A friend gave me an awesome gift last night. Well, he merely suggested it, and I needed to go access it myself, and it was free; so, kinda like a gift.

Anyway...

I am listening to remixed versions of my favorite tunes from my favorite video game series; Earthbound (also known as Mother in Japan). One of the BIG reasons why I love Earthbound is because 1&2 have awesome music! We all know that classic SNES games, and others on different systems around the time, had the best little *beep boop beep boop* music ever; I argue that Earthbound had the best. The games did their best to make the music as real sounding as possible, and even (in both games) put a Jazz band into the plot, so the player can enjoy some crazy nonsensical beats and sounds.

And to be completely honest, I just spent an hour fishing the web for Earthbound secrecy and more EB music mashups. Seriously. I did this, just now; spent the last hour not typing in this blogosphere, and instead obsessing over The Runaway Five, game glitches, and finding a copy of Earthbound for SNES (english) on ebay for less than $100.

So where was I? Oh yes, Earthbound and MUSIC.

So for EB 1 (or mother 2) the music was pretty awesome; far more interesting than other games in the mid 90's. The real surprise for me came when I began playing EB 2 (mother 3). EB 2 not only has music that is just as awesome as EB 1 fare, but the game is almost entirely about music! Now I know EB1 seemed this way, because *spoilers* you visit sanctuary locations and collect melodies; not to mention the creator of the games was obsessed with la musica and loved the Beatles, and filled the game with such references.

But...EB 2's battle system is centered around, and completely relies on, MUSIC.

So, you encounter similar silly enemy types as you did in EB 1 - Slitherhens and Muttshrooms - but when you fight them - with similar silly attacks as EB 1, like throwing staples and PSI [insert power here] - pressing the buttons on your controller (or in my case, on the computer) to particular beats in the battle music (which are more often than not unique to each enemy; sometimes same song, but you need to press to a different beat) ups your combo count! Basically you can (and sometimes need to) be musically inclined, and be able to recognize and synchronize yourself to the beat in order to beat your enemy quickly! Now, the system isn't perfect when you're playing on the computer; it is harder to recognize the beat you need to sync with, and I mess it up sometimes cause the game slows or speeds up while playing. *sigh* Need the original copy for GBA (japan only).

So, a video game series that embraces music and executes music (rhythm) game play better than any RPG I have seen is PRICELESS!

I'm out. Time for lunch.