Can You Beat Earthbound's Low Level Challenge?

The Earthbound Low Level playthrough is one of the most excruciating and tedious things I've ever decided to do for no reason. A gauntlet of terrible encounters, rerolling areas, and hoping for a string of very lucky actions, all make for a gaming experience that's unforgettable. And completely undesirable too, but that's why I'm here, having done all the hard work, you're welcome.
Thanks for watching! I have a lot of fun theory crafting and working on challenges for games I love, so I hope this was an enjoyable watch for you! I have many more sadistic things in my mind for this type of video, so if you enjoyed, I'd really appreciate if you Liked, Commented, Shared, or Subscribed! And why not give the bell a little tap, it's lonely sitting over there with no one looking at it.
And as always an amazingly large thanks to my Patrons! You all hold a special place in my heart, and I hope I can repay your kindness somehow!
All sorts of bonus material is posted the Patreon, including extra videos! Check it out if you'd like! / seergames
And I have a discord! Have a link, enjoy, thanks: / discord

[@ssj2_snake]

As someone who struggled with Frank and the robot as a kid, I honestly thought you would have to pull some serious shenanigans to beat them at low level. To my surprise, I'm actually just a huge bitch

[@swordf5345]

no the whole game is a bitch. Everything that happens in that game isn't your fault

[@mrmusickhimself]

Same here, I was unwittingly doing the Low Level Challenge when I was 11 because it was my first RPG and I didn't understand the concept of grinding -- I ran all the time. I only managed to beat Frank after loading myself up with burgers, hell, I'd argue I had an easier time with Titanic Ant than Frank.

[@swordf5345]

@@mrmusickhimself Yeah what's stupid is that you have to grind in Earthbound to literally get anywhere.

[@qwopiretyu]

​@@swordf5345 it's how JRPGs were made at the time. Not forgiving bad design it's just a failing of the era. Still some of the slappinest stories come out of the era

[@swordf5345]

@@qwopiretyu Bruh Earthbound literally has zero fucking story. Hell, Mother1 had more story than it honestly.

[@mothchan3411]

It's not everyday you get to watch a video entirely about children getting assaulted. 10/10

[@gstvntt]

What u mean? That's the entire roblox business model

[@StarwayBunny]

​@@gstvntt Damn. 💀

[@jackso10iscool]

depends on the website 💀

[@jaxonrobertson2274]

​@@jackso10iscoolnah what💀

[@nicholashazel7049]

Classy lol

[@arch_caff]

Some fun trivia: Although Poo doesn't join the party until after he is level 18, he actually starts out at level 15, likely because the devs didn't want to make players wait an eternity for the numerous level up screens that would've appeared.

[@velvetbutterfly]

I always thought it was because he was already training and we only witnessed the final trial

[@arch_caff]

@@velvetbutterfly It's both, since my point only refers to a gameplay perspective and your point would make the most sense in a story context. It also makes sense to make Poo start at level 15 because when Jeff is introduced, you can level him up before he joins the main party, which you can't do with Poo since there are no enemies.

[@andrewhanna6613]

I love the HUD with the bosses to the side. Great vid dude!

[@shwqa]

The funny thing is he didn't even fully exploit Jeff. Bottle rocket damage is based on speed. There is an accuracy called rabbit foots that increase speed by +40.

[@TeemoQuinton]

An accuracy?

[@ZorotheGallade]

"We're going to defeat you with the power of friendship and this gun Jeff found"

[@Tony78432]

😂😂😂

[@StandardA4Paper]

Just for info Jeff found a bazooka. Friendship is out of the question now.

[@Cheeyze]

This gun jeff **made

[@Ravnesss]

I wish other games stole the rolling hp mechanic. I like the rush to menu quickly when someone's health is ticking down.

[@TeemoQuinton]

Rolling health and the FFX sphere grid. Gimmicks that need to be stolen

[@irradiatedpacific]

i can't lie seeing the crow steal your one and only psi caramel right after the downright grueling monotoli building section is like. the single most hilariously catastrophic thing i could imagine happening to you. imagine bumping into a crow and it steals your liver by accident

[@CesarTorres61296]

Even in a low level challenge, Poo is STILL underleveled.

