<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>INTRO
These are probably two of my three favorite games on the console (along with Kirby Superstar, which has been my favorite 2D sidescroller since its release in 1996), both of these games came in the late part of the 16-bit era (in fact, Terranigma and Kirby Superstar were probably the last two major titles released if you don't count Harvest Moon which came out in 97, and Kirby's Dreamland 3 which came out in 98, though Kirby's Dreamland 3 seemed outdated compared to Kirby Superstar).
These two games have definetly stood the test of time, and I am very much looking forward to their releases on GBA, because I know that I'm very likely going to play through these games many more times in the future. So far I have only just ressurected the wind in Terranigma, after freeing the birds in Chapter 2. In Earthbound, I have gone through Onett, beaten the sharks, beaten the Cops, defeated Carpainter and the Cultists, as well as Mondo Mole for the second sanctuary (a lot of people save this guy for later since the dungeon is incredibly difficult at this point in the game, but I enjoy the challenge, plus it's a good way to level up at this point in the game, and there'll be no need to pause at any point in the game to level up), I'm about to give the cash to the Blues Brothers (They're identical Twins to the Blues Brothers, and the plot of their story is about the same as the movie, The Blues Brothers).
EARTHBOUND
For those who haven't played Earthbound, it's a turn based RPG, which is somewhat more challenging than Square RPG's or your average Nintendo game on SNES, about on the level of Enix titles for difficulty actually. Most of the game takes place within towns, the first four towns are cleverly called Onett, Twosone, Threed, and Fourside. The game is not your typical RPG, there are a lot of spoofs on things within RPG's. It takes place during modern times, and you generally travel the world beginning in a typical North American type setting, there's also a Beach resort, side villages, a place which resembles Egypt in the Middle East, and so on. Most towns have a typical hotel (some of the side-towns and unique locations have different sorts of places) you get your own room to sleep in and when you wake up in the morning you get the Morning paper which tells you about something that's happened in the town or city your in, and sometimes you even make the headlines. There are burger shops, shopping malls, Bike rental stores, Pizza delivery, Realestate agents, Mass Transportation, Bus Stations, Schools, Museums, Night Clubs, Cafe's, and so on, there is so much packed into this game that it's quite fun to play through it again and again. There are dozens upon dozens of food items, from stuff you buy at fast food joints, to expensive restaraunts, to hot-dog stands, bakery's, shopping mall food quarts, and so on, you can even get seasonings to put on food for different effects. There's also a lot of drug references in the game, Spacecakes, Magic Mushrooms (they make you "feel funny" and you can even sell these for 50 bucks a piece), Speed, etc... You get money put into your bank account for each monster you kill, and you can access this bank account with your ATM card, you can use phones and dial numerous locations (so long as you have the phone number).
The graphics are a sort of early cell-shaded looking type thing, the music is all Jazz and Blues. The length of the game is longer than most RPG's on the console (around 2.5 times the length of Final Fantasy III). It's a light spirited game, lots of people around everywhere, more towns than your typical RPG, and larger towns than your typical RPG, yet the towns in the game are not monster free, a lot of fighting takes place in towns, whether it be cops, hippies, Cultists, gangmembers, and even Zombies. The battle system is similar to Lunar, but more advanced: out of battle, enemies appear on the screen and will act accordingly, some are slow, some are fast, others move strangely; If you manage to get them from behind, you get a surprise attack and first hit on them, if they get you from behind, then they get first hit; If you are much more powerful than they are, the enemies will run away from you, if you walk up to one and initiate a battle, it will not go to the battle screen, the enemy will die automatically giving you the cash/experience/treasure you would normally get (speeds things up a lot).
