Win-win!Ġ0:00-Intro sequence begins with TV static fading to a splash screen straight out of a '50s alien invasion movie. And I figured if I wrote about it, I could always expense it and get my money back.

So I decided to download Earthbound from the eShop and keep a running diary of the first few hours of the game, to chronicle the discovery process and see if the game would get its hooks in me and earn its lofty reputation. The ridiculous assortment of offensive options made for an interesting game, but not one that lived up to the years of hype. When I finally played Radiant Silvergun thanks to its 2011 Xbox Live release, I was thoroughly let down.

Much of our enjoyment of games is relative to expectations, and hearing decades of praise for a game without knowing the specifics almost inevitably sets us up for disappointment. And when you're talking about legendary titles you've never played, that's a dangerous thing. But I didn't know what the story was about, what the tone of the game was, or why exactly people loved it so much. So when Nintendo released it on the Wii U Virtual Console yesterday, I decided it was time to change that.Īll I knew about Earthbound was that it was an RPG with a modern-day setting, which I admit was plenty interesting already. Like Panzer Dragoon Saga or Radiant Silvergun, it was a game I knew primarily because of its reputation instead of its content. Some content, such as this article, has been migrated to VG247 for posterity after USgamer's closure - but it has not been edited or further vetted by the VG247 team.Įarthbound was one of those games I've always heard spoken of in reverent tones, but never actually played myself.

This article first appeared on USgamer, a partner publication of VG247.

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