Earthbound's Most Mysterious Character 

Big thank you to everyone for checking out another mother theory video. Who do you think Buzz Buzz is? Please let me know in the comments below, and of course I always appreciate sharing the content. Let’s get the algorithm pumping!

The ‘meteor is a disguised phase distorter’ theory makes sense cause it would explain why the meteor has the material needed to make a phase distorter

There’s a bug motif throughout the Mother series, often depicting bugs as something vital or incredibly helpful. Not only is there the titular Buzz Buzz, but we also have the Magic Butterflies and the Mole Crickets and Stinkbug in Mother 3! You also have more subtle things such as the Jar of Fly Honey, but I’m not entirely sure if that counts. The meaning behind this is all left up to personal interpretation since I don’t think it’s every acknowledged or explanation. This is fine with me because this all still seems very intentional to me.

“How did porkys mom kill him so easily” shes the strongest character in the game wdym?

Well, there's always the fact that bugs are pretty important for children in Japan. Maybe him dying is the representation of Ness beggining his journey to grow up and leave behind his child hobbies to save the world ? But that's maybe a little bit too far off again.

Itoi said Ness and Ninten are the same person "if you want them to be" so that just throws a wrench into everything. Makes no sense, but is a very itoi answer.

Actually, Ninten can use psi Also, just a fun fact, in the Japanese version of Mother 2, Buzz Buzz mentions that Starman Jr. was an assassin. Could this mean that the Starmen are just mercenaries that Giygas hired?

Personally I've never gotten the impression that Buzz Buzz was someone we know as a previous character. I always figured Buzz Buzz was kinda like Kyle Reese from Terminator. An unknown who had very capable PSI powers but ultimately couldn't defeat Giygas completely due to how much time Giygas had to prepare and grow strong before the attack happened. So i imagine Dr. Andonuts or possibly Jeff in the future created Buzz Buzz's new body or robot body insect in order to travel back in time to warn Ness. The reason why Buzz Buzz is so weak is because he normally uses the only PSI power he has PSI Shield E to defend himself from all attacks due to how fragile he is as an insect and sadly was caught off guard with Pokey's mom.

When I first played this game way back in ‘95 as a little kid, I actually cried when Buzz Buzz died. He was a badass beetle and got offed in the most undignified way. It’s no wonder I’m still hooked after so many years. The game left an emotional impact that had me invested so early in my life.

If we had Pokeys mom as a character in our party we would finish the game in about 10 minutes.

What if Buzz Buzz is Orange Kid, with his invention finally coming together.

Buzz buzz could be a chimera that’s subtly foreshadowing the events of Mother 3! That wouldn’t be too surprising considering there are a few instances where the events of Mother 3 are foreshadowed in EarthBound!

You had the opportunity at 1:22 to say "Who buzz buzz really was was" and you didn't. That could've been the pun of the century

i kinda like that flying man theory or the mutated bee theory

I think buzz buzz is a time displaced rhinoceros beetle from the future and that's all there is to it.

I always had this idea in my head, were Buzz Buzz is just a player from the future, warning the new player about Giygas and explaining the plot.

Lackluster death scene? That shit was traumatic as hell.

I always thought the line "you're no longer a hero" meant that buzz buzz was thought of as a hero because he warned Ness of Giygas. It just goes to show how people can interpret things completely differently.

The fan game Mother: Cognitive Dissonance has a very interesting take on Buzz Buzz’s backstory.

Buzz buzz:"A bee i am not!" Fan artists:"buzz buzz is such a cute little bumble bee." Buzz buzz:"Am i a joke to you?"

Didn't the apple of enlightment predicted the existence of Ness? Buzz Buzz wouldn't need to target anyone at random with that information

Interesting facts: You can beat Earthbound with alive Buzz-Buzz (with cheat what make you go through walls). Buzz-Buzz counted as main character and he will not disappear later like Porky ,Picky and King who will be erased when we started to play with Jeff.

I always saw it in a different way. When I saw Ness approached by Buzz Buzz and all the future talk, it just kinda made me think "Oh stuff in the far future must get really weird, with talking insects just being common". I think this holds weight, since a lot of animals (and even sesame seeds) can be spoken to, and seem to be able to form pretty developed thoughts.