[@GDCytosine]

I'm not sure if this would break your rule of playing the game how the developers intended (I'm pretty sure it is intended), but couldn't you skip Mondo Mole, go straight to Threed, and have Jeff fight the Mondo Mole with Ness and Paula before fighting the Boogey Tent, making the fight ever so slightly easier with a bottle rocket, getting Jeff a little stronger earlier, and being able to spread the exp thinner, lowering your final levels overall?

[@anthonystrycharz9158]

You cant fight Mondo Mole with Jeff before the Boogey Tent. Once you're in Threed you cannot leave until you defeat Belch. You could save Mondo Mole for later; even waiting until Poo joins the party. The problem is I don't know if it would be possible to beat the Boogey Tent with no level gains from Mondo Mole.

[@SirMalorak]

I know many people are here for the ARPG content, but your Challenge Videos are really fun! I love JRPGs. Thanks Seer, this brightened my evenin!

[@seer6251]

Thank you, that really does mean a lot to me! I love jrpgs a lot as well, they really help keep my mind off things, and I like going back and trying weird things out a lot, so I hope I can do another one of these soon!

[@Soadaa5656]

​@@seer6251I also really enjoy your commentary and jokes. I would watch you olay through anything. Of course the issue is if you're worried about the analytics and if non ARPG videos do well or not. If youtube is your main revenue stream, or would be cool if it became your main, its rather difficult to know whats correct (I certainly don't know). I just see many many youtubers fulfill a niche but eventually try to go outside of that niche and its rather difficult.

[@defagentanimations]

i was really surprised when i saw how little views this video was, it clearly took a LOT of effort and your commentary was really entertaining. great video

[@ScootsLounge]

You can somewhat mitigate the cash problem in HappyHappy village before getting rid of Carpainter. You can buy eggs for free, wait for them to hatch into chickens, and sell the chickens for a decent amount of cash. I understand why you wouldn't want to do that anyway, it is a challenge run and that would probably take days of grinding to have enough cash to keep yourself kitted out for the whole game, but it is an option if you wanna grind that out.

[@Trollololololful]

You can do this anytime in the game. You can buy eggs in burglin park for $12, and sell them for $110 once they hatch. Yes the profit won't be as much, but you can just fill as much of your inventory as desired and play the game normally and sell when they hatch.

[@pianoman7753]

​@@Trollololololfulso Ive got the wii u virtual console version, and only the first 12 eggs I bought, EVER hatched. Ever. I held another dozen on a character until summers, and not one turned into a chick ever again, after I sold the first batch.

[@alxcus2962]

fun fact: frank's actually underage. yeah. He just _looks_ like a chain smoking mobster in his forties.

[@AnAverageGoblin]

Truly the teddy of earthbound then. source?

[@alxcus2962]

@@AnAverageGoblin IIRC, after you beat the final boss, you can talk to Frank again, and he mentions going out for drinks... Before specifying that said drinks would be mineral water, as he (meaning Frank) is underage.

[@AnAverageGoblin]

@@alxcus2962sounds more like localization censoring dialogue with a joke or Frank just likes mineral water. but thats getting into "is the original or localized version canon" territory so i'll just agree that he's a teenager that smokes too much.

[@alxcus2962]

@@AnAverageGoblin hm. I wonder if it says that in the Japanese version...

[@AnAverageGoblin]

@@alxcus2962Yea. maybe that one tomato guy that made a book about Earthbound's localization knows.

[@pikafan100]

Ngl but, I wish there more earthbound challenge videos out there. This video is a great example of how good these challenges could be.

[@timmyp6297]

Mondo Mole cast Paralysis and you can beat him at level 1. He runs out of magic and "cant do anything."

[@HerecomestheCalavera]

I'm surprised that the characters are such high levels from only doing mandatory battles. I would have guessed they would be in the 20s.

