#bubble monkey earthbound

[dendenpadreamer]

Pet emotes for your chosen scrungly: mother extras edition vol. 1

[aonik]

[daegg123]

they took the monkey's point

[beefycupcakes]

•Ness opened the mailbox.

• Inside there was a postcard from an old friend!

[coochie-sniffer3000]

this art depicting bubble monkey meant to convey feelings of dread for what is to come

[cat-of-doodles]

had forgotten how much i love earthbound :-)

[maspers-reads-subspace]

Previously: START OF DISC 1: New Game

Chapter 2: Bounded to a New Earth

Mother 2, known in the west as EarthBound, is a 1994 RPG that's nowadays mostly known as "The game Ness is from". The game itself chronicles the adventures of a group of children with psychic powers called PSI who strive to save the world from an alien invasion. It's creative, fun, and quirky... really quirky. Poor marketing and lackluster sales led to it being the only game in its series to be officially released in the US (though the original Mother would eventually receive an English release on Virtual Console as Earthbound Beginnings, the same can't be said for the third game in the series, Mother 3), but it still enjoys a reputation as a Cult Classic. I've played Earthbound, and you should too.

Chris and Lucario get dropped out of Master Hand's portal directly into a snowy forest. A freezing cold forest. After a brief moment of complaining, the portal opens again and Master Hand throws a winter jacket through for Chris to wear. When Chris and Lucario voice their complaints, Master Hand points out that this is where the current plot of the game is happening, if Chris and Lucario were to be dropped somewhere else they might miss something important and the Subspace Army could take advantage of that. After reminding them of their mission once more, Master Hand once again closes the portal.

At this point, Chris vents a little bit more about his situation, particularly complaining about how Master Hand didn't give him any jobs to use. Lucario points out that they have something more pressing to worry about: namely, the fact that their bodily proportions have been altered to match the game's chibi art style, with more squat bodies and larger heads. After another brief amount of panic, Chris calms down and the tow of them figure out where they are: in a forest near a boarding school in the in-game location of Winters. Which means Chris now knows exactly where they are, and what they need to do next... not that it helps with the cold.

Eventually Chris and Lucario are able to locate who they're looking for, Jeff Andonuts, one of EarthBound's main party members. We're treated a brief recreation of the scene in-game where Jeff's roommate helps him sneak out of boarding school. Chris and Lucario watch Jeff from a distance, trying to figure out how to approach him, and see their chance when Jeff goes into a local convenience store to stock up on supplies. When Jeff exits the store, accompanied by the Bubble Monkey, Chris and Lucario meet with him under the pretense of being travelers who want to team up with Jeff to cross through the woods safely. Jeff is skeptical, but eventually relents under the logic of safety in numbers.

Jeff (left) is a schoolboy from Winters and the third main party member in EarthBound, whom the player takes control of after the first two party members get trapped underground in a zombie-infested city and call out for help with their psychic powers for him to come rescue them. Unlike the rest of the party, Jeff doesn't have PSI powers, so he fights with an assortment of rockets and firearms instead. Early on during his journey he's accompanied by the Bubble Monkey (right), a temporary party member obsessed with chewing gum, because the owners of the store it was hanging out in wanted to get rid of it.

After successfully convincing Jeff to join their party (complete with narrative fanfare), the group head southward into the woods. After some brief conversation in which Chris and Lucario awkwardly hide their origins, Lucario calls attention to the fact that the entire vicinity is cloaked in a dangerous red Aura. Literally everything is covered in it, even the party themselves. They figure that since they haven't noticed anything, they're probably immune to it.

EarthBound fans can probably guess what that malevolent aura is: the massive PSI powers of the game's main villain, Giygas, corrupting the land itself to turn against the heroes. We get to see this in action right away, as Lucario identifies a nearby goat as being corrupted by the evil aura. The goat turns monstrous, moves to attack the group, and suddenly Chris and Lucario are surprised to see reality shift around them. Turns out battles in the EarthBound world happen like they do in-game: via turn-based combat. While Chris stands there confused, Jeff and the Bubble Monkey take their turns attacking, and then... Lucario's turn.

