Earthbound
EarthBound takes place a few years after the events of Mother. The player starts as a young boy named Ness as he investigates a nearby meteorite crash with his neighbor, Pokey. He finds that an alien force, Giygas, has enveloped and consumed the world in hatred and consequently turned animals, humans, and objects into malicious creatures. A small, fly-like creature from the future instructs Ness to collect melodies in a Sound Stone to preemptively stop the force, but is killed shortly after when Pokey's mother mistakes him for a pest. While visiting these eight Sanctuaries, Ness meets three other kids named Paula, Jeff, and Poo—"a psychic girl, an eccentric inventor, and a ponytailed martial artist", respectively—who join his party. Along the way, Ness visits the cultists of Happy Happy Village, where he saves Paula, and the zombie-infested Threed, where the two of them fall prey to a trap. After Paula telepathically instructs Jeff in a Winters boarding school to rescue them, they continue to the city of Fourside and the seaside resort Summers. Meanwhile, Poo, the prince of Dalaam, partakes in a seemingly violent meditation called "Mu Training" before joining the party as well.
The party continues to travel to the Scaraba desert, the Deep Darkness swamp and a forgotten underworld where dinosaurs live. When the Sound Stone is eventually filled, Ness visits Magicant, a surreal location in his mind where he fights his personal dark side. Upon returning to Eagleland, Ness and his party use the Phase Distorter to travel back in time to fight Giygas, transferring their souls into robots. The group discovers a device that contains the alien, but it is being guarded by Pokey, who is revealed to have been helping Giygas all along. After defeating him in a fight, Pokey turns the device off, releasing Giygas and forcing the group to fight a battle known for its "feeling of isolation, ... incomprehensible attacks, ... buzzing static" and reliance on prayer. In a post-credits scene, Ness, whose life has returned to normal following Giygas' defeat, receives a note from Pokey, who challenges Ness to come and find him.
murder