Characters / EarthBound (1994)

aka: Earthbound The Chosen Four

The Heroes

As a Group

• Badass Adorable: Each in their own special way.
  • Ness, despite being a lovable All-Eagleland Boy, has very high offensive stats.
  • Paula, a cute girl dressed all in pink who can burn, freeze, or electrocute you with her mind.
  • Jeff, the only character in the main party with no psychic powers, but has a variety of self-made weapons and is frequently the team's pilot.
  • Poo, a foreign prince in martial artist clothing with an everlasting serious expression.
• Balance, Power, Skill, Gimmick: Poo has access to both offensive and defensive PSI (balance), Paula uses offensive PSI (power), Ness's PSI is mostly centered around defense and support (skill) and Jeff has no psychic powers but has access to technology that none of the other party members can use (gimmick). Poo has a "gimmick" too, but it's mostly a weakness: He can't use most equipment and doesn't heal as much from non-Dalaam food.
• Brain Uploading: The surgery that Dr. Andonuts performs on the Chosen Four implies this, but is not all clear.
• The Dreaded: Should Ness and his friends be at a high enough level or have defeated the boss of the area, enemies will actively flee from them, making them easy to get EXP from. Dialogue late in the game suggests that even Giygas is growing afraid of the party.
• Emergency Transformation: When trying to travel back in time, the Chosen Four have to be transported to robotic bodies.
• The Fellowship Has Ended: All four of them go their separate ways after the war against Giygas ends.
• Free-Range Children: They travel to different continents without a single adult.
• Kid Hero: They're children, but it doesn't stop them from staving off a Bad Future.
• Our Hero Is Dead: After Giygas's defeat, it seems as though the Chosen Four are down and out. But...
• Psychic Powers: Ness, Paula, and Poo have these. Jeff is a Muggle, but it doesn't stop him from being just as badass as his friends.
• The Slow Path: Implied after the final battle that they took this when their spirits return from the past to their bodies in the present, but it's very ambiguous.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Ness, Paula, and Jeff are nearly identical to Ninten, Ana and Lloyd from the original game. Averted with Poo, who's nothing like Teddy.
• Tin-Can Robot: When traveling back in time, the Chosen Four are all transported to robotic bodies.
• True Companions: Their good-byes after the final battle solidify that they have all become unforgettable to each other.
• Vague Age: Only in the Japanese version, where they are not given any specific ages and can be read as little kids to mid-teens; however, English materials such as the original U.S. player's guide and U.K. Virtual Console website added ages to their descriptions, most notably Ness being thirteen years old and the others suggested to be around that range.

Ness

Listen. Free your mind and KNOW what you must do!

A perfectly average boy living in Onett, Eagleland. Sets out to find the eight "Your Sanctuary" locations and to locate the other three heroes.

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• The Ace: His talents and personality traits are what make him revered by his friends and peers around town.
• Acrofatic: A Downplayed example, but there is NPC dialogue that suggests he's a little on the chubby side. One of the Onett cops calls him "fat boy", while the Twoson bus driver calls him "Chubs". Depending on what's set as his Trademark Favorite Food (the default being steak), it's kind of inevitable when his mother seems to make it for him whenever he wants.
• Adaptational Badass: While already very powerful to begin with, the official novelization suggests that if he were to use his post-Magicant powers at full force and with no restraint whatsoever, it would be a cataclysmic, world-changing event.
• Adaptational Jerkass: Completely averted in the novelization, unlike his predecessor Ninten's own novelization counterpart. Ness in the novel is a kind, wholesome, and overall caring individual. He shows kindness and care to his friends, and is even unconditionally patient and kind with Pokey, despite him treating Ness like absolute crap throughout the entire novel.
• Adrenaline Makeover: Supposedly loses weight over the course of his adventure, as some characters point out in the ending.
• The All-American Boy: Like his predecessor, Ninten, he's an average boy from Suburbia who is kind, loves baseball, and cares for his family.
• All-Loving Hero: The figment of Porky in his Magicant envies Ness, yet still wants to be friends with him, implying that in spite of everything Porky has done, Ness truly pities him and wants to be friends with him. Magicant also contains figments of various monsters Ness has fought, showing that in spite of them being non-human, Ness thinks about having to hurt them.
• Ambiguous Situation: It's unclear whether he and Ninten from the first game are the same character or not. Word of God is that this was intentional.
• American Kirby Is Hardcore: For some reason, his clay model was stretched to be taller in the original U.S. player's guide and the back of the box, along with a very different head complete with a backward cap. This depiction is almost entirely phased out, however.
• Barbie Doll Anatomy: While he's naked in Magicant, but only in the Japanese version. The English version puts him in the pajamas he wears at the beginning of the game.
• Batter Up!: Uses a baseball bat as his main melee weapon.
• Battle Couple: With Paula.
• Boyish Shorts: A Kid Hero who wears simple blue shorts through the entire adventure (after getting dressed). This is in contrast to his other two teammates, child prodigy Jeff and martial artist Poo.
• The Chosen One: According to Buzz Buzz, he's destined to defeat Giygas.
  "Ness, it is my opinion you are that boy. This I believe..."
• Combat Medic: Has the best healing PSI, as well as the highest attack and defense by far.
• Cool Big Bro: Tracy sees him as such.
• Death or Glory Attack: PK Rockin' is very inefficient with its damage-to-PP consumption ratio at all levels. Just one use of the highest-level Rockin' at any point in the game will easily neuter his healing abilities until his PP gets restored. Rockin' is, therefore, best used to quickly finish a swarm of enemies with a healing spot nearby or to finish off a boss.
• Determinator: Before the first dungeon, he takes down a street gang by himself. It all goes up from there. For a teenager, he is courageous enough to put himself into even the most life-threatening situations. Especially after he gains those huge stat boosts in Magicant.
• Enemy Within: His Nightmare holds him back from achieving his full psychic power. After going through his Magicant, Ness defeats his Nightmare and unlocks his full potential.
• Enlightenment Superpower: After defeating his inner darkness, his powers expand rapidly.
• Foil: To Porky.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: The foolish to Tracy's responsible.
• Forced Sleep: Can learn Hypnosis, which can put enemies to sleep.
• For Great Justice: Implied to do this by Porky.
  Porky: "I know you have telepathy or something, so just try and call for help, you pathetically weak heroes of so-called justice! No one will help you now!"
• Glacier Waif: He's the slowest character overall, has the highest HP, and hits like a truck not only because he has the best Offense, but the highest Guts, meaning that he lands the most SMAAASHes. Nonetheless, he's just a kid.
• Heroic Mime: Like most RPG protagonists of the era, Ness is completely silent throughout the game, something that other characters frequently lampshade. This ends up being somewhat picked apart, as Ness's silence aggravates Frank when the two first meet, and a later attempt by Porky at making amends with Ness after Carpainter's defeat results in him mistaking Ness's silence for disdain, running off again as a result. You do get a chance to hear Ness's thoughts late in the game, though.
  • Like Ninten in the MOTHER manual, portions of the MOTHER 2 manual are written in first person (again "boku").
• Iconic Item: That red baseball cap. It's his first in-game head equip, and in the Japanese version, he wears it when he's otherwise naked in Magicant.
• I Miss Mom: He can get homesickness as a status effect. Homesick renders Ness with a large chance of being unable to attack during battle. It's remedied by calling home, of course.
• Inappropriate Hunger: During a battle when homesick, Ness will sometimes be unable to attack because he will think about whatever you set as his favorite food and crave it.
• Implied Love Interest: Him and Paula.
• In-Series Nickname: Porky calls Ness "Pig's Butt" at times.
• I Want My Mommy!: Heavily downplayed, but that actually is the point of the Homesickness ailment that is unique ONLY to Ness. Long periods of time traveling, facing Giygas' influence everywhere they go would weigh on any 13 year old kid, so Ness will wind up severely depressed and longing to hear his mother to cheer up. Obviously this requires he find someplace with a phone to call home, getting encouragement from her and feeling better afterwards.
• Journey to the Center of the Mind: After hearing the completed melody of the eight Your Sanctuaries, he unlocks a trip through his own Magicant.
• Kiai: This is the original Japanese name for Rockin, which gives the impression that PSI Rockin/PK Kiai is some kind of damaging psychic battle cry. The official novelization describes it as an Energy Ball that he hits like a baseball with his bat, though.
• Light 'em Up: PK Flash, which creates a bright flash of light that may One-Hit KO enemies.
• Living Emotional Crutch: Towards Porky, given how badly the latter reacted to his perceived abandonment.
• Magic Knight: He's the party's tank, physical powerhouse, and medic. This is even without the Magicant boosts, which tone down his speed weakness.
• Mighty Glacier: Has extremely high offense and hit points, but is the slowest party member by far. Once he overcomes the evil in his heart and gains the power of the Your Sanctuary locations, his HP and PP increase to truly ludicrous levels and his speed improves, though he is still somewhat slow.
• Momma's Boy: To the point where he has to call her on a regular basis to keep his spirits high. Otherwise, he might get to a point that he misses her too much to fight anything. The figment of his mother in his Magicant even states that Ness is welcome to stay with her forever, showing how much Ness really doesn't want to be apart from her.
• My Future Self and Me: A younger Ness appears in Magicant, asking his older self if he's still interested in comics and games.
• Never the Selves Shall Meet: Ness and Baby Ness apparently catch sight of each other from across time, resulting in Ness being catapulted into his own subconsciousness (Magicant). This isn't clear, however.
• Nice Guy: One of the few traits known from Ness's personality is referenced from several NPCs.
• Odd Friendship: With Porky, if you believe it to be. It ends poorly.
• Older Than They Look: Although it's easy to read his design as being about 8 to 10 years old or so, he's actually thirteen according to the U.S. Player's Guide.
• Out-of-Clothes Experience: In the Japanese version, Ness is naked in Magicant, complete with Barbie Doll Anatomy. (FYI: In Japan, nudity is used as a symbol of purity.) This was changed in the U.S. version, where he's in the pajamas he was wearing at the start of the game.
• Pajama-Clad Hero: In the beginning parts of the game (and, in the U.S. version, once again in Magicant).
• Pink Girl, Blue Boy: The Blue Boy to Paula's Pink Girl.
• Pop-Cultured Badass: His Signature Move is called PSI Rockin for a reason. (It's actually named after whatever the player put in as their "favorite thing" on the character naming screen — "Rockin" is the default.)
• Protagonist Power-Up Privileges: Despite the Apple of Enlightenment's prophecy emphasizing there being a Chosen Four, only Ness is chosen to receive the power of the eight Sanctuaries.
• PSI Blast: In contrast to PK Fire, PK Freeze, PK Thunder, and PK Starstorm, PK Rockin appears to be nothing more than a concentrated blast of psychic energy.
• Punny Name: His name may either reference the SNES, which his name is an anagram of, or the NES.
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Seemingly one of the Manly Men to Jeff's Sensitive Guy, although Ness himself seems to be quite emotional as he gets the homesickness ailment and must call his mother to cure it, something that Poo doesn't deal with, making Ness the Sensitive Guy to Poo's Manly Man.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: With Tracy.
• Signature Move: PSI Rockin/PK Kiai.
• The Stool Pigeon: Supposedly snitches on Porky when he takes him home, resulting in the latter's punishment. Then again, given Porky's actions during the Escort Mission...
• Took a Level in Badass: After defeating the darkness in his heart in Magicant, gaining several levels and strong boosts to his statistics.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Steak, or whatever you put as the favorite food at the start of the game.
• The Villain Knows Where You Live: With the two main antagonists. What makes this trope more interesting is the threatening note given to Ness during the epilogue by his neighbor's brother.
• White Mage: Not counting his Signature Move, PSI Rockin, his PSI Powers are mostly support.
• With Friends Like These...: His relationship with Porky.

Paula

I'm calling out to you who I've never met...

A young girl who lives in Twoson and who possesses powerful psychic abilities. Ness must come to her rescue after she is kidnapped by the Happy Happyist cult.

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• Action Girl: Not only with her Frying Pan of Doom, but her Psychic Powers as well.
• Adaptational Personality Change: In the official novelization, Paula is more of a rowdy Tomboy and is also very flirty, to the point of using seduction as a combat technique.
• Alliterative Name: Her surname is commonly thought by the fandom to be "Polestar", which is the name of her and her parents' preschool. This is unlikely as the Japanese spellings for both Paula and the Polestar Preschool indicate that Polestar is, in fact, a pun on Paula's name. Paula is spelled ポーラ (Pōra) and Polestar is spelled ポーラスター (Pōrasutaa). Her actual surname is rumored to be "Jones" (after... the statesman who sued the U.S. president months prior to the release of Mother 2?), which was allegedly revealed in obscure Japanese material.
• American Kirby Is Hardcore: For some reason, her clay model was stretched to be taller in the original U.S. player's guide and the back of the box, along with a slightly different head lacking her signature red ribbon. This depiction is almost entirely phased out, however.
• An Ice Person: PK Freeze.
• Badass in Distress: In the official localization, she states that she would've attempted a jailbreak sooner or later, and regardless, she seems to have been able to negotiate with her kidnapper by the time she is found the last time, suggesting she's more than capable of taking care of herself.
• Battle Couple: With Ness.
• Black Magician Girl: She's the primary offensive magic user, later sharing this spot with Poo.
• Chekhov's Skill: Her unique ability, 'Pray', is generally useless in battle, as its effects are completely random — a full-party heal is nice, but do you really want to risk reviving all your defeated enemies or having everyone start feeling strange? You use it to call out to the whole world for help in the final battle against Giygas.
• The Cutie: The most endearing of Ness's friends.
• Daddy's Girl: She has a dad who is extremely protective of her, so much that he becomes hysterically panicked whenever she's in danger.
• Damsel in Distress: Happens twice, three if you count the time when it was both her and Ness. Getting her back the third time is one of the hardest parts of the game; you will not take her for granted afterward.
• Deuteragonist: Out of everyone in the party she's given the second most focus behind Ness and ends up being the one to save the day rather than Ness.
• Dub Personality Change: Downplayed, but in the localization, Paula says that if Ness hadn't come to rescue her from the mountain cabin, she would have tried to bust out herself. In the original Japanese, she says that she would have busted out crying instead. Localization director Marcus Lindblom has also stated that he re-wrote Paula's character to be less passive and weak-willed as he dislikes Japan's standards for women.
• Fire, Ice, Lightning: She's got all three as her offensive PSI.
• Fragile Speedster: She has the highest speed of the four heroes, and is about as durable as a wet piece of tissue paper. Toward the end of the game, though, the Sea Pendant and similar items can make her the most durable of your party besides perhaps Ness.
• Friend to All Children: They see her as a mother figure, singing their praises when she comes home.
• Frying Pan of Doom: Uses a frying pan as her main weapon.
• Girls Love Stuffed Animals: Appears to be quite fond of teddy bears, due to having a teddy bear in her possession when she was kidnapped, and the gift box in her room contains one.
• Girl Next Door: Lives in the town next door to Onett.
• Glass Cannon: She can deal absolute carnage with her various PSI attacks, but there's literally no point in the game where she's more than two or three direct attacks away from being defeated; hell, even in the endgame, she can be healed fully by Lifeup β.
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Dearly loved by the local children and her hometown of Twoson as a whole.
• Heart Is an Awesome Power: Paula's Pray ability produces unpredictable results throughout the game. However, it's absolutely essential to defeating the final boss, Giygas. When Paula prays during the final battle, it deals five digit damage to Giygas and eventually makes him fizzle away.
• Implied Love Interest: To Ness.
• Innocent Blue Eyes: Representing her sweetness.
• Kind Hearted Cat Lover: Her family owns a cat. He or she spends most of the adventure up on the roof.
• Little Miss Badass: Despite being very delicate, she's certainly this.
• Mana Drain: Knows PSI Magnet.
• Nice Girl: She's widely regarded as the nicest out of the Chosen Four.
• Official Couple: While this isn't directly stated due to her having little opportunity to speak about it, certain NPCs such as their parents assume that Ness and Paula's relationship is young love. One NPC mentions that Ness is smiling whenever she's in the party, and after the final battle, it's said that she got lipstick on his cheek. D'aww.
• Pink Girl, Blue Boy: The Pink Girl to Ness's Blue Boy.
• Pink Means Feminine: As with most of Nintendo's female protagonists.
• Playing with Fire: PK Fire.
• Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: The Energetic Girl to Poo's Savvy Guy.
• Seers: She has the ability to see the future. She can use this to her advantage by telepathically contacting the friends "she has never met", which is how she calls for Ness and later Jeff.
• Shock and Awe: PK Thunder.
• Signature Move: Most commonly known for (and will most commonly use) PK Freeze.
• The Smurfette Principle: The only girl among the Chosen Four.
• Southern Belle: A sweet blonde girl from the series equivalent of Sweet Home Alabama, whose biggest contribution in battle is praying for the fate of the world in the final boss battle.
• Squishy Wizard: Easily two-shotted due to her low level at first, and then two-shotted at later levels due to her mediocre defense and terrible HP growths. She has around 250HP at LV60-LV70, and that's if the game was generous with RNG and if you're not (ab)using the game breaking rock candy + sugar packet trick. The other party members' HP will be double (or triple in Ness' case) that. She has the best offensive spells (and a couple of good defensive spells too) and is fast enough to get them off before her foes can act, but she'll always trail behind the other party members in terms of HP and defense.
• White Magician Girl: Subverted. Has the personality of one, but almost all of her PSI are destructive in nature, lacking even a single healing move (unless the PP draining PSI Magnet counts.) Ness and Poo are the ones who get healing powers.
• Younger Than They Look: Only within the context of the game's art style. Paula looks the same as Ness and co, but according to the U.K. Virtual Console website, she's actually eleven years old. You'd think she'd be closer to their ages...

