Hello to all of you lovers of Earthbound! To the newbies, to the intermediate players, and especially, to the self-proclaimed "experts." To those masters, I ask a simple question: Just how much do you really know about Earthbound? Sure, you can brag that you got the Sword of Kings or the Gaia Beam. You can claim that you have every line in the game memorized, and can navigate every map with your eyes closed. I am writing this article to prove otherwise.

Have you ever heard Pokey say, "Sorry about giving you this game-type advice, but you should equip your weapon!" That's right. That's what he says if you're carrying the Cracked Bat but don't have it equipped. He'll go on to ask, "Do you know what 'equip' means?" An affirmative answer yields, "Okay, that's good. Be sure to pay attention to details like that." A negative one will get him reciting the dictionary. "It means 'use' or 'wear,'" Pokey will tell you. "You must equip items in order to use or wear them. 'Equip' is used a lot in games like this, but you already knew that..."

And don't even TRY leaving the house without getting the Cracked Bat at all! Asks Pokey, "You're not taking anything on our big adventure? Why don't you look around for your Cracked bat or something?" There are a lot of examples of quotes that you've probably never seen, but, to make a long story short, I'm going to cut right to the chase and tell you the biggest secret I've discovered so far.

What's the most important item in the game? Some would say the ATM card. But what's the most crucial item in terms of the plot? If you ask me, it's the Sound Stone. Let's take this one step further. What would happen if it was impossible to receive the Sound Stone? You know how often it is that your inventory gets cluttered, and you can't receive a crucial item like the Franklin Badge or the Gourmet Yogurt Machine. What if you had too much stuff to receive the Sound Stone from Buzz Buzz? I won't keep you in suspense. Fully packed with one ATM Card, one Cracked Bat, one Bread Roll, and eleven Cookies (thank goodness for Spiteful Crows!) I confidently walked into the Minch residence and had a chat with Aloysius. Following is what Buzz Buzz said to me on his death bed (er, floor):

"What the...? It seems that you have too many things to carry already... Since you can't take it, I'll give it to your sister. In the blink of an eye, like magic, she'll have it. Eeeyah! ..... It's already dawn outside... but it doesn't matter to me. I'm fading fast... Argh! *Gasp*" And, of course, there's no pressing matter to get it from your sister. But don't get too excited; the sad truth is, the game doesn't CARE if Ness is carrying the Sound Stone. If you visit one of Your Sanctuaries, it will still play the music and say "Ness's Sound Stone recorded the melody of..." You can beat the whole game while never once possessing the Sound Stone. In fact, (although I am not sure about this), after you defeat Ness's Nightmare, and it writes "The Sound Stone Ness use to have is now gone," I would not be surprised if you could go get it from Tracy and listen to the entire melody as many times as you like.