EarthBound (Gameboy)

EarthBound is an RPG developed by Shigesato Itoi, Halken, and Creatures Inc. and published by Nintendo, ported to the Gameboy by RECHSOFT on July 1st, 1996 in NTSC regions and on June 26th, 1997 in Japan, Europe and Korea. Being a port of EarthBound for the Super NES, it features the same plot. However, as it is on a much less powerful system, quite a bit is removed, such as the animated battle backgrounds, the ability to use all 4 party members at one time, and quite a few PSI abilities. Instead, it reuses the 3-party-member mechanic, as well as most of the PSI abilities, from EarthBound Beginnings.
EarthBound's Gameboy port went on to be received as a very clean port of the original, and eventually was remade for the Gameboy Colour with enhanced graphics in 1999. The game is the first handheld Mother game and also the first port of a Mother game, predating Mother 1+2 by 17 years. It was also the second EarthBound game to be released outside Japan, and the only handheld EarthBound game until the rerelease of EarthBound on Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console.
== Differences from EarthBound (1995) ==
Being a port on a more limited system, there were plently of things missing from the Gameboy port of EarthBound that were in the original Super NES release.
=== Graphical ===
* The switch from EarthBound's battle system to that of Dragon Quest or EarthBound Beginnings.
* The removal of the bright, animated backgrounds from EarthBound in favour of a simple black screen. (Or a simple animated background in the Gameboy Colour rerelease.)
* Obviously, the colour palette has been limited to greys, whites, and blacks. (Or a variety of simple bright colours in the Gameboy Colour rerelease.)
* The PSI attacks have been limited to simple flashing of the screen. (The flash is coloured in the Gameboy Colour rerelease.)
=== Musical ===
* All of the tracks from EarthBound Beginnings have been reused, along with 3 tracks from EarthBound on the Super NES being reused.
* All of the bosses (with the exception of the final boss.) use Battle Against a Dangerous Foe from EarthBound Beginnings instead of their respective themes from EarthBound on the Super NES.
* Instead of the multiple battle tracks in EarthBound on the Super NES, there are only 2; Hippie Battle and Battle Against a Flippant Foeg, both from EarthBound Beginnings.
=== Gameplay ===
* The Sound Stone has been removed from the game; the manual simply states that it has a "special spot" in your inventory that makes it unseen.
* The rolling HP counter from EarthBound's Super NES version has been removed due to technical limitations.
* The condiments have been removed.
Category:Mother Games