• February? What's with that extra 'r?'

(Before you submit, please read the rules.)

The topic for this week is:

Your Favourite Dish - EarthBound is a full-on buffet. You've got everything from bananas to Kraken's Fin Soup, bags of fries to Brain Food Lunches. So tell us: if you were a traveller trying to save the world, what would you be eating? I can tell you right now that I wouldn't go near the Molokheiya soup.

Also, remember that you don't have to write just on this topic. You can send me a letter about anything that sparks your interest.

You don't have to write in on this topic if you don't want to. You can pick a topic and write about it, or, if you have anything else on your mind about EarthBound or Starmen.Net, please, send that in too! Everyone is encouraged to write in about whatever they're thinking about. Mailbag letters do not have to be long. They can be whatever length you want them to be, anywhere between one sentence and 1,300 pages. Please do not copy and paste the entire text of "Crime and Punishment" and send that to me. Although I've read it already and enjoyed it, my email account would be quite sad.

Use this form to send in a mailbag letter:

The topic for last week's mailbag was:

Change of Pace - Okay, as you read in a handful of entries and responses last week, it is well-known that EarthBound takes a more serious, perhaps more linear swing towards the end of the game. What we here at Mailbag want to know is, what do you think of the game's pace? Would you have preferred the quirky, arguably less linear style of the beginning to continue until the end, were you a bigger fan of the more serious and dramatic stuffage of the end, or did you enjoy the balance the game's pace had?

I enjoyed the pace of the game very much. The slow transtion from funny to serious works for me.

- Grant

Of course, there are still funny bits even as the game gets more serious, and there are perfectly serious things early on when the game is funny. But the transition is apparent, and it does work well. Aren't you glad?

Hey. Earthbound is suppose to be funny yet serious at the same time. I know many would love to see Pokey falling at the end for a quirk but all endings should be serious.
I mean you have these 2 big villians who are the future and fate of mankind. You*Ness* must stop them before mankind parish. Now would you flip around or grip your bat and hope to crack the dude's head open?
I vote serious cause thats what you need to win a battle.
Peace *__*

- Zock Q. Endland

An excellent point. I haven't laughed a boss to death since Xardion.

I thought the balance was excellent. It was never particularly sleep-inducing, which is all that really matters.

I'm having bagels for breakfast, or so my mother says. However, I'm noticing that these bagels smell suspiciously like eggs and bacon. When I question her, she quickly retorts with "Stop, questioning me, boy! Get your lazy butt back to that computer where you can keep talking with all your Satan-worshipping friends!"

... Yeah, OK, so I made that up. But it would be funny. Or frightening.

On another note, I've been having an SSBM craze over the past few days, and I've found Ness to be a much better character than I originally thought. People say PK Flash is worthless, and it is on one-on-one games. In a sprawling four-player free for all, though, PK Flash can really tilt the scores in your favor. Ness is also fairly fast, and nobody seems able to expect the old dodge-to-the-side-then-smack-them-with-the-baseball-bat routine. So, inconclusion, Ness-haters suck and I'll beat you up. Ok bye.

- StarmanDeluxe

Ahh, but can you say any video game is truly sleep-inducing? Well, maybe Golden Sun or Radical Dreamers, if you're not into reading a whole lot.

My opinion on SSBM is that the fast characters are the best. Ness is pretty fast; he's not as quick as Fox or Pichu, but he's also not as slow as Bowser or Mewtwo (just to name a few.) So it's like he's balanced. Just like EarthBound!

I wish my friends worshipped satan. :/

The best part of the whole game is when you discover that the Sound Stone is so fragile; it breaks after you think about it.

That's all I got.

- Hawaiian

To say nothing of the Super Orange Machine. But at least you can sell the Suporma before it breaks. Try doing that with your mystical melody-absorbing world-saving device!

I'm afraid that I don't have an awful lot of time to write this, so it's going to turn into one of those Mail bag snacks that you can just sort of pop into your mouth.

