Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass Enhanced Edition Review – EarthBound & Down

Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass is a postmodern JRPG that makes its way to consoles with a new enhanced edition.

Player expectations are built over time, markedly so with a nascent medium such as video games. The JRPG genre, for example, was founded on the tropes first seen in Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy. Grinding to level up, stocking up on items at each quaint little town, and difficulty spikes found on major bosses. Once the democratization of game development started, we started seeing a fatigue from those patterns to the point where a new subgenre arose: the postmodern JRPG. Games like Moon, Omori, and countless more made on RPG Maker raged against the expectations that we all learned to know and love. Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass is such an example, with its enhanced edition now making its way to consoles since its original release in 2018.

There is a lot to say about Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass as a game. It is the first full-fledged launch from Kasey Ozymy, his previous works known in the RPG Maker scene. It was well received at the time, garnering certain criticisms, ironically, about the new tropes it implemented and was seen from the time. Games like LISA: The Painful and Undertale that took big swings at deeply personal and societal topics sometimes alienated players who just wanted to “have a good time.” While my time with Jimmy was intriguing, mainly due to the writing, this current gaming landscape we find ourselves in certainly welcomes a callback to another, more personal era.

Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass starts like a dream. In fact, the whole game feels like a dream. Set in the imagination of the titular Jimmy, you begin walking through the clouds with your family gathered: mom, dad, horny uncle, and bully brother. Because everything that happens is clearly filtered through the innocent lens of the young Jimmy, the dialogues and attitudes of everyone around him feel a tad weird and detached. At some point, the parents go to their room to “play doctor,” not before asking our little protagonist to go collect honey from the nearby hive with his sibling.

I usually find it rather lazy when a review straight-up mentions that a game is “exactly” like this other game, when sharing a bit of DNA does not mean they’re the same thing. In this specific case, though, the EarthBound comparisons are warranted. The pixelated art style, while dreamlike and pretty, does feel rather similar, especially if you squint your eyes a little. There is a strange tone in how NPCs address Jimmy. They all know something he does not and do their best to hide it. And the descriptions are sometimes painfully real, like the immunodeficiency status effect.

If you have ever played any other turn-based game, you know what to expect here. Basic attack, special skills, items, or escaping from battle. What caught my attention is the titles of certain moves or descriptions of some enemies when performing their turn. A foe called a Rad Ghost, for instance, randomly appears, cannot be attacked—because he is a ghost—and after saying something along the lines of “Hell yeah, dude, I have somewhere to be,” just disappears, sunglasses, cool cap, and all. Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass is an amusing game, to say the least. Over the course of its 35 or so hours for a median playthrough, finding these strange encounters consistently definitely draws a chuckle often.

On the way to getting the honey from the bees, stranger things keep happening. Because Jimmy has the ability to transform into several beings, both in the overworld and in combat, he can fit into spaces he would not otherwise. Beings like slime, a flower, or a thug. You’re getting the hang of it. This results in him listening to things he should not have, catching a glimpse of what is really occurring behind the scenes in Cloud Nine.

The fact that the enhanced edition of this solid postmodern JRPG entry gives new levels, modes, quality-of-life features, and visual updates makes me really curious about how existing audiences will appreciate it. In today’s world, most of us are rather cynical, and there really isn’t much that fazes players. That said, Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass do have unexpected surprises up their sleeves that disarmed me more often than not. Again, the dialogues are very well-written, giving a glimpse into the psyche of this imaginative child we are seeing the world through.

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, as we know, but thankfully Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass go the mile to not simply be a carbon copy of its predecessors. Its catchy music, sarcastic remarks, and overall shocking story that keeps you on edge throughout make for a solid JRPG. If you have played one, you have played them all; the way it is presented is what makes for an enjoyable journey. Yes, tropes abound, but so does the unpredictable nature of Jimmy’s big adventure.