[@synthetic_creature]

for the thing at 12:26, i think the "dazzling light" is a low level flash psi, and a "terrible heaven rending sound" is a high level flash psi, which can and absolutely will instantly murder party members if you get unlucky

[@alantremonti1381]

How did youtube never alert me to this?! This is great! Earthbound is such an underrated classic, even to this day. For once, I greatly dislike your tight editing, because I wanted this run to go on longer. Kudos!

[@GuyDudeman97]

Hot damn good job dude! Surprised ya made it through the gauntlet that was titanic ant. That dude can ko some folks even with exp under that belt and you did it with none

[@elios7623]

loving the variety content

[@seer6251]

I'm glad! I hope to be able to continue doing a bit from column A and B, I have a lot more fun doing that sort of thing.

[@ThrackerZ0d]

i feel like this is kinda how everyone in the 90s or early 2000s has beaten Earthbound without knowing anything about jrpgs

[@也許Kenny]

"They're made for little bitches" Earthbound Begginings:

[@LuckyTheMotherFan]

True

[@velvetbutterfly]

He was talking about new games, not old ones

[@HOURHAK]

earthbound begginings is the ultimate antibitch tool

[@Acey785]

Other than forgetting about Everdred in Twoson, i think you nailed it! Good stuff!

[@PhantomOfficial07]

everdred is actually optional and he has to skip all optional enemies

[@jaredgray4987]

I love the combination/contrast of the commentary + the super high quality editing/UI, absolutely beautiful

[@kkeithf]

Hilarious as always, thanks man, appreciate the longer video

[@seer6251]

Thank you for watching! I'm glad I'm tolerable in longer doses 😎

[@tommyassbags5065]

Earthbound vid? You're spoiling us Seer!

[@fluffy9071]

Was obsessed with Megami Tensei Mandatory Battle Only runs as a kid. Also love Mother 2 to bits. Fantastic video!

[@numbug1234]

The alien guy in the shopping dungeon won't kidnap Paula if she's dead or if she's the only party member that isn't dead. In other words, a tactical death and healing afterwards would allow you to hold onto her for the next few battles, thereby spreading the exp out further.

[@Flamsterette]

I love this video! Thanks for the gifted membership! You've gained a new subscriber - ME! haha.

[@lordofkirbysucks]

The editing in this video is brilliant, the hud kinda reminds of certain RPG TAS explanations

[@Slimeypattyburgur]

Im gonna be deadass here you are by far one of the most entertaining youtubers i have ever watched your voice is good your humor is really funny and the editing is AWESOME truly inspiring

[@thunderousavenger2382]

17:27 a true CaseOh moment

[@kokobieldraws7842]

Overlevelled the hell out of my game last playthrough and nearly lost at Giygas just because Paula's pray ability made Ness target the party with PK Rockin omega.

[@D4Skewer]

My very first playthrough of this game, I had no idea how to play RPG's: I didn't know that leveling up was a necessity and thus struggled very VERY hard on my first playthrough. I lost to Titanic Ant more than 30 times and only managed to beat him by sheer luck. My first playthrough was effectively a low level, near pacifist run as I avoided most battles by abusing the enemy spawn system to get them to disappear by entering doors and leaving until there were no enemies on screen. It was safe to say that every victory was just sheer luck and item abuse because I was just simply too afraid to fight enemies. Fast forward to recent, I can speed run this game and finish it in one sitting because I now have knowledge on how to properly abuse its leveling system. Get to high enough a level in Onett by painstakingly grinding the Sharks until Franky is just easy mode. Every enemy you fight afterwards is not a challenge as the XP you get is enough to keep feeding you levels; and then you just grind Foppy's when possible until you over-level again, which the game provides you with two different instances. Level80 is just a breeze, all because you grinded sharks at Onett, and then Foppys when possible, and then the biggest offender of why over-leveling happens: searching for the Sword of Kings. :(

[@sweetypuss]

lmfao you played earthbound like it was a modern paper mario game

[@BrockyB91]

Sir, you may be the most underrated Reviewer on KZbin. You're videos are quality and hilarious. The fact you only have 33.9k Subs is a travesty.

