As I mentioned in an earlier article, one of the things that makes Earthbound the greatest game of all time is its uniqueness. It veers from the traditional, medieval, sword and shield RPG that was flooding the market and suddenly gave us something that was totally new. All of a sudden, instead of being some weird guy with really strange, spiky hair, you were a thirteen year old boy off to save the universe from Giygas. Your weapons weren't swords and axes, but baseball bats and frying pans. Let me elaborate on Earthbound's "quirkiness."

We all know how the great tale begins: the meteor crash, meeting Pokey, Buzz Buzz's death, and such. Not exactly the ordinary fare for an RPG, or any game, for that matter. Before long, you are exposed to the items that will be your most trustworthy friends for a long time. But, instead of being magic potions that recover HPs, you chow on Hamburgers, cookies, fruit juice, and the mysterious "Skip" sandwich. Soon, you learn your first spells; not spells called Fireball, Energy Wave, and Ice Beam, but simple names such as PSI Fire, PSI Freeze, PSI Magnet, etc. Even something as simple as the names are interesting: Ness, Paula, Jeff, Poo, Pokey, Giygas, Mr. Saturn. It is not the traditional roleplaying game where you set off with the Great Sword to slay the Evil Bad Guy of the story. Your quest is to save the universe from Giygas, the universal cosmic destroyer.