I've never been much of a gamer. Don't get me wrong, there are a few games I enjoy, but as someone with the attention span of a goldfish, investing hundreds of hours into a single story is not something I can easily accomplish. Because of this, I've always been particularly defensive when it comes to manga/anime adaptations of video games. "Sure," I would say. "The game is almost always better, but the manga/anime isn't for the people who played the game. It's for people like me who can't or won't play it. As long as the story is coherent, who cares if details are leftout?"

Well, today I eat those words. If there's one thing that the Earthbound manga taught me, it's that not all video game adaptations are meant for newcomers.

Mother 2: Ness no Boukenki starts off fairly accurate, but right off the bat, there were some major differences. Buzz Buzz and King, for instance, play a much larger role than in the game. This didn't really bother me - creative liberties are to be expected in game adaptations, especially for JRPGs with a silent protagonist like Earthbound. The story continued like that, skipping over some details, but also adding characterization to some of the side characters. Pretty standard game adaptation stuff, really.

However, things take a turn for the weird after Jeff joins the party. Instead of continuing onto Fourside, we are instead taken to a completely new location: Twin Pigs Village. From here, the story goes completely off-script, delving into a plot about parallel universes, featuring some new characters and a few references, here and there, to the original game.

I see what the mangaka was trying to do, of course - the parallel universe thing suggests that this isn't supposed to be an alternative to the game, but rather, a supplement. With only thirteen chapters to work with, my guess is that the manga took this angle because there simply wasn't enough time to delve into the full story. But by that point, can this even be called an adaptation? Had I not played Earthbound before reading this... Well, I wouldn't say I'd have been terribly confused, since the story does make sense on its own. But I certainly wouldn't have been given an accurate representation of the source material.

That being said, this manga does have some merits for those who have played the game. The art was really unique, and fit the retro vibes that made Earthbound so special. It reminded me of Garbage Pail Kids, Osamu Tekuza, and Dr. Seuss all at the same time - a weird combination, I know, but it was quite charming. The characterization was a lot of fun, too; I mentioned earlier that Buzz Buzz and King had a bigger role in this story, but I also really liked the softer, more sympathetic version of Porky we see here. (You can really tell this came out long before Mother 3 was conceived...)

Bottom line, if you haven't played Earthbound already, you're better off playing that than reading this. I usually loathe when people say "just play the game!" when reviewing an adaptation, but in this case, it really is the better option. If you have played Earthbound, feel free to read this - it's not great, but it's short, and offers an unconventional take on an unconventional game.