Earth Bound

Ever wonder who that little kid with a red cap was on Super Smash Bros.? Well that's Ness from EarthBound, a 1994 Japanese game published by Nintendo and released on the Super Nintendo. It was released in the states to a poor sales reception (but became a cult classic), so they didn't bother releasing it in Europe; due to the game containing a lot of text, Nintendo didn't see the translation costs being worth the amount of sales they were expecting. However it did really well in Japan, and was the second in a 3 part series, hence why lil Ness is on Smash Bros.

This game is probably the quirkiest game I've played, for a start the hero is a little kid who fights off an evil alien race with a baseball bat and psychic attacks; which isn't particularly ordinary. Remember at this time the only turn based RPGs were those of a epic fantasy nature with warriors and mages and whatever else, I'm not saying that these characteristics in games are a bad thing (far from it) but EB brings a refreshing new twist to the genre. The various locations in the game are amazing, taking a mocking look at american suburbia, with a beautiful 16-bit charm.

The fighting game play is amazing, having to at first fight off alien crazed dogs and flies all the way up to encounters with Starmen, (although Mr. Tubb will not approve due to the turn-based combat). With interesting status ailments like "You can't stop crying" or getting a cold, it keeps reminding you how well the game was thought out to be almost unlike any other game ever. Through the game you pick up other characters which help you along your way to defeat the alien race and save the world, either being specializing in Psi or Technology like Bottle Rockets to fight with. It does get tricky and you will have to level up and attack sneakily so don't let the funny nature of the game trick you into thinking this game is easy.

If you're already interested in turn-based RPGs (e.g. Pokemon or Final Fantasy) or this sounds like you'd want to give them a go, then definitely check out Earth Bound, it's a refreshingly quirky, funny game with good game play and an interesting storyline to boot. Go download a SNES emulator, I recommend zsnes, then get your self the Earth Bound rom (making sure its in English).