Mimicking EarthBound's entertaining level-up text was 100% the right decision

Right. Lucario is the definition of overkill. Oops. Combat ends, and the group is left staring at a decapitated goat corpse. While I found it amusing, Chris and Jeff were NOT in the mood to see a live animal explode (especially in a game where evil animals usually just turn tame when defeated instead of dying) and reprimand Lucario for disproportionate retribution. See kids? Violence is only the answer when it's within appropriate parameters!

After leaving the goat's body in the snow for a hunter to find, the group continues southward until they reach Lake Tessie. Yes, EarthBound has its own version of the Loch Ness Monster. EarthBound has a lot of things. When Lucario detects "Tessie" with his Aura vision the group is worried that they're going to have to fight it, but thankfully the Bubble Monkey is able to get Tessie's attention and play with it a little, revealing it to be surprisingly docile. Tessie even allows the group to ride on its back to the other side of the lake, which is really convenient.

At this point, Jeff accidentally lets slip to Chris and Lucario what he's actually doing: trying to meet up with two other kids he's never met, Ness and Paula. This doesn't come as a surprise to either of them (they know the game's story, after all), but they still inquire further, to get more insight on why Jeff is doing this. This is fun thing about fanfiction in general: the chance to see what "silent" player characters are actually thinking and saying. Jeff admits acting on his "hunch" that he can trust Ness and Paula is illogical, but he still feels like it's something he needs to do. Honestly, I can kind of see parallels between Jeff and Chris. Neither of them are really the "shonen protagonist" type, preferring to stay inside and study, but when both of them end up dragged into an adventure they only put of the most token resistance. That may sound like grasping at straws, but trust me the parallels definitely go deeper, even than I expected.

Tessie unfortunately doesn't seem to understand landmarks, and drops the group off on a part of the lakeside next to a cave that's otherwise blocked off by cliffs... except not really. In what I think is a joking reference to the original game railroading the player, Chris and Lucario point out an easy side path further along the lakeside, meaning they can avoid entering the spooky cave entirely. In game, it's probably blocked off or otherwise just not an area the player sprite can walk in (blocked off by cliffs and trees and such) but realistically a person should be totally capable of fitting through the gap. Just something I found funny.

Though it ends up not mattering, because Lucario senses another different red Aura emanating from the cave. Something nasty is in there, and on instinct he rushes in to hunt it down, the rest of the group chasing behind him. To be continued!

This chapter then starts the trend of having the next chapter's title be announced by the characters in the story, as opposed to just being said in the narration. These little mini-dialogues don't seem to be canon in any way, especially since the fourth wall doesn't seem to exist at all in them, but they're a fun little add-on that gives the fic more uniqueness, I think. This particular dialogue features Ness and Paula (who will make their "on-screen" debut next chapter) asking if they're finally going to appear, and then noting that there's also a greater chance of the heroes dying horribly next chapter. Fun!

Next up: Odder Oddness

[john-artbuckle]

🎉Happy 29th Anniversary MOTHER 2!!!🎉

[digital-melancholy]

day 9

[ninebaalart]

Bubble Monkey

oh and a mani mani bubble monkey. monk monk statue? bubb bubb statue? idk sound off below

[commandernachos]

[therealkittobitto]

Bubble Monkey from Earthbound as Matt Monkey!!

[obscure-earthbound-facts-media]

Bananas and Apples

During MOTHER 2's development, there was an idea to have the Bubble Monkey become distracted by bananas and apples on the ground and have him go over to them and eat them. This idea was scrapped, and in the final game, the Bubble Monkey will just stop to look around.

[roadtodeltarune]

Earthbound Week 1 Update

(PART 1/4)

I'm back! It took a couple days longer than I would have liked. I got sick and then had a power outage. However, this gave me plenty of time to play Earthbound. And aside from the power outage, I played a lot.

