EarthBound Companion

EarthBound Companion

EarthBound for Windows, with a native MaternalBound Redux adaptation, widescreen and ultrawide scenery, 1080p–4K output, MSU music, PC controls, save recovery and Story Shuffle v4.

▶ Watch the EarthBound Companion + MaternalBound Redux trailer

[!NOTE] Feature-frozen; community testing and focused bug-fix maintenance. Active feature development is wrapped at dev.32. Scope and coverage · Short testing guide · Report a bug. Another full playthrough is not required.

[!WARNING] Current release: v0.5.0-redux-dev.32, an experimental native Redux adaptation. Further playtesting is needed. The older v0.4.0 preview contains original EarthBound. The Redux development edition compiles the pinned upstream source from your clean ROM, converts it into a native pack, and implements explicit native gameplay adaptations. Opening gameplay, shops, equipment, all 11 Tools, title/narration and ending fixtures pass. One user-reported Redux campaign reached the ending and credits, with equipment/stat boosts for final testing. Automated full-campaign certification, randomized playthroughs, all combat combinations and every story/music transition remain unverified. See MATERNALBOUND-NATIVE.md.

Dev.32 broadens Story Shuffle: ordinary gifts and drops mix item types, priceless equipment enters the loot pool, shop baselines can change, and wild encounters now change enemy lineups. Story keys, quest helpers, required trade supplies and scripted boss lineups remain intact. V3 recipes still reproduce their original algorithm. Rules and verification.

Dev.31 corrects the ending's party-name tile table and repairs existing packs at runtime, preserving save identities. The resumed audit now checks actual camera scripts, cold photo/cast continuations and 68 evolving battle cases. Fix and bounded coverage.

Dev.30 fixes striped/corrupted credits photographs and repeating PSI effects in widescreen side gutters, including existing checkpoints. All 32 credits photos pass in both editions. Details. Fresh public-source compilation, packaged first-run setup, 76 bounded regressions and 90 offscreen presentation cases also pass. Readiness and remaining coverage.

Game features

• Native Windows x64 gameplay: compiled C/SDL2 game code with a self-contained PC launcher and guided setup from your own clean USA ROM.
• Two game modes: original EarthBound and the pinned MaternalBound Redux native adaptation, with separate story saves.
• Redux story and presentation: restored writing, sprites, naming, maps, enemy/battle art, PSI effects, intro and ending presentation, plus native adaptations of its gameplay fixes. Compatibility is still under playtest.
• Choose your title screen: keep Redux gameplay while selecting the original EarthBound logo and animation in Game Mode; the Redux title remains the default.
• HD output: 720p, 1080p, 1440p, 4K and 3440×1440, with borderless fullscreen and a windowed option.
• Expanded world view: 4:3, 16:9 and 21:9 framing, wider native scenery and adjustable field of view.
• Rendering choices: crisp pixels, Scale2x, bilinear filtering and optional integer scaling.
• Optional visual effects: color grading, CRT scanlines and a miniature depth effect; Enhanced, Classic, CRT and Easygoing presets.
• Native MSU music: installer/repair for all 164 tracks of the credited fan soundtrack, with looping, fades and one-shot jingles; missing tracks fall back to SPC music and game sound effects remain available.
• Audio controls: master volume and separate MSU music volume.
• Keyboard and controller support: rebinding, analog movement, controller hotplug, adjustable stick deadzone and Nintendo/Xbox face-button labels.
• Sprint: selectable Off, 1.5× or 2× movement; Redux includes its stamina, exhaustion and recovery mechanics and running sprites.
• Faster play: quick dialogue and a configurable 2×–16× Tab fast-forward toggle, subject to PC performance.
• Convenience switches: optional suppression of Ness's homesickness and Dad's unsolicited reminder calls.
• Reward controls: independent 1×–16× battle EXP and money multipliers, plus a one-click fast-playtest preset.
• Redux controls and menus: quick Talk/Check, HP/PP toggle, Town Maps and the Redux command-menu layout.
• Expanded naming: six-letter party names, ten-letter favorite food and Redux's accented naming keyboard.
• Inventory conveniences: shared key-item storage, a Keys menu and Jeff's Tools menu; eleven acquired battle Tools work without occupying his normal inventory.
• Equipment information: expanded stat and resistance previews, plus corrected equipment-transfer behavior.
• Additional Redux conveniences: expanded Spy information, bulk shop purchases and faster door transitions in Redux mode.
• Story Shuffle v4: cross-category gift contents, shop stock and enemy drops, rare equipment, varied ordinary-enemy stats and randomized wild lineups. Required keys/trade supplies and scripted boss lineups remain intact. Deterministic seeds, separate saves, recipes and spoilers; full randomized playthroughs remain unverified.
• Save anywhere: five F6/F7 quick-save banks, each with two crash-safe generations, alongside normal in-game phone saves.
• Save recovery: automatic session backups, guided restore, checked edition migration and separate save folders for Original, Redux and every randomizer seed.
• PC shortcuts: F1 settings, F9 pause, F11 fullscreen, F12 screenshots and an FPS display.
• Native mod profiles: import/export supported settings profiles and select compatible native asset packs. Arbitrary IPS/BPS ROM hacks need their own native adaptations.

