What was your favorite game of all time?

If you think about it, the SNES has bundles of games that we all still love. Of all the game systems I ever felt like selling, the SNES was the one that I felt the closest to, and so far I have not sold it (although now I might not get a price worth the effort). EarthBound is still lovable, because no other game has really given it a run for its money as far as concept, humor, style, and storyline. I think that many of us who are looking for a new Mother game are looking for all of those qualities. If we get our new Mother game, I think that we should also feel twice as lucky if it has all of the qualities we fell in love with several years ago. It would be quite disheartening if Mother 3 were too much like another game that we don't like. That would probably trigger a massive schism at Starmen.Net. Now that I think about it, any incarnation of Mother 3 would cause a big uproar. We're all brought together by the love of EarthBound and Mother, but we all might be separated by our split opinion on Mother 3. Every member of the community came after the release of both EarthBound and Mother, so we have yet to see how a new game would impact our community.

(Jeepuhz, I start talking about my SNES and end up talking about the community.)

--Sephy





Congratulations on writing a Letter of the Week!

Tetsu the Semi-Great has been dethroned! This letter won because of its raw insight... Although it didn't have much to do with the topic, it saw something which I had not grasped before: Mother 3 may not be universally loed by fans of its prequel. Exellent letter, MISTAR PIANO MAN.

Congrats on the branding,
-STARMANDELUXE-

Is there a game I love even more than Earthbound? Heck, there's a whole series! I mean, Earthbound is great, but you simply can't beat the utter greatness of the games I am infatuated with. I stand by my claim that man has never (And shall never!) construct as awesome, nor as perfect, creations as the Bubble Bobble game series! Don't try to find a game better than them, you just can't do it.

Take a simple concept; say, blowing bubbles to capture enemies, and then popping them with your spiney... spine. Add in two super cute protagonists, Bub and Bob, and one dastardly evil antagonist, The Drunk! Mix in one hundred levels of Bubble Poppin' fun, and sprinkle in two girlfriends to save, and you have the end-all, be-all of games.

Why are you reading this? Go! Play Bubble Bobble! Succomb to the bubbles! Love it, live it, but most importantly, be sure to chain popping bubbles so you can get ultra points, and power ups!

--Everdraed



Sorry, but no. And I'm too lazy to post the infamous link. Oh well. You can imagine the page or type it in yourself or something.

--StarmanDeluxe

I'll start by saying that Earthbound has no better game... err... no game is better than Earthbound. As for our apparent rivalry now, I feel it best I make an attempt for letter of the week.

Earthbound may be a few years old, but then again a lot of our favourite tv shows are several decades old! It's not how old something, it's how much of an impact that it makes on us all. When playing Earthbound, I'm in another world. It's great fun... and lots of good things happen because of it. I mean, look at all the friends you've made because of the game. And thanks to SSB and SSBM for bringing more EB Fans.

You see StarmanDeluxe I think... I forgot who I was wroting to... [Note from StarmanDeluxe: >:( >:( >:( ] it's not how old something is. Sure some people might like ChronoTrigger more than they do EarthBound, some might like SMRPG more... but who cares? They still love Earthbound. Because there is something great that makes you want to keep playing playing. Why compete... Share the love!!!

P.S. Jokes on Poo. I don't have any friends. hahaha. And as for our rivalry Mister Deluxe... I will defeat you... somehow...

--Carpainter



HAHAHAHA NO LETTER OF THE WEEK FOR YOU YOU LOSE

Actually, that was a well and good letter, but then I'd have to move Carpy's spot to the top, (letter of the week place) and that would be bad. So HAHAHAHAHAHHA

--StarmanDeluxe

EarthBound is quite a few years old. Infact in my brother's eyes, it is ancient. But to me it is still the same sparkling new game I got seven years ago. Compared to today's games, the graphics are pretty bad, but that doesn't stop me from sitting down and enjoying playing EarthBound again.

EarthBound is my favorite game. Some games come close, but EB is still my favorite. I try to play it on a regular basis. Each time trying something new. With other games, there is nothing new to try. With EB you can take it slow and level up. Or you can just fight the bosses. Then after you try both of those methods, you can try to get the 1/128 items. With other games if you beat it once, that's it, there is nothing else to do with that game.

You may think I am stupid or weird for loving a seven year old game, with bad graphics, but the adventure of EarthBound never dies.

--EB777



Your brother must have a warped perception of time to group EB under the "Ancient" category, along with Ancient Rome and Ancient Egypt. Either that, or... EB is... Old and stuff. Wow.