But anyway, the shift from light heartedness to seriousness at the end of Earthbound is a very beautiful, almost profound thing. If the entire game would have contained that same atmosphere, then the ending wouldn't have meant anywhere near as much and would have just sort of been more of the same. In the end, though, Earthbound-that goofy light hearted spirit-tried just for a moment to step outside of it's own boundaries. For a minute, it transcednded it's own existance! That's what makes it such a sharp contrast, and so memorable. Afterwords, it stepped right back into the light heartedness, but where else could it have gone?

I guess that's all I have to say on the matter. Oh, and one of these weeks, you'll have to have the quote "Out of my way, sidewalk!" as the EB line of the moment.

- Heavily Armored Hamster

SimonBob Snax - Now with more sodium!

Ahh, so you feel the transition was sharp? Sort of a *ZOIP* into seriousness and then *FWOP* back to happy. I guess there's something to be said for the fact that the ending seems a lot more heartfelt than the rest of the game, but I still say that everything turns around at Summers or so.

I like my RPGs, and other games for that matter, to be hilarious bags of fun. I want them to be EIGHT HUNDRED AND NINETY TWO POUNDS OF HILARITY IN A FOURTEEN POINT FOUR POUND BAG

This is why I was such a big fan of Super MaRPGio, Paper Mario, and M&L: Superstar Saga (The VG Master of sight gags). Fricking hilarious. And and awesome battle system. But anyways.

EarthBound, too, had many genuinley humourous moments; a few quotes spring to mind, but nothing that will be metnioned here. I'm on a schedule.

Now, what's my point?

Well, near the end uf Super MaRPGio, the game certainly became a lot less colourful and humourous. Still there, though. Paper Mario, too: Less haha, more Bowser ownage. And M&L? Of course. Right near the end, everything stops being cheery and starts being evil. Of course, for all of these, the fun starts again during the ending... Man, good endings. Did this reduce the constant hilarity of the games? Slightly. Were they still freaking awesome fun games? You be the judge.

Now, on to EarthBound. Near the end, it, too, becomes less hilarious. Though it seems to last a bit longer than the other games mentioned. However, once you get to the ending, everything's awesome again.

Most games work like that. Would I have preferred the games to remain funny the entire way through? Oh yeah, but that's just the kind of guy I am. Do I mind at all that the games are like this? I'd be crazy to say yes. So crazy it just might work.

The Original Godfather of Soul, ~Mad Willy-V

Well, that's my mailbag submission, thanks for watching. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got some volcanos to stand dangerously close to. SEE YA [/nye]

The term "MaRPGio" looks like "Marp-Gio," who is of course the evil clone created by combining cells from Giovanni and a Magikarp. Instead of sending money to reidman, he just splashes around until he hits his keyboard and sends incoherent emails full of gibberish.

You're right about the darkening factor in SMRPG, though. All those metallic enemies surrounded by the stark grey factory background... it's really reminiscent of the end of EB, what with all the diamond-shaped baddies flitting around the black-and-white tunnel to Giygas. I haven't played either of the other Mario RPGs, so I can't tell if this is a deliberate tactic or just a meaningless coincidence.

Oh cmon now,I didn't deserve the stupid box for that...and you didn't even publish all my letter...That was just a little advertising section....Oh..and the games pace is just fine.

- Jeff Maxwell

"Little" advertising section? It took up two thirds of your letter! I hate to be the one to have to teach you this lesson, but the trick to advertising is to either be subtle or courteous about it. Blatantly typing out the URL wasn't going to get you any visits anyway. People won't stand for that sort of thing.

So thats it the superbowls over... NE 32-CA 29... well theres always next year for the Rams. If there wasn't Adam V, then the pats wouldn't be.

Earthbound keeps a steady pace. Its not jumpy but it has its moments. Ness keeps his quiet heroness and Poo is still The Poo formerly know as prince. It was happy and sad like the superbowl. Well Mikey another someodd months till it starts all over again.

