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The news of Satoru Iwata's death filled me with sadness, and a desire to return to Earthbound - the game that, without his skills, would not exist as it does. I first played it when I was a teenager, have gone back a few times over the years, and on every occasion find something new to think about. This time it was why, of all the virtual worlds I have inhabited, this cartoony 16-bit one feels the most human. 'Human' risks being a meaningless term so let's define it in relation to a video game: a world and inhabitants that have emotionally engaging qualities. Ness is program code and a handful of sprites stitched together, but in my head I feel I know him, even like I'm friends with him. What kind of design leads to that and, for example, what kind of design leads to your average AAA Nathan Drake? The latter and his ilk go instantly into my mental box marked 'video game character' - I never for a second consider them anything more than a 3D model.
Earthbound's driving creative force, Shigesato Itoi, is primarily a writer. The specifics of his style we'll come to later, but what this means in a mechanical sense is playfulness with the form of video games. Earthbound is often described as a traditional JRPG, which is correct, but leaves out the enormous amount of bespoke touches to things like the UI, structure and how genre cliches are repurposed.
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