Jeff

The Sky Runner... I guess it took a little damage when landing.

A child prodigy attending a boarding school in Winters. Comes to Ness and Paula's rescue after they are captured by zombies, after receiving a telepathic message from Paula.

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• Adaptation Deviation: In the official novelization, he had a brother called Jack who died in an accident. Jeff himself lost his legs in the same accident and uses artificial legs ever since. His personality is also a bit colder and broodier, owing to this tragic backstory and to his much more strained relationship with Dr. Andonuts. He's also described as explicitly handsome.
• All There in the Manual: According to the original U.S. player's guide, he's the same age as Ness. His surname is also Andonuts or (probably a misspelling) Andonut, after his father rather than Missing Mom.
• Badass Bookworm: He is easily the smartest and nerdiest member of the Chosen Four...and also its Heavy Bazooka wielder and Bottle Rocket shooter.
• Badass Normal: He's the only party member without PSI...and makes up for it with bazookas, ray guns, and other advanced gadgets.
• BFG: His bazookas are just as destructive as you would imagine.
• Big Damn Heroes: His solo journey from Winters to Eagleland to bust Ness and Paula out of prison.
• Boarding School: Attends one in Winters.
• Bottomless Magazines: His bazookas have no ammo limit to them, essentially being infinitely reusable Bombs and Super Bombs, Splash Damage and all. The Heavy Bazooka in particular practically allows you to never use his regular Shoot again.
• Child Prodigy: He has so much intelligence that it actually makes up for his lack of Psychic Powers.
• Cursed with Awesome: Despite his lack of PSI, this "lack" comes into play if an enemy uses a PSI-draining/cancelling move on Jeff, effectively making it into a turn-waster and sparing his teammate's precious PP.
  • Mentioned below in Irony, but his amazing IQ growth that would be insanely good on someone like Paula or Ness is wasted on him as far as PSI potential...but proves itself in that his high IQ growth means he can fix all that broken crap you come across, which turns him into a Gamebreaker himself if you use his new toys just right.
• Drives Like Crazy: Has a body count of two Sky Runners, both of which crashed under his piloting. (Though he can usually repair them.) The submarine somehow remained unscathed. Hilariously, the only time he lands the Sky Runner without any problems was when it was salvaged by a random group of Threed citizens who mostly painted over the broken parts and Jeff had to sort out a minor error for it to even run.
• Enemy Scan: Can use his unique ability, Spy, to display an enemy's stats and status ailment weaknesses (identical to the same command everyone had in the previous game, albeit translated as "Check"). And to steal any items they might have on them.
• Gadgeteer Genius: Jeff lacks the psychic powers of his friends, but he can take things you'd find in most typical junkyards, such as broken harmonicas, irons, pipes, and antennas, and somehow retrofit them into highly advanced laser guns, psychic shield destroyers, and slime blasters.
• Heroic Self-Deprecation: His self-introduction to Ness and Paula.
• Irony: Despite having the highest IQ in the Chosen Four, he is the only PSI-lacking member of said group.
• Item Caddy: Uses items as his special skill in place of Psychic Powers.
• Jumped at the Call: He had absolutely no knowledge of Ness and Paula, yet he went to rescue them anyway when Paula called on him. Also, he's the only one of the four lacking PSI, so that enforces the point a bit.
• Life Drain: What his HP-sucker and Hungry HP-sucker machines do to enemies.
• Macross Missile Massacre: His Bottle Rockets. The Big Bottle Rocket and Multi bottle rocket are named Pencil Rocket (5) and Pencil Rocket (20) respectively in the Japanese version, implying that they are actually multipacks of the basic Bottle Rocket. In the game, Big Bottle Rocket actually plays Bottle Rocket's launch sound effect 5 times, and Multi Bottle Rocket plays it 20 times.
• Magikarp Power: He starts out as having very limited capabilities beyond firing bottle rockets due to low offense and defense. By the time he gets the later items, he holds up well with the other three. In fact, with a healthy supply of Multi-Bottle Rockets and the Heavy Bazooka, Jeff is arguably more powerful than his psychic-powered friends.
• Mr. Fixit: Can turn broken junk you find lying around into laser guns, psychic field neutralizers, bazookas...
• Muggle: Like Lloyd from the first game, he can't use PSI.
• Muggle Best Friend: To Ness, Paula, and Poo, who all have PSI.
• Non-Human Sidekick: Bubble Monkey serves as this to him for a while in Winters, and takes part in battles he fights.
• Opaque Nerd Glasses: Self-described as "really nearsighted", he's probably Blind Without 'Em.
• The Paralyzer: One of the first weapons available to Jeff is a stun gun. Being that stun guns are not actually guns, the Stun Gun is actually the only one of his equips that isn't a kind of firearm, whether realistic like the Magnum Air Gun, a toy like some of his earlier weapons, or his sci-fi-esque Ray Gun sort of weapons (the latter of which make up the majority).
  • Played stright however by his slime generator, which can paralize a specfic enemy for one turn.
• Parental Abandonment: Grew up in an exclusive boys' boarding school and hasn't seen his father in ten years.
  • His father's response on seeing him?
    "Let's do this again in another 10 years."
• Power Nullifier: The Counter PSI unit, which, when used, leaves an enemy unable to use PSI for the rest of the battle.
• Ray Gun: Uses homemade laser guns as his weapons.
• Science Hero: Has no psychic powers or physical strength whatsoever, relying instead on his own inventions to get by.
• Shipper on Deck: Tells Ness and Paula to invite him to their wedding if they ever get married.
• Signature Move: His bottle rockets, specifically the Multi-Bottle Rocket.
• The Sleepless: When staying at inns, he'll stay up all night fixing that broken junk you've accumulated, and his battle prowess doesn't suffer a bit for it.
• The Smart Guy: A scientific prodigy and son of the famous Dr. Andonuts, he boasts the highest IQ and IQ growths in the game.
• Smart People Shoot: Jeff lacks the PSI of Ness and Paula, but he has a different kind of brainpower, and that's being a Gadgeteer Genius. In fact, he makes his own guns, starting from the puny Pop Gun, ending in powerful laser weapons.
• Smart People Wear Glasses: Those unmistakable Nerd Glasses, along with the fact that he's a scientific prodigy, Gadgeteer Genius, and has the highest IQ stat and IQ growth of the main party members.
• Status-Buff Dispel: The Neutralizer nullifies all status buffs and shields (for both ally and enemy), while his Shield Killer nullifies an enemy's shield.
• Stereotypical Nerd: An Expy of Lloyd, he's a freckle-faced 13-year-old Child Prodigy and Gadgeteer Genius in a suit and bowtie, complete with thick glasses and a bowl cut. He starts off with very low offensive and defensive stats, invoking Geek Physique. That said, he ends up becoming the Badass Normal, Badass Bookworm, Science Hero of the main party, turning mundane broken items like irons and pipes into amazing, advanced machines that can block enemy Psychic Powers, nullify enemy shields, and shoot lasers.
• The Team Normal: As mentioned several times, he's the only party member to not have PSI powers.
• Teen Genius: Stated to be Ness's age in the player's guide (so 13), and is, of course, a genius.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: Averted. He isn't hung up on this, but later on, his own father, despite being a flighty Cloud Cuckoo Lander, tells his son he is indeed proud of him.
• Youthful Freckles: Visible on his clay model.

Poo

I am the one who will fight beside you.

The prince of Dalaam who comes to Ness's aid to fulfill a prophecy dictated by his mentor. He arrives after Ness and company accidentally trip out on some Magic Cake.

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• Bare-Fisted Monk: Equipping Poo with a weapon does nothing to improve his offense, with a single exception: the notoriously rare Sword of Kings. Even then, the default "bash" command isn't changed to "slash." Either he equips it because he becomes stronger just having it, or only uses the hilt, or the sword is blunt. (Or the "Sword" part was symbolic.)
• Barrier Warrior: He's actually superior at shielding than Ness is, since only he can learn Shield Σ and Ω, which cover the entire party, while Ness can only cover one at a time.
• Battle Butler: Swears to serve Ness upon meeting him.
• Big Damn Heroes: He swoops in (literally) and deals the finishing blow to Master Barf.
• The Big Guy: Besides Ness, he's the muscle of the main party.
• Big Ol' Eyebrows: So prominent that unlike other characters, they can be seen on his in-game sprite.
• Can't Catch Up: He joins at an extremely low level for the point of the game you're at, and has trouble catching up, especially as he leaves again not long after for a significant chunk of time. At least he comes back with a new power.
• Chick Magnet: Very popular with the ladies of Dalaam. Even a few girls around Summers make passes at him.
• Death or Glory Attack: Much like Ness's PK Rockin, PK Starstorm is this for Poo. While it is on average more powerful than the corresponding levels of Rockin while using much less PP, Poo himself has far less PP than either Ness or Paula, meaning his other useful abilities will quickly be rendered useless from repeated use of Starstorm. It's generally much more efficient for Poo to use PK Freeze, even if he can't learn the Omega level.
• Dynamic Entry: Seems fond of this — he drops out of the sky in his first appearance to Ness and company, and it is also a big part of his Big Damn Heroes moment against Master Barf.
• Enlightenment Superpowers: He unlocks his Psychic Powers through Mu Training, a form of meditation involving communing with his ancestors who inflict a temporary spiritual death on him.
• Heroes Prefer Swords: The Sword of Kings, one of those infamous rare item drops.
• Heroic Build: According to several of the ladies he encounters.
• An Ice Person: Can use PK Freeze, but cannot learn the Omega level unlike Paula.
• Informed Attractiveness: When playing as him, you get a lot of attention from the ladies in Dalaam.
• Jack of All Stats: He can use both healing and offensive PSI, and has decent overall stats as well.
• Look What I Can Do Now!: Shows up again after his brief hiatus from the party with a brand new (and extremely powerful) psychic power: PK Starstorm α, finishing off Master Barf for good.
• Magikarp Power: He joins very underleveled for that point of the game (with him being level 18 while your party is nearly at 30), is hard to keep alive with items due to his specific diet making most Western food heal for a pittance, and will be lacking in equipment because he can only use very specific items, none of which are found until later on. That said, if the time is taken to get his equipment and once he levels up, he becomes the best party member in terms of utility, able to heal nearly as good as Ness, deal nearly as good damage as Paula, and be nearly as durable against heavier attacks as Ness and Jeff are.
• Mana Drain: Along with Paula, he is also capable of using PSI Magnet.
• Master Swordsman: If you manage to get the Sword of Kings, that is.
• Meteor-Summoning Attack: With PK Starstorm, he psychically pulls meteors from space and hurls them down onto enemies.
• Mind Screw: So, was Ness controlling him, just watching/having a premonition, or happily tripping out while Poo set out for unrelated reasons?
• Older Than They Look: According to the original U.S. player's guide, he is a little older than Ness (by how much isn't specified).
• Picky Eater: Dislikes (or just isn't used to) most Western foods, and gets minimal HP restoration from eating them.
• Power Copying: Has the unique ability to transform himself into certain enemies during battle.
• Psychic Powers: Has a mix of offensive and support PSI which he achieves through intense training.
• Puppy Love: With... all the ladies of Dalaam, really. invoked
• Quirky Bard: His PP is low, but he can restore it by drinking cheap bottles of water. He isn't used to Western food and gains minimal HP restoration from it. He can only use certain pieces of equipment, and many others will lower his stats — he has exactly ONE weapon, and it's an incredibly rare drop from an enemy in a one-time-only area. He has a unique ability called Mirror which allows him to attempt to copy an enemy. However, it has a chance to fail, and the player will lose control of him, so it's very gimmicky and generally not worth using. It's also extremely difficult for him to catch up level-wise because he requires the most EXP for each individual level-up.
• The Red Mage: Has access to a variety of both healing and offensive PSI, unlike specialists Ness and Paula.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: He's the crown prince of Dalaam, and one of the Chosen Four who saves the world from a Bad Future.
• Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: The Savvy Guy to Paula's Energetic Girl.
• Shock and Awe: Can learn PK Thunder, and can even learn the Omega level whereas Paula can't.
• Signature Move: PK Starstorm.
• Training from Hell: His Mu training, at the end of which he is ritually, symbolically killed by the spirits of his ancestors.
• Undying Loyalty: Upon being introduced to Ness and his friends, he immediately pledges himself to Ness's cause despite having little to no knowledge about the kids he just got himself involved with.
• Warrior Prince: He's not only a Bare-Fisted Monk who's undergone martial training, but a powerful psychic that can generate ice and lightning with his mind.

Allies

King

Awoooof! (I'm outta here!)

Ness's faithful pet dog. He's an optional (but ultimately pointless) Guest-Star Party Member early on in the game; while he does substantial damage and thus isn't a bad choice for the very start of the game, he chickens out and runs back home before Buzz Buzz appears.

As far as the series goes, he is the spiritual successor of Mick and the predecessor of Boney.

