Posted: July 2, 2012
Every hobby
has its grails. Game collecting is no different. Grails can be rarities (Nintendo World Championships, Little Red Hood, or Super Noah’s Ark 3D, just to name a few), are incredibly
rare and fetch insane prices. Such games aren’t usually what you would call
quality, though; their rare status stemming from low demand and lackluster
development. Other grails are more a matter of personal taste typically being
referred to intimately by owners as classics. Games like Chrono Trigger, Secret of
Mana, and Castlevania: Symphony of
the Night, meanwhile, embody classic, defining a generation, selling well
in their time, and beloved by players then and now. These titles are high on
collectors’ wish lists as well as short lists of games never to part with. Earthbound is one such game, topping the
charts for both most wanted and most beloved, and demanding triple digit prices
for even poor condition cartridges.
I spent
years wondering what was so amazing about this near mythical game. Nintendo
seemed disinterested in it, barely acknowledging its existence. Little did I
know that Earthbound was the second
game in the Mother series, the first
and third only having a Japanese release. In Japan, characters from Mother 1, 2, and 3 are among
Nintendo’s most famous, fitting right in
with Smash Bros.’ most famous characters, even though in other countries the Mother misfits might seem out of place.
I recently
acquired this legendary cartridge, thinking it would at least be a good
addition to my collection. I expected a traditional 90’s RPG. You know the kind:
a band of four sprites set out on a journey to save the world, leveling up as
they go, blah blah blah. But after five hours had drained away, it was 5am, I
hadn’t blinked in ages, and I began to realize Nintendo had committed one of
the most heinous gaming crimes of the ‘90s.