Aliens Among Us: EarthBound and the American Dream

EarthBound is praised for its quirky, nostalgic American setting, but something far more profound lies beneath its cheerful surface

EarthBound might have been the weirdest roleplaying game of the 1990s. While 99% of RPGs on the market had fantasy settings, EarthBound is set in the heart of nineties Midwest America, here called “Eagleland.” While most RPG protagonists wield swords, cast spells, and drink healing potions, EarthBound’s protagonist Ness is a kid in a baseball cap who wields a baseball bat, has psychic sci-fi powers, and eats hamburgers when hurt.

The currency is not gold found in treasure chests, but paper dollars withdrawn from ATM machines. The low-level quest isn’t defeating the goblins who invaded the castle, but a rough-and-tumble gang of youths who took over the local arcade. Much of the game’s soundtrack alludes to popular Beatles tracks. So there’s a lot of nostalgia in this game, to the point where mainstream game critics and fans alike wrote the game off as a quirky reflection of ‘90s American culture set to a generic “defeat the evil alien antagonist and…