%% Note: the game's name is "EarthBound", because WeWillUseWikiWordsInTheFuture. NOT "Earth Bound" or "Earthbound". Please keep this in mind when editing.
[[caption-width-right:332:Woah, [[WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs even the cover is trippy.]]]]

-> ''"Listen Ness. I'm going to tell you something very important. You may want to take notes. Ready? ......You're the chosen one."''
->--'''Talking Rock'''

''[=EarthBound=]'' is a {{SNES}} RPG that follows the story of Ness, a seemingly normal boy who lives in {{Eagleland}}. Late one night, a meteorite landing outside town awakens Ness. The meteorite brings with it a bee ([[IAmNotWeasel or not]]) from the future, who tells Ness of [[ApocalypseHow its devastation]] at the hands of an indestructible being called [[EldritchAbomination Giygas]] -- a being Ness is destined to defeat. Ness' journey to stop Giygas will take him through time and space to meet the remainder of the [[TheChosenMany Chosen Four]] (Paula, Jeff, and Poo) and collect the Eight Melodies for his SoundStone to unite the power of the Earth as his own.

''[=EarthBound=]'' is the second of a series of Japanese role playing games known as ''VideoGame/{{MOTHER}}'', an experiment in storytelling in a different medium by Japanese essayist Creator/ShigesatoItoi. ''MOTHER 2: [[RevengeOfTheSequel Gyiyg Strikes Back]]'' (''[=EarthBound=]'s'' Japanese title) serves as a loose sequel to ''VideoGame/{{MOTHER|1}}'', since the two games share the same essential setting ([[{{Eagleland}} an affectionate homage]] to 1950s America). Of the three games in the ''MOTHER'' series, only ''[=EarthBound=]'' has received an official release in North America (as Nintendo has [[NoExportForYou no plans for a North American release]] for ''VideoGame/{{MOTHER 3}}'').

[[WhatCouldHaveBeen Nintendo initially planned to release]] ''MOTHER 1'' in North America as ''Earth Bound'', but Nintendo of America scrapped release plans after finishing work on its translation (the SuperNintendo had already launched, making it Nintendo's major focus). A prototype of the translation surfaced years later in the hands of a collector. The ROM of this translation eventually became known as ''[[VideoGame/{{Mother1}} [=EarthBound=] Zero]]''.

On the 17th of April 2013, Nintendo confirmed that it would release ''[=EarthBound=]'' for the WiiU Virtual Console in North America. It also announced a similar release for the game in Europe, marking the first release of ''[=EarthBound=]'' in that region. While fans waited for the Virtual Console release, they had to content themselves with a [=ROM=] of the game '''or''' track down an original cartridge -- which, due to intense demand and limited supply, usually didn't (and still don't) go for less than $200 outside of garage sales and such. (That price usually means '''the cartridge itself''', too.) On the 18th of July 2013, Nintendo finally re-released the game via Virtual Console (in both Europe and the US) at the far-lower-than-[=eBay=]-auctions price point of $9.99; to round out the package, it also [[http://earthbound.nintendo.com/playersguide/ digitized the original Player's Guide]] that it bundled with the SNES release and offered it up for free (so that gamers could read the guide on the Wii U Gamepad).

As a side note: Ness and Lucas (the protagonist of ''VideoGame/{{MOTHER 3}}'') [[MarthDebutedInSmashBros are probably best known to Western audiences via their appearances]] in the ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' games.[[note]]Until this game's release on the Virtual Console, Ness was only known this way to European audiences.[[/note]]

!! Because of the number of tropes associated with ''[=EarthBound=]'', we've split them up into separate pages:

* EarthBound/TropesAToG
* EarthBound/TropesHToM
* EarthBound/TropesNToS
* EarthBound/TropesTToZ