Earthbound (Nintendo, Super NES, 1994)
One of the main reasons to own a Super NES Classic, Earthbound really is special. Though it featured a bunch of cute kids in a game that looks like it was made for cute kids, the experience Earthbound offered was far richer than the ‘Charlie Brown RPG’ / Pokémon aesthetic it seemed to represent.
It’s a story of humanity versus extraterrestrial invaders, in which the final battle against the “Embodiment of Evil” is fought in the mind. Despite its humble looks, Earthbound dealt sensitively in matters of the soul, while comedically staging the funkiest battles that boast hilarious, often unexpected dialogue.
We cannot recommend Earthbound highly enough, you absolutely need to play it.
Catherine (Atlus, PlayStation 3, 2011)
Strictly speaking, this is an action game with a story – though you could also say that about Puyo Puyo (I prefer Bubble Bobble’s narrative myself - Ed). There are still very much role-playing requirements, however, and there’s just no other suitable category for Catherine. Be advised, this is a highly sexualized experience.
In Catherine the player was called to make sense of a confused bachelor’s love life. Tortured by guilt after cheating on his long-term girlfriend, he’s looking to reconcile both with them and his own mind. By day, our guy consults with his pals in the Stray Sheep bar and deals with his relationship issues between the two girls. By night, he enters nightmares that take the form of a climbing puzzle while being pursued by monsters that look like butts with fangs, or giant zombie babies, patrolled by anthropomorphic sheep. It’s fair to say that Catherine wasn’t exactly your ordinary guilt trip, but it’s one well worth experiencing if you haven’t already.
Heavy Metal Thunder (Square Enix, PlayStation 2, 2005)
This is a wild card, really, since it’s a story that eschewed exploration of any kind in favor of menu-driven combat as relentless as the ear-splitting riffs that accompanied the main action. Unless you live in Japan, you’re unlikely to have seen or heard of this. You’re welcome.
See, Japan never lost its love affair with hard-hitting heavy metal, and the celebrated shock-rockers Sex Machineguns (like the Sex Pistols, but better) were called upon to provide the soundtrack for Heavy Metal Thunder, in which the story – please don’t ask what it was about – could only be progressed by vanquishing robots, whose special moves were their mad axe skills.
