Pokey

Pokey in Earthbound
Pokey
Real Name	Pokey Minch
Species	Human
Hair color	Yellow
Relatives	Aloysius Minch (father) Picky (Brother)
Debut	Earthbound

Pokey Minch (also known as Porky in the original Japanese version as well as in Super Smash Bros. Brawl) is one of the villains of Earthbound, as well as its sequel, Mother 3.

Background

Earthbound

Pokey Minch is a former resident of Onett Town, and used to be the neighbor of Ness. Pokey's family consisted of himself, his younger brother Picky, and their two parents (though his father had a tendency towards abuse and his parents as a rule were not often around, going out to fancy restaurants and other high-class social events) were much more well-off than Ness's family, and Pokey only seemed to notice the braver, more athletically-gifted Ness when he needed him to do something for Pokey. When a meteor crashed into Onett near Pokey and Ness's homes, Pokey asked him to help find his brother Picky. When they arrived at the meteor site and found Picky, they also found Buzz Buzz, who revealed as the Chosen Boy who would save the earth from the alien conquerer Giygas, who, ten years into the future, would rule the planet. Within short order, Ness set out to gather his three fated companions, leaving Pokey in Onett, or so he thought.

Giygas was aware of Ness and his quest, and so began corrupting people in the past to stop him. One such person was little, thirteen-year-old Pokey Minch, whom Giygas had great plans for, more than any other human he corrupted (such as Onett's Police Captain Strong, or religious cult leader Mr. Carpainter). As Pokey was already something of a rotten egg (bossy, arrogant, cowardly, and secretly jealous of Ness for being so much better at everything than he was), Pokey was much more susceptible to Giygas's manipulations. Indeed, Pokey would become the one minion of Giygas's whom Ness would not redeem. In addition to this, Giygas had been driven quite mad, to the point where he could no longer interact with the world around him, and needed someone who was able to understand him and would be able to enforce his will on earth, something he was no longer capable of himself. That chosen 'servant' (though by the end of EarthBound, it is no longer clear if Pokey is subservient to Giygas, or it is, in fact, the other way around) was Pokey, whose consciousness was expanded to be able to understand the completely mad alien. Pokey left Onett almost on Ness's heels to help the Happy-Happyism cult leader Mr. Carpainter capture the young girl Paula from Twoson, another of the fated children who would defeat Giygas, and for the rest of Ness's adventure, would continue to harass his former friend in his quest, though he was always unsuccessful in defeating Ness.

When Ness, Paula, and their two friends Jeff and Poo finally faced Giygas in the final confrontation, Pokey was there, too, riding a monstrous spider-like machine to help Giygas in battle. Pokey gleefully explained Giygas's madness to Ness and the others, seeming to see the alien as nothing more than a tool for his own advancement, but his plans were derailed when Paula's prayers reached everyone on earth who wished for Giygas's destruction, causing the mad alien to die. Pokey, however, was not willing to give up, and used the last of the dying Giygas's power to open a time portal far, far into the past where he would carry on his plans for domination

Mother 3

Pokey's escape lands him in the era of Mother 3. He creates for himself the identity of King Pig and founds the Pig Mask Army, making him the unseen villain of most of the game. As a side effect of his time travel, he has aged thousands of years and needs a machine to keep him alive, though later on he claims that his time traveling has actually made him immortal. This may have been simply to discourage the group from attacking or implication that his life support systems can keep him alive indefinitely.

Near the end of the game, Pokey declares himself ruler of the world. He sends the Pig Mask Army's commander, the Masked Man, to pull seven needles and awaken a fierce dragon in hopes that he'll be able to control the beast as a result. He also builds New Pork City and moves the people of the Nowhere Islands to it. The city is like an amusement park with many pictures of a younger Pokey and references to his life in Earthbound. He is using the band DCMC to hypnotize the people into worshiping him with their music.

Pokey lures Lucas and co. into the Empire Pokey Building shortly after their arrival and dares them to find him on the 100th floor. He then changes several of the floor numbers to 100 to trick them into thinking that they've succeeded in finding him, while actually leaving various traps for them (including a toilet dungeon and robotic versions of his younger self). When finally found, Pokey offers to race them to the final needle. Despite taking a shortcut, the group catches up to him. He mocks their connection to the Masked Man (at this point revealed to be Claus) and attacks. As the battle draws to a close, Pokey encapsulates himself and his life-support in Dr. Andonuts's Absolutely Safe Machine. Dr. Andonuts then reveals that the Absolutely Safe Machine was actually designed to keep everyone else absolutely safe from Pokey and rolls him away, feeling sorry for the boy.

After the fake-out destruction of the world, it is possible to locate Pokey on the "End?" screen. He doesn't speak to the player, but it makes reference to a ball rolling around. It also states that the person inside seems happy; Pokey may actually find enjoyment by being the sole person in his own little universe...

Abilities

Pokey's greatest strength is his ability to get into positions of power. His actual fighting abilities are very poor due to Pokey being out of shape. Instead, he pilots mechanical devices in battle.

Other Appearances

Pokey appears as in Super Smash Bros. Brawl as a boss in the Ruined Zoo level of The Subspace Emissary. Initially a giant Pig King Statue statue appears and chases Lucas, until Ness arrives to save him with a PK Thunder which shatters the statue and reveals Pokey in his spider mech within (seemingly from Mother 3). This leads to a boss battle against Pokey with Ness and Lucas. During the battle, Pokey will also deploy exploding robot duplicates of himself. It is uncertain whether or not he is working for any of the other game's villains, or if he was simply attacking Lucas for his own purposes. Trophies of both The Pig King Statue and Pokey appear in the game.

Trivia

• In the Japanese versions of Earthbound and Mother 3, Pokey is actually called Porky, which further hints at his connection to pigs. The name Porky is used in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
• Mother 3 includes sprite rips of Pokey dying at the end of the game which were never used.