[@jaykelley103]

Just leave the last bit out, it comes across as a backhanded compliment

[@redshell9205]

Why did you have to make the footage wider instead of keeping it normal? It really doesn’t need it…

[@redshell9205]

Great video anyway

[@cassianosntg]

Wow dude, great video! Great challenge and really fun to watch you raging your way through it.

[@seer6251]

Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed. I wanted this to be a proof of concept for more videos like this, and I hope the next time I do a challenge run I can iron things out further!

[@eggrollwilly1935]

Super well made deserves way more views

[@opnuul]

bruh the STRETCH to wide is KILLING ME this game plays natively in 4:3 😭 ese this is some HAMBURGER STYLE shit right here bro you have the SPRITES AT THE CORRECT ASPECT RATIO ON THE SCREEN AT THE SAME TIME!!!!

[@thefrubblewarrior4678]

You could’ve avoided money troubles by having 12 dollars of disposable income. The strat goes like this: Step 1: Buy a fresh egg in Burglin Market for twelve big ones Step 2: Walk around with the egg until it hatches into a chick and the grows into a chicken Step 3: Sell the chicken for 110 bucks Step 4: Buy more eggs with the 110 bucks Step 5: Rinse and repeat until money is no longer an issue

[@jackatk]

0:18 That’s not arrogance; it’s pride. It’s annoying because some people think that they’re _enlightened_ because they know the Japanese name lol

[@coryfusting9294]

Stumbled on this video because I love EB, stayed for the Diablo 2 nostalgia and Blizzard dunking. Good shit.

[@seer6251]

Haha, thank you!

[@heckincat1406]

Just found the channel! Great job covering one of my favourite games ever👍

[@Roanin50]

Great video loved the layout hope to see more like this in the future

[@seer6251]

Really glad you liked it! I want to do more with individual games like this, so definitely more to come!

[@Roanin50]

@@seer6251 Nice! seems like a good format for it youve always been on point with your editing

[@DijaVlogsGames]

Never heard of this channel before, but I‘m really enjoying the editing and commentary.

[@RachelRichards]

You clearly put so much work into this playthrough and video. Thank you. Your sense of humor reminds me of the earlier days of the internet, when people were funnier.

[@chelvy2880]

earthbound was such a good game

[@Binaryism]

Still is tbf

[@robbylava]

I subbed for Diablo 2, but this was a very pleasant surprise. Would be very interested in more like it at some point!

[@TyckinTymeBom]

Now do it while the game is pirated

[@SANS_THE_SKELETON666]

Imma try that

[@SANS_THE_SKELETON666]

Update: Please, it is possible but, it required heavy RNG manipulation that a human could most likely not do.

[@buhbo3250]

​@@SANS_THE_SKELETON666 dude genuinely tried. kinda impressive

[@tyler_liwan5]

“He’s bs, he’s bs he’s f**king bs.” That line had me laughing! Love your content. Keep it up.

[@grandmasta0079]

Here is a challenge, beat paper mario without the lucky star (the item that enables action commands) You can skip it by using an OoB trick to get bast the disguised koopa bros in Toad town. I know you can at least beat the first chapter, I have not tested further yet. Using Kooper at all in battle softlocks the game.

[@rottingbasket3379]

This writing goes hard, 'hanks Seer!

[@captntunabeerd]

Top content as always !

[@kirbyfreakyt4695]

I'd love to do this challenge. _*Save state 1_ Time to get infinite melee crits! Also, I have to mention it for the record: I see you have good taste in video game music. I'd say that about a lot of video games lol, but I had to mention this one specifically for obvious reasons. 13:07 First off, this is technically Rockin Beta. Same damage, I believe it's the same damage type, etc Second off, oh man, I loved Pray with Savestates Pray with Savestates was OP 13:25 I can't wait for you to equip him with Speed increasing items 18:45 I still absolutely respect Paula But all four of them are nukes. Ness becomes an unstoppable killing machine who can use Rockin Beta AS his regular attack, quite literally living any hit except Flash Paula wrecks with her damage output and Savestate Pray is the path to infinity Jeff is Batman Starstorm No seriously tho Jeff is just Batman. He's on a team of people with superpowers but mans is just out here with bombs and machinery and he's surpassing them Also let us not forget his normal attack is a Super Bomb, you just have to go to Item 25:00 Ironic how you could have lowered the average level by letting Ness die a few times. Yes, the other party members would get the EXP... But you could average out your levels a bit more.

