History YMMV / EarthBound1994

* BaseBreakingCharacter: The Photo Man. Some like him for being a charming little diversion from the story who adds to the game's signature quirky atmosphere. Others dislike him for being a repetitive interruption to the gameplay who shows up too frequently; some detractors even concede that he would be more tolerable if his appearances were entirely optional.

** The Bubble-Gum Monkey may be one of the worst cases of this. In battle, he's much like King in that half the time, he'll attack, the other half he'll scratch at his head and do nothing. The damage he causes [[ScratchDamage is pitiful, being at best 10HP of damage]], and he's not as good a support as King despite being extra damage when Jeff is weakest. However, his worst offense is that he functions as a member of Jeff's party, and frequently pauses and flails about before running to catch up with Jeff, leaving himself wide-open for back attacks, forcing Jeff to have to endure a turn of being attacked since the monkey is never a factor in enemy attacks. Spiteful Crows and Runaway Dogs aren't TOO bad with this as they deal low damage, but the Gruff Goats can easily destroy Jeff if he's not careful. And unlike King, the monkey is mandatory to take along, as he's needed to progress through an impasse in the Rainy Circle Cave.

** The method to his defeat. Subverting common {{RPG}} FinalBoss methods of the 90s, Giygas cannot be defeated simply by throwing your strongest attacks at him (though you are required to deal a certain amount of damage in one phase). You must use the overlooked [[spoiler:Pray]] command, calling on the people of the world to assist you in the final battle. And even that isn't enough. After one more attempt where it doesn't look like it will be effective anymore, [[spoiler:praying]] calls on someone else... [[spoiler:The player]]. Damage against Giygas will pile up until suddenly you're dealing ''five digits worth of damage''[[note]]For context, breaking ''four'' digits is an obscene amount of damage, even in late-game, that only a few powerful attacks can achieve[[/note]] and finish him off.

* AudienceAlienatingPremise: At the time of release, the game suffered from this: A JRPG set in [[UrbanFantasy the modern world]], with weird enemies like sentient piles of vomit, animated parking meters and cups of coffee, and (of course) {{New Age Retro Hippie}}s, plus with other twists on the JRPG genre like trash cans and random presents replacing treasure chests. The game was already a hard sell to RPG fans who were already used to medieval fantasy series like ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' and ''VideoGame/DragonQuest''. But it was the marketing (especially in America) that did the most harm: The advertisements exaggerated the adult humor and gross-out comedy (with an infamous ''Magazine/NintendoPower'' issue giving gross-out scratch-and-sniff cards for would-be gamers!) that it had little of, and explained even less of what the game was about other than the tagline, "This Game Stinks!". It also didn't help that it was released near the end of the Super Nintendo's lifecycle, while everyone was waiting for the next-generation consoles and especially their games. While successful in Japan, the game was a titanic flop Stateside, with many copies sold for ten dollars or less and often destroyed to make way for the next generation of games. Thankfully, years later, the game was VindicatedByHistory and today is one of the most recognized [=RPGs=] of the Super Nintendo era, and the premise of an UrbanFantasy RPG has since grown in popularity with games like the modern ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' titles or the ''Franchise/{{Persona}}'' games.

* AccidentalInnuendo: Threed is known as "Threek" in Japanese, likely intended to be a combination of "three" and "eek". The name was changed likely because Nintendo of America feared some players would read it as "three K", or "KKK".

* AudienceAlienatingPremise: At the time of release, the game suffered from this: A JRPG set in [[UrbanFantasy the modern world]], with weird enemies like sentient piles of vomit, animated parking meters and cups of coffee, and (of course) [[NewAgeRetroHippie New Age Retro Hippies]], and with other twists on the JRPG genre like trash cans and random presents replacing treasure chests. The game was already a hard sell to RPG fans who were already used to medieval fantasy series like ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' and ''VideoGame/DragonQuest''. But it was the marketing (especially in America) that did the most harm: The advertisements exaggerated the adult humor and gross-out comedy (with an infamous ''Magazine/NintendoPower'' issue giving gross-out scratch-and-sniff cards for would-be gamers!) that it had little of, and explained even less of what the game was about other than the tagline, "This Game Stinks!". It also didn't help that it was released near the end of the Super Nintendo's lifecycle, while everyone was waiting for the next-generation consoles and especially their games. While successful in Japan, the game was a titanic flop Stateside, with many copies sold for ten dollars or less and often destroyed to make way for the next generation of games. Thankfully, years later, the game was VindicatedByHistory and today is one of the most recognized [=RPGs=] of the Super Nintendo era, and the premise of an UrbanFantasy RPG has since grown in popularity with games like the modern ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' titles or the ''Franchise/{{Persona}}'' games.

