{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"Dead Internet Almanac","title":"June 5: The RPG That Arrived Smelling Like Trouble","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":430,"description":"EarthBound arrived in North America on June 5, 1995, wrapped in one of Nintendo’s strangest marketing bets: a giant box, a packed-in player’s guide, and a gross-out campaign built around the slogan “This Game Stinks.” The scented ads and prankish copy made the game memorable, but they also buried what was actually inside: a tender, surreal suburban RPG about kids with baseball bats, payphones, ATMs, homesickness, burger shops, aliens, and a horror far bigger than its cheerful surface suggested.\n\nWhat once looked like a hard-to-sell oddity became part of the game’s legend. The oversized box and guide turned into cherished artifacts, while EarthBound’s quiet design ideas — visible enemies, towns that felt lived-in, the rolling HP meter, and its blend of jokes with cosmic dread — helped it outlast the campaign that misunderstood it. This is the story of a game introduced as a stink bomb that slowly revealed itself as one of the most humane and unforgettable RPGs ever released.\n\nRead the original article: https://medium.com/@dia_91230/june-5-the-rpg-that-arrived-smelling-like-trouble-b39b3062e2f2\n\nSubscribe to The Dead Internet Almanac: https://buttondown.com/dead-internet-almanac","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/0T0Z9X69zNfYqQ8Z8xV4SB06Vk-a5Z4I4iH6CPQMsiQ/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS8yYmJj/OTNlYmM2M2UxYmZl/MDBjZTRiMDlhZTRm/MjI4NC5qcGc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}