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• Arbitrary Headcount Limit: If he'd been permanent, he would've extended it to 5.
• Big Friendly Dog: One of the Japanese "Don't Care" names for King is "Bernard", possibly referring to the Saint Bernard breed, and in the novel adaptation, he is stated to be an English Sheep Dog. Whichever it is, (and it could even be both, as he is called a mutt in the game), he's definitely a big dog.
• Crutch Character: He's there to offer you an extra little bit of survivability in the beginning should you think you need it, since enemies can't target him while he can dish out some punishment to compliment Ness's attacks. His accuracy is a bit poor, though, and he can waste turns barking.
• Demoted to Extra: After Picky is found, he straight-up says that he won't be joining Ness on any adventures, and he remains content at home.
• Dub Name Change: His initial "Don't Care" name in the Japanese version is Chibi rather than King.
• Heroes Love Dogs: His owner is Ness, a young psychic boy who's one of EarthBound's four main protagonists and one of the Chosen Four.
• Informed Species: The novel adaptation identifies him as an Old English Sheep Dog, but he doesn't really look like one. It's possible that his fur is just kept short.
• Lovable Coward: By his own admission.
  "I'm not going out again. I don't care if everyone thinks I'm a stubborn mutt."
• Muggle: Being an average dog, he has no psychic abilities to bring to the table.
• Old Dog: King was a pup when Ness was a newborn, which would make him a whopping thirteen/fourteen years old during the events of the game. No wonder he prefers to sleep around the house all day!
• Optional Party Member: You don't have to have him tag along on the search for Picky.
• Team Pet: He is the only animal who joins your party, several years before Boney. Too bad he chickens out on the action.

Tracy

Is that you, Ness? Big Bro!

Ness's younger sister. Similar to Ninten's sister Minnie in the previous game, she is gladly willing to help her big brother on his journey by storing any unneeded items during her part-time job at Escargo Express.

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• Adorably Precocious Child: To the point where she ends up getting a job despite not even Ness being old enough to get a job, realistically.
• Cool Big Sis: Despite being Ness' younger sister, she has the personality of a Cool Big Sis. She looks out for Ness, making sure he's alright, and handling any items his party might have.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: The responsible sibling to her foolish older brother Ness.
• Good Parents: Tracy's mother had quite a good influence on her, as she grew up to be a nice kid and is very willing to help Ness on his adventures by delivering/storing items.
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Has blonde hair like her mother. She aids her older brother Ness by handling his party's items.
• Hypocritical Heartwarming:
  "Goody! My brother is back! You've got a lot of catching up to do with your schoolwork, *Hyork*! If you have any problems with your assignments, I'll help you. Don't get freaked out. Did Escargo Express, my old company, help you? I've saved some money, so we'll do the lunch thing sometime. You also got a new girlfriend? Your adventure must have been pretty good! Do you need help with anything other than your schoolwork? Okay, you relax now."

Ness's Parents

Note there is no clay model for your father.

Ness's and Tracy's Mother and Father. Your mother appears in person while your father is away on a business trip.

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• Adaptational Curves: Ness’ Mom in the game is flat chested, Ness’ Mom in the novel on the other hand is described having an incredibly ample chest that she has trouble keeping in her nightgown.
• Arbitrarily Large Bank Account: Dad apparently borrowed Eleventy Zillion dollars from the Minches, and it's through these funds that Ness can finance his journey to save the world; it's how the game justifies Money Spiders.
• Deadpan Snarker: Ness' Mother has her moments.
• Good Parents: Mother is very supportive in Ness's adventures and always willing to cook him some steak. Father gives Ness money whenever Ness calls him after defeating enemies.
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Mom's a doting figure who dearly loves her son and wishes him the best in his travels; Tracy also inherited it.
• Housewife: Your Mother, as shown in the picture with a frying pan and spatula. Calling her on the phone has her comment on how she's spending her time around the house, and visiting her in-person will have her prepare a delicious meal for Ness before sending him to bed.
• Save Point: Your Father acts as this when you call him, asking if you want to save your game.
• Trauma Inn: Visiting Ness's mother has her insisting on feeding you and getting you a good night's sleep, which, true to the Trauma Inn standard, heals the party to full.
• The Voice: Your Father never appears in person as he's away on business. The credits even represented him as a telephone.
• When You Coming Home, Dad?: Father is away on a business trip throughout your adventure. Although at the end of the game, he said he'll be home for Ness's Birthday.

Picky Minch

Geez, I wonder who's the REAL big brother...

Porky's younger, albeit far more mature brother. His (false) disappearance sets off a huge turn of events leading to the game's main plot.

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• Demoted to Extra: He loses all plot relevance after his rescue in the intro; Porky becomes the obvious focus of the Minch family, and even Aloysius and Lardna continue to appear as time goes on, while Picky just remains at the home neighboring Ness's family.
• The Generic Guy: In his own words:
  "I'm nowhere near as cool as you. I'm just average cool."
• Guest-Star Party Member: And unlike his brother, he actually attempts to help in battle.
• Like Father, Unlike Son: He's NOTHING like his obnoxious, mean-spirited parents.
• Mature Younger Sibling: Even if Picky didn't say this in-game, you gotta admit he would still be this.
• Nice Guy: Unlike the rest of the Minch family, Picky is a perfectly friendly boy.
• No-Respect Guy: His parents don't treat him any better than his brother.
• Only Sane Man: When it comes to his family.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: With Porky, who's fat, immature, and obnoxious. Picky on the other hand is much nicer than his brother.
• Strong Family Resemblance: He and Porky both have blinding bangs, but that's it.
• White Sheep: The only member of his family who isn't an obnoxious jerk (even then, it's hinted that his Abusive Parents influenced Porky into acting the way he is).

Mr. Saturn

Dakota!

A race of cute, innocent creatures that live in the secluded Saturn Valley. Actually highly intelligent in spite of their goofy personalities, they help Dr. Andonuts create the time machine necessary to reach Giygas.

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• Big Ol' Eyebrows: They all have thick black eyebrows that are much larger than their eyes.
• Blackbead Eyes: Like everyone else in the series, but exaggerated: they're much smaller than their eyebrows.
• Cephalothorax: A variation without arms.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Their very eccentric text font and speech mannerisms are hilarious to read and defuse anything that might make you take them seriously.
• Cute Critters Act Childlike: Subverted; they may be adorable, innocent, and extremely playful, but they also possess unfathomable technical knowledge.
• Gag Nose: They possess a round, large nose that's almost as large as their body.
• Genius Ditz: The entire species. They speak and act childishly, but they're actually pretty intelligent and are capable of building a working time machine.
• Innocent Aliens: Assuming they are aliens, anyway.
• Lost in Translation: Mr. Saturn in Japanese is Dousei-san — which means both "Mr. Saturn" and "Mr. Samename."
• Painting the Medium: Mr. Saturns weird very font have, boing!
• Planet of Steves: Every Mr. Saturn is named Mr. Saturn.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: All Mr. Saturns are absolutely adorable and eccentric creatures; they're usually what people think of when the EarthBound/MOTHER series is brought up.
• Series Mascot: Even though the Mr. Saturns only appeared in EarthBound and Mother 3, they stand out for the whole series as the mascot more than any other character (possibly save for certain recurring enemies such as Starman, Atomic Power Robot, or Mr. Batty).
• Verbal Tic: Their speech is littered with "zoom"s, "boing"s, and "ding"s.
• Waddling Head: Their main "body" consists of their head, their face, and a pair of feet.
• Wingdinglish: Mr. Saturn's speech is displayed in loopy, childish font to emphasize their odd speech patterns, zoom. Word of God is that their unique text font was inspired by the writings of Shigesato Itoi's (then) young daughter.

Buzz Buzz

A small, insect-sized visitor from the future, who has traveled back in time to warn Ness of Giygas's pending invasion.

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• Adaptational Expansion: Hints to his extraterrestrial nature are only implied in the game, but the novelization outright confirms that he is an alien. Specifically, he is the sole survivor of a race of bee-like creatures whose homeworld was previously destroyed by Giygas just prior to the events of the story.
• Adaptational Jerkass: Slightly. In the novel, he is prepared to straight up murder Porky when he learns that the kid has Giygas growing inside of him, but his willingness is largely out of a duty to the universe and the fact that he witnessed his entire planet get destroyed by Giygas.
• Almost Dead Guy: Upon getting squished by Lardna, Buzz Buzz remains alive just long enough to inform Ness about the "Your Sanctuary" zones.
• Call-Back: His tombstone can be found in Magicant.
• Crutch Character: You don't even have to participate in the fight with Starman Junior, and Buzz Buzz will curb stomp him anyway. He may not be around for long, but he sure puts on a show.
• Glass Cannon: Powerful attacks and psychic shields. Killed in a single swat.
• Hero of Another Story: According to Starman Junior, Buzz Buzz is a hero in the future who is known for foiling Giygas' plans.
• I Am Not Weasel: Based off of the game's dialogue, Buzz Buzz true form may not actually be insect-like, but rather he had to transform into it in order to travel back in time. In the game's climax, Ness and his friends have transfer their minds and spirits into robots in order to travel into the past, so Buzz Buzz may have had to do something similar.
  "A bee I am... not."
  • His artwork that appears on an obscure "choose your own adventure" book depicts him as a rhinoceros beetle.
• I'm Dying, Please Take My MacGuffin: Right before he dies, he gives Ness the Sound Stone.
• Psychic Powers: Knows PSI Shield Σ, which comes in handy against the Starman Junior Ness encounters.
• Shell-Shocked Veteran: His novelization counterpart is this, as he just barely escaped the destruction of his home planet before he arrived on Earth.
• A Taste of Power: Without him, you probably wouldn't have a chance against Starman Junior. Too bad he gets squished only a few minutes later.
• Undignified Death: No thanks to Lardna.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: Killed only a few minutes into the game, after putting the plot in motion.
• Worf Had the Flu: Apparently traveling back in time caused Buzz Buzz to become much weaker.
• Would Hurt a Child: In the novelization, he is perfectly willing to pill Porky in order to ensure Giygas is destroyed, as he has parasitically latched onto Porky. In his defense, Buzz Buzz had just lost his entire homeworld to Giygas.

Runaway Five (Tonzura Brothers)

We—that's right—we are the Runaway Five!

A famous jazz band that the party befriends in Twoson after helping them out of their debts.

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• Big Damn Heroes: They burst into the room to save Ness and Jeff in the Monotoli Building.
• Cool Shades: All members wear sunglasses.
• Cut the Juice: How they defeat the Clumsy Robot.
• Expy: Themed after The Blues Brothers. The English version reduced this by recolouring their black suits into brighter colours and renaming their group. The suit recolours resulted in the leading duo to somewhat resemble Mario and Luigi.
• Free-Handed Performer: The band's two frontmen focus solely on vocal duties, taking after The Blues Brothers.
• Sharp-Dressed Man: All members are famous jazz musicians, so the suits are a given.
• Work Off the Debt: They're not too great with contract negotiations. The party has to bail them out twice. Though they do repay the favor by giving them rides in their tour bus. They also bail Ness and Jeff out of a harrowing boss fight.

Mr. Everdred

You cannot refuse my generosity. Just accept it.

A shady trickster and boss of Burglin Park. Often feared by visiting townsfolk, he's a really nice guy on the inside at heart.

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• Briefcase Full of Money: He gives Ness twenty thousand dollars after Paula is rescued.
• Cheshire Cat Grin: In his official clay model.
• Dub Name Change: Tonchiki-san in the Japanese version, meaning "Mr. Dumbskull" or "Mr. Dimwit" essentially.
• Man Bites Man: One of his moves in his boss battle is a biting attack.
• "Not So Different" Remark: From Ness.
  "Ness! Maybe you don't wanna hear this, but you remind me of myself when I was young. I cannot do anything more for you... Good luck, Ness!"
• Punny Name: "Ever-dred".
• Skippable Boss: He'll challenge you if you approach him in Burglin Park but if you don't go near him before you rescue Paula, you don't have to fight him.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: His last appearance is him lying on the ground on Fourside, where he tells Ness and Jeff about Monotoli's possession of the Mani Mani Statue and how he was cheated and wounded. After providing hints about how to get to Moonside, he staggers out and is never seen again for the rest of the game.
  • A hotel servant reading the Fourside Post tells about the lonely demise of a long-haired man with beard, sunglasses and an aloha shirt, implying that he died.

Dr. Andonuts

Would you like a donut?

A brilliant scientist from Winters. He is Jeff's father, and helps the party on numerous occasions with his inventions; from the flying Sky Runner to the time machine necessary to reach Giygas.

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• Absent-Minded Professor: To the point where he apparently forgot he had a child.
• Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: Blabs that Jeff still wets the bed (or rather, did) within his third sentence upon meeting his son's friends for the first time.
  "Jeff wets his bed sometimes. But other than that, he's a good boy."
• And Your Little Dog, Too!: Is targeted for kidnapping by Giygas's forces and stuffed into a people jar in the Stonehenge base.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Upon seeing his son for the first time in ten years, he asks him whether he would like a doughnut. If Jeff answers in the affirmative, Dr. Andonuts wistfully comments that he'd like one, too.
• Edible Theme Naming: Is named after the An-Doughnut, a Japanese confection similar to a Berliner or Boston Creme Doughnut aside from having a filling of Red Bean Paste instead of custard or jelly.
• Gadgeteer Genius: Must run in the family.
• Genius Sweet Tooth: He does love his doughnuts.
• Mad Scientist: Though "mad" is a strong word, he's clearly not entirely there.
• Omnidisciplinary Scientist: A world-renowned expert in robotics, physics, medicine, engineering...
• Parental Abandonment: Hasn't seen his son, Jeff, in ten years; despite living a short walk away from his boarding school.
  • And then he somehow ended up in an indeterminate era on the Nowhere Islands. If we're to assume that this indeed the same professor and not a descendant of his, the only possibility is that Porky kidnapped him. It's never fully explained either way.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Donuts, of course.

Tony

Jeff's best friend and roommate at his boarding school. He frets over Jeff during his best friend's long and dangerous adventure and worries about him; even going so far as to try to get to know the mysterious person guiding them.

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• Addressing the Player: Asks the player’s name as part of a school project.
• And Your Little Dog, Too!: Is targeted for kidnapping by Giygas's forces and stuffed into a people jar in the Stonehenge base.
• Boarding School: Attends one in Winters.
• Guest-Star Party Member: He’s a non controllable party member however while he does have actions programmed for him during battle he leaves the party before Jeff can get into any battles.
• Fourth-Wall Observer: He is the only character who addresses the player directly, calling to ask for your name.
• Gay Best Friend: Heavily implied by Itoi and confirmed by localization director Marcus Lindblom in an interview.

Apple Kid

Orange Kid is much better.

An aspiring inventor that Ness inadvertently starts funding. His odd (and oddly-specific) inventions come in handy throughout the game. He proves himself capable by helping Dr. Andonuts and the Mr. Saturns create the time machine necessary to reach Giygas.

