#9: EarthBound

Released In: 1995
Developer: HAL
Publisher: Nintendo

      In the year 199X, in a world almost as mundane as our own, a young boy named Ness receives a strange visitor from the future. The visitor tell him that an evil being known as Gigyas will conquer the world unless Ness finds three other kids and gets them to help him defeat Gigyas. Ness does find these kids - Paula, Jeff, and Poo - but it turns out the strange visitor was just a pedophile who wanted to violate all four of them. Wait, no, the guy was telling the telling the truth about Gigyas, he doesn't rape them, they save the day, and everyone lives happily ever after. But before that happens, you'll have to beat up hippies, goats, loaded dice, barf, and all sorts of other weird and awesome enemies.

Syd Lexia: EarthBound is a true classic. Sure, it had an infamously terrible American ad campaign and intentionally understated graphics, but graphics and commercials don't make a good game; gameplay and story do. This is my third favorite traditional RPG on the SNES, right behind Final Fantasy II and Chrono Trigger.

What makes EarthBound really interesting is that while it is highly revered today, it was a huge flop when it was first released in the United States, especially considering it was published and marketed directly by Nintendo. But despite its commercial failure, the game managed to develop a fiercely loyal cult following, and its popularity began to grow through word of mouth; the inclusion of Ness in the first two Smash Bros. games certainly didn't hurt either.

Murdar Machene: This game had the stinkiest advertisement ever. I mean it. That scratch and sniff sticker in GamePro nearly made me fucking vomit. It smelled like someone had eaten a pizza made out of sweaty armpits and barfed it onto the page.

Douche McCallister: One of the most unorthodox RPGs ever made, but I’ll be damned if it didn’t work. I don’t know what made this game so damn awesome. I mean the story was weird, the graphics were unimpressive, but the game was still really addictive somehow. Has anyone actually gotten a Sword of Kings off a Starman Super, or the Gutsy Bat from the Bionic Kraken? I’ve tried for hours to no avail. If this game taught me anything, it is that it’s okay to dig through the garbage and eat burgers.

Fun Fact: Current Nintendo president Saturo Iwata was the Program Director for EarthBound, as well as an Assistant Producer.

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