* MisaimedMarketing: "[[TagLine This game stinks!]]". Basically, most of the American marketing tried to portray the game as a GrossoutShow, even using smelly scratch-and-sniff cards. While ''[=EarthBound=]'' is certainly [[QuirkyWork strange]], [[NeverTrustATrailer it's really not that gross at all.]] Some fans even think that the inaccurate marketing contributed to the game's disappointing sales when it was first released in America. [[note]]Other reasons are thought to be the less realistic graphics and the fact that ''[=EarthBound=]'' was released late in 1995, at a time when consumer and industry focus was shifting to newer technology.[[/note]] Nowadays, the old TagLine is used as a joke among players and fans. Even Nintendo mentioned the old scratch-and-sniff cards on a [[http://youtu.be/nLWBcd43RTo?t=21m29s Nintendo Direct broadcast.]]

* AudienceAlienatingPremise: At the time of release, the game suffered from this: A JRPG set in [[UrbanFantasy the modern world]], with weird enemies like sentient piles of vomit, animated parking meters and cups of coffee, and (of course) [[NewAgeRetroHippie New Age Retro Hippies]], and with other twists on the JRPG genre like trash cans and random presents replacing treasure chests. The game was already a hard sell to RPG fans who were already used to medieval fantasy series like ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' and ''VideoGame/DragonQuest''. But it was the marketing (especially in America) that did the most harm: The advertisements exaggerated the adult humor and gross-out comedy (with an infamous ''Magazine/NintendoPower'' issue giving gross-out scratch-and-sniff cards for would-be gamers!) that it had little of, and explained even less of what the game was about other than the tagline, "This Game Stinks!". It also didn't help that it was released near the end of the Super Nintendo's lifecycle, while everyone was waiting for the next-generation consoles and especially their games. While successful in Japan, the game was a titanic flop Stateside, with many copies sold for ten dollars or less and often destroyed to make way for the next generation of games. Thankfully, years later, the game was VindicatedByHistory and today is one of the most recognized [=RPGs=] of the Super Nintendo era, and the premise of an UrbanFantasy RPG has continued to grow in popularity otherwise.

** Mondo Mole won't attack at all if he is paralyzed, turning what would otherwise be a ThatOneBoss into this.

** [[FanNickname Paula's surname is commonly believed by the fandom to be "Polestar"]] due to Polestar being the name of the preschool her parents run. This was so ubiquitous that Paula's article on the [=EarthBound=] Wiki was "Paula Polestar" at one time despite there being no official material stating that her surname is Polestar. The Japanese spellings for both Paula and the Polestar Preschool suggest that Polestar is meta-ly meant to be a pun on Paula's name, as Paula is spelled ''ポーラ'' (Pōra) and Polestar is spelled ''ポーラ''スター (Pōrasuta). There is official material however, though obscure and only in Japanese, that Paula does in fact have a surname, and it's Jones. At one time that was a little-known fact, and while it's still not common knowledge among fans, she is still widely referred to as Paula Polestar because because Polestar is a distinct name, unlike Jones, which makes it easier to find the ''[=EarthBound=]'' Paula in search engines and hashtags.

** [[FanNickname Paula's surname is commonly thought by the fandom to be "Polestar"]] due to Polestar being the name of her and her parents' preschool. The Japanese spellings for both Paula and the Polestar Preschool indicate that Polestar is actually meant to be a pun on Paula's name, as Paula is spelled ''ポーラ'' (Pōra) and Polestar is spelled ''ポーラ''スター (Pōrasutaa). There isn't any official material that calls Paula "Paula Polestar." There is official material however, though obscure and Japan only, that indicates that Paula's last name is Jones. Much of the fandom regardless refers to her as Paula Polestar because her last name being Jones is not that well-known, which has caused turmoil in the past on the [=EarthBound=] Wiki; Paula's article was at one time called "Paula Polestar", but then after arguments over the validity it got renamed to simply Paula, with Paula Jones as a redirect and being called Paula Jones on the infobox. Some fans who ''do'' know about her last name being Jones still refer to her as Paula Polestar because Polestar is a distinct name, unlike Jones, which makes it easier to find the ''[=EarthBound=]'' Paula in search engines.

* MisaimedMarketing: "[[TagLine This game stinks!]]". Basically, most of the American marketing tried to portray the game as a GrossoutShow, even using smelly scratch-and-sniff cards. While ''[=EarthBound=]'' is certainly [[WidgetSeries strange]], [[NeverTrustATrailer it's really not that gross at all.]] Some fans even think that the inaccurate marketing contributed to the game's disappointing sales when it was first released in America. [[note]]Other reasons are thought to be the less realistic graphics and the fact that ''[=EarthBound=]'' was released late in 1995, at a time when consumer and industry focus was shifting to newer technology.[[/note]] Nowadays, the old TagLine is used as a joke among players and fans. Even Nintendo mentioned the old scratch-and-sniff cards on a [[http://youtu.be/nLWBcd43RTo?t=21m29s Nintendo Direct broadcast.]]