P.S: Go Rams, Pats no.

- Steve-o

Darn straight. If it weren't for Vinatieri, it would've been 38-29. Why do people keep giving him props for a 1-for-3 outing? It's the Super Bowl! Step up or go home!

Of course, if he had hit them all, the game wouldn't have been as exciting. Just like EarthBound! I'm the King of Simile today! Nya ha ha.

I honestly think the way they have it is perfect. Slight drama here and there at the start, its funny and serious from the get go, and not enough to turn some players off, in either the sense the player doesnt find it overly serious or not serious enough. Also when it gets to the real serious points in the game, your so tuned into the game, if your normally turned off by such a thing, you cant help but love it anyway. Oh yeah and I knew in last weeks mailbag you were gonna go HALLELUJIAH SimonBob. Bwahah, I know all! Hand me the spoon so that I may cut the steak!

- Goldcheese

Not bringing out the big super-serious guns right away was an excellent decision. Too often you get games like FF3 and FF7 that start off serious and stay that way the whole way through.

And do you mean the cheesesteak? Y'know, since you're Goldcheese, and...

I was watching my little brother play Earthbound yesterday, and I noticed he was in Deep Darkness with ONLY TWO MELODIES. It was crazy. That proves how flexible the game is, and the way it should be. In most RPGs, you recover some 'crystals' in a certain 'order.' And when you talk to villagers and such, they say something totally lame, like 'This place is Orange.'Who in their right mind talks about COLORS?!? I mean, besides the HH clan. It's AWFUL. When you play EarthBound, it's a great adventure where you don't have to get some dumb 'Crystal,' you have to get songs! Plus the villagers speak their mind, like 'Have you heard the one about the vegetable soup?' That's certainly better than 'This is Corneria, a place.' Coming back to the notes, the ability do them in almost any order adds even more flair! How great is that? And besides, you can play the game anyway you like, instead of 'These mysterious rocks will remain here until you talk to Paula's father!' That would get SO annoying. At the end of the game though, I think the seriousness is okay because it's the end of the game. You're happy. You cry. It's not 'Wow, I beat a big unexplained evil brain that was really controlling the bad guy who joins our team at the end...'

The reason you're so happy at the end of a game is because:
1. It was a crappy game so the torture is over.
2. It was a good game and you're glad you made it through the entire game.
3. It has a beautiful ending.
4. It was a hard game. BRAGGING RIGHTS!!!

I'd say EarthBound has two and three. I think I'd be really annoyed if I beat the game and that camera guy that I've been avoiding that lives above my house comes down and says something dumb after I'd just saved the world. I'd smash his guts out. That's not funny. Well, maybe it is if you COULD do it. Funniness is good, say, while the credits roll or something, because too much seriousness cannot be good.

Anyway, I am now officially afraid of whoever is running the fanfics section because they seem to transform into large people that like to yell and eat ice cream while reading fanfics. I gotta hide under the bed because if I don't behave, Falcon24 will take me away to his ninja lair!!!

- Name

Ahh, that's nothing. I can get to Deep Darkness with two melodies and no Sound Stone. However, it makes it really annoying when you have to go back and get the other melodies again later. I would count "bragging rights" as a reason to beat just about any game, though. That's why I beat Snake Rattle & Roll, for example.

I think that Earthbound was ok to get a bit of seriousness and direction near the end of the game, if your going to face some kind of hideous evil, you don't want to look it in the face and say, "Fuzzy Pickles!" now do you? Btw, if we could use Poo's ansestor (the guy that rips stuff off you) at the end of the game, man that would be kickin! Do you see how much hp he does? 3 hits and Poo is down! hmm, since poo had about 100 hp, you could bring down a lot of the enemys. oooh, so fun.

- Wierdman

Dude, to be honest, I liked the serious part way better than the "crazy" part. (For readers: I took out the part where he assumed he wasn't acting crazy enough and proceeded to say stuff that made no sense.) As I've said before, a little crazy is fine, but don't go making an entire letter out of it.

