

Near the city of Onett, a meteor suddenly crashes, waking up thirteen-year-old boy Ness. Warning: The following page/section contains spoilers. The same way, if a battle ends before the message showing a character has collapsed appears, he or she will not. When a character has received enough damage to collapse ("mortal damage"), they will still be able to fight, be cured, or run away before the actual shown number is 0. They are shown as an odometer-like box which slowly decreases as damage is taken. A character or enemy with HP 0 becomes unconscious and the battle ends when either side has lost all its fighters.Īn original mechanic from EarthBound is the way the player's characters' HP is presented. As the attacks continue, the HP from both sides will decrease. Players and enemies have a set number of Hit Points (HP) and they take turns to do actions, which include attacking each other, using items, using special psychic skills ( PSI) or trying to run away. By the time Ness and his friends become strong enough to virtually defeat an enemy without taking damage, the battle scene will be skipped, and the player will be given the victory immediately. Depending on the type of enemy and the player's level, one's speed can vary or they can even run away from the player instead of chasing him.Īlso, colliding with an enemy facing away from the player results in the player having an extra turn to attack, which applies, too, to enemies who manage to trap the player from behind. In addition, cities and roads all share the same size, rather than the traditional overworld camera, making no difference between cities or towns and the big world outside them.Įnemy encounters are not random, as well, but rather start when the player collides with an enemy shown on the screen. One departure from traditional RPGs of the time is the view of the game, which uses oblique projection rather than the top down view. Upon battling, characters gain experience points, which causes them to level up and thus increase their stats. As with most RPGs, the game's world includes a multitude of villages and dungeons that the game's party can head through and progress through the game.īattles will ensue in most areas excluding some portions of the games such as villages and cities, and bosses can be found at the end of some dungeons.

EarthBound contains traditional elements from RPGs featured on the SNES.
