EarthBound (1994)

Developer: HAL Laboratory, Ape
Publisher: Nintendo
Platforms: Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Wii U, New Nintendo 3DS, Game Boy Advance, Super Famicom
Genres: Role-playing (RPG), Turn-based strategy (TBS), Adventure
Rating: 4.5 of 5, 563 player ratings
Main story: about 25 hours
Where to get it: Nintendo eShop

The 3D catalog: game boxes on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalog in 3D

The same catalog has a room you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real games from it when you tell them what you feel like playing. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this game is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

A quirky, emotionally resonant journey that mixes lighthearted humor with an underlying sense of growing up and facing the unknown.

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About

A turn-based JRPG and sequel to the then-Japan-only Earthbound Beginnings (1989) in which Ness, a young boy living in a land based on the USA, leaves home to go on an adventure through strange locations, get to know quirky characters, and defeat an unknowable alien threat called Giygas while facing up to the realities of growing up and becoming familiar with the real world.

Screenshots

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This page is from Underplayed Gems, a catalog of older and overlooked games. Not quite it? You can browse by platform and genre, or take this one into the 3D catalog and ask the Catbot for something closer.