
In addition to the marketing materials, the fine folks at NOA poured their heart and soul into one of the funniest and most thorough players' guides ever to come with a game. The best part is that the campaign's slogan was "This Game Stinks." The massive success of MOTHER 2 in Japan prompted Nintendo of America to give EarthBound a pretty heavy-duty marketing campaign - posters in video game stores and rental chains, ads in magazines, coupons for $10 off the purchase of the game, and even TV commercials (still pretty rare for video games back in 1995).


You are just an average 13 year old kid from the suburbs.until the night a meteor lands in your backyard. No dragons, mystical knights, or staff-wielding wizards appear in this game.

The story is set in the 1990s in Eagleland, a kitschy and romanticized parody of America (perfect lawns and quiet suburbs). EarthBound introduced, and even today continues to introduce, RPG fans to an entirely different experience. No other game was like it, except maybe its prequel, MOTHER, which had not been released outside of Japan. Few games dared to defy this mold until EarthBound (MOTHER 2 as it is known in Japan). Most were still set in medieval times, with knights and mages battling mythical monsters with swords and magic. In 1995, RPGs were stuck in a rut that Dragon Quest had dug.