I always saw Buzz Buzz as merely a gag. As in your only ally and guide at this moment is an extremely frail, pint sized insect who dies like a common house fly not 5 minutes after meeting him.

I think Buzz-Buzz is mysterious not because of how little we know, but how much we do know without any explanation. He's the perfect character to speculate about- why is basically any of him the way that it is?

Earthbound is also a humorous game. When he said he wasn't a bee I just went "oh so he's a fly haha."

he talked about time traveling rocks as if it was slightly far fetched, but zexonite or whatever it was called is literally found in the meteorite

Maybe Ana and Teddy were both killed in the Future Timeline, with Lloyd possibly being the scientist who made the Comet for Ness too travel through, if so, that would explain why he couldn't accompany him, since he was too busy making sure his travel was successful.

5:10 what do you mean by Ninten being unable to use PSI during MOTHER? He doesn't have any offensive abilities, but he learns plenty of assist PSI like Shield (which only helps support the theory)! I liked the presentation of the video, btw 😄

I knew this game series was deep but daaaaang. Nice work as always Kevin!!

Buzz Buzz didn't die when Lardna hit him. No no. Judging from his name, I think we all know what happened to him and where he went: *To Infinity and Beyond*

Buzz buzz for me was strange entity, that didn't thought that someone would want to kill him, and did not used shield so died. But, in magicant it says that he "gave up", that is where questions started

Awesome video!, I love your mother videos!

I like most the explanation that was given in Mother Cognitive Dissonance.

Nah man, the identity of Buzz Buzz is none other than... *_Porky Minch!_* Hear me out: Without the meteor to start the adventure, Ness never starts his journey, Paula dies at the hands of the cult, Jeff languishes away in school, and Poo never leaves his kingdom, and more importantly, Porky never breaks bad. So, Giygas invades Earth unopposed. Eventually, Ness mounts a defense but, without the dream team, he has to fight with his dog, King, and his neighbors, Porky and Picky. They struggle at first but eventually formed an iron clad friendship the likes of which the world has never seen. For years, they fight the forces of Giygas and eventually unlock the secrets of PSI but are too late to stop the almighty alien overlord. One by one, Earth's heroes die off, leaving Porky as their sole survivor. By chance, they had meet Dr. Andonut earlier and both he and Porky concoct a last ditch plan to save the world: travel back in time to before the invasion and stop Giygas from amassing power. Unfortunately, due to a war ravaged Earth, machine parts are scarce so the doctor can't construct a robot body for Porky. Instead, they agree to transfer his soul into a beetle. The doctor manages to send Porky back in time to warn Ness and himself of their fatal future. As if fate wer against them, Giygas got wind of their plans and sent a Starman to intercept Porky, causing his time machine to crash, which turns out to be the meteor from the beginning that awakens Ness. Despite the crash, Porky survives and finds the boys. He changes his identity, now calling himself Buzz Buzz, to keep his younger self and the other in the dark until he feels they were ready to learn the truth or else risk scaring them away. With his plan in place, he ushers the boys into their first battle, acting as the mentor that will guide them down the path to a brighter future. Fate, however, had a different plan. Future Porky dies at the hands of his mother (a metaphor for child abuse,) a tragedy only Future Porky could appreciate. Before he dies, he entrust Ness, who in his own timeline was his greatest friend and ally, with the Soundstone, knowing Ness will succeed where he failed. Future Porky never knew how much he had altered the course of history, however. Without Ness to be his friend, his past self became twisted and later sided with Giygas as a response to his abandonment. And, just like Future Porky, he too became a bug, though instead of a beetle he became a vile spider, who would later be doomed to live for an eternity inside a corpse shell. Future Porky lost everything that day and there's no one left to remember his valient sacrifice.

Never heard the anti-Giygas-space-bee theory. Definitely subscribing to it from now on, I like it.

i think its Paula, because it has the same psychic abilities, same damage, there is no way it's impossible, and they have the same low amount of health.

How do you only have 8k subscribers. This is really high quality content.

Okay video! Thanks for uploading!

6:04 that is why does the meteor contain zextonium or whatever it was called

That last theory is the one that makes the most sense to me. It wouldn't even require Buzz Buzz to be a bee for it to work. He's just a bug living with other bugs as the survivors of earth after Giygas had destroyed it.

