Vimm's Lair: NES Reviews - EarthBound Beginnings (Virtual Console)

Nintendo
EarthBound Beginnings (Virtual Console)

Graphics:
Sound:
Gameplay:
Overall:
8.73
8.96
8.63
8.95
Votes: 82
Reviews: 2


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Reviewer: BlueStone Date: Jun 25, 2009
I'm not sure what Ovi was talking about, but this game is very different from the sequel for the SNES, especially the beginning. It picks up quickly with a poltergeist attack and strange stuff happening all in the world, from crazy escaped zoo animals, zombie uprisings, and haunted houses to masked gangs and a town of children whose parents have been kidnapped. It's your job to find out why and save the world.

Graphics: 8
The graphics aren't too great, but it does boast a variety of colorful places and some pretty intriguing enemies.

Sound: 9
There is a large collection of music on this game that's quite lengthy and never gets boring. The songs even have amazing lyrics, which you obviously won't hear in the game, but the vocal soundtrack is definitely worth looking into.

Gameplay: 6
The gameplay is really simple and nothing is difficult in regards to user interface. The random battles do get annoying sometimes and some areas of the world are confusing as to what to do next (resulting in more random battles as you try to figure it out). Once you beat the game though you get a great sense of satisfaction and it's fun to play again after a couple years to reminisce.

Overall: 9
The depth of this game is excellent. The character development isn't too deep, but enough to trigger emotions for them. The world is gigantic with many places to explore and people to talk to, who also always have something interesting to say that often adds to the story. Much of the stories aren't really explained leaving room for imagination. The only thing keeping this game from an overall 10 is the random battles.

You might want to note that it's impossible to beat this game without a gamegenie or patch to fix an area of the game. In the last town you visit a screen pops up claiming that the cartridge has been illegally copied and the game freezes until it's reset, also erasing all of the saves.

 

Reviewer: Ovi Date: Sep 11, 2005
If you've played Earthbound 2 before, then the beginning of this game is going to seem very familiar to you. Aside from Poo, all of the other characters from the second game are in this one (I think) and there is a muscle-headed guy in your party as well. The game begins with the meteor crashing just like it did in the second game, and while I never played that far into it, I'm sure it has a different story anyway.

Graphics: 6
Not bad at all, and it has a "kawaii" feel to it as well. You can certainly see how it evolved into its SNES counterpart, but at the same time it has NES style.

Sound: 9
Very sprite, fun tunes here. They aren't the best songs ever, but they're pretty good and evoke moods.

Gameplay: 7
It isn't the best RPG on earth, but it is very fun and different. The game has lots of humor and RPG elements that make it unique to the Earth Bound series, and it even has the trademark "seizure" battle background.

Overall: 8
A nice piece of NES goodness. Using a similar system to Dragon Warrior but with sci-fi humor, there is no other game like it. For RPG fans only, noone else would probably get it.

Why was it never released in America? The second one was...