HD describes output resolution and presentation; a replacement hand-drawn HD art pack is not included. This is an experimental build, and a complete story or randomized playthrough has not been certified. Feature credits · Native conversion coverage · Exact randomizer rules.

Actual ROM-free dev.32 launcher capture. Scroll down for the wild encounter description, generation controls and seed library.

Actual dev.19 launcher capture. Gameplay and historical screenshots below retain their stated checkpoint.

The target is one polished PC edition: MaternalBound Redux's restored writing, art, fixes, and presentation running through the native engine alongside Companion's display, audio, input, save, QoL, mod, and randomizer features. Story Shuffle v4 binds every seed to the exact selected game version, asset hash, progression policy, and save namespace. Existing v3 recipes and saves remain supported. Both the original and the pinned Redux packs have content-specific protection policies; unknown packs cannot be randomized.

[!IMPORTANT] This project does not contain an EarthBound ROM, extracted Nintendo assets, soundtrack audio or saves. The documentation includes clearly labeled development screenshots. You must provide your own legally obtained clean EarthBound (USA) ROM. Companion verifies it and builds the required native data locally. We do not condone piracy.

Developer testing tools · Latest tester release · MaternalBound native port status · Randomizer rules · Research and compatibility · Credits · Source lineage

Maintenance addresses reported defects in the frozen scope. Current fixes cover the completed user-reported campaign, including the museum quest, Sound Stone/Magicant presentation, Giygas artwork, credits and widescreen PSI. Historical fixes and verification scope remain in the changelog and release evidence. Untested natural story branches, randomized progression, all combat combinations and broader physical audio/display/controller coverage are documented limits, not a required broad-audit queue.

Companion at a glance

These are real captures from the ROM-free dev.8 development launcher before game-data setup. They contain no extracted game artwork or gameplay screenshots.

MaternalBound Redux native-port status	Story Shuffle v3 content-safe randomizer
HD, widescreen and rendering controls	Native MSU audio setup
Guided ROM setup and Play	Native profiles, asset packs and save recovery

The Redux port page also shows actual native gameplay, Tools, equipment and cast renders. Recorded opening replays pass normal-button walking through the house, doors and stairs, Mom's dialogue, the clothes-change event and initial outdoor movement, with fresh-process restores between checkpoints. Those recorded replays cover both Redux story and a generated seed; their evidence retains the tested binary hashes.

This capture replays the mayor’s actual Shack Key award using the production engine and ordinary recorded inputs. It is a story checkpoint, not a completed playthrough.

This 1080p capture uses locally supplied game data. It documents the development build; it is not proof of complete story compatibility.

This production-engine capture shows the real present reward after the dev.5 fix. Testing also checks inventory, the opened flag and repeat protection.

This unedited production-engine capture restores the added Speed message from the prepared four-member battle fixture. The debug character names and stats are fixture inputs; this is not ordinary story progress.

What this is

EarthBound Companion packages a native x64 C/SDL2 game build with a self-contained Windows settings application. Gameplay executes as compiled native code; the optional SNES main-CPU verification emulator is disabled. Software implementations of the original graphics and SPC/DSP audio subsystems remain for rendering and sound.

The player-facing setup separates code/tools from player-supplied game data. Setup reads the owner's ROM locally and never modifies or uploads it. Conversion creates local working data and generated ROMs, removed after successful setup. Failed builds can retain private diagnostics and working files; those folders must not be uploaded.

We still use the upstream native engine. This is an adaptation of that foundation, not a ground-up replacement. The source lineage is Herringway/ebsrc → BrianPugh/earthbound → seanstaggsQU/earthboundRecompLinux2026 → Companion's pinned patch. Our launcher, Redux converters/adapters, PC integration, fixes, randomizer and recovery build on that work. Adding these features does not erase upstream authorship or licensing obligations. Verified provenance · Full credits.

Quick start

1. Download the Redux development package from Releases for experimental MaternalBound testing, or v0.4.0 for the older original-story preview.
2. Extract the complete ZIP to a normal folder.
3. Run EarthBound Companion.exe.
4. Select your clean EarthBound (USA) .sfc or .smc ROM.
5. Leave Install the complete MSU soundtrack checked for enhanced music, or clear it to use SPC music. Internet access is needed for the pinned source and soundtrack downloads; testers need no Python, Git, .NET installation or compiler.
6. When setup finishes, choose Play EarthBound. The Redux package identifies itself as a development profile. Game Mode → Use original EarthBound returns to the original story without changing either edition's saves.

The application accepts the clean 3 MiB USA ROM, with or without a 512-byte copier header. A different revision or modified ROM is rejected before extraction.