TERRANIGMA
For those who haven't played Terranigma, it's an Action Adventure title along the lines of Zelda: overhead view, you fight through dungeons, you make use of various different items to help you along the quest (such as grappleing claws, Stone breaking spear, etc...). This game has one very unique aspect to it however, the story does not begin for quite some time, until Civilization is born. The goal is to ressurect the planet, and you begin by ressurecting the continents themselves, then traveling through the world ressurecting different life groups, such as plants, birds, mammals, etc... And eventually that will lead up to the birth of mankind and through to civilization, which shortly after is where the story begins. Without spoiling too much, some of what happens is the middle ages, the exploration and discovery of new continents (from Europe), the French Revolution (from Monarchy to a Representative government), and then the growth of cities through the ages, to much larger versions (yes cities actually grow quite a bit in size and become modernized). There are things you invent such as the Skateboard, the burger, the Airplane. Speaking of Airplanes, you can eventually build Airports and such, and travel by Airline. All while doing this, the story is progressing, and it is a great story.
The length of the game vary's (if you are Don, you will finish this game very quickly, if not it will take some time), it is about the same length of its predecessor, Illusion of Gaia (another game that I really like). The gameplay is also fairly similar, but built on a little more. Advancement in HP (unlike Illusion of Gaia which system is identical to the Heart System in Zelda, except using Circles instead, getting new ones after beating bosses, etc...) is similar to RPG's, defeating a certain amount of monsters, and then advancing in level. However, I have found that the advancement in statistics is not as drastic as most to RPG's I've played, and level ups come about as freaquently as they do in Mario RPG (not often after the first few hours, and likely you won't reach a very high level before finishing the game). The simulation of the evolution of the world is unlike any game yet made, and this is one aspect that makes the game EXTREMELY interesting, but even that aside, the game is still the best 2D overhead adventure title available (in my opinion, it's my favorite). However, this game was never released to the US market, so there's two ways to obtain it, get the English PAL cartridge (you can use an adaptor to play those here in North America) or download it for emulator (which is how I play all SNES games now, even if I own them, mainly because it's cheaper and easier than seeking out new SNES controllers, which for some reason cost 20-30 bucks at most retail stores buying them new, even though they are much less advanced than regular ones).</div>
These are probably two of my three favorite games on the console (along with Kirby Superstar, which has been my favorite 2D sidescroller since its release in 1996), both of these games came in the late part of the 16-bit era (in fact, Terranigma and Kirby Superstar were probably the last two major titles released if you don't count Harvest Moon which came out in 97, and Kirby's Dreamland 3 which came out in 98, though Kirby's Dreamland 3 seemed outdated compared to Kirby Superstar).
These two games have definetly stood the test of time, and I am very much looking forward to their releases on GBA, because I know that I'm very likely going to play through these games many more times in the future. So far I have only just ressurected the wind in Terranigma, after freeing the birds in Chapter 2. In Earthbound, I have gone through Onett, beaten the sharks, beaten the Cops, defeated Carpainter and the Cultists, as well as Mondo Mole for the second sanctuary (a lot of people save this guy for later since the dungeon is incredibly difficult at this point in the game, but I enjoy the challenge, plus it's a good way to level up at this point in the game, and there'll be no need to pause at any point in the game to level up), I'm about to give the cash to the Blues Brothers (They're identical Twins to the Blues Brothers, and the plot of their story is about the same as the movie, The Blues Brothers).
EARTHBOUND
For those who haven't played Earthbound, it's a turn based RPG, which is somewhat more challenging than Square RPG's or your average Nintendo game on SNES, about on the level of Enix titles for difficulty actually. Most of the game takes place within towns, the first four towns are cleverly called Onett, Twosone, Threed, and Fourside. The game is not your typical RPG, there are a lot of spoofs on things within RPG's. It takes place during modern times, and you generally travel the world beginning in a typical North American type setting, there's also a Beach resort, side villages, a place which resembles Egypt in the Middle East, and so on. Most towns have a typical hotel (some of the side-towns and unique locations have different sorts of places) you get your own room to sleep in and when you wake up in the morning you get the Morning paper which tells you about something that's happened in the town or city your in, and sometimes you even make the headlines. There are burger shops, shopping malls, Bike rental stores, Pizza delivery, Realestate agents, Mass Transportation, Bus Stations, Schools, Museums, Night Clubs, Cafe's, and so on, there is so much packed into this game that it's quite fun to play through it again and again. There are dozens upon dozens of food items, from stuff you buy at fast food joints, to expensive restaraunts, to hot-dog stands, bakery's, shopping mall food quarts, and so on, you can even get seasonings to put on food for different effects. There's also a lot of drug references in the game, Spacecakes, Magic Mushrooms (they make you "feel funny" and you can even sell these for 50 bucks a piece), Speed, etc... You get money put into your bank account for each monster you kill, and you can access this bank account with your ATM card, you can use phones and dial numerous locations (so long as you have the phone number).
