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JonBound, the most complete Earthbound hack so far. Inventive, stylish, and free. Following the events of a young Jon Otis and the 18th year of his life, EarthBound is rewritten into a new adventure. Taking advantage of the PKtools of that time, BlueAntoid developed a game that each rising hacker dreams of outdoing. And Jon's dogs are without a doubt two of the cutest creatures ever featured in a video game.

So, why haven't you played it? Come on. We know. You started, got through a little of it, then never finished it. Think we don't know? Well, here's your chance to quit pretending like you actually know something about the game.

This is the first attempt at getting the group to play a hack (and hopefully learn about hacking) together. The game will be played in short spurts (I don't have much time anymore, especially for gaming) and should be easy to follow along. New sections will go up as soon as I've played through them. Hopefully we can get comments from BA on the making of JonBound and on his reaction to it after he made it.

What you need to get (if you don't already have it):

You can participate on the forums or by sending an email to me (DrAndonuts). If you have any insight or a hacking revelation strikes me as cool, I might include it with the next post.



Week 3:
The Geologists' shack leads to a strange cave. It's time to investigate. Who hangs out in caves? Why punk skaters, of course! And BlueAndtoid himself. I'm sorry, but I'll have to recommend kicking his butt, but just this once. Afterwards, feel free to wander around town, meet the occaisional police officer, and plan some community service.
A note from BA: As most of you know, this is my second cameo appearance in the game. It's not the last. Ever since graphics compression has arrived, I've pondered adding a less Antoidy image of myself to the game, not to mention various other enhancements. However, I doubt I'll do anything of the sort. JonBound is more than fine the way it is - despite its being out of date. Don't let the hyper-advanced, cutting edge technologies distract you from making your game entertaining and fun to play.

And yes, the Arvada cops really DO have nothing to do. :P

Week 2:
Ready to get into the game? Great. The Poo Klux Klan has taken over Southern Arvada and made their stronghold the arcade (apparently a prime choice for evil and amusement). Go find Bob and teach him something about taking over your arcade. Talk to the mayor and get the "key" to the Geologists' shack. You might as well build up your levels a bit. BlueAntoid did a great job with the difficulty level in JonBound, you won't spend too much time trying to build your levels

A Note from BA:
Don't you love stealing and reusing sprites from the original game? ^_^ Since this occured at a time long before graphics compression was even imaginable, that was all we could do. I wanted to put in all sorts of crazy things like alien enemies, and what not. Sadly, it was not to be. But still, even without editing the graphics, you can show a good deal of creativity. The important thing is to be concerned with the hack's story itself, rather than any cosmetic changes you want to accomplish. You've got to ask yourself - would anybody really want to play it? If not, then there wouldn't be much point to going to the effort of adding battle sprites.

Ain't they cute? Week 1:
Go ahead, start a new game, name your characters, and play through the opening stuff until the first chance that you can save.

Some quick advice for n00bs: Expand your ROM with the ROM Exander and put the expanded ROM in the same folder as JONBOUND.ips. Rename your ROM "JONBOUND.smc" and most modern emulators will patch the game for you automatically when you play.
A note from BA:
"For me, JonBound was really a growth experience. This part of the game was probably the lowest point of my skills - a position most beginning hackers find themselves in. In fact, many of the major intro scenes didn't even get completed until nearly the end of the game's production. Luckily, I took the easy way out and followed the original game's plot almost exactly. This is one of the big things that most newcomers have trouble with, considering all the new snazzy tools we have to play with. Just remember, there's no shame in not going wild with map editing, and drastically redesigning the plot flow of the game - as long as you are creative in the way you handle it."