I'm going to do lots of comparisons to Mother 1 today, it's hard not to. I'll start off by saying my pace is incredible. I'm moving at lightning-fast speeds! I've gotten six out of eight melodies and have every party member. That's not even mentioning levels. Right now I'm in the high 40s-low 50s. In Mother 1, these would be end-game levels, but it's late middle game in Earthbound! (At least I assume I'm in the late mid-game)

Rewinding a bit, let me go over just how far I am. Last time, I ended off with the second melody. After that, I returned Bana(Paula) back to her home and talked to Everdred.

He gave me 10,000 dollars! At first, I tried putting it in the ATM, but that didn't work. So, I walked around Twoson, trying to figure out how to use the money. Going to the theatre, I talked to the Runaway Five, who recognized Bana and gave us tickets.

I watched the show and then talked to the Runaway Five again. They said they were in debt but when I used the money, they didn't take it. I went to the manager and gave it to him, paying their debt. Then, they offered to drive us to Threed to avoid the ghosts. This was all a happy accident. I forgot about the theatre while I was saving Bana and I hadn't tried going south yet.

In Threed, I talked to everyone. This gave me lots of info on the ghost issue, but I did this because Bana said we'd meet a new friend here. However, I couldn't find them!

Out of options, I decided to just continue the plot and went to the far end of the cemetery. I triggered a cut scene and...

I got kidnapped.

Bana tried calling out for help with her telepathy.

This was so cool! I got to play as Apple(Jeff)! It's such an interesting way to make the world feel bigger, the adventure feel grander, and build a stronger connection to the characters. I figured it would be like Mother 1, where I went to different towns and convinced a kid to join my team, like with Bana. I like this much more, however. Even though he starts at level 1, this gives me time to test him out and grow attached.

Compared to Onion(Lloyd), he's both lacking and better. I think it'd be better if he had more specific items like Onion's Laser and Plasma Beams, but he makes up for it by fixing broken junk. And he essentially does have Laser/Plasma Beam equivalents, but they're equipable now.

I soon got Bubble Monkey, a great addition to the team. Until proven otherwise, he's this game's EVE. Not because of his power, but because he's only in the game for a short time and I already love him. With him, I leveled up Apple a few.

I made my way to Dr. Andonut's lab. The journey wasn't too bad, it was actually pretty fun. But really? He hasn't seen Apple in ten years? He's like what, 11? Father of the decade award.

I took his saucer for a ride, going to save-

Ouch- Well, now Apple saves Bana and Straw(Ness)!

I explored a bit more, but it seemed like the only thing to do was battle this tent. Luckily, I saved Apple's Big Bottle Rocket for a boss fight, so the tent was gone fast.

Side note: I'd like to mention Apple's "Spy" ability is very useful, helping me know the weaknesses of enemies. When fighting bosses, my first turn with Apple is either Big Bottle Rocket or Spy.

After that, I was able to go down the grave, well, thing in the cemetery. It was a long, treacherous path. Lots of opportunities for leveling up, but not much for healing. I made it out though.

I found Saturn Valley, and I love these guys. The way they talk is funny and they're so nice. I feel like it's basically this game's version of Magicant. It's a funny place full of helpful guys where you feel safe.

Okay, I was going to stop this Belch-guy, because he's the leader of the zombies and ghosts; but after seeing him enslave the Saturns, I was mad, I wanted justice.

So the first attempt didn't go so great...

At first, I tried using the Fly Honey, because they kept saying how it's his favorite food, but that made him belch in our faces and take a bunch of damage, so I rewinded and fought normally.

Apple told me he was weak to hypnosis, so I kept putting him to sleep and wailing on him, again and again. It was only when I was about to die that I realized maybe I should hypnosis and then use the Fly Honey, so he couldn't burp. But it was too late.

On attempt 2, my plan worked. Nothing beats the Psi Juice, PK Freeze, and Big Bottle Rocket combo

After fighting barf incarnate, I washed up, drank some spiked coffee, found the 3rd melody, and visited the purified Threed. Time for the desert!

[koopabeach]

I sold a painting of the bubble monkey from earthbound

[minix-official]

The bubble monkeys from earthbound def went off to fuck in Dr. Andonuts lab