* CharacterPerceptionEvolution: For years, Tony was mainly remembered as a decent, but mostly unremarkable one-off character whose purpose was mainly just to act as a vehicle for getting Jeff to join the main party. However, after fans uncovered a 2003 interview where director Creator/ShigesatoItoi stated that [[WordOfGay he wrote Tony as gay]], the kid rapidly gained a major following among the game's LGBTFanbase, thanks to his status as not only one of Nintendo's few explicitly queer characters, but also a positively-portrayed queer character from an era when that was hard to come by (among other things, his affinity for Jeff -- re-contextualized as a crush by Itoi's comments -- is never mocked or demeaned). Nowadays, he's one of the game's premier {{Ensemble Darkhorse}}s, with fans commonly expanding his role in fanworks and shipping him with Jeff.

** The santuary gaurdian theme: [[labelnote:Explanation]]Used in video shitposting, usually as the puchline pops up where something unexpected happens. This started out with some niche Earthbound ironic demotivational posters with nonsensical captions in 2020. It became surprsingly popular, to the point many recognize the song but probably have no idea its from Earthbound.[[/labelnote]]

* ItWasHisSled: Owing primarily to MemeticMutation among other factors, Giygas's appearance and the [[YouCannotGraspTheTrueForm inability to grasp the true form thereof]] -- something hardly even hinted at until one actually reaches the final battle -- are probably far more well-known than any other aspect of the game aside from Ness.

** The photo-man will interrupt the game, sometimes next to enemies, to force you though about 60 seconds of "dialogue" that never changes after the second time he appears.

** [[FanNickname Paula's surname is commonly thought by the fandom to be "Polestar"]] due to Polestar being the name of her and her parents' preschool. The Japanese spellings for both Paula and the Polestar Preschool indicate that Polestar is actually meant to be a pun on Paula's name, as Paula is spelled ''ポーラ'' (Pōra) and Polestar is spelled ''ポーラ''スター (Pōrasutaa). There isn't any official material that calls Paula "Paula Polestar." There is official material however, though obscure and Japan only, that indicates that Paula's last name is Jones. Much of the fandom regardless refers to her as Paula Polestar because her last name being Jones is not that well-known, which has caused turmoil in the past on the [[TheWikiRule EarthBound Wiki]]; Paula's article was at one time called "Paula Polestar", but then after arguments over the validity it got renamed to simply Paula, with Paula Jones as a redirect and being called Paula Jones on the infobox. Some fans who ''do'' know about her last name being Jones still refer to her as Paula Polestar because Polestar is a distinct name, unlike Jones, which makes it easier to find the ''[=EarthBound=]'' Paula in search engines.

* AudienceAlienatingPremise: At the time of release, the game suffered from this: A JRPG set in [[UrbanFantasy the modern world]], with weird enemies like sentient piles of vomit, animated parking meters and cups of coffee, and (of course) New Age Retro Hippies, and with other twists on the JRPG genre like trash cans and random presents replacing treasure chests. The game was already a hard sell to RPG fans who were already used to medieval fantasy series like ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' and ''VideoGame/DragonQuest''. But it was the marketing (especially in America) that did the most harm: The advertisements exaggerated the adult humor and gross-out comedy (with an infamous ''Magazine/NintendoPower'' issue giving gross-out scratch-and-sniff cards for would-be gamers!) that it had little of, and explained even less of what the game was about other than the tagline, "This Game Stinks!". It also didn't help that it was released near the end of the Super Nintendo's lifecycle, while everyone was waiting for the next-generation consoles and especially their games. While successful in Japan, the game was a titanic flop Stateside, with many copies sold for ten dollars or less and often destroyed to make way for the next generation of games. Thankfully, years later, the game was VindicatedByHistory and today is one of the most recognized [=RPGs=] of the Super Nintendo era, and the premise of an UrbanFantasy RPG has continued to grow in popularity otherwise.

* AudienceAlienatingPremise: A JRPG set in the modern world, with weird enemies like sentient piles of vomit, animated parking meters and cups of coffee, and (of course) New Age Retro Hippies, and with other twists on the JRPG genre like trash cans and random presents replacing treasure chests, the game was already a hard sell to RPG fans who were already used to medieval fantasy series like ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' and ''VideoGame/DragonQuest''. But it was the marketing (especially in America) that did the most harm: The advertisements exaggerated the adult humor and gross-out comedy (with an infamous ''Magazine/NintendoPower'' issue giving gross-out scratch-and-sniff cards for would-be gamers!) that it had little of, and explained even less of what the game was about other than the tagline, "This Game Stinks!". It also didn't help that it was released near the end of the Super Nintendo's lifecycle, while everyone was waiting for the next-generation consoles and especially their games. While successful in Japan, the game was a titanic flop Stateside, with many copies sold for ten dollars or less and often destroyed to make way for the next generation of games. Thankfully, years later, the game was VindicatedByHistory and today is one of the most recognized [=RPGs=] of the Super Nintendo era.

