My mother was going to Best Buy. I asked to tag along. This must have been 1996. I was 8 years old. I remember at the register there was like a big discount crate filled with game boxes. The boxes were all the same. They all contained a Super Nintendo game called ‘EarthBound.’ The sign said ‘EarthBound’ cost $5. I remember the boxes were four times the size of normal Super Nintendo boxes because they contained a player’s guide. That’s why I picked one up.
It had been released in Japan two years prior and was called ‘Mother 2’ over there. It was a huge sensation. It failed miserably in the United States. That’s why it was $5. I was holding it in my hands reading the back of the box and my mother said I could get it if I wanted to.
If you can’t tell, this game was designed and written by an actual famous Japanese writer and not “a guy who makes videogames.” His name is Shigesato Itoi. He is an incredible dude. He and Haruki Murakami put out a collection of stories in the 1980s called ‘Let’s Meet in a Dream.’ That’s great.
Man, this may sound dumb to many of you, but along with a lot of books and movies I absorbed when I was a kid, this is absolutely one of the most important things I was ever exposed to. I still replay it once a year. It takes about twelve hours.
Anyway, long post: