TITLE
“What The F**k Kind Of Game Is Earthbound?”
AUTHOR
Ken Baumann
PUBLICATION
Kotaku
YEAR
2013
ARTICLE TYPE
Book Excerpt
FROM THE ARTICLE
It’s hard for me to reconcile EarthBound with any video games I’ve played since. Most games traffic in repetitive gristly thrills, but EarthBound focuses on emotion, on yearning. The team behind Call of Duty promotes the realism of its weaponry, which implies their pride in its resultant gore, but EarthBound’s marketing campaign primarily hinged on scratch and sniff stickers designed to evoke the smell of hotdogs and vomit. Hundred million dollar games like Grand Theft Auto IV are made by reclusive Lamborghini-driving auteurs and massive teams of developers, programmed to simulate American hustle, but I don’t think there’s a game that embraces—and satirizes—America’s sentimental mongrel spirit better than EarthBound, which was produced by less than twenty people, helmed by a copywriter-turned-philosopher.
GAMES MENTIONED
EarthBound
EXCERPTED FROM
Boss Fight Books – EarthBound