You can't be serious about Poo's ancestor helping out, though. He only does 100 damage, like you said, and some of the bosses have thousands of HP at the end of the game. That'd be a little rough, don't you think?

Honestly, I'm not much of a fan for linear RPGs, Earthbound being one of the few exceptions. They're too straitforward (did I spell that right? This text box needs a spell checker.). If I wanted something where I knew 100% where I was going, I'd play a platform game.

On a completely unrelated note, I hate football. Because of it, I was unable to get online last night. Ah, well.

God, I love that "Make It So" button.

- Apple Kid

"Straightforward." :)

And I don't know if you know where you're going all the time in EB. They never show you a complete "World Map," so you have to discover each area as you get to it. Maybe that's why you like it so much more?

Very hectic last week, missed a lot of stuff, but missing the mailbag was most impairing.

I ALMOST HAD 10 STRAIGHT!!!! (goes and sulks in corner)

Well....ANYWAY....I liked Earthbound as it was. No changes are necessary. It didn't portray the same old sword bashing ancient times cliche that we have become so accustomed to, and played a new tune, set more so in modern times. Although the game, as many have put it, veered far more toward the younger populace, it was in fact more refreshing than many had been in a LONG time. Personally, I can't wait until they release the Mother Compilation and Earthbound 2 here at the same time.......you didnt hear me say that.

Well time to put up the ol' keyboard and sign-off on this mailbag.

Adios!

Rominov: I have a LEGACY to consider!

President: I don't give a whootinickel about your legacy!!

Janet Jackson: Does anyone like me yet?

- Morph

Ms. Jackson's had a rough week of it, so let's pretend I already made the obligatory joke at her expense, alright? Anyway, if they ever did start changing EB, I would want some kind of newsletter so I could keep abreast of the situation. Whoops! Oh well, at least we're past it now. I would certainly be interested in playing an altered version, it would be quite titillating. Argh! Sorry, that was the last one. I'm sure a remake would let Itoi get a few things off his chest oh screw it.

When I was younger, I was glad when a game had an area where you could just chill out, talk with the people in town, and not have to worry too much about plunging into the depths of another dungeon.

EarthBound let me, as a young gamer, enjoy walking through town, visiting the citizens, shopping, and beating up road signs... things I usually like to do when visiting a new town.

I feel this does wonders for the pace, the game has a lot of objectives that don't involve going through a nasty dungeon (helping the Runaway 5 is a prime example). It just felt like you could slow down if you needed to. Did anyone else feel this way?

Also, I totally disagree with people's naysaying about the last parts of the game (Fourside on, specifically). That's where the plot gets really intense, the characters are no longer in their home country and have crossed into the larger world and I feel this adds an intensity to the adventure. Also, by the time you return to Onett after the StoneHenge base, it feels truly weird to be in a place that is so familiar which couldn't happen if towns like Scaraba and Tenda Village had as much time spent in them.

I really feel that when you set out from Scaraba in the Captain's boat, you are truly heading into the realm of Monsters and towards Giygas' lair.

Also, once you have seen Onett under seige, I get the feeling that there is no turning back, all that was once familiar is no being affected, and it's time for the Chosen Four to rush into the heart of Giygas' Black Maw.

- Fenixhero

In fact, if we take the definition of "dungeon" to mean just that - a dungeon - then the only real "dungeon" is inside of Dungeon Man. A clever jab at RPGers, perhaps? Ha-haha.

In the explanation of this topic, a very important piece was left out. I find, every time I play it, the opening up to entering Twoson (So, basically Onett) to be incredibly linear. Also, not coincidentally, this is the one part of the game I dislike playing - I have to suffer through it. From Twoson to a good way through, maybe up to getting Poo, however, is the best chunk. Movement isn't very restricted, and there is lots to do. This segment goes very fast because there's so much to do. The rest of the game, until the end of Magicant, is slightly tighter in what has to be done, but more choices are available with the mass of visited cities and Teleport. The end of the game is kind of lkike the begining - Incredibly guided.

