Apple Kid is a character in EarthBound. He's one of the two inventors residing in Twoson, the other being Orange Kid. The people of Twoson don't think much of Apple Kid because at the first glance he appears to be a lazy slob. Despite that, Apple Kid ends up being an important supporting character in the game who invents many conveniently vital items that Ness could not have proceeded without. Apple Kid lives with the No Name Mouse.
The first time Ness talks to Apple Kid, he requests a food item and $200.00 to fund his experiments. Shortly after Ness funds him, Apple Kid invents the Pencil Eraser, which erases pencil-shaped iron statues. Ness just so happened to need this in order to cross Peaceful Rest Valley, along with many other areas throughout the game that are blocked off by Iron Pencils.
Apple Kid's next invention is the Zombie Paper, which gets delivered to Ness in Threed by a Mach Pizza deliveryman. This item is used much like fly paper, but used for zombies instead, which is just what was needed to get rid of the zombies infesting Threed. After placing the paper in a circus tent, the zombies blocking the way to Grapefruit Falls were taken care of.
Once Ness destroys the Evil Mani Mani in Fourside, Apple Kid invents the Yogurt Dispenser which dispenses trout-flavored yogurt, and sends an Escargo Express deliveryman to give it to Ness. The dispenser is given to Pokey's maid, Electra, who allows Ness and Jeff access to the penthouse of the Monotoli Building in return.
Apple Kid later collaborates with Dr. Andonuts to invent the Eraser Eraser which works like the Pencil Eraser except that it erases eraser-shaped statues. This was needed in order for Ness and his friends to get into the Stonehenge Base, which was blocked off by an Iron Eraser.
Finally, Apple Kid collaborates again with Dr. Andonuts, as well as the intellectually advanced Mr. Saturn to create the Phase Distorter, which unfortunately gets stolen by Pokey, and later the Phase Distorter versions 2 and 3, which allow Ness and friends to travel backwards in time and confront Giygas.
Trivia[]
- Apple Kid may be a real life metaphor for Nikola Tesla: his inventions seemed ridiculous but were so effective they were key in defeating Giygas. The Orange Kid, by contrast, is Thomas Edison, who used his status to become prominent without inventing things that were nearly as useful.
- The names of Apple Kid and Orange Kid could be linked to the common saying "comparing apples to oranges", in which both are compared by the people of Twoson, but they're very much different, and create inventions vastly different.
- Apple Kid's "no-name mouse" actually references Japanese culture near the beginning of the game. When it says "I am a mouse", it is an intentional reference to the famous novel "Wagahai wa neko de aru", which translates to "I Am a Cat".