Pippi

Pippi (ピッピ) is a playable character in EarthBound Beginnings, and the first character to join Ninten, even if temporary. Unlike other unnameable characters in the MOTHER series that join the party, her actions are not autonomous and is able to use equipment, functioning as a full playable character. Though she doesn't have PSI, she has high stats across the board. She can equip the Slingshot and Boomerang, although it is impossible to acquire a Boomerang before she leaves the party without using cheats.
Pippi is a young girl who lives on the outskirts of Podunk, near Ninten's home, with her mother Lindgren. At the beginning of the game, Ninten learns from Lindgren that Pippi has gone missing. Upon arriving in Podunk, Ninten meets with Mr. Mayor, the head of Podunk, who is preparing for re-elections at the time. To make himself out to be a hero and have the town vote in his favor, he enlists the help of Ninten to rescue Pippi from the Cemetery to the south.
Ninten braves the zombie-infested cemetery to find Pippi locked in the bottom left coffin in an underground tomb. Upon being rescued, Pippi may give Ninten a Franklin Badge if two questions are answered correctly (if not, the badge can still be received if she is spoken to in her home). Pippi then joins Ninten's party as a playable character, and the two return to Podunk. When the two arrive at the City Hall, Mr. Mayor, eager for his name to be in the headlines as a hero, bribes Ninten to allow him to take the credit for rescuing her with money and the key to the City Zoo. Pippi is left in the mayor's care and subsequently appears in front of her house with her Mother for the rest of the game.
Once brought outside the cemetery, Pippi is unable to be taken very far, as most of the game is closed off to the player until the City Zoo is taken care of, and access is only granted after she leaves. Despite this, she is still able to help Ninten fight the animals at the Zoo for experience by staying near the fence, and is also able to be taken to Canary Village to reunite Laura with her chick.
Along with appearing in front of her house, she also makes an appearance at the house in the swamp near Ellay. She tells Ninten that she sneaked out of her house and asks Ninten to not tell her mother. Speaking to her there will trigger Ninten and friends to "stay the night" and recover all their hit points and psychic points. thumb|Pippi's clay model.
==Trivia==
*In the data for EarthBound Beginnings, there is an unused battle sprite strongly resembling Pippi's clay model that does not appear in the final version of the game. If fought using cheats, it has the name Gang Zombie.
**A common theory is that at some point in development, Pippi was intended to turn into (or be made to act like) a zombie and had to be fought as a boss, regaining all senses once she was defeated. The PseudoZombi enemy seems to point in favor of this theory, as the other three coffins besides Pippi's each contain one, and "pseudo" (meaning: not genuine, false; not actually but having the appearance of) implies that the people of Podunk were being made to act like zombies, possibly as a result of being locked in the coffins. 
*If Pippi is kept in Ninten's party until she levels up a few times, it can be seen that her stats grow much quicker than Ninten's, and she requires much less experience than him to level up. This makes it easier to level up Ninten, as a second, more powerful party member makes it easier to defeat enemies who award larger amounts of experience points. In fact, Pippi is identical stat-wise to Teddy; she is just at a much lower initial level and is kept too briefly for most players to notice.
*Pippi is only able to be brought to two of the Eight Melodies locations, the first being Laura in Canary Village, and the second being the Doll in Ninten's house, although both melodies can be gotten without her.
*She is the only playable character in the entire Mother series whose name can't be changed.
*Pippi and Teddy are the only characters in EarthBound Beginnings to have an unused sprite.
*Pippi is the only playable female character in the mother series that cannot equip a frying pan. Both Ana and Paula have a frying pan as a primary weapon and Kumatora can equip the Fake Frying Pan.
*During normal play, the only weapon Pippi has access to is the Slingshot in the Podunk Deptartment Store. However, if one were to cheat to bring her to a later point in the game, she's also able to equip the Boomerang like everyone else. 
*Interestingly, if you skip Pippi leaving the party at the mayor's office (by using cheats) then she won't appear in the house in the swamp. (Cheating Pippi into the party after she's left won't prevent her from appearing in the house, only skipping the event of her leaving will). Very little else of note occurs due to bringing her to later points in the game.
**Although, Pippi (in addition to Flying Man and EVE) do count as a valid second or third person if they're in your party, allowing the player to dance at Ellay and recruit Teddy without Ana (or Lloyd).
**The cat in Magicant who gives the Magic Ribbon doesn't care if Pippi is in the party and will only give it to the player if Ana is in the party, despite saying he gives it to girls. Furthermore, even if Ana is given the ribbon and she gives it to Pippi, Pippi will be unable to use it. 
*Pippi is a reference to Pippi Longstocking, a fictional character in a series of children's books created by Swedish author Astrid Lindgren. There are several things that point to this:
**Her name, Pippi, is obviously taken from the title character Pippi Longstocking.
**The name of her mother, Lindgren, is borrowed from the surname of the books' author, Astrid Lindgren.
**Her bright red hair is directly pulled from the character. Also, Longstocking's hair is often described and depicted as being wild and unkempt, and always shown to be in pigtails, mirrored by Pippi's own pigtails sticking up unnaturally, even asking Ninten at one point if she should style her hair.
**Pippi's immense strength also alludes to Pippi Longstocking, as the latter is referred as "The Strongest Girl In the World" within the books, and is shown to do superhuman things like lifting up her horse with one hand.
it:Pippi
Category:Characters
Category:Female Characters
Category:EarthBound Beginnings Characters
Category:EarthBound Beginnings
Category:Temporary party members
Category:Temporary party members in EarthBound Beginnings
Category:Playable Party Members in EarthBound Beginnings
Category:Characters with unused sprites