The Hotdog Laserhouse

Of course I have! Earthbound was one of the first game that eased me in to understanding what RPGs even were. It was Earthbound, Final Fantasy 4, Chrono Trigger, and Super Mario RPG where I really first cut my teeth.

Back then, I used to think “Hit Points” represented the number of locations on an enemy’s body that they could be struck. As in, “points you can hit them at”. Obviously, I got really confused about the time I’d hear of monsters with thousands of hit points - I’d just assume they were really, really big. I wasn’t a very smart child.

Earthbound was also one of the first RPGs I can vividly remember cheating at. I did not like leveling up or stats, so I’d just put in a game genie code so that all of the enemies gave you 65256 exp, which was usually enough to push you well in to level 50 or 60 on your first battle. You actually had to be really careful - if you used the code before you fought Starman Jr., I think the battle would screw up and the game would freeze, because it counts on you being really weak.

Earthbound was a great game. I’m one of those people who is absolutely crushed that Nintendo isn’t doing more with it. It needs to be on VC, the GBA versions needed to come out in America, and I’d love to play Mother 3 in English on real hardware without having to spend money on crazy things. I kind of haven’t played Mother 3 very far because playing those games on my PC through an emulator is just a fast track to me getting distracted.

I actually have a friend who is willing to send me an old spare PSP of his that he doesn’t use, and I plan on using it exclusively for homebrew stuff. The two games at the top of my list to replay on that PSP is Earthbound and Resident Evil 2. It is so much easier for me to finish games on portables, especially long games. I don’t have a smartphone or anything, so when I’m away from my PC, often the only entertainment I have is my DS, and because of that, I’ve probably played more of my DS in these last six years than any game console I’ve ever owned in my entire life combined. Having a homebrew-enabled PSP opens the door for all kinds of games that my DS couldn’t handle or simply does not have access to.

I am crazy excited to get it. Unfortunately that same friend is having a bit of money trouble (seems to be a theme right now) so he won’t be able to send it for quite a while.