The shocking truth!
In Japan, Ness actually made his journey through Magicant as naked as the day he was born!
Very cheeky, Ness.
I'm going to talk about Earthbound again. Mackey started iiiit.
Maybe this doesn't qualify as a secret evil (aww), but one thing that intrigues me about Earthbound is some of the themes within. Specifically, Earthbound is from a kid's perspective for two reasons: one, it's appealing to play as a hero who's close to your age, and two, we tend to lose sight of the big picture as we get older and have our first soul-dimming run-ins with bills, responsibility and chronic constipation.
Ness' adventure is about the big picture; love and friendship are the best defences we have against the sucky bits of life. It's the truth, but once you reach a certain age you're not allowed to say as much. It brings to mind a quote from one of my favourite authors, Frank McCourt: "You're allowed to say you love God and babies and horses that win, but anything else is a softness in the head."
Shigesato Itoi obviously remembers what it was like to be a kid. Earthbound explores the simple bond between kids that gets divided up as we become aware of tiresome, dividing things like politics, religion and race. When Ness gathers his friends, there's no protests or freak-outs. There's no mention of abandoned responsibilities or "but I have to--", which is what any of us would say. The kids know the truth: something bad is going down in the universe and someone has to stop it, so it might as well be them. None of them remark about how strange it is that they've been chosen, or that they've been summoned telepathically. They're just doing what kids have to do.
Comparatively, the adults in Earthbound, other than Ness' mother and invisible phone dad, are foggy-minded. They don't know what's going on around them. A couple of them catch the scent of something going bad, but they dismiss it because they have to get to work, go shopping, live a life that stands to be pulled into oblivion.
What's interesting is that Earthbound's authority figures are especially incompetent and easily manipulated. Porky lords over Fourside with his repulsive father (whom he abandons when the chips are down) and his mother is a buffoon, albeit (as the end of the game proves) kinder than we initially thought. The police are an especially nasty presence and it's no exaggeration to say that you won't meet a trustworthy cop throughout the game. They're corrupt, money-hungry and exceptionally lazy.
Your scared grandmother isn't going to bring up Earthbound when she initiates an "evil TV box game" conference this Thanksgiving, though. That chair is reserved for Grand Theft Auto.
Too bad, because Earthbound is a game that should be discussed often. Good thing you readers out there have 61FPS bloggers who never stop mouthing off about it.
Earthbound's Secret Evil
Mother 3 Fan Translation Nears Completion
Earthbound and Back Again
