A Brief Summary of the Plot: Ness, the red baseball cap wearing hero, is awakens one night to the sound of a loud crash and sirens. Upon investigating the commotion he discovers that a meteor has hit the Earth. In a very stereotypical "unlikely hero needs to save the world" fashion, a strange bee who claims to be from outer space tells Ness that it is going to be up to him to prevent the destruction of the planet which will be brought out by the enemy Giygas. Ness sets out to find the girl the bee claimed he was destined to meet who has psychic (magic) powers. From here they go on to find the other two members of the fated group and follow clues to find "Sanctuary Locations" which will help them summon the strength needed to destroy the ultimate evil. Earthbound is a "Role Playing Game" (RPG) for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Many of its merits are derived from its non-traditional design. Most games in the RPG genre are set in a medieval or fantasy world very different from our own where swords are the weapon of choice and magic is used by good and evil alike. Earthbound broke these standard conventions by choosing a modern towns accented with hotels, drug stores, department stores, bus stations, and hospitals. Characters still use magic although much of it is non-traditional. One character uses the standard elemental spells, but others can induce crying, summon the strengths of your "favorite thing" (which you can choose at the beginning of the game), and control the power of the heavens. Weapons include baseball bats, yo-yo's, frying pans, bottle rockets, and oddities like "Insecticide Spray". Earthbound stands out from its peers because of its unique style. Unlike paper collage Earthbound does not appropriate physical material directly from other sources. Instead it uses concepts and ideas that are so common as to be seen as Things (capital T, of course). It has a culturally subversive/exploitive nature as well. The overall feel of the game can easily be described as a collage of traditional conventions on a brand new canvas. The following pages intend to educate the reader in Earthbound as Collage. Enjoy!
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