EarthBound: The War Against Giygas

EarthBound Beginnings

Earthbound. What do you think when you hear the word Earthbound? To some, it’s just a word, maybe you
know the definition. To others, it’s the title to one of the greatest JRPG they know.

Earthbound, a 1994 JRPG, was released on the Super Famicom/Super Nintendo. Developed by Hal
Laboratories & Ape Incorporated, it was the second video game in a series of 3, written by Shigesato Itoi.

Earthbound follows the story of Ness, a 13-year-old boy who has to save the world from the alien Giygas.
Ness is awoken one night from a loud crash outside his window. As he investigates, he discovers a meteorite
has crashed not far from his home. Upon further inspection, he is approached by a creature from the future,
Buzz Buzz. Buzz Buzz tells Ness that him and 3 other chosen ones must go to 8 sanctuaries stop Giygas from
destroying the planet in the future. Thus, starting the story of Earthbound.

After Ness meets Buzz Buzz, he’s sent to Twoson, where one of the chosen 4 lives. Before Ness can go there,
he must help the local mayor of Onett with a problem. The mayor been getting reports of the local gang, the
Sharks, terrorizing the town. Ness goes the arcade and deals with the Sharks’ leader, Frank. When Ness
completes this goal, he heads off to the local caves of Onett to find Giant Step, the first of the sanctuaries.

With 1 sanctuary down, Ness heads to Twoson. Upon arriving there, he discovers Paula, the person he came
looking for, has been kidnapped by the leader of the Happy-Happyism cult. Using a special badge he acquired,
he was able to successfully deflect the Leader’s special lightning attack and defeat him. Now, with the
company of Paula, Ness travels to the local caves Happy Happy Village to find Lilliput Steps, the second of the
sanctuaries.

With 2 sanctuaries down, Ness and friend take a tour bus to the next town, Threed.

Upon entering Threed everything goes wrong. Both tunnels that lead out of town are blocked off by ghosts.
Zombies are attempting to overrun the town. (And their leader is a giant pile of barf named Master Belch).

As Ness and company are exploring the town they are jumped in an abandoned hotel. When they wake up,
they find themselves trapped underground in the town’s graveyard. Desperate, Paula uses her psychic
powers to call to Jeff, another one of the chosen 4. Jeff is currently living in an entirely different country,
called Foggyland, where he is attending boarding school. He ditches his school, travels through the chilly
wilderness, and pilots a spherical craft, called the Skyrunner, just to help people he doesn’t even know. Jeff
crashes the Skyrunner into the graveyard, opening the cavern Ness & Paula were trapped in. Now that 3 of
the chosen 4 are back on the road, they leave the cavern and travel deeper into the graveyard. After
searching they find a secret tunnel that leads to Saturn Valley, Home of the Mr. Saturns. The Mr. Saturns tell
Ness, in their ‘special’ dialect, that Master Belch’s lair is just outside the village in a waterfall. They also ask
him to save their enslaved friends, also Mr. Saturns

Ness enters the waterfall and confronts Master Belch. During the intense fight, Ness drops a jar of fly honey,
honey that is produced by flies. Upon seeing the fly honey, Master belch can’t help but forget everything and
eat the honey. Distracted by the honey, Ness, Paula, and Jeff seize the moment and beat the *barf* out of
Master Belch.

With Master Belch defeated, Threed & the Mr. Saturns are saved. Now’s a perfect chance for Ness to travel
through the local caves of Saturn Valley and find Milky Well, the third of the sanctuaries.

With the tunnels no longer blocked by ghosts, thanks the death of Belch, the group heads off to the next city,
Fourside.

When they get to Fourside, what do they do? They head off to the shopping mall, of course! While in the
mall, the lights randomly go out. When the group calms down, they realize that Paula has disappeared. Not
only that, but the intercom speaks saying, “Your attention please. Would the customer from Onett, Mr. Ness,
please proceed to the office on the fourth floor. That was customer Ness, 4th floor office… Gwaaaaaaaaagh!”

While dodging living guitars, music records, and cups of coffee, Ness and Jeff make it to the office. When they
get there, they are confronted by the Department Store Spook. After the spook is defeated, he confesses
that, at this point, Paula has been transferred to Mr. Monitolli, the evil mayor of Fourside. Ness & Jeff start
trying to find Monitolli, eventually ending up in a little café. Searching the café, Ness finds a secret backdoor
and get transported to Moonside. In Moonside, a trippy, neon filled city, they wander until fight the evil Mani
Mani statue. After fighting the statue, they black out and awake in the actual backroom of the café. Dazed
and confused, Ness asks a nearby mouse what happened. The mouse replies explaining that the dynamic duo
were walking aimlessly in the room, until they destroyed the shiny statue in the corner.