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• And Your Little Dog, Too!: Is targeted for kidnapping by Giygas's forces and stuffed into a people jar in the Stonehenge base. Fortunately, he gets better.
• Big Fun: Double-subverted. He's a chubby kid who suffers from poor social skills and an equally poor reputation in his hometown... at least until Ness comes along. If Ness chooses to fund him, they become friends, with Apple Kid becoming more productive and helping the Chosen Four with his inventions.
• Color Motif: Red, which colors his house and most of his clothes.
• Fat Bastard: Played with and averted nicely. He's perceived as one by the people of Twoson owing to his bulk, lack of self-hygiene, and poor social skills... but he proves himself to be anything but and is critical to Ness's success.
• Fat Slob: A very chubby kid who's noted to have poor hygiene.
• Foil: To Orange Kid. Orange Kid is socially popular and charismatic, whereas Apple Kid is a lazy, introverted slob. However, Apple Kid has the brains and talent that Orange Kid lacks.
• Gadgeteer Genius: Apple Kid's inventions are odd, but they get the job done. His special "erasers" can erase iron statues, making him a necessity for Ness and party to progress, and his zombie paper is very effective in dealing with zombies.
• Leitmotif: "Apple Kid's Theme", an incredibly laidback piece that oozes laziness, which plays when his house is entered. Oddly enough, Orange Kid shares it.
• Never Accepted in His Hometown: Widely disliked in his hometown of Twoson in favor of his more charming and less talented rival, Orange Kid.
• No Social Skills: Just one of a few reasons he's not liked around Twoson. He also has the "Overcoming Shyness" book in his possession.
• Phlebotinum Bomb: Specializes in making extremely specific machines that only erase, for example, pencils. Or erasers.
• Red Is Heroic: Wears red, apple-themed clothes. Also helps Ness and his friends with his inventions if Ness chooses to fund him. He even builds a time machine so the Chosen Four can go to the past and fight Giygas.
• Slobs Versus Snobs: Shares this dynamic with Orange Kid, who's the popular and charismatic snob, versus Apple Kid's lonely, introverted, and unhygienic slob.
• Smarter Than You Look: He's a fat, lazy kid with poor hygiene and lack of social skills, but his inventions are really useful. Without him, Ness and party wouldn't be able to defeat Giygas.

Recurring Characters

Aloysius and Lardna Minch

Aloysus (left) and Lardna (right)

The parents of the Minch boys. They punish their sons after Ness escorts them home after a series of misunderstandings.

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• Abhorrent Admirer: Lardna dates "Mr. Prettyman" prior to Porky's absence.
• Abusive Parents: Applies to both of them. In Lardna's case, she may actually treat her sons worse than her husband does. If Ness talks to her before talking to Aloysius, she tells him that she wonders how she'll punish them afterwards.
• Adaptational Villainy: Aloysius Minch was already a despicable Abusive Parent in the game, but the novel manages to make him the most loathsome character in the entire story short of Giygas himself. He cons Ness’ dad and forces him on a business trip to try and break him so that Aloysius can claim the secret formula for his burgers and get his wife. He is also more aware of Giygas’ influence and encourages his son Pokey to pursue serving him just for material gain.
• Adults Are Useless: They do a terrible job of raising their sons, and social services never lifts a finger to help. It's a miracle that Picky turned out as well as he did.
• Alcoholic Parent: Aloysius is seen in Jackie's Cafe/Borges' Bar after Giygas's defeat.
• Anti-Role Model: Given how Porky turned out, not surprisingly.
• Asshole Victim: In the Mother 2 novelization, Aloysius Minch scams the father of Ness until the latter parent had to take a business trip as part of the former's breaking game in hopes of stealing his secret burger recipes and wife along with encouraging Porky, Aloysius's son, to continue being a pawn for Giygas while having aware of the entity's influence on him all to enrich himself. He ends up starving to death in the Deep Darkness with Porky marking a message to see him in hell thanks to him having been a "scrawny greedy" scumbag. Granted, Mr. Minch's fate gets undone, but he still gets busted thanks to him stealing money.
• Death by Adaptation: Aloysius dies of starvation in Deep Darkness. Subverted when he gets revived after Giygas's defeat, but he still does not get off the hook for embezzling money.
• Disproportionate Retribution: They severely punish (whip in the Japanese version) their two sons just for staying out too late.
• Don't Make Me Take My Belt Off!: In the Japanese version.
• Evil Counterpart: To Ness's parents. Aloysius makes a point of reminding Ness that his dad owes him money (or so he claims) and threatens to get them evicted and such if they don't pay up.
• Greed: Aloysius is accompanied by Porky into working for Geldegarde Monotoli, residing in rooms embroidered in gold.
• Hate Sink: Both of them are really terrible people and parents.
• Hero Killer: Lardna kills Buzz Buzz by swatting him.
• Jerkass: Likely the biggest examples in the game, not counting their older son.
• Kick the Dog: Lardna casually smashes Buzz Buzz, fatally wounding him.
• Parental Neglect: They barely seem bothered at all by Porky's disappearance and hardly pay attention to Picky.
• Resentful Guardian: Aloysius is implied to be this due to the way he treats their sons on a daily basis.
• Small Role, Big Impact: Porky's parents don't appear very often, but they are largely responsible for Porky being such a miserable prick. Perhaps if they had treated him better he wouldn't have teamed up with Giygas and he wouldn't be responsible for many of the events of Mother 3.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: "Ayaaaeee! I think it's a dung beetle! I'll smash your guts out!"

Lier X. Agerate

The local treasure hunter residing in a shack next the hill where the meteorite crash-landed. His latest discovery is the strangest yet; a certain artifact would that later set a series of unsettling events in motion for Ness on his journey.

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• Brainwashed and Crazy: Partially. He found the Mani Mani Statue to begin with.
• Dub Name Change: He is called "Lier Horando" in the original Japanese version. "Hora" is a Japanese term meaning "exaggeration".
• The Hermit: A neighborly example.
• Punny Name: Lier X. Agerate...Liar exaggerate, get it?
• Small Role, Big Impact: His only real role was to unearth the Mani Mani Statue and, later, sell it to Mr. Carpainter. Though he's out of the picture by then, this inadvertently causes a big problem for Ness' party later on.

Orange Kid

Apple Kid's charming, popular rival. Often proclaiming himself to be an ultimate genius, he is really a stuck-up coward with no real talent and effort to put into his own inventions.

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• The Ace: Subverted. He and his fangirls definitely think he's this, but his inventions are either useless or don't work at all.
• Blatant Lies: He claims to have found a problem with Einstein's theories. This claim is...dubious, at best.
• Bungling Inventor: His only real invention is the "Suporma", which plays a song titled "Ode to Orange Kid" before promptly breaking down. He later tries to make a machine that can turn boiled eggs back into raw eggs...but not only is this pretty much useless even for the Earthbound world, he can't even get it to work.
• Chick Magnet: The girls love him.
• Foil: To Apple Kid. Orange Kid is a clean chick magnet of a man whose inventions don't actually work or do anything useful. Apple Kid is a gross, tubby kid whose inventions do exactly what they are supposed to, and are vital on your quest.
• Hidden Depths: When talking to Ness, he mentions wanting to borrow a book on how to overcome shyness from Apple Kid as he has difficulty talking to people.
• It's All About Me: The only invention of his that actually works just plays a ode to him before breaking. He's also very dismissive of Apple Kid, who is actually the smarter of the two.
• KidAnova: Widely adored by his fangirls, despite not realizing the obvious.
• Red Herring: Players new to the game might invest in his inventions since he's extremely confident and adored. Wrong, you're supposed to invest in his slob of a neighbor who nobody seems to like.
• Slobs Versus Snobs: With Apple Kid.
• Small Name, Big Ego: You have no idea. Unlike Apple Kid, who actually makes inventions that work (albeit for very specific purposes), Orange Kid considers a machine that can turn a boiled egg back into a raw egg to be a worthy project.

Antagonists

Giygas

Gyiyg/Giygas

"Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness..."

The Universal Cosmic Destroyer who once again menaces Earth, and, according to Buzz Buzz, successfully obliterates it in the future. Things are... different this time.

