10 Video Games The World Wasn't Ready For
3. Earthbound
In Japan, Earthbound became one of the best-selling games of 1994. In North America, it made a fraction of those sales and Nintendo deemed the experiment a failure. To be fair, American gamers were far more focused on the action of Super Metroid, Sonic & Knuckles and the original Tekken.
Most American and European gamers’ first exposure to the character of Ness was most likely his appearance in Super Smash Brothers which made many curious to understand what made him so important to get this coveted position.
Where most RPGs tended to be high fantasy, Earthbound and its series broke the trend by setting its turn-based battle system in the real world. Making the mundane fantastical and interesting is at the game’s core, and it enraptured many imaginations across the world. It has influenced the likes of Yakuza as well as South Park: The Stick of Truth.
Toby Fox has made no qualms about the effect Earthbound had on him as a gamer and developer and this is reflected across his own modern cult hit Undertale, from the wacky boundary-pushing of the gameplay to the general warmth and themes within the story.
Earthbound's influence is felt today through indie RPGs like Undertale and the games that it, in turn, inspires.