Before updating, close the game and launcher and back up the existing installation. Preserve Profiles, UserData and msu; review the target release notes before reusing development quick saves. Older content packs have specific upgrade/import routes described in the conversion notes.

Switching editions selects a separate adventure; it does not convert an existing playthrough. Normal phone saves are the migration path between engine builds. Development quick saves require a compatible engine and state format.

Where to go in the launcher

Tab	Use it for
Play	Start or resume the normal story in the selected edition; choose a presentation/convenience preset.
Randomizer	Choose shuffle options, generate and replay seeds, open spoiler logs and manage each seed's separate saves.
Game Mode	Choose Original or Redux, choose the title screen, build game data or review conversion coverage.
Display	Resolution, fullscreen, widescreen framing, pixel filtering and visual effects.
Audio	MSU soundtrack selection/installation, music and game volume, and soundtrack credits.
Gameplay	Sprint, quick dialogue, homesickness/call settings, battle rewards and quick-save bank.
Controls	Keyboard/controller bindings, stick deadzone and face-button labels.
Mods & saves	Settings profiles, compatible native asset packs, and story-save backup/restore.

Click Apply settings to save option changes. Game Mode selects the story edition played from Play. Randomizer's seed library manages randomized adventures and their saves.

PC presentation notes

HD means high-resolution output and enhanced presentation. Converted pixel artwork is used; a replacement hand-drawn HD art pack is not included. Widescreen expands the native world view within the renderer's limits, rather than merely stretching the original picture. Physical controller play and every display/DPI combination have not been fully verified. Mod profiles tune supported native options; arbitrary ROM patches require explicit native adaptations.

Native MSU soundtrack

First-run setup can download all 164 PCM tracks from ShadowOne333’s EarthBound MSU-1 pack. Each file is checked against the embedded size and checksum manifest before it is installed. Interrupted setup keeps completed tracks; Audio → Install / repair soundtrack resumes and verifies the collection. Missing or invalid files fall back to the selected edition's SPC soundtrack. Native checks cover all 164 PCM loop/end boundaries, the eight Sound Stone transitions and retained SPC sound effects; complete listening and story-transition coverage remain unverified.

The PCM files are not stored in this repository or the release ZIP. See CREDITS.md for provenance.

Story Shuffle v4

Companion includes its own native randomizer for replayable adventures:

• Gift contents: ordinary loot mixes across categories, including rare/priceless equipment, repairables and money gifts; keys, quest helpers and required pizza gifts stay fixed.
• Shop stock: ordinary occupied slots can change, including the first slot. Keys, quest helpers, empty slots and required Monkey Cave supplies stay fixed. Replacements have a nonzero original shop price; item prices are unchanged.
• Enemy stats: ordinary-enemy HP, offense, defense and speed vary within bounded ranges; bosses and scripted enemies stay fixed.
• Enemy drops: ordinary loot mixes across categories, including Cookies and regular enemies also used in scripted fights. Story drops, bosses, level-zero actors, drop odds and no-drop records stay fixed.
• Wild encounters: field encounters change to bounded ordinary lineups; map locations, spawn flags/odds/weights, group data and scripted boss lineups remain intact.
• Balanced and Surprise modes;
• deterministic seed recipes;
• isolated saves, screenshots and recovery backups for every seed.

Independent guards run at generation and before launch. Content ID, asset hash, safety policy, seed identity and save folder must agree. V4 protects actual keys, quest helpers and required trade sources instead of globally fixing every script-referenced item. Original story order, maps, doors, routes and scripts remain intact. These invariants do not certify a complete randomized campaign.

Four reviewed Original/Redux pack identities each pass 1,000 v4 seeds, 62 option/style combinations and corruption controls. Both editions have opening/cold-restore checks; 12 selected Redux lineups complete prepared encounters. V3 recipes retain their original algorithm, pack identity and separate saves; historical v3 protection counts do not describe v4. Rules · dev.32 evidence.

This generator is inspired by the EarthBound randomizer community but does not claim seed parity with earthbound.app or stochaztic/eb-randomizer. Ancient Cave, Open mode and Keysanity are not implemented. See RANDOMIZER.md.

Current boundaries

• One user-reported Redux campaign reached Giygas and credits, with equipment/stat boosts for final testing. An automated or unboosted full campaign and full randomized progression are not certified.
• MaternalBound Redux targets a pinned active-source snapshot, rather than the official v1.1 BPS release. Conversion includes 7,397 dialogue spans, 17 routine adapters and all 898 movement-script roots. Title scenes, 191 SPC tracks, 68 PSI effects, shops/equipment, all 11 battle Tools and all 32 photo-credit branches have bounded checks on the builds identified in their reports. Untested natural story branches, all combat-effect combinations and complete music-transition coverage remain unverified. See detailed coverage.
• Arbitrary IPS, BPS and EBP pat