--StarmanDeluxe

Greets, Soul Bruddah.

Oh yeah, I love my Earthbound as much as ever...otherwise I would have stopped coming to this site a long time ago.

It's easy to keep coming back to, seeing as it's such a fresh adventure. It doesn't even need to reinvent itself...like Madonna, or Kiss.

I was drawn to this site like a moth to one of those blue electric zappers. It had everything you could ask for- A webmaster, content, and good grammar. And it was the only major Earthbound site around.

But the site is what keeps me coming back. It has the petitions, the trivia (however infrequently updated *COUGHLunaCOUGH*) and...the mailbag [/shameless advertising]

I love this site. *sniff*

--Mr Bound



It makes me happy that people other than me like to shamelessly advertise the Mailbag. It makes me feel appreciated. It makes me feel loved. It makes me feel fuzzy. OK, in order to fuel my fuzzy-feelingness, the next people to shamelessly advertise the mailbag in their next letters all get cookies, and my love forever and ever and ever.

--StarmanDeluxe

Better then EarthBound? Nothing is better then EarthBound. Wait, I lied. Lots of things are better then EarthBound. D'you know that?

My personal favorite game at the moment is... *Bah bah bah bah* Sonic Adventure 2: Battle!! Who needs EarthBound when you can RUN AT BREAK NECK SPEEDS, skateboard down a road on a WHEELESS BOARD peroforming UBER TRICKS, and GRIND virtually any rail in sight? I attempted to grind once. But, lacking the necassary equilebrium, I tripped up, and went head first, rail-in-crotch, the rest of the way down. Friction burn, quite unpleasent. Perhaps I should get some of those uber-stylin' arched metal shoe things.

And just so you know, Mecha Sonic is UBER COOL. Who needs powers when you move so fast, your nose bleeds? Wait, he's a robot... hmm. No problem. I'm just saying that he's fast. And uber cool. And stuff.

And Dr. Eggman is a playable character too! Never before has so much evil been playable in a single game! Evil forever! *Evil pose* EVIL!! *Evil pose*

Yes. That is my SA2:B rant. Maybe I should actually buy the game instead of mooching it off my friend. Before I kill myself. I'm suffering Fun-Withdrawal. *EERK*

--The Clumsy Sentry Robot



You use the word "uber" a lot.

Chao!

Get it? It's a pun... Ciao... Means goodbye... In Italian... "Chao" and "ciao" are pronounced the same way... Heh... Heh?

--StarmanDeluxe

Erthbond is really old and stale now. I have moved on to a better game: Horseback Polo. I made up a little song about my favourite game. This is to the tune of pop sensation Nelly Furtado's "Turn Out the Light:"

I ride a horse.
I hit a ball.
On a Polo Course.
I don't like Erthbond no more.

Take care & Shalom,
Bink



... You spelled it wrong... [fanaticism=start] YOU DIE NOW. You... go... squish... NOOOOOOOW!!!! [/fanatacism]

--StarmanDeluxe

Dear SD,(Not to be confused with STD)

Unfortunetly I have to announce Earthbound is not my favorite game, but it sure is heck up there. My all time favorite game is a toss between either Suikoden for Play Station or Dragon Warrior IV for NES.

Suikoden had a great and moving story about a rebellion taken down a love corrupt Emperor. It's sound track was above excellent. It was the first Playstation RPG to sport music you could listen to over and over and not get bored of. It was released 1995.

Dragon Warrior IV was by far the greatest RPG ever made. It's graphics were sub-par for the era it was made in (1992) but it's 8-bit music and Deep story line made up quickly for it. Recently it was stated to be released for a port to Playstation. Unfortunetly the North American release was canceled but there is a petition at http://www.petitiononline.com/dw4r

With Eternal Love for RPGs,
Micheal



Yay for RPGs I've never played, and quite frankly don't care to!

--StarmanDeluxe

Although hated by many, I love Final Fantasy VIII. Yes that's 8. Many people hated the storyline, but I thought it was great. Especially the FMVs were the best.

Wait a minuite I changed my mind. EarthBound is the best. FF8 w/o the FMVs sucks. The storyline was suboriginal and the game was weak without the kickin graphics.