There is one thing that wasn’t mentioned (great video, by the way!). In some point of mother 1, Ninten fights a star man junior in a building at a zoo by(or in?) his home town. There was also another time where he defeated presumably the same star man in a store (I don’t remember which store). This all explains why there was a star man junior approaching BuzzBuzz and why he claimed BuzzBuzz/Ninten foiled gigues plan as the star man was helping Gigue. Forgive me if I got anything wrong

Wait I was right? Great video man I've been wondering bout this little guy myself And as always excellent editing!

i love ur MOTHER videos man!!!! keep up the great work

Time travel really depends on if you're in a linear timeline or there are multiple timelines. In a linear one, any intentions you had going to the past cannot be done, only accidents can happen or unintentional outcomes. The reason why is because it's a paradox, you do X because Y happened, but once you remove Y, X can't happen because Y never happened. Now, you could inversely have a paradox allow that to happen. So for instance, you could tell your future self to use time travel and the reason you tell your future self to use time travel is because your future self already made time travel happen, which gave your past self a reason to tell your future self to use time travel. Effectively, you use time travel because you used time travel. Sounds silly, but that's the best way I can explain it. I have a lot more theories when it comes to time travel anyway.

Good video!👍

Nice video! Also thanks for using my background, it means a lot to me.

I always thought it was a fly rather than a bee or another insect

love the video!

I remember back in the day always theorizing that Buzz Buzz was in fact Ninten from the first game. Funny to see I wasn’t the only one. I still believe it till this day.

A few interesting ideas in here for sure. Let me poke some holes and throw out some thoughts. I don't think Podunk and Onett are in the same physical space. We know space travel is possible, and we know time travel is as well. They could be different planets or the same one in different timelines (like Chrono Cross). There are similar locations, but they're not the same locations. There was train travel all over the place in EB0 but there's none to be found in EB, for example. Of course that could also just be a gameplay decision since you get Teleport. As for The B Man... I've never felt like he had to be anyone really related to our characters. Buzz Buzz could just be a freedom fighter from the future when GIygas won and found a way to go back in time to try and stop it (think Terminator kinda?). Maybe in the future they discover the prophecy and decide to send back the one person able enough to get there and deliver the message and point Ness in the right direction. But I'd imagine being a little dude like Buzz Buzz, going through time and/or space and crash landing is gonna mess you up a little. Galuf in FFV just lost his memory and he kinda did the same thing. Or maybe it took so much of his power to make that trip that's why he's unable to use any offensive psi power and why Pokey's mom can one shot him. After the trip and running into the Starman Jr, my man was probably wiped out. All that said, I'd like to think it's supposed to remain ambiguous as to who this little dude is. If we really just sat down and looked at it all we could be getting to "Tony is really Buzz Buzz." theories because there are just so many characters and they all play such important parts. Heck he could even just be a physical manifestation of something/someone else. Ness gets all this energy from the planet though the Sanctuary locations... maybe the planet did it.

I somehow missed this upload

I definitely agree with the Ninten theory holding the most weight. I have a theory of my own about who Buzz Buzz is, although I don’t think it holds much weight either and I know someone else will see a bunch of holes in it before I do. I think Buzz Buzz is Giygas’s “good side,” somewhat like Sailor Galaxia from Sailor Moon Stars is to Chibi Chibi (if anyone remembers that Anime series). After all, Giygas/Giegue was taken care of by Maria and was sung lullabies as a baby and still held onto some emotions for Maria, plus Giygas absorbed the many minds of other aliens.

I think the Ness theory makes the most sense. The asteroid having time traveling powers doesn’t really add up unless you figure that it’s actually the phase distorter. That means in Ness’ original adventure a meteor never came to tell him about how he is chosen. This means that Pokey never got abused badly that one night and learned about his own destiny. So with no Porky or Buzz Buzz in Ness’ adventure things changed a lot. Ness likely left Onett later on his own accord not even knowing he was part of the Chosen 4 except maybe from his own PSI. This is also why Buzz Buzz couldn’t tell Ness specifics such as where his friends were located. Buzz buzz could be Ninten or a Flying Man too, but I think that Ninten is better off being left out (Itoi said that Ness can be Ninten if you want, I personally like to think of Ninten and Anna being Ness’ parents) and the flying man thing can be a bit disproven as Magicant only exists in ones mind and it’s different for each person, Buzz Buzz grave being there was just because of how much an impact he left on Ness. Ness’ Demon/Nightmare is the Mani Mani statue as that’s ty e most physical representation of evil he had seen up that point. If Giygas could reach into Ness’ Magicant then he could just corrupt Ness from the inside out and make himself appear in Ness’ mind instead of being the mani mani statue