The whole game IS linear. There is a preset series of events that have to happen, in order, to win the game. Once more fun, random possibilities and places to go back to and visit are open, however, it seems more free. It's always discouraging to walk past a certain spot and have an omnipotent voice tell me that I don't want to go there.

- Bluegoo26

Well, yeah, without a linear plotline you have either a dumb game or SimCity. But I find it interesting that you liken Twoson to being non-linear. In my mind, right after you get Poo is the least linear part of the game; you can go to Scaraba, or you can drop back up to Fourside and grab the fifth melody, and that's to say nothing of choosing to get Pink Cloud or not. That's like three choices right there. More if you skipped the earlier melodies.

Ooh, I do love this game, but I must agree with you, the first half of the game is _by far_ superiour to the second half. Up to and including Moonside, it's full of brilliant jokes and quirkyness. Suddenly, I feel the developers needed to tie up the storyline, so they did with the rest of the game. I'm not saying it's bad, it's still pure genious, but not as good. It's brill, but the first half of the game is better than brill. In fact, it's uber-brill!

- Nudger

Just up to Moonside? Gee, I always figured the Clumsy Robot marked the turning point in the funny/serious wave. But I guess different people have different watershed points. (That makes sense to me. Why don't you get it?)

(Inserts Comment)

I like the humorous part better. I just wish it went for the entire game. Sadly, it's not possible.

And now I will fill up space with this sentence. <--------

- Ness_The_Leader

Well, it's still pretty funny at the end... "Scientist and four kids save the world!" You see? Hilarious.

I'll take option number 3 for $300, Alex.

Whoops, I forgot life isn't Jeopardy... again. Embarassing, eh? No, you say? You're wierd, as that Roman soldier in Monty Python's Life of Brian said. Most underloved Monty Python movie, if you ask me. I mean, with stuff like "I was blind, and now I can see! *falls in pit*"...

Sorry, sorry, sorry. I got a bit off-topic, y'know. Now, on topic:

Earthbound is paced just fine. I.E. Go to Scaraba, spend 40 or so minutes in the pyramid, 5 minutes finding Dungeon Man, 30 minutes in him, 15 minutes getting to Deep Darkness, and so on, and so forth. Of course I, probably like many other submitters to the mailbag, slightly prefer the early pacing of the game more than the late game. Epecially around Twoson, because that's where stuff like the pizza parlor and Baby's First Department Store is. So yeah, I'm done! See ya, peace out.

P.S. Why do psychics need to ask you for your name?

- Dragonair

To make sure you're being honest with them.

Maybe the problem with pacing is all in our heads, though. Try this sometime: Play a game of EarthBound, but once you beat Clumsy Robot, declare yourself the winner and go play FF or CT or even Lufia for a few months. Then, when you come back to EB, beat the other half of the game. Does it seem fresher now than it did when you did it all in one go? I don't know. I've never tried it, and EB is so saturated in my bloodstream that I probably wouldn't be the ideal test subject anyway.

That's a fantabulous question. The first time through the game, I started to get a little bored towards the end. I liked all the town and modern-day places, because all that weird fantasy stuff was very cliche in RPG's (and still is... just look at every RPG for PS2). So I began to lose a little bit of interest around Scaraba and afterward. Epsecially since a lot of the quests after that consisted of returning to old places to do something new (i.e. stonehenge, Onett under siege -which was a very, very short quest- et cetera). I think part of this lack of interest was due to the feeling that I was nearing completion of the game, and I didn't want it to be over. Yeah, that's my logic.

