Welcome to the world of Toby Fox, a talent that has captivated fans for generations with his unique blend of quirky humor and thought-provoking themes. As we delve into the creation of Undertale and Deltarune, it becomes clear that Fox's early work was heavily influenced by his Earthbound Halloween Hack, a game that predates both its successors by over a decade.
In 2008, Fox entered a romhacking competition on the Starmen forum, a hub for fans of the beloved Earthbound series. The result was a twisted vision of a sequel gone wrong, handling well despite its ridiculous difficulty level. For those unfamiliar with romhacking, it's a notoriously hit-or-miss activity, especially when using fan-made software. Fox single-handedly created a game that turned the Peanuts-esque sensibilities of Earthbound on their head, instead opting for a gruesome exploration of neuroses, fears, and internal conflict.
Teenaged Toby Fox was already incubating some of the key ideas that would find their feet in his later games, many of which owe their origin to Earthbound. He experimented with cranking up these ideas even further, introducing emotional whiplash moments, creative and tongue-in-cheek enemy types, and checking enemies before you attack them. These concepts would become hallmarks of Fox's later work, including the themes of exploration and player-character separation that have made Undertale and Deltarune fan favorites.
The Halloween Hack starts off rather lazily, with a main character who has changed inexplicably from Ness to Varik, the lead from the 1991 action RPG game Brandish. The game begins as a clumsy fanfic, an attempt to smush two games together without much care or attention. But then you enter the sewers, and the hack becomes its own game. Every sprite is a vastly different version of its Earthbound counterpart, colors are dramatically flipped, new music floods in, and everything diverges to form a completely unique and horrifying experience.
Battling through this land and its grotesque monsters, Varik soon comes across the lab of Dr. Andonuts. In the hack, Andonuts has been driven mad by the assumption that his actions during the plot of Earthbound killed his son Jeff and his friends. Reality is far more complicated, with no one actually dead – they've merely been transported to another parallel universe. This Dr. Andonuts is a villain unlike any other in Earthbound, driven by guilt and fear over his lack of effort with his child.
The Halloween Hack also introduces some early Toby-isms, including apologetic enemies who don't want to hurt you, and other enemies missing turns just to laugh or crack jokes. These moments are precursors to the more refined exploration of player-character separation that would become a hallmark of Fox's later work, particularly in Deltarune.
Once you reach Dr. Andonuts' lab and listen to his evil ramblings, he seals himself in a capsule and hides. As Varik, you walk up to him and the game gives you the option to stab him to death. So of course, you stab him to death. The end. But this simple choice has far-reaching consequences, transporting you to a new world: Dr. Andonuts' Magicant. This is where Fox's creativity truly shines, juxtaposing the serious and the silly in a way that draws fans in.
Dr. Andonuts' Magicant is a classic example of Fox's predilection for exploring deeper themes beneath his quirky exterior. The game is full of moments that will leave you questioning what is real and what is not, and it's these kind of surprises that make the Halloween Hack so compelling.
Toward the end of Deltarune Chapter 1, things start to feel low-stakes, until Kris rips out their heart, exposing you (the player) as a separate entity. This separation of payer and character is a concept that Fox has explored in depth throughout his career, particularly in Undertale.
As we explore the Halloween Hack, it becomes clear that Varik may not be Ness after all. Maybe he's just a proxy for us, the player entering a game and killing enemies because that's what you do when you play a game. This constant subversion is apparent throughout Fox's work, from his early days as a teenager to his current status as a gaming legend.
If you're a fan of Earthbound who wants something a little more "adult" from the series, your first thought may not be to look to this 2008 romhack. But we'd argue that there's a significant chunk of Undertale and Deltarune fans who would be charmed by the rustic nature of it even today. And if you keep your eyes peeled, you'll even spot a proto-Flowey – a hint at the creativity and weirdness that Fox has become known for.
So if you fit into that group of Undertale/Deltarune fans who also love Earthbound, know how to emulate, and are able to handle a good dose of teenage edginess, we'd still recommend the Halloween Hack today. Just don't tell Toby Fox it was us who sent you.