Earthbound V

**Earthbound V** is a graphic adventure game developed and published by Sierra Entertainment, originally published for the Commodore 64 in 2009 and later for several other systems between 2012 and 2014. It is the twenty-third major installment in the Earthbound franchise. Designed by Mark Laidlaw, the game was revolutionary and highly influential in the evolution of the graphic adventure game genre by introducing more detailed graphics and animation.

## Plot

In 2009, five years after the events of Earthbound 4, Ness, now an agent of the Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance (BSAA), is dispatched to Kijuju in Africa. He and his new partner Jeff Andonuts are tasked with apprehending Jafar before he can sell a bio-organic weapon (BOW) on the black market. When they arrive, they discover that the locals have been infected by the parasites Las Peepee (those infected are called "Genies") and the BSAA Alpha Team have been killed. Ness and Jeff are rescued by BSAA's Science  Team, which includes Jeff's mentor Captain Mario. In Mario's data Ness sees a photograph of Paula Jones, his old partner, who has been presumed dead after a confrontation with Baby Kata. Ness, Jeff and Science Team close in on Jafar, but he escapes with the aid of a hooded figure. Jafar leaves documents that lead Ness and Jeff to marshy oilfields. This is where Jafar's deal is to occur, but they discover that the documents are a diversion. When Ness and Jeff try to regroup with the Science Team, they find the team slaughtered by a BOW; Jeff cannot find Mario among the dead. Determined to learn if Paula is still alive, Ness does not report to headquarters.

Continuing through the marsh, they find Mario and track down Jafar's boat with his help. Jafar injects himself with a variant of the Las Peepee parasite and mutates into a huge octopus-like beast. Ness and Jeff defeat him, and his dying words lead them to a nearby cave to learn more. The cave is the source of a flower used to create viruses previously used by the Bene Tleilaxu, as well as a new strain named Atak. Ness and Jeff find evidence that Capsule Corp, the company funding the BSAA, took over a former Tleilaxu underground laboratory and continued Tleilaxu's research. In the facility, they discover thousands of capsules holding human test subjects. Although Ness finds that one of the capsules is Paula's, it is empty. When they leave, they discover that Capsule Corp CEO Aerith Gainsborough has been plotting with Kata to launch missiles with the Atak virus across the globe; it is eventually revealed that Kata hopes to take a chosen few from the chaos of infection and rule them, creating a new breed of humanity. Ness and Jeff pursue Gainsborough but are stopped by Kata and the hooded figure, who is revealed to be a mind-controlled Paula. Gainsborough and Kata escape to a Capsule Corp oil tanker; Ness and Jeff fight Paula, subduing her and removing the mind-control device before she orders Ness to follow Kata.

Ness and Jeff board the tanker and encounter Gainsborough, who escapes after dropping a case of syringes; Jeff keeps several. When Ness and Jeff reach the main deck, Kata announces over the ship's intercom that he has betrayed Gainsborough and infected her with Atak. She mutates into a giant monster, which Ness and Jeff defeat. Paula radios in, telling Ness and Jeff that Baby Kata must take precise, regular doses of a virus to maintain his strength and speed; a larger or smaller dose would poison him. Jeff realizes that Gainsborough's syringes are doses of the drug. Ness and Jeff follow Kata to a bomber loaded with missiles containing the Atak virus, injecting him with the syringes Gainsborough dropped. Kata tries to escape on the bomber; Ness and Jeff disable it, making him crash-land in a volcano. Furious‚ Kata exposes himself to Atak and chases Ness and Jeff through the volcano. They fight him, and the weakened Kata falls into the lava before Ness and Jeff are rescued by a helicopter, which is piloted by Paula and Mario. As a dying Kata attempts to drag the helicopter into the volcano, Ness and Jeff fire rocket-propelled grenades at Kata, killing him. In the game's final cutscene, Ness wonders if the world is worth fighting for. Looking at Jeff and Paula, he decides to live in a world without fear.