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• Abstract Apotheosis: Has become evil itself during his battle.
• Adaptational Backstory Change: In the official novelization, Giygas has always been a destructive Eldritch Abomination that has annihilated many worlds For the Evulz and is a completely different being from the Giygas that is featured in EarthBound Beginnings. Giygas instead comes to Earth via the meteorite that crashes in Onett, at which point he attaches himself to Porky who came to look.
• Adaptation Deviation: Saori Kumi's interpretation of Giygas has no connection whatsoever to the character from the original Mother (which Kumi interpreted as being set in a completely different universe a la Final Fantasy) and is depicted as a planet-killing Eldritch being from the very start. Interestingly, Giygas' full form in the novel is never seen and spends most of the time acting through Porky, whom Giygas is growing inside of as part of a Bizarre Alien Reproduction cycle. He is only briefly glimpsed as a set of thick, spider-like legs that sprout from Porky's mouth at the novel's climax, but thanks to Ness, he is destroyed before he can fully emerge.
• Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: In the official novelization, to Porky. Rather than Porky being Giygas' treacherous servant, Giygas attaches himself to Porky and explicitly brainwashes him into evil. When Porky is very briefly freed from Giygas' control, he asks Ness to kill both of them.
• Adaptational Villainy: Giygas is arguably more evil in the Mother 2 novelization than in the game. The Giygas of the novel is established as being a completely separate individual from the alien being introduced in Mother, and is implied to have been a horrific cosmic destroyer from the very start with nothing resembling the redeeming features he had in the games.
• Almighty Idiot: The Trope Namer. Porky gives him the label after unleashing him from the Devil's Machine.
• Ambiguous Situation: He's in a lot of these at the same time. How sane was he during the timeline of the game? Was he manipulating Porky or was Porky the manipulator, if not both? And most of all, how the heck did he end up like this?
• And I Must Scream: Considering how his face is permanently screaming, it makes you wonder if being inside the Devil's Machine gave him an extreme case of sensory deprivation.
• Asteroids Monster: After Paula prays for the first time against Giygas (in his second form), his defenses suddenly become unstable, and his form wavers as well. He now transitions into his third phase, where he's literally a sea of undulating, blood-red, screaming faces.
• Attack Reflector: Any damage Giygas takes in his first phase will be reflected onto one of your party members.
• Background Boss: Played with; Giygas is the background.
• Best Served Cold: He spent ten years planning out his revenge after his initial defeat by Ninten, and said plan opted for a more subtle and gradual approach rather than a sudden head-on invasion.
• Big Bad: He must be defeated in order to prevent a Bad Future. Unlike his Hidden Villain status from Earthbound Beginnings, Giygas's role as the antagonist to defeat is set up barely after the game starts.
• Body Horror: His original form wasn't nearly so monstrous, but after he let his anger and hatred consume him, destroying his original body as a result... well, what you see in the spoilered image is as close as it gets to his real shape.
• Clipped-Wing Angel: His intense psychic power utterly destroyed him, leaving behind an Eldritch Abomination that has almost no ability to perceive the world around it or sense the consequences of its actions.
• Dark Lord on Life Support: The Devil's Machine, whatever it is, seems to benefit his physical and mental health, although it also doubles as the Can in which Evil is Sealed in that if it's turned off, it releases... something.
• Dragon Their Feet: After Ness defeats Porky, it can be thought of that he becomes this once Porky leaves him to kill the heroes. But this depends on how you depict it.
• Demoted to Dragon: In some interpretations of the final battle, Porky decides to betray Giygas by using him as a way to destroy Ness. So the moment Porky turns off the Devil's Machine, Giygas is The Dragon and Porky is the Dragon Ascendant. Though, it could also be believed that Porky released him simply to show Ness that he and his friends had no possible way to beat his master.
• The Dreaded: Until his reveal at the end of the game, his name is spoken of with blind curiosity at best and absolute terror at worst, and for good reason. He's powerful enough to destroy the universe, and he's extremely terrifying to look at. Probably the only time Porky is telling you the truth throughout the game is when he tells you that Giygas is incredibly scary.
• Dub Name Change: His name was changed from Gyiyg from the Japanese versions to Giygas in the English translation.
• Early-Bird Cameo: If you pay attention to the opening cinematic when booting up the game, you see red static before it cuts to a still showing a fleet of UFOs opening fire at a targeted town. That static is identical to Giygas' death animation at the end of the game.
• Eldritch Abomination: Giygas is something of Lovecraftian proportions. He doesn't appear to have a form (though some have made him out to look like a hurricane with a screaming face), he exists in the future and the past, and his only dialogue is inspired by the trauma of viewing a violent murder scene misinterpreted by Itoi as a rape scene in a movie that scarred him as a child. His appearance is so out-of-this-world, he could make frickin' Cthulhu look like an adorable puppy.
• Eldritch Location: It's very easy to interpret him as being this as well, as it's implied that he's just that big and distorted. Porky even states that Giygas, in his gigantic encompassing state, is a bizarre dimension unto himself, meaning that Ness and co. are fighting INSIDE of Giygas during the final battle.
• Eldritch Transformation: We don't get to see it, but Giygas goes from a grey alien in the previous game to... whatever this is supposed to be.
• Evil Feels Good: One of the most bizarre examples of the whole trope. Despite being stated to be the "Embodiment of Evil", he claims to feel "good" amongst all the rest of his incoherent babbling.
• Evil Is Visceral: It's a little hard to classify what he looks like, other than horror personified; there's a reason why Giygas's third form provides the page image for EarthBound/MOTHER Nightmare Fuel. Some could say he looks like a vortex. Others say he resembles a mist or a cloud consisting of howling faces. Others who never played EarthBound Beginnings might think he looks like a fetus. The Devil's Machine also looks like a mass of tendrils and intestines holding a large eyeball, though it's possible you're just standing on an elaborate plumbing system surrounding a spherical holding cell either way. It's portrayed as deliberately visceral. After that... we see the monster's true form.
• Evil Makes You Monstrous: Just look at the image and compare his form in the first game and you'll see a huge difference - aside from the ears, they look like completely different characters. Let's not mention that he literally becomes evil itself in this game, as stated by Porky. You can believe this or not.
• Expy: Of Azathoth. He's an amorphous mindless god-like entity who babbles incoherently and is capable of devastating the universe without even knowing that he's doing it.
• Final Boss: Giygas is built up as the ultimate evil for Ness and co. to defeat throughout the entire game, and ...well, let's just say he exceeds expectations.
• Game-Breaking Bug:
  • For a given definition of "bug", it's actually an absolutely fiendish DRM. If the game detects forgery of any sort (including improperly-configured emulators/ROMs), then just before you actually get to fight Giygas once he is released from the Devil's Machine, the game locks up and deletes all your save files!
  • A straighter example of the trope in the Game Boy Advance version, an alternative (not intended) way to defeat Giygas is with Poison.^note He's supposed to be technically invincible despite the damage numbers shown from attacking him, but Poison doesn't check for this and instead kills him in a few turns. After this, the game either proceeds as if you won normally... or hangs and forces you to reset.
• Giant Eye of Doom: When Ness finally meets Giygas, he's residing inside "the Devil's Machine." The machine opens a giant eye with a face in the pupil that resembles Ness (or maybe it's Ninten?), though it's unclear if this is an actual eyeball, just a machine meant to look like one, or some kind of reflection.
• Generic Doomsday Villain: He wants to spread darkness throughout the world. The actual reasons are only alluded to in Earthbound Beginnings.^note The reality is that he got hit with Motive Decay hard. His original plan was to invade and take over Earth, with the intent of punishing humans for stealing the secrets of his race's technology. But his rage and hatred, his conflicted feelings towards his foster human mother Maria, and his vast psychic powers destroyed him in both body and mind. As a result, he was left an all-powerful, but completely incoherent, gibbering mess.
• Ghostly Gape: Once he's freed from the Devil's Machine, his expression becomes a drawn-out, broke stare with no eyes and a wide gaping mouth, seemingly screaming with agony.
• Greater-Scope Villain: While not mentioned at all, his influence lingers long after being destroyed, in Mother 3, through Porky.
• Guide Dang It!: By the time you reach him at the end of this long game, you'll probably not have used the "Pray" command and possibly even forgot that it exists. Using it is how you beat him. Without prayer, Ness and his friends will become, as Porky says, "just another meal to him."
  • This is only SLIGHTLY alleviated by Porky telling the heroes to cry out for help and that it won't do them any good. The player is supposed to put together that 1) "crying out for help" sounds a lot like praying for help, which is effectively what Paula does with the "Pray" command, and 2) Porky is a known liar and braggart, so his "cry out for help; nobody can save you" rant is actually the hint as to what to do when you can't seem to do anything further to Giygas. Granted, it does take a bit of a leap of logic to arrive at that conclusion, but it IS a subtle hint at least.
• Hate Plague: Giygas's influence reaches across time and space, fostering evil in the minds of, humans, beasts and even non-living things.
• Humanoid Abomination: His first and second forms most certainly look like a blood-red vortex, emitting a face with thin ears similar to his original form, albeit permanently and constantly screaming as if in extreme agony. If you turn the image of this form upside-down, you can see his face from when he was just an alien. His later forms, once he starts splitting up into multiple copies of himself, form a silhouette that looks disturbingly like a newborn baby. Looks, being the operative word.
• Inconsistent Spelling: He was called Giegue in the unproduced English translation of the previous game, and "The Geek" in one preview of Nintendo Power. The fandom typically accepts it as Giygas due to it being part of a final release. However, a large portion of fanworks give him the Ganon/Ganondorf treatment and use Giegue to denote his original form, saving the name of Giygas for the Almighty Idiot. Alternatively, you can go with the original name and call both forms Gyiyg.
• Invincible Villain: Just like his previous appearance, a full on assault on Giygas is useless. You are required to damage him in one phase, but Porky just shows up and tells you how pointless it is. You must find another method to defeat him...
• Knight of Cerebus: He's a font of evil and Nightmare Fuel personified. Once he actually appears, the game's light-hearted and silly atmosphere goes down the drain.
• Leitmotif: Giygas' Intro, Giygas Stirs, Giygas' Intimidation, Giygas is Wounded, Giygas is Fatally Wounded, and Giygas Disintegrates. All of these are incredibly unsettling Harsh Noise backdrops and are used as BGM during the the battle against him.^note Respectively they are used: before the battle; his release from the Devil's Machine; base form; provoked and destabilized forms; wounded form; death blow against him.
  • The song that plays before the actual fight with Giygas, "Pokey Means Business!", is also heavily associated with him, despite the name and the fact that really, you're fighting Porky. In Japanese, the song is known as "イナクナリナサイ！" ("Inakunarinasai!"), which roughly translates to "Cease To Exist" - a quote that aligns with Giygas' goals (it's also written entirely in katakana, mirroring Giygas' speech pattern), although that name isn't official either. Regardless of name, however, the song itself has a certain Mood Motif that matches his character - chiptune to represent his status as a returning foe after EarthBound Beginnings, and hardcore metal to tell the player that he wants you annihilated.
• Made of Evil: He's a disembodied entity of pure evil. In EarthBound Beginnings, however, he was just an angry grey alien.
• Madness Mantra:
  • His most known one:
  Giygas: "Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness..."
  • He also says, "...I am ...h...a...p...p...y..." and "I feel... g...o...o...d..." quite frequently.
• Mercy Kill: Mentioned in the Nightmare Fuel page for the game, but there is an unprovable theory that a VERY tiny sliver of lucidity still remains in Giygas, enough of one that is horrified at what he's become and maybe even desperate to be put out of his agonizing misery. If true, then Ness and co. are effectively saving Giygas from himself, not just saving the world from him. Kinda makes the relief at finally putting him down for good take on a completely new meaning.
• Mirror Boss: While inside the Devil's Machine, he attacks with PSI Rockin, and even sports Ness' (or maybe Ninten's?) face. Also, every attack you hit him with bounces right back at you.
• Monster Delay: Giygas' presence is felt throughout the entire game and you are repeatedly told about them, but you never get an idea of what they're really like until the very end of the game. Players unaware of Giygas will be surprised that he completely shatters the saccharine tone of the game.
• Motive Decay: In EarthBound Beginnings, he wanted to punish the entire human race for the actions of that game's protagonist Ninten's great-grandfather George, who stole knowledge of his people's technology. In the sequel, his goal is to bring Darkness in the whole universe. Justified, considering the fact that he's gone completely insane.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast:
  • The Universal Cosmic Destroyer. Also, The Embodiment of Evil.
  • The machine which he resides in, the Devil's Machine, also fits this trope.
• Nigh-Invulnerability: In all of his forms after his first one, only praying can damage him. Prayer will destabilize his defenses, and all other prayers after that will cause damage. Praying more and more makes the damage caused by it grow exponentially until it reaches 5-digit numbers worth of damage. All other attacks deal 0 damage despite having numbers pop-up when they hit.
• Nightmare Face: His face when he comes out of the Devil's Machine resembles a horrifying version of The Scream and is permanently frozen that way.
• No-Sell: He reflects any attack thrown at him in the first phase. Notably, he reflects PSI attacks even if they were his own and bounced off of your own shields, which normally isn't possible.
• Nothing Is Scarier: The amount of info in the game you're given about Giygas equates to "he is the ultimate evil and you are destined to stop him." Anyone who mentions him, even Porky, knows absolutely nothing about him other than that. You go through the entire game having no clue what to expect, making it all the more intense and terrifying when you finally confront him and see what's become of him. It's considerably more jarring if you've played through the original MOTHER and know that Giegue and Giygas are one and the same, because you'll be expecting a little grey alien in a life support pod, but instead get... this.
• Obliviously Evil: After his powers destroyed his body and mind, Giygas lost self-awareness and doesn't realize what he's doing. He can only think rationally with the help of the Devil's Machine. Without it, he returns to a total chaotic mass with no rational thought or awareness.
• Omnicidal Maniac: They call him the Universal Cosmic Destroyer for a reason.
• Orcus on His Throne: He's immobile while inside the Devil's Machine, so he doesn't really have a say in the matter. But he does require it to think straight.
• The Power of Hate: Giegue was forced to choose between the love of his adopted mother, Mary, and loyalty to his race. In the original MOTHER, he was defeated when Ninten reminded him of Mary's old lullaby, which tore him up emotionally and made him reluctant to attack Earth. It won't be so easy this time: Giegue has crossed the Moral Event Horizon since then, having chosen to wipe out humanity and resurfaced as a being of pure hate, with a new name.
• Power Incontinence: Giygas became so powerful that his power literally destroyed his entire being, reducing him to the horrifying Eldritch Abomination he is now. He needs the Devil's Machine so he can retain his mind, because without it, he returns to a chaotic mass of raw power. He's so powerful now that he can't maintain sanity — or solid form — without it.
• Red and Black and Evil All Over: One of the most literal examples in all of fiction.
• Restraining Bolt: The Devil's Machine. Somewhat subverted in that the difference when the bolt is removed is minor, though the difference in question is "have some slight rhyme and reason to his actions" and "destroy everything indiscriminately".
• Returning Big Bad: The Final Boss from Earthbound Beginnings makes his grand return with more power at the cost of his sanity.
• The Reveal: Yes, we knew he was coming from the very beginning, but it's safe to say that nobody could have made a decent guess of what happened to his appearance following the period between EarthBound Beginnings where he's a simple grey alien and EarthBound.
• Riddle for the Ages: We know what happens to Giygas at the end of Earthbound Beginnings, but what happened to him after that to make him like... this?
• Same Character, But Different: In EarthBound Beginnings, Giygas, while still an absurdly powerful psychic, had a definite form as an intelligent Grey-like alien and was a conflicted, tragic figure who struggled with his lingering affection for his human foster mother and his orders to destroy humanity so they could never gain his people's technology and psychic abilities. In this game, Giygas is completely formless and mindless, and his previous internal conflict is never mentioned. No explanation is given that bridges the two appearances.
• Sanity Slippage: It's clear that his conflicted loyalties between his own race and his adoptive foster mother Mary/Maria got him hit with Motive Decay and eventually made him jump into the deep end. Come the final battle, he's completely lost it. It's implied that this is happening even during the second game, as the "coffee break" in Saturn Valley and the "tea break" in Tenda Village both talk about how Giygas is struggling and having problems of his own.
• The Scream: Giygas's howling face is permanently frozen like this.
• Satanic Archetype: Before he's encountered, he seems to be one. He has monikers like the "the enemy of the universe" and "embodiment of evil" which are usually reserved for Satan. He can corrupt people by exploiting and amplifying their inner evil thoughts. He's apparently come into conflict with gods before, and his forces are said to have retreated into a place of pure darkness beyond time and space. Not to mention that strongest of his minions is a hellhound that lives in a realm of fire. However, in person he’s more of a tragic Lovecraftian… thing.
• Sequential Boss: He's first fought in the Devil's Machine (though you're really fighting Porky at this point), then in his true form, then his true form again only closer and swirling, then when he goes Asteroids Monster after his defenses are destabilized, and when he's on the brink of defeat.
• Stylistic Suck: Despite being much larger than any boss faced thus far, the face he creates upon the Devil's Machine is a stretched-out, blurry copy of Ness' tiny sprite.
• Sufficiently Advanced Alien: More or less.
• Talkative Loon: His "dialogue" in his boss battle is basically complete nonsense. Unlike most examples of this trope, this is actually creepy as it only further serves to warn the player of just how far gone he is.
• Terms of Endangerment: Curiously, in the Japanese version, he addresses Ness with a polite "-san" honorific during the infamous Madness Mantra where he repeats his name (this was Lost in Translation in the localization given that the translation does not utilize honorifics). Few other characters in the game refer to Ness this way, let alone any villains, and even in Earthbound Beginnings Giygas did not use any honorific when speaking to Ninten.
• Tortured Monster: During the battle, Giygas moans about how nothing is right, says he's sad, and claims he is hurting amongst his insane blathering.
  Giygas: It hurts... It hurts...
• Tragic Villain: In the first MOTHER game, he was an alien who was forced to pick between his beloved foster mother Mary/Maria, and his loyalty to his own race after Ninten's great-grandfather George studied knowledge of their technology and stole it without permission. Eventually his highly conflicted feelings made him decide to give up his humanity and become an all-powerful font of evil and hatred. By the time the final battle rolls around, his physical body has been destroyed by his own power, and he's completely lost his marbles to the point he has little to no comprehension of his actions or his present surroundings, and in the midst of his babbling, he calls for Ness and screams how everything "hurts".
• Turns Red: Well, he's already red to begin with, but once he is released from the Devil's Machine, he starts getting two attacks per turn. As he takes more damage, this gets bumped up to three attacks per turn. If you don't start cranking out the prayers as fast as you can, Giygas will flat out destroy you.
• Unusual Ears: The only feature he kept in-between forms was his pair of wispy feline ears from MOTHER, which are still faintly visible on the top of his head.
• Unwitting Pawn: Once the Devil's Machine turns off, Giygas could be thought of as this to Porky. But that depends on how you interpret it.
• Villainous Breakdown: With his increasing power, Giygas ended up going insane and turned into nothing but evil and madness itself.
• Vile Villain, Saccharine Show: You would think a series as cartoony and (initially) light-hearted as this would provide only ordinary terror at worst, but Giygas begs to differ.
• With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: During the fight with Porky, Giygas resides in a floating container not unlike his MOTHER incarnation: the Devil's Machine. However, he has already lost his original form and become something that destroyed his own body and mind. The first phase of the actual fight with him lets him out of said floating container and reveals that, while he got a massive power boost that put him on a near-god level, it turned him into an insane Eldritch Abomination who constantly screams how everything hurts and has little to no comprehension of what he's doing or his present surroundings.
• Was Once a Man: Well, a cat-alien-thing, anyway. All he is now is a swirling mass of destructive cosmic energy and hatred, though if you flip his face upside down you can see it's actually his original head flipped upside down and mutated by his uncontrollable power.
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: In MOTHER, all he really wanted was his family back. In EarthBound he... well, the best equivalence humans can understand would be an extreme case of sensory deprivation; he can no longer recognize the world around him, which means he can't sense Paula's prayers being the cause of his immeasurable pain. During his final battle, he also goes on rambling about it "hurting", calling out for "friends", warning the heroes to "go back", and claiming something is "not right", with the implication of the latter quote being in the moral sense.
• You Cannot Grasp the True Form: He named this one too: it's his attack announcement.
  "You cannot grasp the true form of Giygas' attack!"
  • Though unlike other examples, Giygas's attacks are actually regular attacks used in the game, only disguised (using PSI Brainshock on him will reveal which attack he's really using). For example, he can use PSI Thunder and the much worse PSI Flash. The only exception is what can be described as a party-wide PSI Freeze.
  • From a story perspective, this makes a lot of sense. In Mother, his mental power was so far beyond the protagonists they couldn't process what he was using for PSI. In EarthBound, however, as the Eldritch Abomination he's become now, he's so large and all-encompassing, you simply can't tell where his attacks are coming from. Either that, or he's become so immeasurably powerful now, so mind-numbingly strong, that in terms of power, his attacks are now completely beyond mortal comprehension.

Porky Minch

Porky (Pokey) Minch

Three boys, he said? Uhhh... I'm not one of those three, am I?

Ness's next-door neighbor. Seemingly harmless at first, yet well-known for being rude, obnoxious, cowardly and a downright troublemaker, his Hidden Depths have more to him than meets the eye.

