Mr. Itoi wanted to subvert the trope of repetitive NPC dialogue found in most RPGs. During EarthBound’s five-year development cycle, Mr. Itoi was unfamiliar with computers. He wrote every line of dialogue in the game by dictating to a typist, and would judge their reactions to determine whether or not the lines would have the intended effect.
Ness
Following in the footsteps of Mother’s Ninten, EarthBound’s curiously named young protagonist is proficient in Psionic (PSI) powers, the game’s alternative to the typical magic spells found in most RPGs. Some fans have speculated that Ninten is actually Ness’ father, while Mr. Itoi has said that players can choose to name Ness Ninten and treat them as the same character if they’d like, though EarthBound’s story doesn’t properly support this.
Ness’ adventure is kicked off by a meteorite crashing near his home. Upon investigating the crash site, Ness meets an alien bee from the future who foretells Ness’ destiny to save the world.
Ness’ signature weapon is a baseball bat, but he can also wield other toy-inspired armaments such as yo-yos and slingshots. If Ness goes too long without visiting or calling his mother, he is afflicted by the “homesick” status. While homesick, Ness loses focus during combat and misses his turns.
The nationality of Ness is not dictated by the developers. Mr. Itoi expected that American audiences would see him as American, and Japanese audiences would see him as Japanese, noting that ultimately, “It doesn’t matter.”
Paula Polestar
Quite similar to Zelda in A Link to the Past, Paula first contacts Ness telepathically as he sleeps. As was the case with Zelda, Paula has been imprisoned by cultists and must be rescued.
Once freed from her captors, Paula becomes the second party member. Her default weapon is a frying pan, the same as her Mother counterpart, Ana. However, of the Chosen Four (Ness, Paula, Jeff, and Poo), she has the most powerful arsenal of offensive PSI powers.
During the Western localization process, Paula’s personality was shifted from being demure and weak to much more capable and independent.
Jeff Andonuts
Jeff is the game’s third party member and the only non-PSI user. Instead, Jeff uses his IQ stat to repair powerful equipment. The higher his IQ, the more he can repair and equip. In combat, Jeff uses various guns such as the Death Ray, Pop Gun, and Baddest Beam.
While Ness and Paula become close friends throughout the game, Ness and Jeff have very few meaningful interactions.
Poo
For EarthBound, the development team wanted to infuse a sense of internationalism, more so than the previous game. Poo, the fourth and final party member, is a clear example of this philosophy. While Ness’s nationality is left ambiguous, Poo has several distinct Eastern characteristics. His martial arts training requires a special diet wherein eating Western food has a reduced restorative effect, but Eastern foods are more potent to Poo than the rest of the party.
Poo uses his physical strength in combat, along with a mix of offensive and defensive PSI powers. Of note, Poo has an exclusive power called Mirror, which allows him to take the form of non-boss enemies and use their unique abilities.
Mr. Saturn
Even more so than Ness, Mr. Saturn is arguably EarthBound’s most recognizable figure, acting as a mascot of sorts for the entire Mother/EarthBound trilogy. These strange, whiskered-nose creatures populate Saturn Valley and are meant to symbolize innocence. Their language in the Japanese version was written by Mr. Itoi himself and was inspired by his young daughter’s handwriting. In the Western versions, Mr. Saturns speak in an equally strange font, mixed with nonsensical words such as “boing” and “ding.”
