- "Awooooof! (If I knew this was going to be such a scary place, I wouldn't have come along... I'm outta here!)"
- — King
Concept art of King and Ness facing their house
King is a character in EarthBound. He is Ness's cowardly pet dog, whose thoughts Ness can understand as a result of his Telepathy. When spoken to before setting out in search of Picky Minch at the beginning of the game, King will join Ness's party for a short time, until he becomes scared and runs home, where he remains for the remainder of the game. Ness later catches a glimpse of King as a puppy during a vision when he visits Giant Step and records the Sanctuary's melody there. As with the main characters, King's name can be chosen by the player before the game begins. He is not affected by the evil power of Giygas, but he is aware of it.
Trivia[]
- Using the Don't Care naming option, possible names for King are "King", "Peach", "Sparky", "Rex", "Baby", "Rover", and "Misty".
- King has unused climbing sprites, despite never appearing in an area where he would have to climb. This could mean that King was originally intended to have a bigger role in EarthBound that was later abandoned.
- The name "King" may be a reference to Old King, a song by Neil Young, in which the singer sings about his beloved dog that has since passed away.
- He is one of the many characters who prays for Ness and his friends during their fight with Giygas.
- His breed isn't known for certain. In-game, King states that he's a mutt. The second Japanese Don't Care for him is Bernard, implying that he may be a Saint Bernard. The novelization of the game mentions that he is an Old English Sheepdog. This means he might be an Old English Sheepdog/St. Bernard cross.
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