EarthBound: A Modern-Day Storybook - Part 2

Here is the second part of Wesley Rea's analysis of Earthbound.  Enjoy!

A Modern-Day Storybook (Part #2 - Story)

In recent weeks, I have been working at an elementary school as a part of an after-school program.  During this time, when I am not helping students with understanding the basics of electricity or assisting them with their multiplication and long division, I have perused various children’s books that are available to the students I teach.  Some are witty, some are boring, and some are simply too strange for any rational person to understand.

And yet, despite these differences, they have the unified element of a story.  However vague the descriptions may be or outlandish the premise is, they are designed to get children to read and to (hopefully) think critically and imaginatively.  As I mentioned last week when discussing the art and music of EarthBound, this game contains many elements that capture the spirit of childhood in a storybook-like way that is attractive to both children and adults, and the story only further reinforces this claim.

While one can go down many different rabbit trails concerning the story of EarthBound, I have identified at least two reasons as to why EarthBound is this “modern-day storybook” I have mentioned and why it encapsulates our childhood dreams so well.

Simplicity

In Japan, EarthBound is written completely in the hiragana script (consisting of about 48 characters) rather than kanji (which has about 2,000+ characters).  Without getting too much into linguistics, one simply needs to remember that hiragana is a syllable-based alphabet, in which each symbol has a particular syllable sound attached to it.  This is done to (presumably) make the games easier for children to understand, as it is easily read and best emulates spoken Japanese in text format (much like how the Pokémon games in Japanese favor syllable scripts over kanji).

The beauty behind this rational choice of language scripts is that it allows the person playing to become more immersed in the experience.  It overcomes the struggle of having to decipher difficult words and allows the children to zip through the dialogue at a pace that closely resembles a speaking pace.  It also leaves many ideas or plot developments simple and intentionally vague at times (due to the limitations of the script), which allows for the player to interpret text that might seem unclear.

While this does not translate perfectly into English, the localization team did a superb job in trying to emulate the humor and wit of the Japanese version by injecting as much American humor and pop-culture references as they could (which, given that EarthBound is based on American culture, worked surprisingly well).

From the time I’ve spent on the game, it has also been clear to me that a lot of the English game itself, like its Japanese counterpart, tells the story with simple language that children can understand.  Characters speak American English, not the King James English that was prevalent in the Dragon Quest games at the time.  They are straight and to the point, telling the player what they need to know and leaving the rest up to the player’s interpretation of what they have been told.  While this is normal in RPGs, EarthBound has a way of making you feel that you are the child that you are playing as, since adult characters tend to talk down to you in a way that is diminutive and which treats you like… well, a child.

This is how the plot unfolds from start to finish.  At the beginning, you are simply dropped into this adventure and are given very clear directions about what you are supposed to do, but in-between fulfilling that ultimate goal, the rest is up to you and what you feel is necessary.  As any good RPG does, it makes players really feel like they are Ness, having to go from town to town asking questions, solving problems, and ultimately trying to figure out how to achieve the goal that has been thrust upon them.

In essence: You, as the player, take on the role of the child character, and you effectively become that child.  You mature along with Ness as he journeys throughout his world, discovering new things during this adventure that you have never learned before, and sometimes even making mistakes that you have to learn from.  The simple act of growing up and living life is heavily emphasized throughout the game in a way that will make children think about their own lives and cause adults to remember how it was for them. In that way, it truly is a storybook that both young and old alike can enjoy.

Relevancy

The setting for EarthBound is, quite frankly, one that is both bizarre and yet strikingly familiar to those of us living in America (especially if we grew up in the suburbs).  The story takes place in the year 199X in a country called Eagleland that is clearly influenced by American culture and ideals (though admittedly toned down a bit from the previous game in the series).  Ness is not a knight, mage, or thief, but is instead a young, normal boy with a penchant for baseball bats and yo-yos.  To a game that is marketed specifically towards children, what could be more relevant than presenting the player with a character that is, essentially, them?

As the story is set up in the beginning, the player (as Ness) finds that they must embark on an adventure, one that will involve having to travel past the confines of their hometown into a world that they have never seen firsthand.  To a child, the idea of traveling to strange, new places is exciting and adventurous, so one can immediately see why such a premise in a game that takes place in the modern-day would be very interesting to the children playing it.  It allows them to travel beyond the bounds of whatever environment they are in so that they can see strange, new things.  

The child, in essence, travels alongside Ness on his journey and learns everything concurrently with him.  One can even say that Ness, as the silent protagonist in the same vein as Link from The Legend of Zelda, is the “avatar” through which the child imposes their personality onto the main character as they travel and experience these new things.  This gives them a feeling of control that they might never be able to experience.  Since normal storybooks typically have characters with set personalities and dialogue, they do not give the reader that feeling of control or personalization that they can get from controlling what is essentially a “digital self.”  This can make the experience more immersive and engaging than any normal storybook can achieve.

While this is all well and good for the children, it is often overlooked that adults can garner a very similar experience that children have when playing games like EarthBound.  The adult is unique in this sense because they, unlike the child, have experienced life in much of its richness and discovery.  This can lead the adult to becoming disillusioned with adventures and new things because they know what happens when those adventures are finished and those new things are discovered.

However, when you give the adult a chance to play something like EarthBound, it can, all of a sudden, awaken those childhood desires and the imagination they used to have.  This places them back into that state of childhood and allows them a chance to essentially “relive” a portion of their childhood in some small way.  They are playing as a child, not as themselves, and must, paradoxically, “rediscover things for the first time.”  They get to put on those glasses of innocence and renew that sense of discovery and taste for adventure that they once had, and relive that time of maturing and growing up.  In this way, they can develop a further appreciation for where they have came from and how they have gotten to this point in their lives, and perhaps even take some of those childlike ideas and senses that they have forgotten and apply them to their adulthood.

Honestly, how much more relevant can you get than the experience of life itself?

Concluding Thoughts

In essence, I believe that it is fitting to refer to EarthBound as a modern-day storybook that can be enjoyed by children and adults alike.  Through the utilization of the music, art, and engaging story, children can be drawn into the game because it is immediately accessible to where they are at in their development as human beings.  Likewise, adults who have already garnered life experience can find something worthwhile in EarthBound because it allows them to relive those times of innocence and discovery that they might not necessarily get in their adult lives, which can inspire them to embrace once again those ideals of their childhood and find how to apply them in their vocation and relationships with others.

I would like to again thank Thaius for allowing me to write these articles for his blog.  It has been a pleasure to do so, and I hope that it will inspire somebody to check out EarthBound for the first time, and to help long-time players of EarthBound to once again pick up that Super Nintendo controller and relive their days of traveling as Ness.

Until next time… keep dreamin’.

[All screenshots in this article came from Moby Games’ page for EarthBound. The logo, picture of Clay Ness, and sprite of Ness giving the victory sign came from starmen.net.]