...is your secret identity Bob Odenkirk? My head Canon is now Saul Goodman is a gamer

For the Buzz Buzz being Nintin theory you could argue that between the time of the first game and the part of the second game's 10 years in the future on this supposedly 1st timeline Nintin and Ness met during that time and learned about his destiny.

how dare these "theorists" try to make my boy buzz buzz as secretly being a villain. disgusting

I like the Buzz Buzz is Ninten theory since some of the first non-useless PSI he learns in Mother 1 is... well the stat up and down moves but right AFTER that he learns the shield moves, which end up being... his 3rd most important PSI moves next to his LifeUp and, well, stat buff/debuff moves.

On the other hand its possible that giygas might have turned ninten into a beetle during oneof their encounters. It certainly seems to add up when you consider the manner in which giegue mocks ninten over his psi powers in mother 1, where he says that ninten's abilities are "worthy of a lowly insect."

I think buzz buzz is ness from fallen timeline to save himself

“Pesky bee!” -duck

Guys, maybe Buzz Buzz is just... Buzz Buzz.

Drawing the obscurest characters really does pay off! ;) And honestly, its unexplained elements and characters in media that really cements them in our minds; think about it, if everything had an answer, what would we even have to discuss with other fans years later?

I like to think Buzz Buzz being Zarbol from CogDis is the canon backstory, since I really like that game

Obviously future Ness wanted to ease past Ness into everything, having forgotten all about his imminent demise and thus planned to bring it up in the morning. Or he didn’t know where everyone was prior to when he met them and knew he flat out couldn’t give specifics without figuring out the exact date first.

6:50 OMG I just realized now that this fanart is referencing that one scene from Ren & Stimpy in Stimpy’s Fan Club

I think maybe giygas gave great strength to pokeys mom and since she was so strong if she just swatted him normally it would be a fatal blow.

Never thought I'd see a video on Buzz Buzz

If Ninten really is Buzz Buzz, then that would mean he has a cameo in every game! It's pretty inconsequential in MOTHER 3, but one of the Lardna robots directly quotes her line before he's smacked in EarthBound...

earthbound is my favorite snes RPG game, and the first game I beat twice and now i'm starting to play chrono trigger, live a live, earthbound halloween hack and earthbound beginnings

i honestly adore harmony's rendition of buzz buzz as some inventor guy who made robot bugs heehee

You mean Photoman? BuzzBuz? Or maybe the girl next to the library?

Awesome video! Do you have a link to the rainbow squiggles in the background?

When the world needed him most, he came back. Good seeing you again, man. Bringing in the awesome Earthbound content, huh

Medic_Floppa is correct, a scrapped prototype Buzzbound only has 1 recorded playthrough, unto which the Apple of Enlightenment IS the meteor that Buzzbuzz was in after it got almost destroyed by ______. It's a great insight as to who Buzzbuzz is.

wow i just realized this video was made 1 day ago

I'd like to believe that Buzz Buzz came from an alternate timeline or a parallel world when Giygas won or is in a verge of winning against everyone.

1. Future Ness is a beetle to AVOID time problems. 2. Future Ness going into depth would VASTLY effect the future in unknown ways to even to travelers of time.

I always thought Buzz Buzz was more so some alien bug, who had maybe been turned (meaning its another alien specie not a alien bug) or that its form is that of a stag beetle with psychokinesis. It also could have been a human who also happens to have PK and in the future was morphed into a Stag beetle.

