[Discussion 3/15] EarthBound (Nintendo Player’s Guide Series 1995) | Onett

Welcome back everyone to our next discussion in the Nintendo Player’s Guide series, our focus on publications from 1995, known by many as the year of the last millennials to be born. Let’s warm up our trigger fingers and dive back into this SNES classic.

Reminder our schedule can be found here, and marginalia here. Also note the guide in its entirety is available from Nintendo Japan and can be found here.

Now that we’ve covered the gaming basics and strategy, as well as the story overview, it’s onto the official Travel Guide, and our first stop is Onett!

Onett is where Ness hails from and where his mother will continue to live out her days while he goes off on his adventure after learning about the strange meteorite that’s hit just north of the town. He’ll be instructed to bring along his dog and some other friends, and his mother will remind him to, of course, change out of his jammies first.

We are greeted with the front page of the Onett Times on page 16 (18 of the online copy), which highlights the latest goings on which include not only the meteorite and potential powerful psychic spots nearby, but also the eventual reformation of the renowned Sharks gang who were previously terrorizing the local arcade. Frank is the one to beat there, with this clay character shown on page 21 (23) and boasting a shopping 63 HP. Ness will have to buff up to beat him!

Ads for the local Burger Barn and Onett Bakery appear on page 19 (21), displaying the somewhat outrageous prices for their admittedly tasty goods. Ness might want to…uh…search elsewhere for some nutrition. I know it might sound weird, but could the garbage bins in town be of any interest (page 20/22)? Might be worth a check!

More enemy profiles can be found on page 21 (23), including my personal favourite, the Spiteful Crow, because who wouldn’t be spiteful in this world?!

The Caves at Giant Step will be the first of many big adventures for our young lad, and the Titanic Ant at the end proves a tough battle as well (235 HP, page 25/27). But not to worry, first Ness will fight, of all groups of known aggressors in the area, the local police force! Seems things really haven’t changed that much since the mid-90’s.

Join us again next week as we dig into the next town Ness discovers: Twoson! Will he successfully meet Paula and continue his adventure? Can’t wait to find out!