When I was younger I never owned Earthbound. I had a friend whos parents owned a video store so we had rented it a few times, but I never thought to pick it up in the huge box with the guide and game for only $30. Plus I was used to playing RPG’s like Final Fantasy IV and VI which were more grown up or serious so it seemed, so Earthbound was a little weird to me. At the time I wasn’t a huge fan… Wow that was a mistake!
Fast forward many years, probably 10 at least and I have a friend who was working at a local pawn shop. He texted me and asked if I would want a copy of the game for only $30. I said YES please!! and I luckily am now the owner of the game. Upon replaying the game I can’t believe I wasn’t a huge fan of the game. It’s so full of character and it’s so different and unique compared to everything else, it’s really a must own game! Though I do have to admit I have yet to beat it, but I will definitely be getting to that soon!
Now that I had the game I realized it wasn’t enough, I wanted the manual. Ever since I was young I’ve been a huge fan of video game instruction manuals, I even thought when I got older I could be one of the people who does the cute little drawings in them. Well unfortunately for me that didn’t happen, and even worse manuals aren’t really that common of a thing anymore. But I knew for a game as ecclectic as Earthbound it would be awesome to have the manual and especially the players guide that Nintendo Power put out with it. I knew I had a huge task ahead of me as the players guide alone usually goes for over $80. So a lot of searching on the internet would have to be done so I wouldn’t break the bank looking for these items.
For many months I’ve been searching every site I could think of with no luck finding a cheap manual and guide until one day I came upon a listing on the british ebay site. A guy there makes reproduction boxes and manuals for popular games. He had a normal SNES size game box and reproduction manual for Earthbound for $20 shipping included. I jumped on this, I don’t mind that the box isn’t the large one, this actually works better for me as it fits on the shelf with my other SNES games, plus the price was right! So I was now a little past halfway through my quest, it was just the guide left to find.
I have a weird thing when it comes to playing games, when I get stuck I would rather go back and look in one of my Nintendo Power magazines or guides like I would have done when I was a kid instead of look it up on the internet. Call me a slave to tradition, but it just isn’t the same looking it up online. So since I was a little stuck in my game, it would be nice to have the guide to help me through.
The one day I was bored and on the internet, I had decided to go on Japan’s Amazon site to look for some cool Game Center CX stuff. I didn’t really find much on there for that, but I did have the idea to check for the Earthbound guide. Low and behold I found one on there that was a decent price! $15! It wasn’t in the best shape ever, and it didn’t have the scratch and sniff cards that originally came with it, but that didn’t matter. All the other pages were there and that was good enough for me! I had found my guide!
My Earthbound game sitting happily in its new box
So I’m happy to report the box, manual and guide all arrived here in good shape. Now I can finally get back to Earthbound and play it the way it was meant to be played, with the players guide! Not a printed out text only walkthrough from a website. FUZZY PICKLES!!
I love all the clay versions of the characters and the baddies, maybe I’ll make some of them myself!
Damn…and I thought I was special when I got the cart + manual for $50. What a find! Congrats!
EB didn’t actually have a manual. The players game came with every copy of the game, and has the manual integrated into it. That repro is clutch though, I am going to have to get one for myself!
players guide rather
I think you got a mixed set of experiences. Reading only text really is a halfsie when it comes to being near the game and looking up the answers in a fully coloured book to add to the ambiance. Yet, not having any images can really set you up for a surprise. To this day, when I find information through text and go test things out I get blown away_^) Hope you finish this book missy!