I think we are missing one thing. Buzz Buzz knows Shield Sigma. I'm the entirety of the series only one other person knows how to use the max powers of the shield skill. Someone that knew Ness was the chosen hero and had innate PSI. It's Paula. Anyone who figures that out knows I meant Paula. Before I get the whole doesn't she use PK Fire thing, well if she used that in battle wouldn't it damage her as either a beetle or robot of tiny stature? The only spells she could use if that is the case are defensive. We also know that Starmen Jr are strong against elemental PSI and not affected by status affects except Hypnosis which Paula does not know. She also knew to reach out to Ness when she was locked away by Everdred and Carpainter in Twoson. What if in her time, Ness never got that message this prompting her to go back as Buzz Buzz by finding Dr Andonuts. Also isn't it unusual that she was the one to be locked away because of her gift? In any case, that's the closest we can get

I honestly think Buzz Buzz isn't anything more than what he appears to be: He's just a beetle that fought against Gygas. I think someone, like Andonuts or Apple Kid or possibly just some scientist (or maybe a group of them) tried to find someone with really strong psychic power somewhere throughout time, located Ness, and sent Buzz Buzz to train him to fight Gygas.

i think buzz buzz is buzz buzz... i end my case

honestly, buzz buzz is one of my favorite characters and I have no clue why, I just wish he would come back

so i actually really like the ninten is buzz buzz theory and i wanted to point out a few things. first -- endgame ninten has a shield that prevents damage outright. granted, it also reflects damage, but there wasn't a 'just nullifies damage' shield in mother 1. and i think if it reflected fire betas it would probably end the fight against starman jr. too quickly. they probably wanted you to go oh my god! what a beast! at buzz buzz for at least a few rounds. the second thing is that buzz buzz goes first constantly and gets smashes really often when he attacks, and that's just like ninten. ninten was the fastest character in the game. the last thing i want to point out is about starman jr: he's actually the first boss of mother 1, and that's why he recognizes buzz buzz.

All those theories are good. But I do like the Ninten one the best.

I clicked on this video and was jumpscared by my own art of sans dressed as ness

Quick little thing that could also disprove the Buzz Buzz = Ninten theory, at the end of MOTHER 2/EarthBound, the final prayer comes from Ninten, and it specifically states that Ninten has never even met the four kids before.

Personally I like Mother: Cognitive Dissonance's take on Buzz Buzz the most, though I can't say the specifics because it'd be a spoiler to anyone who hasn't played it.

Okay but Ninten comes before Ness so how would he travel into the past to get to Ness

While the idea of buzz buzz being ninten sounds good on paper. You have to consider the fact that if he was why wouldn’t he try and tell his past self to track down ness and accompany him. He likely would be able to teach Ness and his friends how to use psi more effectively and at that point he could also track down his old friends to help as well. My theory is that buzz buzz is simply a warrior who used psi to stop gigas before. No relation to ninten or ness. Also as for why buzz buzz was only capable of using supportive psi his physical form likely doesn’t have the durability to contain that power like how gigue’s body couldn’t hold the power and became gigas. On top of that there exists another bug in earthbound that provides psi aid, the magic butterflies that relax the party.

the giygas from earthbound beginnings looks like small version mewtwo.

I cant be the only one who thought that was tankman in the blurred thumbnail

This is an interesting set of theories, but he'll always be Zarbol to me.

There is a earthbound fan game called mother cognitive dissonance where a planet called eris (presumably) held the apple of enlightenment and I think buzz buzz originated from eris. That would explain why he knows about the apple of enlightenment

I like the theory that AVGN made about Buzz Buzz being the fanbase as he came 10 years into the future, which is when EarthBound blew up

I like AVGN's theory that buzz buzz might be the players of earthbound from the future, you're trying to warn the new players about giygas and that you lost your power became a bee because you forgot the ways of the game forgot how to play or some parts of the game thus being weak as an insect to the game

What if buzz buzz is poo, but he has shapeshifted into an insect and travels back in time to inform ness of the future

The AVGN Buzz Buzz theory is pretty good

How about if it's Picky Minch, Porky's brother? I suggest this based on no evidence whatsoever, but rather because it would be extra tragic. Picture it: he bravely volunteers to go back in time in an insect body, knowing exactly where Ness was that night, but it isn't able to say anything to his old self because he knows he's not the chosen one (and maybe would prefer to have an ordinary life if Ness succeeds). When he sees his mother, he excitedly flies around her...and then she kills him.

perhaps buzz buzz is an embodied fragment of giegue which was still able to feel remorse and gratitude, a fragment of goodness, a vulnerability which foiled giegue's plans in the past, a fragment which giegue removed from himself to begin the process of transformation into the primordial force of destruction giygas