---

• Abusive Parents: In the Japanese version of the game, Porky glumly says that if his parents find out he and Picky were out late, he gets spanked 100 times; this had to be changed because of Nintendo's rules of content at the time. Thus, in the English version, he gets no dessert for the rest of the decade, but still gets yelled at. To be fair, that's probably worse for Porky than getting spanked.
• Adaptational Heroism: In the official novelization, Giygas parasitically attaches himself to Porky at the beginning, which gradually turned Porky more and more evil as a result. During the final battle, he briefly regains control of his mind and asks Ness (who was hesitant to fight Porky, whom he considers a close friend) to kill him and prevent Giygas from fully awakening. Furthermore, Giygas' defeat creates a new timeline where Porky is Ness' older brother (Picky becomes an only child, Family Theme Naming be damned) and they have a very good relationship with each other. Also, Porky becomes physically fit and attractive. It should be noted here that the novel was written over a decade before the release of Mother 3.
• Admiring the Abomination: Very impressed by Giygas.
• Allegorical Character: Itoi considers Porky as a symbol of humanity's flaws.
• Alliance with an Abomination: Porky shows up at the game's climax, revealing himself to be Giygas' ally. However, who's really in charge is left unclear.
• Ambiguous Innocence: It can be said that the trilogy exemplifies that Children Are Innocent... well, inverted with Ness's Nightmare, but he gets that over and done with. When considering Porky, you can't tell whether or not if he was innocent to begin with.
• Ambiguously Evil: In conjunction with Ambigiously Innocent, his character is so vague that only guesses can be interpreted to his actions throughout the whole game (even though, oddly enough, he has the most character tropes in the game because of this). Did he join forces with Giygas out of opportunity, or was he corrupted from the Mani Mani Statue as well, just like Lier X. Agerate, Mr. Carpainter, and Monotoli? Did he really consider Ness to be a friend or foe the whole time? Did he do everything out of free will or not? Was he even evil from the beginning? This is all up for you to decide.
  • His actions in the sequel don't help his case.
• Ambition Is Evil: Considering the order of power who he betrays each time.
• Animal Motifs: Pigs, considering his name; pigs are considered slovenly, dirty creatures, and Porky is an obnoxious outcast in Onett. Come the final boss battle, spiders apply as well, as he rode a Spider Tank and possibly manipulated Giygas.
• Apologizes a Lot: One of his actions as the Guest-Star Party Member in the beginning of the game would be to "apologize profusely".
• Back for the Finale: After Fourside is completed, he completely vanishes and stays one step ahead of the party. They finally catch up to him at the end of the game, at which point he's in a position of considerable influence to Giygas, if not outright dominance. But it's up for interpretation whether Porky is actually loyal to Giygas or not.
• Beware the Silly Ones: He's pretty much a joke in the first half of the game. The final act sees him acting as emissary to the Universal Cosmic Destroyer himself, and possibly the one in outright control of said destroyer.
• Big Bad Friend: He becomes the Dragon Ascendant when Giygas is destroyed, and promises this isn't the end.. However, we may really never know if he was truly friends with Ness, as evidenced from the player's decision in the beginning of the game. To Porky, he may think he is friends with Ness, but to us, it's not so sure.
  • Heavily implied in Ness's Magicant that he can see right through his act.
• Big Brother Bully: Implied to be this to his younger brother, Picky, during the tour in Magicant.
  Picky: "Ness! Porky took my snack!"
• Big Eater: He's a Fat Bastard whose Animal Motifs references pigs, which are stereotyped as gluttons, he's implied to steal his little brother Picky's snacks, and the self-serve shop in Happy Happy Village closes down because Porky ate all the food without paying for it.
• Blowing a Raspberry: Does this in the Japanese version multiple times.
• Body Horror: Not a very drastic case, but he turns a sickly blue as a side-effect of either abusing time travel and/or becoming fully corrupted by Giygas's influence. Maybe both?
• Boisterous Weakling: The final boss battle has him as this.
• Childish Older Sibling: While he's older than Picky, he acts a lot more immaturely. Picky even lampshades this, asking which of them is the real older brother.
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: He first shows signs of this by abandoning Carpainter when he and the rest of the cult reform, though it wasn't too bad since he was the only evil person in Happy Happy Village after Carpainter's defeat and he didn't cause any major damage. Abandoning Monotoli and stealing his helicopter to spite the party, all while mocking them, is when he gets worse. But his final backstab is the worst: he backstabs all life in existence by turning off the Devil's Machine and unleashing Giygas in all his power, content for all the "garbage" in the universe to burn as the Universal Cosmic Destroyer begins to sentence everything to neverending darkness.
• Color Motif: As a "consultant" to Fourside's corrupt Mayor, Porky dons a snazzy striped suit. It's red and black. Just like Giygas.
• Combat Pragmatist: Once he takes enough damage, he turns off the Devil's Machine to release Giygas out on the heroes. Either he's using the Eldritch Abomination as an attack dog, or he's confident that the all-powerful Embodiment of Evil will destroy them effortlessly.
• Condescending Compassion: During the final boss battle toward the Chosen Four. Or maybe he's just laughing too hard.
  Porky: In this bizarre dimension, you four are the only force fighting for justice... and here you stand, waiting to be burned up with all the rest of the garbage of this universe... Haaaaah! That's so sad. I can't help but shed a tear.
• Conspicuous Consumption: His lofty position in Fourside exemplifies this. His room is embellished in gold.
• Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: To Giygas as he appeared in the previous game. Giygas in that game was so hidden even the idea of a single Big Bad was never even suggested until just before the final battle, whereas Porky is one of the very first characters introduced and becomes a recurring thorn in Ness's side. Giygas was a member of an extraordinarily powerful psychic alien race while Porky is weak even by human standards. Giygas had a loving mother in the form of Maria while Porky was stuck with the abusive Aloysius and Lardna. And ultimately, while Giygas tried to win Ninten over and was driven off by The Power of Love, Porky is antagonistic for the entire final battle and can only be defeated with violence.
• The Corruptible: Somewhat. He's strongly associated with the corruptive Mani Mani Statue for the first arc of the game, but there are many hints that Porky's evil runs a bit deeper, most notably how he never reforms like the rest of the statue's victims, even after it's destroyed. Even after Giygas is killed, he's still evil.
• Cower Power: When accompanying you in the beginning of the game, one of his actions includes using Ness as a Human Shield.
• Creepy Child: A very obnoxious kid who goes from picking on his little brother and is noted in-game to be the "worst person in the neighborhood", to joining the Happy Happyist cult. Then he sides with an Eldritch Abomination, possibly manipulates said Abomination, and has a Kick the Dog moment with Ness before escaping through time-travel, setting up the events for MOTHER 3, all while still a kid.
• Deal with the Devil: Is heavily implied throughout the whole game... and in the final battle.
• Deceptive Disciple: Maybe directed towards Giygas. He buggers off with Giygas's technology and steps back as Giygas unleashes his full power upon Ness and his friends. But Porky probably didn't think that Giygas would be meet his ultimate demise in the battle that followed.
• Desperately Craves Affection: More on the crossover with also seeking attention, what he says before his departure in the final battle implies this towards Ness.
  "So now which one of us do you think is the cool guy?!"
• Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: Porky insults Giygas during the final battle, calling him an Almighty Idiot after explaining how Giygas destroyed his entire being with his power.
• Dirty Coward: Makes it very clear that, now that he gets a taste of his own power, he's far too good for the likes of you. When you inevitably prevail, he begs for forgiveness just long enough to make a getaway.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Applied to Ness. It gets worse.
• The Drag-Along: Porky is not very enthusiastic about the prospect of a journey to save the world.
  Porky: Three boys, he said? ...Uhhh...I'm not one of those three, am I?... ...'Cause... I'm not into this kind of thing at all...
• The Dragon: Starts his villainous career as one to Carpainter, but unlike the other cultists, he stays evil after Carpainter's defeat. He's seen again in Fourside as Monotoli's Dragon before abandoning him, as well. His final affiliate is Giygas himself, though which one is dominant is a bit vague.
• Dragon Ascendant: After Giygas is mortally wounded, Porky becomes this, promising he'll be back.
  • It can also be thought of as Porky became this when he decides to shut off the Devil's Machine.
• Dragon-in-Chief: By the time you fight them, Giygas is barely sentient and clearly incapable of acting of his own accord. This could make Porky The Dragon, part a Big Bad Duumvirate, or the outright Big Bad; it's very open to interpretation, like everything else in the entire series.
  • In the original Japanese, Porky tellingly drops the "-sama" honorific from Giygas's name. Similarly, in the English translation, he drops the title of "Master" from his name. Maybe it's because he thinks no title is truly worthy of Giygas anymore, as he's become so freaking powerful. Or Porky is becoming a Starscream: as in he no longer considers Giygas his boss or his better, but as something more of an attack dog.
• Dragon Their Feet: Either is the Dragon in question or Giygas is this to him.
• Drama Queen: Practically acts like this once he has to follow you around.
• Driven by Envy: While he does flat out say that he wants to obliterate the universe to a crisp, he has some underlying notion that he wants to top Ness in any way possible throughout the whole game.
• Driven to Villainy: Debatably. It's not clear if it was because of his parents that set him off or if he joined Giygas out of his own free will. It's possible that Giygas's evil influence warped Porky's mind just like all of your other foes — but if that were the case, why doesn't Porky ever snap out of it, particularly when Carpainter and Monotoli regain their free will?
• Drunk on the Dark Side: The first part of the final boss battle explains it for itself.
• Drunk with Power: Implied as he goes into more higher powers throughout the whole game, maybe to even top Giygas himself at the end.
• Dumb Is Good: In the beginning. As he becomes more evil and twisted, his speech becomes more erudite as a sign of his newly earned omnipotence given to him by Giygas.
• Enfant Terrible: He's not much older than Ness, a middle schooler, yet becomes increasingly wicked thanks to Giygas' influence and exploitation of his abusive upbringing, becoming a recurring antagonist throughout the game and eventually usurping Giygas himself.
• Establishing Character Moment: While you can argue that most of his whole character can be decided by the player, the one noticeable trait that always drags him down is being a Dirty Coward. This is fully enforced in the beginning of the game when he acts as the temporary Guest-Star Party Member.
• Et Tu, Brute?: While it is not clear whether or nor he is really friends with Ness to begin with, it is implied.
• Evil All Along: Possibly, but it's left ambiguous if this is the case. It's implied that he and Ness were once friends, but it's never confirmed. He's established as a Jerkass during present events, but by the end he's become Giygas' right-hand, and may actually be the one calling the shots by that point. It's left to interpretation if his ambition for power was always there, or if he Slowly Slipped Into Evil.
• Evil Counterpart: Buzz Buzz, or rather, fate, chooses Ness as his champion; Giygas chooses Porky.
• Eviler than Thou: If he really has been manipulating Giygas once they met, he effectively asserted himself as the Big Bad of the rest of the franchise.
• Evil Former Friend: It can be said that he was friends with Ness before the meteorite incident if you replied "Yes" to the police officer in the beginning of the game that asks if you are both friends. Of course, if you say "No", this trope still may or may not be included because we never really know the actual backstory between the two.
• Evil Old Folks: Was turned into this after abusing time travel in MOTHER 3.
• Evil Makes You Monstrous: His sprite in the final battle clearly depicts him with blue skin and darker hair, which prior has been a trademark sign of other NPC's who've been influenced by Giygas. This was just the beginning of the transformation, as the effects of time travel made things much worse.
• Face–Heel Turn: Debatable if he was good to begin with but either way, he once was Ness's neighbor and (possibly) friend who later became Giygas's right-hand man.
• The Family That Slays Together: His father and him run the show for Monotoli during their stay in Fourside. Soon after, however, Porky ditches his father after his plans go sour, leaving his father to lose their newfound success.
• Fat Bastard: To the point where NPCs always refer to him as a "pig-looking kid." Consider his name, for one.
• Foil: To Ness.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: The foolish to Picky's responsible.
• For the Evulz: By switching off the Devil's Machine, Porky removes the last vestiges of Giygas's conscious and strategic mind, returning him to his state as an all-devouring abomination. Porky must suspect he's just doomed himself, too, and confesses that he's now gone insane with fear. But he's also laughing.
• Freudian Excuse: For starters, his parents are pretty loathsome. Either one would sell out humanity for a nickel, so it's no surprise that Porky is so susceptible. Then later, there's the possibility that he's been manipulated by Giygas for almost the entire time...
• From Nobody to Nightmare: Went from a troubled insecure boy to a deranged lunatic bent on the destruction of the entire universe; and that was just the beginning...
• Gag Nose: He has a prominently large, round nose on his sprites that emphasizes his goofy demeanor and comic relief nature at the start of the game.
• Gonk: Unlike the chubby but cute and heroic Ness, Porky is a very fat kid who heavily resembles a pig, with the obnoxiousness to boot.
• Green-Eyed Monster: Porky's incarnation in Magicant claims to be envious of Ness. A lot of his later behavior is geared toward belittling or dominating our hero.
• Hated by All: He's the Foil to the ever-popular Ness. In fact, he is considered, in-game, the "worst person in the neighborhood".
• Hate Sink: Played with. Porky was already no saint at the start, being a cowardly, rude kid whose also ungrateful, but his Freudian Excuse in his Abusive Parents and hidden depths in wanting to reconcile are believable enough. As time goes by, however, his behavior becomes more and more despicable and clearly meant to tick the player off, that it can be hard to sympathize with him, not helped by how he almost unleashes the purest form of evil in the world simply to lash out at the same world who ostracized him. Come Mother 3, and it's clear his Freudian Excuse has rang hollow on the wake of everything he's done, playing this trope straight.
• Herald: To Giygas.
• Humans Are the Real Monsters: After rendering himself motionless and dumb with his immeasurable power — leaving him unable to directly affect things in the present — Giygas selected Porky to be his physical agent. Note, however, that Giygas's original plan — before losing his mind to his own power — was to rule the universe, not destroy it. What he didn't realize was that Porky was so consumed by envy and self-loathing that he'd be delighted to set the universe on fire, as long as his enemies all perish. But then again, after his transformation into a being that wanted to destroy everything, Giygas and Porky probably found common ground on that subject.
• Hypocritical Humor: Even as he pesters the cops at the meteor crash site, he tells Ness to buzz off and stop "rubber-necking".
• I Fight for the Strongest Side!: Porky's Freudian Excuse for becoming Giygas' Dragon.
  Porky: I assist only the strong and able! That's Porky.
• I Just Want to Have Friends: Porky's manifestation in Magicant is actually quite friendly and wishes to mend fences with Ness, which further adds to his Hidden Depths.
• Improbable Age: How in the world does he know how to fly a helicopter? Let alone be a priest in Happy Happy Village, a consultant to Monotoli, AND possibly control Giygas in the final battle. Even if the latter may be interpreted in two different ways, he did orchestrate more of the misfortunes the Chosen Four come across throughout their adventure than a preteen kid / young teenager would realistically be able to.
  • Then again Porky and Giygas's alliance, no matter which way you look at it, eventually became a Deal with the Devil, so this is likely the reason he's gain so much knowledge in such a short timespan.
• Informed Poverty: His father states this to Ness soon after bringing his boys back home, despite the fact that their house is twice as large as Ness's house. If Ness talks to Picky when the meteor first lands, he'll mention that Aloysius and Lardna are dining at an expensive restaurant.
  Aloysius Minch: "We've loaned your father a lot of money. It may have been a hundred thousand dollars or more... Well, I guess it really could have been less."
• Irrational Hatred: Towards Ness.
• Jerkass: Taken to ever-increasing levels. Just when you think he can't possibly get any worse, he somehow finds a way to top himself. Again, and again, and again.
• Karma Houdini: When Giygas is finally destroyed and his reign of terror ends, it's only a sign that Porky's has just begun.
• Kick the Dog: Several times, but a particularly shining example is the graffiti message directed at Ness written on a billboard in Summers. Brilliant idea for fun, Porky.
  "Ness can eat my shorts! For a neighbor, he's a loser!"
• Kids Are Cruel: It's implied he picks on his younger brother Picky occasionally, and did pretty bad things to warrant being called the "worst person in the neighborhood." Then after finding the meteorite, the Jerkass tendencies escalate from there. By the time the final battle comes around, you're already feeling like you want to strangle him. Don't get us started on MOTHER 3...
• Kiddie Kid: Oddly enough, he acts quite immature and childish his age for a villain, that is, considering he is an adolescent. Take into account how he taunts the heroes throughout the whole game and his actions in his Guest-Star Party Member appearance in the beginning of the game.
• The Kid with the Remote Control: He has control over the Devil's Machine during the final boss battle.
• Laughing Mad: During the final boss battle, even though he admits Giygas terrifies him as much as Ness.
• Leitmotif: Has a weird and disharmonious tune that follows him.
  • Also, his epic boss theme, "Pokey Means Business!"
• Let's Get Dangerous!: A rare villainous example during the final battle. Granted, he's backed up by Giygas here, but Heavily Armed Porky on his own would've made for a rather challenging boss if he were encountered any sooner.
  • The music that plays is even titled "Pokey Means Business!", and "Cease to Exist!" in Japanese regions.
• Like Father, Like Son: Even if we, the audience, doesn't get to see much of his father, it is evident that his father can be just as malicious as his son. Itoi commented that the "apple doesn't fall far from the tree" in regards to Porky's relationship with his father.
• The Load: Although he's only with you at the very beginning of the game, all he does is alternately whine, beg for mercy, hide behind Ness, play dead, and otherwise do nothing to contribute. Even Picky makes some attempt to contribute, even if it's mostly futile.
• Lost in Translation: An unintentional side effect of his name change to Pokey in the English translation, as Porky's army in Mother 3, released many years after Earthbound, made it clear his name is a reference to pigs. Super Smash Bros. Brawl renames him Porky to keep the meaning.
• The Man Behind the Man: To Carpainter and Monotoli. Also one interpretation of his relation with Giygas.
• Mark of the Beast: As with some human enemies and the Happy Happyist cult, the whole game suggests that whoever is under Giygas's control is "blue", so to speak. Porky is no exception; in the final boss battle, he gains blue-colored skin just like the former, with the more corpse-like shade possibly indicating he's reached a further stage of this phenomenon.
• Meaningful Name: Yeah, you can't deny he's quite porky.
• Mobile Menace: Steals the chopper Ness is intending to use to fly to Summers. Jeff later finds its crashed wreckage in the swamp; Porky somehow managed to navigate it on foot. The kicker, though, is when he pops up in the Cave of the Past after a long absence.
  • One theory revolves around the strange metal 'tentacle tree' at the cave's starting point, which doesn't do anything. In EarthBound Beginnings, there was a rock-like structure marked with double x's (sometimes nicknamed the "God's Tail" by fans) that was left in a cave east of Podunk placed there specifically to warp Ninten to Magicant. This may be a similar-looking "tail" that was specifically placed there for Porky to bring him to Giygas.
• Mouth of Sauron: Who better to be the herald of Giygas than Ness's annoying neighbor?
• Never My Fault: Blames the cops for Picky's "disappearance", despite the fact it was he who chickened out and left him back at the meteor site.
  Porky: Suddenly, I noticed that Picky was gone. I blame the cops... it certainly wasn't my fault at all.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Taunts Ness to cry out and pray to his friends for help near the end of the game which serves as a clue to Giygas's one weakness. He also disables the Devil's Machine, which would have made Giygas invincible and impossible to beat.
• Non-Action Guy: Porky himself never once fights anybody directly in the entire series, only ever participating in combat from the safety of mechanized battle vehicles that do much of the work for him and shamelessly bowing out as soon as it becomes clear a fight isn't going his way.
• Nosy Neighbor: The start of the game readily establishes his reputation for sticking his nose into situations where he doesn't belong, pestering police officers at the site of the meteor crash.
• Not as You Know Them: His appearance in the final boss battle has him rocking a totally different sprite color while showing he's also gone completely off his rocker.
• Not Brainwashed: As demonstrated when he pretends to shake off the Happy Happyism Cult's brainwashing; however, this only occurred in the English translation.
• Not-So-Harmless Villain: You didn't think that a fat, immature, and obnoxious kid would become The Dragon to an Eldritch Abomination, possibly manipulate said Abomination, and become the Big Bad for MOTHER 3, did you?
• Nouveau Riche: Becomes this by the time Ness sees him again in Fourside. He notifies you of his success in the least classy way possible: by summoning his henchmen to 'escort' you out.
  Guard: "And don't let me catch you near Master Porky again!" *SLAM*
• Odd Friendship: He and Ness, if you think they even had a friendship in the first place. Things suddenly all go downhill from there.
• Omnicidal Maniac: Expresses this idea very clearly during the final battle.
  "And here you stand, waiting to be burned up with all the rest of the garbage of this universe..."
• Poke the Poodle: His demand towards Ness to help him find his brother.
  "If you refuse me, I'll say something that'll cut you like a knife."
• Power Dyes Your Hair: His hair considerably darkens when confronted in the Cave of the Past as Giygas' right-hand man, on both his overworld and in-battle sprites.
• Pre-Final Boss: While Porky is technically fought alongside Giygas as the final battle's first phase, in actual practice, the battle is solely against Porky, with Giygas' invincibility making him nothing more than an extra turn for the kid. It's only after depleting Porky's HP that the real final battle against Giygas himself begins.
• Professional Butt-Kisser: While he does betray whomever he partners up with, he only does after their untimely demise by the Chosen Four. During that, he acts like the right hand man to most of them.
• Prophecy Twist: States that the Apple of Enlightenment hasn't predicted his appearance in the final boss battle.
  Porky: "I was led by Giygas, and now I'm here. The Apple of Enlightenment couldn't predict this."
• Psycho Supporter: Towards Carpainter, Monotoli and Giygas.
• Put on a Bus: Happens multiple times throughout the whole game.
• The Quisling: He quickly curries favor with both Carpainter and Geldegarde Monotoli when they fall under the Mani Mani Statue's influence, becoming the right-hand man to both of them. When the Mani Mani statue is destroyed, Porky in turn curries favor with Giygas himself, becoming the game's Pre-Final Boss as a result.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Gives Ness a particularly chilling one during the final boss battle.
• Red and Black and Evil All Over: He doesn't become associated with red and black until much later during the final battle with Giygas. At that point he starts wearing red-black pinstripe suits. Ironic, considering Giygas' colors.
• Red Right Hand: See Mark of the Beast above.
• Reformed, but Rejected: In the Japanese version, right after Carpainter's defeat, it is highly evident that Porky wanted to make amends to Ness, but took Ness's silence as a no.
• Revenge Before Reason: In the battle versus the Devil's Machine, Porky seems to be betting on Ness exhausting his energy on targeting Giygas. Once Porky begins taking damage instead, he shuts off the Machine — setting off a chain reaction rather than let Ness win.
• The Resenter: He's very clearly jealous of Ness, perhaps because Porky's less popular than Ness, and never mind the differences between their respective parental figures...
• Retreaux: His battle music starts out entirely in chiptune. It gets more serious...
• The Rival: To Ness in the majority of the time in the game.
• Rousseau Was Right: Itoi states that the "apple doesn't fall far from the tree", suggesting that Porky was shaped after his father and mother. This drives home Rousseau's point, even for the most malicious character in the trilogy.
• Rule of Symbolism: As seen in Allegorical Character, he represents humanity's flaws, which makes his very ambiguous relationship with Giygas symbolic of the relationship between human flaws and the Idea of Evil.
• Privileged Rival: More or less during the game.
• The Runaway: Considering as to what happens after the epilogue, he can be recognized as this.
• Sarcastic Devotee: Him talking about Giygas has him as this.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After Giygas is mortally wounded, Porky bails.
  Porky: Ness! Now, I... well... It's going to seem like I'm running away... But perhaps I'll just sneak off to another era to think about my next plan.
• Sharp-Dressed Man: He's seen wearing a red pinstripe suit when he's encountered in Fourside. And sticks with the suit during the final battle.
• Shave And A Haircut: The most annoying door knock in the universe.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: With Picky, who's more reasonable and decent while his older brother is a fat and obnoxious slob.
• Sinister Minister: Blithely resurfaces as a Priest in the Happy Happyist cult.
• Slasher Smile: He sports a deranged, toothy grin on his face during the final battle.
• Slowly Slipping Into Evil: You can notice this throughout all the times you see or notice his presence in certain areas of the game. It can be debated if he was Evil All Along, but his actions become more heinous as the story goes on.
• Smug Smiler: He has a ridiculous and stupid looking smirk when you encounter him in Fourside.
• Smug Snake: Considering that he possibly has the Universal Cosmic Destroyer bending to his whim at the final battle, there's no reason why he shouldn't act all smug about it. Or maybe he's just so confident that Giygas will win, hands-down. But, his overconfidence of Giygas goes a bit too far...
• Spanner in the Works: Attempts to be this for the Apple of Enlightenment's prophecy, as something it couldn't predict.
• Spell My Name With An S: Originally Porky Minch in Japanese, but because the localization staff apparently missed the joke (and yet kept all the other pig jokes about him and his family), his name in the English version is Pokey Minch instead. Much later, MOTHER3 and Super Smash Bros. Brawl rectified the mistake and began calling him Porky again.
• Spider Tank: He's in one during the first portion of the final boss battle; whether it was a piece of Giygas's technology still left on standby or he actually made it himself with his newfound omnipotence is up in the air.
• Stalker without a Crush: He would be portrayed as one since he always comes first to the place the Chosen Four are going to next. He is trying to slow the heroes down, so it's reasonable.
• The Starscream: One interpretation of the final battle is that Porky is betraying Giygas in shutting off the Devil's Machine, using the Eldritch Abomination as an attack dog.
  Porky: His (Giygas') own mind was destroyed by his incredible power. What an almighty idiot! Yep, that's what he is!
  • It can be subverted if it's believed that the reason Porky shut off the Devil's Machine was because he believed his master could deal with him, and that his calling Giygas an Almighty Idiot was just Brutal Honesty.
• Theme Music Power-Up: While not necessarily his Leitmotif playing, his battle music drastically changes from 8-bit to a more intense version of the theme. It's often referred to as "Pokey Means Business" for a reason, you know.
• This Loser Is You: His entire character is symbolic of humanity's flaws according to Itoi.
• Ungrateful Bastard: Say, why does Ness let him get off scot-free every time they come face to face?
• Unreliable Expositor: He is the main reason why most of the unanswered questions in the whole trilogy is shrouded in theories and guesses. The worst part? He is the only NPC who ever gives an Exposition about the major points of the game. It's your job as the player to take it to heart or not.
• Villains Want Mercy: After you beat Carpainter, he does this.
  "What a horrible nightmare. I somehow woke up. Ness, let's be friends again. Please answer me. I promise to be good. ...uh ...okay?"
  • This was interestingly changed in the English version of the game. Immediately after he says the above quote, he says that he was kidding and runs away, insulting Ness. In the original Japanese, however, he was honest, and he even yells at Ness for not answering him.
• Walking Spoiler: Porky turns out to be More than Meets the Eye and his appearance at the end of this game and the next one turn out to be very big surprises.
• We Used to Be Friends: Is implied to have been friends with Ness at some point. Though why Ness didn't hang out with Picky instead is anyone's guess.
• We Will Meet Again: Once Giygas is destroyed, Porky uses time travel to escape into another era, but not before taunting Ness one last time.
• Who's Laughing Now?: While it is not evident that he has been bullied, as the trope page suggests, he proves to Ness that he won't be stooped any further and can be as powerful as Ness can be during the final boss battle.
• With Friends Like These...: His relationship with Ness.
• The Xenophile: Taking into account how he handles and talks about Giygas during the final battle, he is most likely this.
• You Have No Chance to Survive: Points this out multiple times in the final battle.

