EarthBound Beginnings 1989

Is it still worth playing?

Written and directed by Shigesato Itoi, this role playing game first came out in Japan in 1989 for the Family Computer as Mother. You follow Ninten, a boy who uses his great grandfather's studies of psychic powers to end paranormal events across a slightly offbeat America. The party includes Ninten, Lloyd, Ana and Teddy. Turn-based battles are random encounters, and the foes include hippies, zombies, robots and living objects. Instead of swords the heroes use baseball bats, frying pans and psychic abilities, they fight in warehouses and laboratories instead of dungeons, and trains carry them between areas. The goal is to find eight melodies. It is an unusual role-playing setup, with a modern setting where household objects are weapons, and it still stands out.