being destroyed by the [=R7038XX=]. It appears in a predetermined spot in a tight corridor if she is with you, and only through her destruction can you obtain the penultimate melody to learn Maria's song, which you need to have in order to even face Giygas. |
| 380 | * YouHaveGotToBeKiddingMe: In the GBA remake, when Teddy, Ninten and Ana hear a robot monster approaching, Teddy says, "You've got to be kidding me!", and a HopelessBossFight ensues. |
| 381 | * ZeroEffortBoss: Before entering Duncan Factory, you must defeat its guardian: a Stray Dog, one of the weakest enemies in the game. Particularly ironic because Duncan Factory is [[ThatOneLevel one of the hardest dungeons of the game.]] |
| 382 | ---- |
| 383 | ->''[='=]Cause I still believe in miracles; I swear I've seen a few\ |
| 384 | And the time will surely come when you can see my point of view\ |
| 385 | I believe in second chances, and that's why I believe in you!'' |
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