Despite flopping upon its release in 1995, over the decades EarthBound has acquired a great reputation. It's easy to see why it wasn't popular: the cartoon-art styled—inspired by Charles Schultz's beloved Peanuts comic strip—doesn't compare well to the cutting-edge graphics seen in the two blockbuster RPGs released that same year: Final Fantasy VI and Chrono Trigger . Also, the contemporary American suburbia setting may have been unappealing. Like many other Super Nintendo games, EarthBound is essentially a remake of its 8-bit predecessor. Titled "Mother" (apparently in reference to the Beatles song, "Let It Be") came out in Japan in 1989. A fully translated NES prototype was created—under the title "Earth Bound"—but never released (like Final Fantasy II ). In both EarthBounds, some kids (you choose their names, as always) must save the world from the alien Giygas. This guy keeps appearing to have everyone pose for a photograph. EarthBound...

Today is the 30th anniversary of the U.S. release of Chrono Trigger! It was my favorite SNES game. When I rented Chrono Trigger in middle school, I assumed it was a two-player action RPG because the box looked like  Secret of Mana . Ironically, Akira Toriyama didn't work on Secret of Mana! However, his work on the Dragon Quest series served as inspiration for Secret of Mana. I saw no similarity between Chrono Trigger and the 8-bit sprites in Dragon Warrior. Anyway, despite the lack of multiplayer, I took to Chrono Trigger immediately. With the money I earned mowing the lawn, I bought the game for about $75, which, adjusted for inflation would be nearly $150 today! Chrono Trigger's main gimmick is time-travel. The appropriately named Crono and his friends (you can choose their names) travel between the present (1000 A.D.), the Middle Ages (600 A.D.), a post-apocalyptic future (2300 A.D.), antiquity (12,000 B.C.), and prehistoric times (65 million B.C.). Changing events in the p...

Wario Land 3 follows its predecessor 's puzzle-platforming formula with two key changes: Wario slowly acquires his abilities (a la Metroid ), and instead of 50 levels there are just 25–but each holds four different chests to unlock for a total of 100 goals. Just as in II, Wario is immortal, but enemies cause him to transform in ways that appear painful but are actually helpful. For example, being flattened by a Thwomp-like enemy puts Wario into a cartoony feather-like state: now he can float into small gaps. One transformation from the previous game, where he became tiny, has been removed. In its place, bats make him a vampire that can turn into a bat! Most transformations last a few seconds, but the vampire remains until he touches water. The vast majority of the game's puzzles are solved by using the appropriate transformation. They aren't overly difficult. Since Wario can't be hurt or killed, the game can only punish you by making you try a segment again. I confess t...

Final Fantasy III, released in Japan in 1990, didn't get a Western NES version. A complete prototype for FF2 was created but scrapped due to the release of the SNES. FF3 never even had a chance, which is a shame, because it's the best of the 8-bit Final Fantasy games! The Japanese Famicom Classic rightfully came with FF3 instead of our NES Classic's FF1 . Famicom cartridge Final Fantasy II changed the formula by scrapping XP and levels in favor of a skill-based system. It didn't work very well, so with Final Fantasy III, Square went back to the source. As in both prior games, four heroes go on various quests, explore sundry dungeons, and interact with diverse NPCs, some of whom even briefly follow the party. The big innovation of FF3 is that, instead of choosing a party of four heroes at the beginning, each of the four elemental crystals bestows new classes! You can switch any hero's class whenever you want by spending "capacity points" earned in battle (...

Kirby's Dream Land 2 is an exemplary sequel, improving upon everything from its predecessor . In addition to being much longer, it includes Kirby's copy ability (from Kirby's Adventure ) and animal friends for Kirby to ride! Kirby has his usual abilities: in addition to walking, ducking, and jumping, he can inhale enemies, fly (via self-inflation), spit out enemies or puffs of air, and copy enemy abilities. This robust move-set makes Kirby games much easier than, say, Super Mario, skewing towards a younger audience. For adult fans, it may qualify as "cozy gaming"! Riding between worlds on a star The game has seven worlds of three to six levels each plus a boss fight. Compare that to the original game, which had just five levels (each containing multiple segments). This game is about three times longer. There are eight abilities Kirby can copy by swallowing certain enemies and then pressing ↓: fire, ice, spark, cutter, sword, parasol, needle, and stone. It's fu...

Fire Emblem, one of the oldest tactical role-playing series, debuted in Japan in the spring of 1990. The series didn't come to the U.S. until 2003. Five years ago, Nintendo belatedly translated into English the first Famicom game, subtitled Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light, and released it on the Switch to celebrate its 30th anniversary (though it was soon removed from the eShop). Now it celebrates its 35th anniversary! A tactical RPG is defined as an RPG that uses either grid- or hex-based combat after the style of tabletop wargames like Warhammer, Stratego, or chess. Instead of controlling a party of adventurers exploring dungeons and fighting monsters (a la Dungeons & Dragons), in tactical RPGs you control an army confronting other armies on a battlefield. You array your units strategically based on the terrain and enemy positions. You can't just select "fight" from a menu and then pick a target. Many factors must be accounted for, such as bottlenecks on b...