The Sanctuary Guardians

In General

Eight monsters that guard the Sanctuary from Ness and party.

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• Battle Theme Music: Sanctuary Guardian, with a few exceptions. It is a slow-paced remix of a battle theme from the previous game.
• Character Catchphrase: "You finally got here. This is the (numeral order) "Your Sanctuary" location. But it's mine now. Take it from me, if you dare..."
• King Mook: The first five Sanctuary bosses are boss versions of enemies found in the immediate area.
• Leitmotif: Sanctuary Guardian's Challenge
• Sequence Breaking: With the exception of Titanic Ant, none of the Guardians have to be fought in the "correct order". The only constraints are that Shrooom! must be fought before going to Summers^note meaning he'll be fought before Guardians 5-8, whose Sanctuaries only become available after this, the Plague Rat of Doom must be fought before Thunder & Storm^note since defeating the former allows you access to the Carrot Key, which is necessary for entering the latter's Sanctuary, and Electro Specter must be fought before Carbon/Diamond Dog^note due to the former's Sanctuary being directly on the way to the latter's.

Titanic Ant

Guardian of the "Giant Step" in Onett.

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• Ant Assault: It's a giant ant that guards the Sanctuary from Ness.
• Big Creepy-Crawlies: Again, it's a giant ant.
• Flunky Boss: The Titanic Ant is aided in battle by two Antoids.
• King Mook: For the Black Antoids found in the area. It's even accompanied by two of them as its flunkies.
• Palette Swap: A yellow version of its sprite is later used for the Gigantic Ant enemies in the gold mine dungeon.
• Shoot the Medic First: It is advised to attack his Antoids first as they have PSI Lifeup to heal the boss.
• Wake-Up Call Boss: Whoo boy is it ever. Not counting the Starman Jr who can't be lost to, this is the first boss fight in the game where Ness has to face someone that uses PSI techniques. The Titanic Ant can lower Ness' defense and put up up a shield to tank Ness' physical hits. To make matters worst, it can even use PSI Magnet which drains Ness of minimal PP. Even when it's not using its crazy special moves, one of it's bites hits hard (it has 2 bites attacks of different power that show the exact same text). This can definitely be bad when it lowers Ness' defense. Oh yeah! Don't forget about the two Antoids that can use Lifeup to heal the Titanic Ant.

Mondo Mole

Guardian of the Lilliput Steps near the Happy Happy Village.

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• King Mook: For the Moles Playing Rough, although they have little in common other than design.
• Mole Men: More mole than man, but the point stands.
• Palette Swap: A blue version of its sprite is used for the five Guardian Diggers in the gold mine dungeon.
• Skippable Boss: Downplayed. While defeating Mondo Mole is required to access its melody, defeating it isn't required to progress the plot when you first discover it.
• Weaksauce Weakness:
  • Hit him with PSI Paralysis and he can't even damage you. Of course, you have to know about that weakness to begin with.
  • Alongside Thunder & Storm, Mondo Mole is also one of the only two bosses weak to PSI Flash (everyone else has, at most, a 50/50 chance of being affected). However, it's very unlikely that Ness would have access to PSI Flash β or higher (which have a chance of instantly killing vulnerable enemies) by this point; β is learned at level 38, while Ness is likely to be within the low 20s by the time he meets Mondo Mole.

Trillionage Sprout

Guardian of the Milky Well in Saturn Valley.

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• Flunky Boss: It is accompanied with two Tough Mobile Sprouts.
• Green Thumb: If it had thumbs, that is.
• Kill It with Fire: It and the Sprouts are weak to PSI Fire.
• King Mook: For the Mobile Sprouts. Much like Titanic Ant, it is accompanied by the sprouts as flunkies.
• Never Grew Up: Implied by its name and appearance.
• Shoot the Medic First: The Tough Mobile Sprouts have PSI LifeUp to heal the boss, PSI Magnet to drain your PP, and can grow more of themselves so it is advisable to take them out.
• Skippable Boss: Downplayed. You will have to defeat it to gain the melody from My Sanctuary, but you can always go back and beat it later when you're stronger.
• Taken for Granite: Its gaze has the power to Diamondize a party member. Because it is 50% vulnerable to PK Flash, which has a small chance of causing confusion, it is possible, if unlikely, for it to Diamondize itself.

Shrooom!

Guardian of the Rainy Circle in Winters.