[@angeryroshea2254]

Imagine being an otherwordly abomination and being unable to do anything because this dork with a bunch of homemade explosives is immortal and staring you down in a infinite never ending cycle

[@RyanReta97]

I've been on an earthbound challenge kick and so far no one has resisted making a 'PP' joke

[@Studycase3000]

Great vid as always I loved🤗the wrap up - Everyone dies which ya know? is just Fun! A large Fuck this, lots of smiles and tears 🤩😂

[@TwoEyesOpen]

in case you ever felt like putting yourself through this torture again, i wonder if the run would be easier if you held off from fighting trillionage sprout. you can go back to him later (i had to go back to him when i played because i was a stupid kid who had the attention span of a gnat)

[@tyler_liwan5]

Enemy used “Anything” Everyone died. That’s how this feels

[@isuckatgaming1873]

You could make infinite money in twoson with eggs, if you want to buy rockets more easily

[@SonofTiamat]

Where you hatch them and sell the chickens for 110 dollars?

[@isuckatgaming1873]

@@SonofTiamat yeah I watched a guy do that for 3 hours straight lol Wasn't even a challenge run the guy was just insane I was very confused

[@nibyafternight1983]

I remember watching yhis video and forgetting about it then I played Super Mario RPG and saw your video on it and now I love your channel

[@HannibalGraham]

Fighting the guardians in order actually makes this easier because you're a higher level but also, you should have more then enough money for BR's and super bombs for the entire game. Knowing how to speed run the game affords you this information. The first few fights that you did are harder then the speedrun, but after that it's effectively the speedrun.

[@gamemassacre1251]

The mondo mole fight is opptional, i skipped it when i played earthbound normally but came back to beat it much later ingame

[@Skyesbeautifuldream]

He did mention that you can fight The Boogey Tent could be fought before the Mondo Mole, but he chose not to.

[@NatalieExists]

it isn't optional, you can skip the point where you're supposed to do it but you will still have to fight him eventually

[@guyug6940]

Why’d you stretch the screen 😭

[@guyug6940]

Good vid tho

[@tophmidnaYT]

26:43 This video has one of my favorite endings of any piece of media I have ever had the pleasure of experiencing

[@KnownAsKenji]

Speaking of RNG manipulation, you can also use that to manipulate level-up stats to an extent. I haven't tried this run, but it could make some difference, would recommend it to anyone trying.

[@gabbls_]

I have a similar thing with how I like difficult challenges. Mother 2 Deluxe is a massive overhaul mod that changes too many things to list, but one notable thing is that it amps up the difficulty quite a bit. You can even have something called Insane mode. Are you gonna give it a try?

[@cougher9000]

how do i download it? is it just a ROM hack thing that runs on a standard SNES emulator,

[@gabbls_]

​@Malique Steven Yes. It's applied by a patch file. The newer version of the hack isn't out yet tho.

[@josephjames9090]

OK I find this type of comment cringe but I mean it when I say how the fuck are you still not popular af on here?? Your editing and writing and literally everything are so much better than channels with tens of millions of subs, justice for seer or death

[@Levitrips]

Finding a cool underground channel is the most satisfying feeling

[@dansmith1661]

You can cheese some bosses by being lucky with Flash and have them kill themselves. You don't even need to fight the tent and Belch will error 404 himself.

[@gallofilm]

are you melo/runningshines brother

[@FatalKitsune]

This is the video I never knew I wanted.

[@RyneMcKinney]

"But you can go and get a free burger from a fucking trash can" killed me

[@MegasMan10]

The 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 6th sanctuary bosses can be skipped until before magicant. I would say a true low level run would go that route, leveling up as late as possible

[@jrizzelli]

Here's a little thanks for all the feet pics....and I guess for the d2 streams as well.