The graphics are a sort of early cell-shaded looking type thing, the music is all Jazz and Blues. The length of the game is longer than most RPG's on the console (around 2.5 times the length of Final Fantasy III). It's a light spirited game, lots of people around everywhere, more towns than your typical RPG, and larger towns than your typical RPG, yet the towns in the game are not monster free, a lot of fighting takes place in towns, whether it be cops, hippies, Cultists, gangmembers, and even Zombies. The battle system is similar to Lunar, but more advanced: out of battle, enemies appear on the screen and will act accordingly, some are slow, some are fast, others move strangely; If you manage to get them from behind, you get a surprise attack and first hit on them, if they get you from behind, then they get first hit; If you are much more powerful than they are, the enemies will run away from you, if you walk up to one and initiate a battle, it will not go to the battle screen, the enemy will die automatically giving you the cash/experience/treasure you would normally get (speeds things up a lot).
TERRANIGMA
For those who haven't played Terranigma, it's an Action Adventure title along the lines of Zelda: overhead view, you fight through dungeons, you make use of various different items to help you along the quest (such as grappleing claws, Stone breaking spear, etc...). This game has one very unique aspect to it however, the story does not begin for quite some time, until Civilization is born. The goal is to ressurect the planet, and you begin by ressurecting the continents themselves, then traveling through the world ressurecting different life groups, such as plants, birds, mammals, etc... And eventually that will lead up to the birth of mankind and through to civilization, which shortly after is where the story begins. Without spoiling too much, some of what happens is the middle ages, the exploration and discovery of new continents (from Europe), the French Revolution (from Monarchy to a Representative government), and then the growth of cities through the ages, to much larger versions (yes cities actually grow quite a bit in size and become modernized). There are things you invent such as the Skateboard, the burger, the Airplane. Speaking of Airplanes, you can eventually build Airports and such, and travel by Airline. All while doing this, the story is progressing, and it is a great story.
The length of the game vary's (if you are Don, you will finish this game very quickly, if not it will take some time), it is about the same length of its predecessor, Illusion of Gaia (another game that I really like). The gameplay is also fairly similar, but built on a little more. Advancement in HP (unlike Illusion of Gaia which system is identical to the Heart System in Zelda, except using Circles instead, getting new ones after beating bosses, etc...) is similar to RPG's, defeating a certain amount of monsters, and then advancing in level. However, I have found that the advancement in statistics is not as drastic as most to RPG's I've played, and level ups come about as freaquently as they do in Mario RPG (not often after the first few hours, and likely you won't reach a very high level before finishing the game). The simulation of the evolution of the world is unlike any game yet made, and this is one aspect that makes the game EXTREMELY interesting, but even that aside, the game is still the best 2D overhead adventure title available (in my opinion, it's my favorite). However, this game was never released to the US market, so there's two ways to obtain it, get the English PAL cartridge (you can use an adaptor to play those here in North America) or download it for emulator (which is how I play all SNES games now, even if I own them, mainly because it's cheaper and easier than seeking out new SNES controllers, which for some reason cost 20-30 bucks at most retail stores buying them new, even though they are much less advanced than regular ones).</div>
-Insert Inspiring Quote-