--Seifer



I liked FF8... :|

--StarmanDeluxe

This is my first time sending in to the Mailbag. I dunno why. Just lazy I guess. Geez, I'm talking as if it were an Earth Science report. Okay, to the point now. My favorite game of all time has to be either Megami Tensei Persona or Lunar: Silver Star Story. They both have just about the same humor content as EarthBound (although MegaTen Persona is a little bit more morbid about it and Lunar: SSS has a little more adult content. Okay, a lot more.) Yeah. Okay. I know, I have no life. Earthbound is definitely number four or five...

Five. L:SSS and MTP both have sequels. Thanks for reading this stupid excuse for a letter, oh great and powerful (but less powerful than the mighty red fruit) mailbag guy (and mailbag guy's slightly less mighty assistant of the week).

--Zeo Gato



WTF, I'm "great and powerful?" Sweet! And I don't have a co-responder this week, so I guess I'll be taking that praise for myself, hmm?

--StarmanDeluxe

Well, it's a hard call, but I DO have two special favourites that even surpass the coolness of EarthBound. Now, I know there are going to be people here saying "FF6! Chrono Trigger! FF6! Chrono Trigger!", but for me, the answers lie on the humble NES, the one-and-only staple of 80s pop culture (next to INXS, possibly--though that's stretching it a bit).

The games in question are M.C. Kids and Air Fortress. Air Fortress, coincidentally, was made by EarthBound's future developers, good ol' HAL Labs, back in the early days. The game consisted of flying around shooting things Gradius-style, and then moved to a very cool Metroid-ish maze-type-shooter-thing. The game was a Quantum Leap (there I go with the 80s pop culture again) ahead of any other shooter out there, mainly because it required a more than a few brain cells and not just trigger-happy thumbs. It did surprisingly well (especially in Japan), and, in fact, was remade into a level in Kirby Super Star as the second-last level of Shootin Stars, in which Kirby flies into the big Nova thing. VERY cool indeed.

The other game, M.C. Kids, is far more rare and lesser known. It was pretty unpopular, as it was endorsed by McDonald's. But still, the gameplay and controls, plus the above-par graphics and rockin' soundtrack, helped make this game one of the--if not THE--best on the system. Forget "Ronald McDonald's Treasure Hunt" for the Genesis--this is where it's all at. You play as two kids who must help Ronald McDonald find McDonald's cards hidden throughout each level. You attack enemies by throwing blocks at them, and you can create combos by hitting more than one enemy with one block, which gives you health. The coolest part about the entire game, however, is that when you jump on a block that has a moon on it, you can transform from the black kid to the white kid, and back again. Rad. And with a two-player mode, you and a friend could play through the exciting quest together, collecting cards and the like. This game is DEFINITLY worth playing, so play it already!!

Well, that's about it. As a closing statement, play these games. Do whatever it takes; raid a video store for all I care. Just make sure you play these games.

This is EvilJim Christo, signing off.

--EvilJim Christo



I've never played either, but maybe now I will. Yay for word-of-mouth advertising!

--StarmanDeluxe

I dread other people's reply to this topic. There's going to be a million-and-one Chrono Trigger messages, isn't there? Oh well, I guess I'd better just live with it. No, there isn't another game in the world that is better than EarthBound. There isn't a game that made me want to play through it again and again, without stopping for other games. Every time i think about it I remember good parts about the game, plot points especially, that make me want to play again. Remember, like when Buzz-Buzz dies, or you meet the Mr. Saturns for the first time? It does matter that this game has no sidequests whatsoever, it's fun every time through, even though it's exactly the same. EB also has my favorite music from any game. Onett, Twoson, Threed, Fourside, Winters, the numerous battle themes, Smiles and Tears(the ending theme), they all had great music. Who can forget the Humor in this game. The magazine in the old broken down house, the multiple fart jokes, the humor is endless. I better stop this post, I think I'm starting to ramble. I think I'll just end this with a quote and slip out quietly.

Henchman: I'm fired aren't I?

Khrima: If by fired you mean, "set on fire and thrown into a pit of lions", then yes.

-Adventurers

--Regulas



Actually, I was very surprised at the low number of Chrono Trigger-loving letters. Really, the big ones were FFVII and EarthBound. I only remember seeing like four letters for Chrono Trigger, like eight or nine for FFVII, and about ten or eleven for EB. So, general concensus: EB>FFVII>CT. I, frankly, agree. I didn't like CT very much.

--StarmanDeluxe

EarthBound is probably my favorite game ever, but I have a lot of favorite games, so I'm going to choose one that is not too popular in the world of mainstream RPGs, "Secret of Evermore". Now, I won't be entirely surprised if someone else writes in about this little, often overlooked gem, because, like EB, SoE is very wacky, modern and unusual for an RPG, but I choose it because, in wider circles, it is often scorned as a lame attempt by some stupid Americans to imitate "Secret of Mana".

