Because the three characters who defeat Giegue in Earthbound Zero look very similar to three of the four heroes in Earthbound, similar enough to make people think they are one and the same, and most people do, but I have yet another theory: they are cousins, or some sort of thinly related family members. Here are some facts that support my theory--

1: Jeff and Lloyd are the only ones who can use the guns, and fire bottle rockets. They also have fathers who aren't all that close to their child. Doctor Andonuts pretty much left Jeff at Snow Woods; and Lloyd's dad took Lloyd to Twinkle Elementary and disappeared off to a garbage can in a swamp. Talk about a caring parent. Where did Lloyd go after school, or is Twinkle a boarding school? Where is his mom?

2: Paula and Ana are the only ones who use PSI Fire, and only they can use the Fry Pans et al. They both have families that tend to dissipate. Paula gets kidnapped twice and Ana's mom disappears....

3: Ness and Ninten are the sole people who use the baseball bats, and the only people who have a real connection with Magicant.

I know this theory is harder to swallow than others might, but here are reasons they couldn't be the same:

1: If Paula and Ana are the same, why does Ana know the Lifeup and Healing PSI when Paula never learns them in Earthbound?

2: If Jeff and Lloyd are the same, why does Doctor Andonuts seem older than Lloyd's father? Also, why does it seem that Doctor Andonuts and Lloyd's father talk in different tones? Lloyd's dad doesn't sound like a scientist.

3: Why do Ness and Ninten's dogs have different names? King and Mack are not very similar.

4: Why don't Ness' mom and dad mention Minnie or Mimmie, Ninten's sisters? I think they would have mentioned them, because they do have a phone. Also, Tracy is probably old enough to have been alive at the time of EarthBound Zero, so where is she if Ness truly IS Ninten?

5: Wouldn't Ness's version of Magicant have included some sort of memory of the Paradise Express train line if he was an older version of Ninten?

6: The colour of Lloyd and Ana's hair is very different from that of Jeff and Paula. Lloyd and Ana have somewhat dirty blonde hair, whereas Jeff and Paula have blonde hair. What are the chances of a child's hair changing colour in six years, which I think is not possible unless it is dyed? Anyway, the dye should have washed off when Ness, Jeff and Paula went under Grapefruit Falls, and if not, it should have when they got to Deep Darkness. The water would have saturated the hair enough to drain the dye.