Gamers tend to stop playing a game or not even start one because of one reason or another. Many times these games sit quietly in the backlog. These backlog blog posts are meant to record my journey as I go back and finish games that I have started but never finished, or just have, and I've never played them. Here are my thoughts on games in my backlog after I've finally finished them.

Earthbound and Earthbound Beginnings are now available for Nintendo Switch for the SNES and NES online service after an announcement from the Nintendo Direct on the 9th of February 2022. Earlier this year, I finally finished Earthbound for the Super Nintendo after starting it multiple times, and I'm so glad I did. I never expected so many interesting locals and mechanics through my play through.

For those not in the know, Earthbound is an essential RPG for any and all video game fans. It is amazing because it's simply weird, wacky, hilarious, and fun. Unlike many other RPG's that are either set in a medieval or fantasy world, Earthbound is set in a stereotype of 80's, 90's America. Similarities are obvious, but the characters themselves are the stars here, Ness who you might have seen in the Super Smash Brothers series is a normal kid, who just happens to have psychic powers.



Besides Ness, many if not most of the other characters you meet are unforgettable, like a Blues Brothers imitation band called, "The Runaway Five", a monkey that chews and blows bubblegum to fly, kids named after fruit, a Flying Amish man who before taking a picture of you blurts out, "say, Fuzzy Pickles!", among others.  The game is bursting from the seams with personality, and how you get from one local to another is unique and not like any RPG you've played.

The combat is like older Dragon Quest games, in which a battle screen where you only see the enemy pops up if you run into one on the area in front of you. Many differences from JRPG's start with your health being on a rolling counter, meaning if you can heal yourself before it hits zero, you can save yourself from dying. There isn't a traditional over world like in Dragon Quest, but rather a string of connected cities and towns that appear fully before you. It's little gameplay

differences like this that make this game truly unique and special.

This has been in my backlog for a while, and I'm so glad I finally finished it. If you haven't played it all the way through, I would recommend  you do so. You will be glad you did, trust me.

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