Secret of Evermore is a fun game because of its weird jokes. The writers freely utilized puns and references to real sounding Hollywood junk movies to create a relaxed, silly mood for the game. There are also many weird enemies, much like in EB, such as mummified cats. The game is also just plain silly sometimes. Another reason I liked SoE was because it was one of those games where it was fun to just walk around. Much like EB, it was fun to explore the different worlds and talk to the people in them. You could find people in the strangest places in that game. (And I still want to map out the whole forest in the Medieval world sometime). SoE is not an imitation Secret of Mana. Except for the battle system, there are very few similarities. SoE, like EB, is a game that's just funny. It's one of my favorite games and it's one of those games I can play over and over again.

--StarmanBeta



I never finished SoE, but what I played of it was pretty neat. I may just have to go finish it now...

--StarmanDeluxe

Oldies. Can't get enough of them! Why is it that gamers of today are mysteriously draw to those old games? Why are the new 'top of the line' games just not cutting it? I admit, some newer games are actually worth playing, such as Final Fantasy(7,8,9), Chrono Cross, ect. But It's certainly a dying bread. Why do we love those old games? Rich plot. That's all there is to it. If you look at all the games out today, about 1:1000 have a rich plot. These game that have no real plot I like to call 'Flops'. Final Fantasy X was one of the most anticipated games of this new millennia, it is a perfect example of a flop! FFX's graphics are legendary, it's professionally staged dialog voices are one of a kind, but it has a very WEAK plot. What makes it this way? From the time you start playing the plot never changes! It's another case of lack of plot development. Let's compare it to a game without the flop status, FF7. (#spoilers#) When you start out Cloud's main goal is to make some dough by joining avalanche. But then you see another side to him as the plot develops taking strange twists. The games plot leads you into different directions all the time. One minute you think your goal is to bring down SHINRA, the next minute your sure that you have to kill seaporoth, and finally you realize the ultimate goal is to kill METEOR. In FFX the so called by square 'rich' plot is like a strait line. Kill sin. That's it. I haven't finished the game, yet I know how It's going to end! And how can you finish a game when you know how it's going to end! This is not the only example of a 'flop'. Many games are not even worth reviewing, ya you know the games I'm talking about! I believe this floppiness in society comes from the new developments in graphics. Are game designers feeling that just because they have superior graphics we don't need a rich plot??? Why do you think square has released FF Anthologies, and chrono trigger for PSX? It's because they don't know how to make quality games anymore! The have gotten so distorted they can barley make a decent game! So what can we do? WE have the power to change ALL of this! Why buy games that are flops. We can easily boycott these games that aren't even worth playing. We can also change games for the next generation! WE ARE THE FUTURE! Maybe some of you want to grow up to program games for a major company, or plan them out! Heck, maybe one of you reading this just might end up the CEO of Sony(lol)! Just remember how much power YOU as an individual have to change the world!

Sincerly,
SiliconSnail
(eat that Tetsu!)



Unfortunately, although Tetsu may have had some dirt thrown at his face by this letter, he did not have to "eat" anything. And, BTW, what's up with your spelling of "Sephiroth?" "Seaporoth?" WTF?

A nice effort, though. I commend you!

--StarmanDeluxe

Although Earthbound is one of the best RPGs ever created, there is one and only one game that is better. That game is Chrono Trigger. It had one of the most amazing storylines I've ever seen in a game. Earthbound had-dare I say it-a pretty linear storyline. The point of the game was to get all 8 Your Sanctuary locations, and kill Giygas. Chrono Trigger, however, had a windy, tedious storyline that made you have no idea what was going to happen next.

The most linear storyline I saw was that of Paper Mario, but I won't get into that now. I'd say Earthbound and Chrono Trigger had about equal music, EB having bouncy, happy music and CT having dark, slower music. Obviously, CT had better graphics, but that doesn't matter anyway. EB had those psycho battle backgrounds, and that more than enough makes up for it.

Earthbound was also a longer game than CT, and that's good too.

Well, EB and CT are almost the same, but I have to say that CT wins... I'm sorry Earthbound.

--Frog



Comparing EB to CT=bad. EB and CT are really very different games. I'm glad they came out about even, though ^_^

--StarmanDeluxe


See ya'll next week, I predict! Yes, I am quite psychic. You wiiillll send in a letter... You wiiillll send in a letter...