There was less talking and more fighting towards the end. Now that I am 7 years older, the end of the game is a lot more fun, especially since I've played halfway through earthbound 4 or 5 times, and I forgot a lot about the end. Still, the transition from receiving the meteorite piece to sabotaging Giygas' cave seemed a little choppy. I would have liked another quest in between there, or at least a boss at the top of the mountain by the meteor. I don't care who or what the boss would be... it could even go like "I am evil buzz buzz back from the dead, haha, and you can't have dis here thingy!". Maybe someone should make a hack of earthbound and add that in there (make sure evil buzz buzz's dialogue is verbatim to what I mentioned).

I let my friend Nate borrow the game for a while, and to my surprise, he fell in love with it as well. I was surprised because, well, you'd have to know him I guess. But he commented on how fantastic the plotline was and how much fun the game was overall. And he's really smart and he reads books and listens to crazy hardcore music, so he has to be right. So I guess that in hindsight, almost 8 years after beating it for the first time, the game is smooth and tight. I think the biggest surprise was Giygas himself... it was so creepy and unexpected, so very un-earthboundly, that it forced me to take the four heroes' quest more seriously. The battle with Giygas seemed so much more dire than, say, the final battle against Sephiroth in FFVII (or the battle with Smithy in SMRPG... that guy was a joke). Giygas' creepy, floating, dismembered spirit-head also altered the overall feel of the game, but in a really good way. After defeating Giygas, I felt like I accomplished something. I also got a little choked up because the adventure was over... haha, that is kind of sad though.

So whenever you staffers feel like announcing the winners to the winter funfest 03 contest, let me know. It's driving me crazy.

- BillySmakk

"Less talking, more fighting." The only game I can think of that followed that credo might have been Secret of Evermore, or maybe... no, just SoE. Fighting is conflict, conflict drives plot, and without plot RPGs are meaningless, even if it's just "save the princess and kill the Dragonlord" like Dragon Warrior. * SIMONBOB chants the spell of HEALMORE.

V: Hi! Wer'e not here to answer the phone right now... Y: But stay on and leave a message! V:If you happen to be Mike or Simon, our replies on your stuffage will play after the tone.

*beeep*

*tacka tacka* V;...And so...The so-called "stuffage"...Is way too dramatic for me and my brother...It was sooo cliche...And I thought this took place in modern world...Egypt?...How did four teenagers get there without parental supervision?...And weird things...similar to humans?...Well now I sound like...Im dissing the game...Which I dont want to do...So Ill leave it at that.
DONE!

- Venus & Yoshi's Answering Machine

Hi. Steven Page from Barenaked Ladies here, I'm standing around in the house of the person you're calling. You didn't realize that they were such close friends to such popular rock-and-rollers as ourselves, but we're all standing around, we're having a little party, we're enjoying some nacho chips and some dried fruit, and... when they come back, we'll try to remember to tell them that you called, so why don't you just leave a message after the tone and we'll see what we can do.

I believe that EarthBound's pace was overall very nice. In the beginning of the game, you're told how important Ness's quest is, but you don't really know Ness.

The quirky feel durring the beginning of the game I believe helps the player begin to form a kind of bond with Ness, as well as the world he lives in. This is also how I think the game designer may have planned to keep the player's attention. Why bore the player with the same old "If you don't level up in a hurry, the world will explode in jello." type stuff? The player get's to have some fun with Ness in the beginning, this also helps out when the game get's more serious.

Gradually as you go forward in the game, the seriousness increases. You see a slight increase with the Happy Happy-ists kidnaping Paula, but in my opinion the story takes a very serious turn in Threed when the Zombies gang up on Ness & Paula. Things get even worse when Paula is kidnapped again in Fourside. (Poor gal can't get a break!)

By this time in the game, everyone's figureing out that this is serious. First time players want to see how the story ends. I speak from experience, I just beat the game barely a week ago for the first time. It was one heck of an experience, and that's why I say the pace for the game was good as it is.