Leaving the café, the duo enter Mr. Monitolli’s private building. Making their way past security, which
includes a ton of clumsy robots, Ness & Jeff enter Monitolli’s private office. Inside, they find Mr. Monitolli and
Paula. Monitolli apologizes for kidnapping Paula, and tells the gang their next destination is Summers. Paula
rejoins and they all head to Summers.

While in Summers, Paula once again uses her powers to contact, this time, the last member of the chosen 4,
Poo. Poo is the prince of Dalaam, an Asian village to the far east. Poo, literally, teleports to summers to join
the group.

Now that the fantastic four have united, they make a brief detour back to Fourside. There they go to find
Magnet Hill, the sanctuary there. But since there are no local caves in the big city, they travel through the
sewers!

Finally, With the fourth sanctuary done, they return to Summers. When they get there, they get on a boat
and head to Scaraba, a small city located in a vast desert. Traveling through said desert, and a pyramid, and
giant tower shaped like a man, which happens to have its own petting zoo, the 4 end up in Deep Darkness.

Before the group enters the dark, scary swamp, the chosen 4 review their sanctuary checklist and realize they
missed one in Dalaam, the one called Pink Cloud. Quickly they teleport there and fix up those loose ends.
Now they’re ready to travel through the dark, scary swamp, but, they forgot another sanctuary. Once again,
they teleport, this time to Jeff’s home country of Foggyland. There, they go the sanctuary known as Rainy
Circle. Ok, Now they can go through Deep Darkness!

In Deep Darkness the 4 musketeers trudge their way through the swamp, while fighting giant flowers, eels,
and familiar piles of barf. Once they’re through the swamp, they are confronted by Master Belch again! This
time he’s known as Master Barf! But, just like last time, Ness and party beat the *barf* out of Master Barf.
After that happens, they enter a cave. In the cave lives a tribe of extremely shy creatures known as the Tenda.
Once Ness helps them with their shyness, they lead him to the second-to-last sanctuary, Lumine Hall.

Then, Ness leaves the cave, heading to Lost Underworld…

Lost Underworld is the last remaining place of the dinosaurs. Here, besides beating the crap out of dinosaurs,
the gang finds the last sanctuary, Fire Spring.

The moment Ness claims the last sanctuary, he collapses. He wakes in inside a dream-like world known as
Magicant. In Magicant he is approached by all sorts of people he knows. All of them claiming that Ness could
stay here in his own dream world forever. Farther and farther he gets into his mind, the weirder it gets. Ness
travels through the Sea of Eden and confronts the dark side of himself, known as Ness’ Nightmare. Facing one
the most challenging fights in his life, Ness wins, realizing all of his potential power in the process.

Eventually, Ness awakes, friends by his side. He informs them what happened, and, with the eight sanctuaries
completed, the group finally is ready to face Giygas. The chosen 4 head back to Saturn Valley. When they get
there they discover the Mr. Saturns and Jeff’s father, Dr. Andonuts, have been building the Phase Distorter, a
time-traveling machine. Ness, Paula, Jeff, & Poo enter the machine and get ready to face Giygas.

Activating the machine, the 4 end up in the distant past, in a desolate location where Giygas is attacking.
Fighting past the final wave of enemies before Giygas, which include Bionic Krakens for some reason, the
chosen ones enter the cave of Giygas. Running through its twisting, tube-like tunnels, the 4 finally approach
Giygas.

Before Ness, Paula, Jeff, and Poo can begin the final fight, they are blocked by none-other-than Ness’ next door neighbor,
Pokey. Pokey reveals that he rose to power and became Giygas’ right hand man. He attacks using mech-like suit called the
Devil’s Machine. After a rather short fight, Pokey is defeated. Angered by this, Giygas morphs into his true form!
No matter what attack Ness, or Paula, or Jeff, or Poo uses, nothing hurts Giygas.

Nothing…

…

Desperate and beaten, Paula prays from the bottom of her heart.
“…Please give us strength, if it is possible… Please… Somebody... Help us…”
“…Please give us strength! Anyone who can hear our plea… Help us…”
“…Speed this prayer to all the people of the earth...”
“…Please grant us power!”
“…Anyone who can hear our plea… We ask for this…”
“I can’t think of anyone else… …Someone, anyone… …please help us.
“Someone… can you hear me?! Please, give us strength!

Giygas’s defense becomes unstable.
45 HP of damage to Giygas.
100 HP of damage to Giygas.
163 HP of damage to Giygas.
445 HP of damage to Giygas.
929 HP of damage to Giygas.
1357 HP of damage to Giygas.
3362 HP of damage to Giygas.
6275 HP of damage to Giygas.
13700 HP of damage to Giygas.
22650 HP of damage to Giygas.

Giygas fades. He disappears from existence.
The war is over.

Ness is awoken one night from a loud crash outside his window.
Thus, starting the story of Earthbound.

The End