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• Early-Bird Cameo: Appears early on during Jeff's introduction, but refuses to fight him until Ness arrives.
• King Mook: For the Ramblin' and Struttin' Evil Mushrooms, down to being able to scatter spores that plant a "confusing" mushroom.
• Mushroom Man: It's a humanoid mushroom with tiny arms and legs and a big head.
• No Indoor Voice: Anyone that says its name as the exclamation mark is part of it.

Plague Rat of Doom

Guardian of the Magnet Hill in Fourside.

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• Cheshire Cat Grin: It sports a toothy, mischievous grin that looks like it's going to do something naughty.
• Critical Hit Class: Like the Rowdy and Deadly Mice it is based on, it has abnormally high Guts and can consistently land critical hits.
• King Mook: For the Rowdy and Deadly Mice, even sharing both enemies' ability to land consistent critical hits and the latter's poisonous bite.
• Poisonous Person: Its bite is capable of poisoning one of your party members.
• Rodents of Unusual Size: Much larger than the other rat enemies, befitting a boss.
• Skippable Boss: Downplayed. You can defeat it at any time when the sewer opens up if you don't want to fight it right away. You do still need to beat it to get into Magicant, and to access the Pink Cloud where the next Sanctuary Guardian is.
• You Dirty Rat!: A quite literal example, considering it lives in the sewer and has fungi growing out of his backside.

Thunder & Storm

Guardian of the Pink Cloud in Dalaam.

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• Battle Theme Music: Strangely, this boss's theme is "Kraken of the Sea" instead of the usual "Sanctuary Guardian", a trait shared with Electro Specter.
• Dual Boss: Only in appearance, as the game counts them as a single entity.
• Lightning/Wind Juxtaposition: They're a lightning spirit intertwined with a wind spirit in respective reference to Raijin and Fujin. The duo's two PSI attacks, PSI Thunder β and PSI Flash β, are respectively described in-game as "a Crashing Boom Bang attack" (representing a lightning strike and the accompanying thunderclap) and conjuring up a storm of wind.
• Shock and Awe: Of course they have thunder attack, one of them is literally called "Thunder".
• Skippable Boss: Downplayed. Defeating it for the melody is essential, but you can go fight it whenever you want once you have the Carrot Key.
• Weaksauce Weakness: Alongside Mondo Mole, they're one of the only two bosses in the game that are weak to PSI Flash; everyone else has at least average resistance to it (which makes PSI Flash's chances of working 50/50 at most). Unlike Mondo Mole, Ness is much more likely to have access to at least PSI Flash β by this point, meaning that the average player will readily have the opportunity to instantly kill Thunder & Storm with it.
• Weather Manipulation: They can summon a storm, which acts identically to PSI Flash β.

Electro Specter

Guardian of the Lumine Hall in a cave connected to the Tenda Village.

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• Battle Theme Music: Similar to Thunder & Storm, this boss's theme is "Kraken of the Sea" rather than the usual "Sanctuary Guardian".
• Shock and Awe: In addition to the name, this boss uses PK Thunder.
• Unobtainium: According to the North American Player's Guide, the Spectre is made up of an element unknown to the Earth.

Carbon/Diamond Dog

^{Click to see his Diamond Dog form}

Guardian of the Fire Spring deep under the Lost Underworld.

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• Attack Reflector: Diamond Dog comes pre-equipped with a Shield Beta, reflecting your physical attacks back at you. Of note is this actually applies to the attack that causes Carbon Dog to transform into Diamond Dog, which will be reflected if it was a physical attack.
• Crystalline Creature: His second form of course.
• Disc-One Final Boss: Of the Your Sanctuary arc, guarding the final area that leads Ness to Magicant.
• Hellhound: Its Carbon Dog form is a flaming, snarling, supernatural attack hound in an underground lava cave.
• Playing with Fire: Can spit a fire ball or spray a spray of fire (basically a PK Fire Omega).
• Taken for Granite: As Diamond Dog, it can inflict Diamondization (equivalent to a KO) on your party members with its bites. Amusingly, since it's weak to Brainshock and there's no such thing as Diamondization resistance, you can have it do this to itself, allowing you to win with its sprite still on screen.
• Titled After the Song: Diamond Dog's name is an open-faced nod to the 1974 David Bowie album Diamond Dogs and its Title Track. Like the album and song title, Diamond Dog's Japanese name is written in katakana (albeit using the entire English phrase instead of "diamondo no inu").
• Turns Red: Carbon Dog transforms into Diamond Dog after losing enough of its HP. Amusingly, the more powerful form is bluish white, whereas the weaker form is red.
• Wreathed in Flames: Its Carbon Dog form looks like a dog covered in fire.

Minor Antagonists

Starman Junior

One of Giygas' minions, who followed Buzz Buzz to the present to kill him.

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• Terminator Twosome: The evil half of the twosome. Buzz Buzz is trying to change the future for the better, whereas Starman Junior wants to make sure that it keeps its current course.
• Zero-Effort Boss: Buzz Buzz will do most of the fighting, and will make sure to keep a shield up on Ness. It's basically impossible to lose.

Frank Fly

""Fail-proof" Frank can't be beaten."

Leader of the Sharks gang in Onett. He is essentially the first obstacle in Ness's journey.

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• Alliterative Name: Frank Fly.
• Arc Villain: For Onett, being the leader of the Sharks and having the town in complete fear of him until Ness defeats him.
• Back for the Finale: He appears as one of the people that Paula prayed for in the final battle against Giygas.
• Cheshire Cat Grin: His clay model and battle sprite sport huge grins, and so does his robot Frankystein Mark II. Averted with his regular in-game sprite, though.
• Defeat Means Friendship: He becomes nicer after he is defeated by Ness, and after disbanding the Sharks gang he is employed by a burger shop. Ness and his party can talk to him to recover HP and PP.
• Delinquents: He's implied to be between his late teens to early twenties. Also led the Sharks gang that terrorized Onett until Ness stopped them.
• Delinquent Hair: His hair is a combination of a shark fin-shaped mohawk and a mullet, and he's the (former) leader of the Sharks gang.
• Dual Wield: He carries two daggers in his hands, and isn't afraid to use them. One of his attacks has him "brandishing a knife".
• Heel–Face Turn: He gives up a life of crime and work in a local burger shop after losing to Ness.
• Recurring Element: Like Teddy, he's a gang leader who, after getting an ass-kicking from Ninten/Ness, leaves his gangs to pursue a different career (Frank works at a local burger shop; Teddy becomes a regular singer at the Live House (at least in the international version and MOTHER 1+2)). Both also use knives as their main weapons, wear Cool Shades, and lack PSI (though unlike Frank, Teddy is a playable character).
• Reformed Criminal: Disbanded the Sharks after his defeat, and shown to be working at the burger shop.
• Rotten Rock & Roll: His boss theme takes cues from 50s rock and roll songs, namely "Johnny B. Goode" and "Great Balls of Fire".
• Sequential Boss: Even if you did win against him, you still have to face Frankystein Mark II with no opportunity to rest up between fights. If you lose to Frankystein Mark II, you'll have to fight Frank again.
• Sharp-Dressed Man: Is always seen wearing a dark red pinstripe suit, even while working at a burger shop. Porky seems to take after him in this regard later in the game.
• Shout-Out: According to Itoi, he was named after the band Frankie Goes to Hollywood.
• Sinister Shades: Wears a pair of black sunglasses. He still wears them even after he pulls a Heel–Face Turn.
• Starter Villain: The first major boss to be faced.
• Wake-Up Call Boss: If the difficulty spike the Sharks provided wasn't enough of a clue, this is the first battle where you can and will lose if you are not ready to fight him.
• Would Hurt a Child: He'll brutalize Ness for messing with the Sharks.
• Younger Than He Looks: Apparently he's not old enough to have alcohol despite looking at least well into his 20s. Since the post-game, he offered to have a drink of mineral water with Ness.

Captain Strong

The Chief of the Onett Police Force. He has the town under lockdown since the meteorite crashed.

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• Boss Rush: Before you even fight him, you have to take care of five of his Crooked Cops, one at a time, though the fifth one chickened out in the end. By the time you fight Strong, you are likely to be weakened from healing and wasting PP and out of items from healing yourself.
• Da Chief: He's the top dog of the Police Force.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Had five of his best officers lay a beatdown on Ness for disobeying a "No Trespassing" sign.
• Graceful Loser: He backs off and lets Ness go to Twoson after his defeat.
• Palette Swap: A blue version of his battle sprite is used for the rare Over Zealous Cop enemy in Summers.
• Police Are Useless: The only thing they're good at is setting up roadblocks. After defeating him in battle, Captain Strong ends up spending the rest of EarthBound goofing off and playing... EarthBound.
• Police Brutality: Having arranged five of his men to beat up a small kid, later stepping in for an officer that chickened out.
• Threshold Guardians: Ness must overcome him and his men in order to leave Onett.
• Would Hurt a Child: Arranging a trap for Ness by having his officers beat him up. When his last standing officer bailed out, he took his place.

Mr. Carpainter

The leader of the Happy Happyist cult. He believed that the key to happiness is to color the world blue.

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• Arc Villain: For Twoson as the one who masterminded Paula's kidnapping, although it turns out the Mani Mani Statue was influencing him.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: As the result of the Mani Mani Statue.
• Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": It is just Carpainter, nothing about his real name is mentioned.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Carpainter's signature ability is his Crashing Boom Bang attack, which instantly defeats Ness if he confronts him unprotected. After grabbing the Franklin Badge from Paula and then confronting Carpainter, however, the badge consistently reflects the attack back at him, which damages him during their fight.
• Shock and Awe: He used the Crashing Boom Bang (or PSI Thunder β) attack. In fact, he sends you away with the attack when trying to take him on without getting the Franklin Badge first.
• Punny Name: Carpainter.

Master Belch

Suffer, spanky! Gha, gha, gha, gha, gha! Buuuurp!

A large, animated pile of puke working for Giygas. He causes trouble for Saturn Village when he kidnaps and enslaves several Mr. Saturn to make him Fly Honey. After his first defeat, he evolves into Master Barf, and becomes stronger.

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• Achilles' Heel: He gets distracted by the Jar of Fly Honey, which makes him lose his regeneration abilities. As Master Barf, he isn't as distracted by it.
• Arc Villain: For Threed, being responsible for a horde of zombies and ghosts terrorizing Threed and enslaving several Mr. Saturns.
• Blob Monster: A creature made of puke.
• Cheated Angle: Belch only has one angle for sprite, and if you talk to him at the front, he doesn't face directly like the other NPCs.
• Evil Laugh: Did this a lot in his introductory blurb to Ness.
• Gasshole: As given away by his initial name, he burps a lot; this is even incorporated in his battles, where one of his attacks is to make party members nauseous by burping in their faces.
• King Mook: An oversized version of the Mini Barf, Slimy Little Pile, and Even Slimier Little Pile enemies, right down to sharing the ability to inflict nausea with his burps. In fact, one of the first bits of foreshadowing about his return in Deep Darkness is the presence of the latter enemy in the area.
• Meaningful Name: Master Belch and Master Barf are appropriate monikers for an animated pile of vomit with noxious burps.
• Palette Swap: The Big Pile of Puke is a tan recolor of his battle sprite, and his return as Master Barf changes his battle sprite to red.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Fly Honey. He loves it so much that he enslaved several Mr. Saturn and forced them to mass-produce it. If Ness' party carries the Jar of Fly Honey item, he'll be completely distracted. As Master Barf, this is no longer the case.
• Took a Level in Badass: Master Belch's weakness as mentioned above makes his boss fight very easy. When he returns as Master Barf, he's no longer saddled with that weakness. He's not incredibly tough, but he's not a pushover anymore, either.

Geldegarde Monotoli

The mayor of Fourside, and the most recent owner of the Mani Mani Statue.

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• Arc Villain: Subverted; Monotoli is built up to be Fourside's main baddie due to his apparent hostile takeover of the city and his involvement in Paula's second kidnapping. Once the Mani Mani Statue enters the picture, however, it becomes clear that it is the real villain manipulating Monotoli.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: Thanks to the Mani Mani Statue. He claims after his Heel–Face Turn that he was somewhat aware of what was going on, but kept being drawn to the Mani Mani Statue.
• Heel–Face Turn: Already pulled one by the time you reach him in the Monotoli Building. Thanks to Paula.
• Mayor Pain: Usurped the position from Enrich Flavor. He since resigned in the post-game.
• A Pupil of Mine Until He Turned to Evil: He's apparently responsible for the collapse of his former boss's company. Said boss hangs out in Jackie's Café in hopes that Monotoli will stop by so that he can learn his secrets.
• Trumplica: Keeping in line with the game's riffing on American pop culture, Monotoli is a former real estate mogul who owns a lavish, gilded tower named after himself.
• The Unfought: The only antagonist the party meets that isn't actually fought, owed to the fact that he's actually a frail, cowardly old man beneath his mafia-like grip on Fourside. Instead, Ness and Jeff confront the thing controlling Monotoli, the Mani Mani Statue.

Mani Mani Statue

A psychic statue used by Giygas to spread his evil influence. It is initially unearthed by Lier X. Agerate in Onett, but eventually becomes a recurring threat afterwards.

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• Arc Villain: Acts as a sort of Greater-Scope Villain for the Twoson segment, but it eventually takes center stage as the main threat during the Fourside arc.
• Artifact of Doom: It's a golden statue that magnifies its target's greedy thoughts. Checking the statue when Lier X. Agerate first excavates it results in an ominous jingle playing to highlight its malevolence.
• Disc-One Final Boss: The confrontation with the statue in Moonside essentially concludes the trip through Eagleland and therefore the first half of the game. While it is followed by one more minor boss, the Clumsy Robot, the Mani Mani Statue still has a greater role in the plot and has a more climactic encounter.
• Enemy Within: For no explained reason, Ness's Nightmare at the end of Magicant takes the form of the Mani Mani Statue. Theories on why this is range from the Mani Mani Statue imposing a psychic block on Ness's full power, to the Mani Mani Statue being Ness's own worst fear.
• Light 'em Up: It knows the "glorious light" version of PK Flash, equivalent to the Omega level, giving it a 40% chance of One-Hit Kill. Thankfully, the Night Pendant is available in the area to No-Sell it.
• Living Statue: It can't talk or move, but it seemingly manipulated Agerate, Carpainter, and Monotoli to execute Giygas' will. Once confronted, it defends itself.
• Master of Illusion: Before the confrontation with it, the statue generates Moonside, a bizarre mirror of Fourside, in order to confuse Ness and Jeff.
• Palette Swap: A gold-colored version of its battle sprite is used for Ness' Nightmare.

Starman Deluxe

A powerful Starman variant and the boss of Stonehenge base who the heroes must defeat in order to rescue their kidnapped friends.

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• Bring It: It admits that the Chosen Four were far more powerful than the forces of Giygas had expected but then tells the heroes not to underestimate them before starting the boss fight.
• Flunky Boss: Can call Starmen and Starmen Super to support it during it's boss battle though they will be automatically defeated when the Deluxe goes down.
• Keystone Army: When it's defeated, all the other enemies swarming throughout Stonehenge base permanently retreat from the area.
• Palette Swap: A gold recolor of its sprite is used for the Final Starman enemy in the Cave of the Past.
• Spikes of Villainy: It has large spikes protruding from its head and shoulders.
• Super Prototype: According to the EarthBound Player's Guide, Starman Deluxe is a prototype that took so long to build that only one could be made and sent to fight the heroes.