- KyoZaber

I think this is the clearest letter we've gotten on the subject. But you know, your description kind of reminds me of my old favourite, Chrono Trigger. You start off just sayin' "Hey, I'm going to the fair!" but then you're running through time saving a girl you just met, and then some more serious stuff goes down, and eventually you're embroiled in one big history-saving mess. It's wild and zany - say it with me now - just like EarthBound!

I guess in the end it's kind of shortsighted to say that the game ends after Fourside. There's still the Pyramid, Dungeon Man, Stonehenge, and Magicant to look forward to, just to name a few locales. I think the trouble lies in the fact that right after Fourside comes Summers, the resort town. It just makes you automatically lapse into "Relaxation Mode," which is why your head only gets that far into reminiscing about the game before shutting down. I say we abolish Summers and replace it with a rollercoaster.

Of course, as many of you pointed out, it does get more serious as the game progresses. But considering it's never really more serious than any other game on the market, that's not really a big deal, in my and most of your opinions.

And can I just say that it's spelled "weird!" Not "wierd!" At least two people have spelled it wrong this week alone.

Falc, SimonBob, and Mike's Archive:

July 15, 2003: Mother 1+2 US Release, EB Merchandise, Fanfics
July 20, 2003: M 1+2 Import, Sanctuary Locations, Trivia League
July 28, 2003: EBFGPS, Sword of Kings, Time Capsule feat. pre-staff SimonBob
August 9, 2003: Starmen.Net Forums feat. Grandpa
August 17, 2003: Mailbag Improvement Week feat. PappyCat
September 16, 2003: Fun Stuff Suggestions feat. Sephy
October 7, 2003: Petition Mention feat. Skulryk
October 20, 2003: EarthBound the Movie
October 28, 2003: Free Topic Week feat. Giovanni
November 6, 2003: Halloween Funfest 2003 feat. Jim
November 9, 2003: Starmen.net Radio feat. Picky
November 15, 2003: Alternate EarthBound Sites feat. DarthAndonuts
November 22, 2003: #earthbound feat. Carpainter
November 29, 2003: Staff Improvement feat. AoE
December 14, 2003: Forum Improvement feat. Atticus
December 17, 2003: Holiday Funfest
January 2, 2004: EB No Matsuri
January 10, 2004: Starmen.net Site Development
January 19, 2004: EarthBound in 2004
January 24, 2004: EarthBound Quotes
January 31, 2004: Mother 1 Soundtrack Re-release
February 8, 2004: EarthBound Over Easy
February 15, 2004: Change of Pace
February 22, 2004: Favourite Foodstuffs feat. Steve-o
February 29, 2004: Killed Off
March 21, 2004: Catch A Bunch
March 27, 2004: Then and Now feat. Steve-o
April 5, 2004: Winter Funfest Results feat. Carpainter
April 12, 2004: Something Springy feat. Jamie_M
April 20, 2004: 1+2=what now? feat. Dash
May 1, 2004: New Forums
June 1, 2004: The Site That Gives Back
June 29, 2004: Wacky Genetic Experiments
July 18, 2004: E3 Speculations
August 11, 2004: Summer Funfest feat. Tomato & AmzRigh
September 23, 2004: EBFGPS04
October 23, 2004: Vacation Special
October 30, 2004: Soundtrack Songs
November 6, 2004: Site Fundraiser
November 14, 2004: Halloween
November 28, 2004: EarthBound Influence
December 11, 2004: Scientific Errors
January 17, 2005: Space Time Conundrum
January 28, 2005: Is Mother 3 Coming?

TAFKACC's Archive:

May 25, 2003: Starmen.Net's Future, EB Date, Ness's Nightmare
June 1, 2003: Mailbag Length, Online Walkthru, EB Theory Special
June 8, 2003: EB Characters in Mother 3, Flukes, Mailbag Critique
June 28, 2003: Articles Debate, Pokey's Past, Topic Suggestions
July 6, 2003: Xod Tribute, PK Call'n, EB Trivia

GuyInSummers and StarmanDeluxe's Archive:

Here is the Hall of Fame, which contains the best letters from each week.