** The return to Onett is a fitting difficulty spike to justify Ness's massive buffs in Magicant. Mechanical Octobots abound, which are able to constantly [[BanditMook pilfer items from you.]] Items you were probably going to USE. (If it was a cheap item, less inventory tango for you.) Evil Eyes are in the mix as well, which, while they don't hit particularly hard, WILL spam Brainshock, which can cause your party to start attacking each other with PSI powers at random intervals. Worst of all are the Ghosts of Starmen, which, as stated in the DemonicSpiders entry, will not be good for everyone's health.

** The return to Onett is a fitting difficulty spike to justify Ness's massive buffs in Magicant. Mechanical Octobots abound, which are able to constantly [[BanditMook pilfer items from you.]] Items you were probably going to USE. (If it was a cheap item, less inventory tango for you.) Evil Eyes are in the mix as well, which, while they don't hit particularly hard, WILL spam Brainshock, which is basically the equivalent of a Golbat using Confuse Ray on your whole party. Worst of all are the Ghosts of Starmen, which, as stated in the DemonicSpiders entry, will not be good for everyone's health.

** The T-Rex's Bat Challenge centers around grinding enough money to buy the eponymous items when playing as solo Jeff in Winters. The drugstore there sells powerful equipment for the rest of the party at high prices, with the bat alone costing $698. [[TeaserEquipment They're meant to be bought when revisiting the area with the full party]], but it's possible to grind up enough money to buy them early. However, since Jeff can't access the ATM at this point, the only way to get money is to sell the items occasionally dropped by enemies in the area for anywhere from six bucks to ''one''. Similar challenges exist for grinding up enough money to buy the $1490 Non-Stick Frypan, the $2500 Coin of Silence, and all three at once.

** The T-Rex's Bat Challenge centers around grinding enough money to buy the eponymous items when playing as solo Jeff in Winters. The drugstore there sells powerful equipment for the rest of the party at high prices, with the bat alone costing $698. They're meant to be bought when revisiting the area with the full party, but it's possible to grind up enough money to buy them early. However, since Jeff can't access the ATM at this point, the only way to get money is to sell the items occasionally dropped by enemies in the area for anywhere from six bucks to ''one''. Similar challenges exist for grinding up enough money to buy the $1490 Non-Stick Frypan, the $2500 Coin of Silence, and all three at once.

* MemeticMolester: A ''molestee'' in this case, Giygas.

** When playing as Jeff in Winters, there's a shop you can access that sells powerful equipment for the rest of the party. It's meant to be bought once Jeff joins up with the other party members and you can return there with Teleport, but some players have grinded out enough money to buy the items as Jeff without leaving Winters. What makes this a real challenge is the fact that Jeff doesn't have access to the ATM in the shop, so you can't get money simply from defeating enemies like you normally would--you instead have to acquire money by selling the dropped items from enemies in the area. Good luck grinding out enough to buy the T-Rex Bat for $698, or even a Coin of Silence for $2500 using this method.

** The moment when you've completed the Sanctuaries, and hear the complete melody of the Sound Stone while a flashback to Ness as an infant plays in the background is spellbinding. All before you enter Ness's [[BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind Magicant.]]
** [[WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs Trippy as it is]], both scenes where you're prompted to stop, relax, and have a cup of coffee while you reflect on both victories and hardship is rather sweet. Whether it's from [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments feels]] or [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment confusion]], it remains a pretty memorable scene. Being set to a gentle but uplifting song helps.
** Battles against the New Age Retro Hippies, minor mooks that could practically be [[EnsembleDarkhorse the mascot of the game]], both for their [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic music]] and for [[WidgetSeries summing up a greater part of the game in a nutshell]].
** The trek across the desert in Scaraba with Brick Road in your party, now known as Dungeon Man. Not only is it unconventional to have an entire ''dungeon'' as a party member, but Dungeon Man [[StoryBreakerPower hits like a truck]], and his design is one of the most iconic in the entire game; not to mention the [[Music/SgtPeppersLonelyHeartsClubBand Beatles]]-inspired [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic music]] accompanying him.

** Mainly because [[SurprisinglyCreepyMoment it stands out so much from the rest of the game]], the final battle with Giygas is easily the most well-known part by those that have not played ''VideoGame/EarthboundBeginnings''. For those who have played through it, the method used to defeat Giygas doubles down on this scene.