- "Woof! Woof! (I'm Ruffini the dog. I'm being possessed by the spirit of the game designer... (RUFF!) Do you see the window showing HP and PP at the bottom of the screen? When you go to a store that has equippable items, this window will either flash, look normal or become black. If you are allowed to equip an item, and it is stronger than your current item, the window will flash. If the item's power is equal to, or less than your current equipped item, the window looks normal. If you can't equip an item, the window is black. *Ruff* I thought you'd like to know. Now it's time to become a regular dog again...)"
- — Ruffini
Ruffini (called Itako Dog in Mother 2) is a dog in the Onett Drugstore in EarthBound. He claims to be possessed by the spirit of the game designer, and gives a simple tutorial about buying weapons. Late in the game, the spirit of the game designer changes his message to say that if the player wants to send Nintendo their comments on the game, they can find the company's name on the box and send them "attention EarthBound, Ruffini the dog". His name may be a pun of the sound "Ruff" and Harry Houdini.
Trivia[]
- In Mother 2, Ruffini's original name, Itako Dog, is based on the term "itako", which is a spirit/summoner/medium in Japanese culture. Read this Wikipedia page for a better explanation.