Andres left for L.A.
He left some video games with us for safekeeping.
Including Earthbound.
I’ve played this game a lot. That’s because I really like it. I think it’s one of the best games ever, and it means a lot to me personally.
That’s the main thing about Earthbound, and all reviews and essays written about Earthbound inevitably tap into the memories the writer has of playing the game.
It’s been suggested before that it’s impossible to write about Earthbound without talking specifically about the feelings it invokes in a person. Which is part of the magic of Earthbound.
What I want to do is a close reading – or a close playing – of Earthbound, to see how, mechanically, Earthbound sparks these feelings, and how Earthbound as a game is actually just really good.
Here we go.