[@seer6251]

WOW, I'll express deliver some more feet pics for that, thank you so much!

[@guyrocketram9698]

the edditing here made me so happy

[@Mephaslyo]

I haven't watched the whole video but im going to guess that Magicant will be an absolute blessing EDIT: it seems that multi bottle rockets were more of a blessing which i kind of realized when he said jeff is going to become the mvp

[@Xenav14]

I actually tried this many a year back. I would entirely agree that Titanic Ant and Trillionage Sprout would be the hardest fights in the game (the walk to Trillionage Sprout is a close second). I also had trouble with the Kracken fight as he decided to actually be difficult to fight. Granted, I'd say my run's fault was forgetting CONSTANTLY TO PREPARE for fights.

[@RiskierGoose340]

I think I’ll try this run myself, but ban multi-bottle rockets. That would allow for actually interesting battles later on.

[@SonofTiamat]

More than twenty years after beating this game for the first time and Giygas still freaks me out. The thought of unaliving to him is nightmarish

[@janette2422]

if you have a bad run...it can already be an insufferable experience XD

[@adrisaborUVA]

This is basically how I play Earthbound. I don't have time to be farming experience

[@robrargh1]

First off, like the video and challenge, but I've a burning query. Twoson = (slow) infinite money from buying fresh eggs and selling chickens. Such that you can gear up early, and surround yourself with an army of teddy bears / be a walking vending machine / armoury. You can even stockpile teddy bears or certain explosives with Escargo Express for areas that don't sell them, such as Peaceful Rest Valley. At the very least you could boost your wealth barely enough to fill your inventory, taking several minutes. Rather than rely on RNG / menu manipulation. Was there a reason you didn't?

[@seer6251]

Okay so I had no clue you could sell chickens for more profit LOL. Doing a quick read up on the wiki is enlightening, I genuinely have never done this before. So uh, yeah, good point, that would've saved a lot of effort in the end. Still, I suppose you could see my video as being as purely weak as possible. That being said, for all the time I spent mucking around, I would've loved to use this method in retrospect.

[@givememyleg]

That was incredible. Straight gangsta.

[@jordanthejq12]

Oh Lord, YOU ACTUALLY HAVE TO FIGHT MONDO MOLE? You are a braver man than I.

[@christopherjohnson4934]

Commentary is gold.

[@Someguyonline24]

“And Jeff’s bomb spell” ah yes, psi EXPLOSION

[@coreywhitaker883]

I always did this to an extent cause Vit is linked to HP in some regard. So since your stats increase in Magicant it was always a low level race to Magicant before really grinding. Which I usually throw out the door for grinding the sword of kings.

[@Alexis-uo8jq]

underrated 😭🙏

[@Buzzbuzzisdeadxd]

Ness got hurt and collapsed!

[@PorkyMinch]

10/10 animations

[@manglarstudio8496]

why is it that i always watch your videos with a hangover

[@semajniomet981]

`18:20 Fun fact: You can avoid losing Paula if you leave the store by going around the plants at the bottom of the first floor. Regrettably, this only delays that part where she gets kidnapped until you next enter the store.

[@Shishizurui]

I did this today with level 56 tho mine was kinda casual. i cheesed some spawns and i'm good at getting the green~ i got an easier EB challenge - you collect all the items for the monkey cave-- you are not allowed to BUY them or USE any that are provided in that cave except the K banana/Fresh Egg otherwise enemies drop those and u can find them elsewhere. I honestly just hate the dusty dunes/fourside part of EB most ppl i know actually quit there

[@aries999]

This is one of gaming's greatest moments.

[@Mateus-pd6hl]

Your edition is amazing

[@younesakdah1803]

This video is great and funny. Thank you.

[@qwopiretyu]

13:06 and to think that was only the third strongest mole

[@Daraix4]

There is a trick to Frank even tho he is faster than you if you talk to him from behind you always get to go first for some extra damage