angelarts' Voice-Acted Let's Play of EarthBound (1994) is a let's play series that ran for four years from 2013 to 2017.
As the name suggests, there are voice actors whom Angel had recruited to read out the in-game dialogue.
Unique to this series is the use of four unique voice actors as the Chosen Four who would live-chat the game with Angel, occasionally offering snarky commentary on the situation at hand.
The entire playlist can be found here
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angelarts' VA Let's Play Earthbound provides examples of:
- Adaptational Intelligence: Giygas in the game becomes an Almighty Idiot the minute he breaks through the Devil's Machine, and he stays that way until he is defeated. Here, the minute Pokey flees, Giygas manages to form one last coherent thought, swearing revenge on Pokey."I... will return... And when I do... Pokey... I will find you... AND I WILL KILL YOU, YOU TRAITOR!"
- Adaptational Jerkass: In canon, Pokey is Ambiguously Evil at best, with many of his qualities being up to interpretation. Here, it's implied that he's a jerk to Ness from the very beginning, and he even physically abuses his little brother Picky at some points.
- Adaptational Personality Change: In canon, none of the Chosen Four have definite personalities aside from a few lines of dialogue (including Ness, who is essentially a Blank Slate for the player), they all have distinct personalities.
- Ness goes from being a Silent Protagonist to a talkative Deadpan Snarker who isn't afraid to call out everyone he meets for their stupidity.
- Paula was already a Nice Girl in canon, but the dub increases her innocence to the point where she becomes a Kiddie Kid, still holding tea parties with her teddy bear from time to time.
- Jeff goes from being the Stereotypical Nerd portrayed in fanworks into a Trigger-Happy Genki Guy who is all too eager to use bottle rockets on any enemy he comes across.
- Downplayed with Poo. While he was already The Stoic in canon, the dub makes him out to be the Only Sane Man, often being the one to rope the group back into the task at hand. It's also implied that he has a slight affinity for western culture and media, where this quality was not found in EarthBound.
- Adaptational Sexuality: While Jeff's sexuality is not specified in canon, here, he's implied to be gay and has feelings for Tony.
- Adaptation Expansion:
- There are several scenes in the Let's Play that were not present in the original game. For example, at one point during Part 31, Ness receives a phone call from Giygas in the middle of the night, giving him an Implied Death Threat before hanging up.
- If the Christmas Episode is to be believed, Giygas is explicitly stated to be the one possessing Claus in addition to having cybernetic enhancements to him. There is no indication of this happening in Claus' home series.
- There are several scenes in the Let's Play that were not present in the original game. For example, at one point during Part 31
- April Fools' Day: The Let's Play was updated in April 1st 2013 stating that it was canceled. An additional video was added later that day stating that it was, indeed, an April Fools' Day joke.
- Berserk Button: As far as Ness and company are concerned, the photo-man can go die in a hole. Ness and Paula even wonder at some points why the photo guy is stalking a group of children.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: Every so often, Ness and the rest of the Chosen Four talk to Angel to communicate their thoughts towards him.
- Christmas Episode: The Holiday Special, uploaded on December 23, 2013, is Yet Another Christmas Carol, with Pokey (Scrooge) being visited by Ninten, Ness, and Lucas as the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future respectively.
- Closet Geek: While Poo was away learning PK Starstorm, it's implied he also got his first taste of western media and technology, developing a fascination for it. In the penultimate episode, he can even be heard singing "Baby, One More Time" to himself before Ness and Paula approach him.
- Creepy Doll: The teddy bears, each one affectionately named "Teddy Snuggle-Wuggles". Ness is freaked out by them, and is convinced each teddy bear is haunted.
- The Dreaded Pretend Tea-Party: Ness and Paula are revealed to have partaken in this while they were trapped underground and Jeff was on his way to rescue them.
- The Fake Cutie: Paula is easily the most bubbly and childlike of the Chosen Four. However, she can be sassy just as much as the boys, dotes on Ness's father, and is rather flirty, especially when it comes to talking about romance.
- Four-Temperament Ensemble: Ness is the melancholic Deadpan Snarker who isn't afraid to call out those who annoy him, including angelarts himself. Paula is the sanguine Red Mage, very compassionate and innocent with a good moral compass (most of the time). Jeff is the choleric, Trigger-Happy Gadgeteer Genius, who gets a little too excited whenever he uses bottle rockets. Finally, Poo is the phlegmatic Only Sane Man, very quiet and mostly keeping to himself whenever around the rest of the Chosen Four.
- Girls Love Stuffed Animals: Paula has a habit of holding onto the various teddy bears Ness buys every so often, much to Ness's dismay.
- Halloween Episode: The first Halloween Special of the series is an anthology episode consisting of four loosely-related skits. The first skit involves Ness being haunted by the spirits of the teddy bears he killed, while the second involves the Chosen Four debating their Halloween costumes. The third is a TMZ parody revolving around angelarts himself, and the fourth is Paula's Public Service Announcement about Halloween safety (with one additional rule).
- Have I Mentioned I Am Heterosexual Today?: Jeff repeatedly denies he's gay, and he insists that his relationship with Tony is purely platonic. Ness and the others aren't convinced by this in the slightest.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Right before the Chosen Four face off against Giygas, Poo mentions that it took only a couple of months for them to reach this point, but it felt like three years. The series began on New Years Eve 2013, and the final battle was reached in late 2016.
- Love Triangle: Between Ness, Paula, and Poo. Ness rescued Paula in Twoson, and immediately hit it off, while Poo keeps complimenting Paula, saying she would be a strong ruler. This makes Ness extremely jealous of Poo.
- Not Even Bothering with the Accent: Initially, Poo's voice was a standard American accent. This was changed in Part 29, his debut episode, where he was given a vaguely Chinese accent.
- Shout-Out: In Part 33, when Paula uses PK Fire, she shouts "Mars Fire Ignite!", the name given to Sailor Mars' attack in the DiC dub of Sailor Moon.
- Suddenly Voiced: A given, considering each character, no matter how insignificant they are to the plot, is given a unique voice.
- Suspiciously Specific Denial: During the Christmas special, Jeff can be seen wearing a yarmulke, and he mentions that Tony celebrates Hanukkah. He tries to explain that he is only looking into Jewish customs for scholarly purposes, but Ness doesn't buy it at all.
- What the Hell Is That Accent?: Jeff is from Winters, a country that is the EarthBound equivalent of England, but his accent can only be described as vaguely European. Shortly after Jeff's debut episode was uploaded, his voice actor, HylianOni, finally dispelled rumors about his accent by describing it as "Asian/German/British".
