EarthBound director Itoi reflects on what it means to him

Life, death, and playgrounds

The nearly twenty-year-old cult classic EarthBound means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. On EarthBound‘s official page, series creator Shigesato Itoi reflects on what the game means to him after all this time.

All sorts of people tell me about their memories, 
about all the things I left in the playground called Earthbound. 
From the tiny safety pins, broken pieces of colored glass to the withering leaves. 
When I ask them, “how do you remember so much?”
With their eyes gleaming, they say, 
“I love that world so much I remember everything about it.” 
I reply right away saying “me too.”

He goes on to discuss life and death, including how he would like to be remembered after he dies. Itoi suggests that fame, fortune, accolades, and accomplishments are meaningless compared to sincere stories told, and he suggests that EarthBound holds to that ideal.