Pokey Minch

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Pokey Minch (ポーキー・ミンチ, Pōkī Minchi^?, Porky Minch) is Ness' portly, cowardly next-door neighbor in the Super Nintendo video game EarthBound. His family seems to hold a grudge against Ness' family, because Pokey's father, Aloysius Minch, apparently loaned a few hundred thousand Dollars to Ness' dad, and never got them back (he then comments that the loan "probably could've been less"). He is also the main antagonist in Earthbound's Game Boy Advance sequel Mother 3.

Given the character's constant references to pigs, such as being referred to as a "pig-like boy," his domain called New Pork City and his command of the Pig Army, it is likely his name actually translates to Porky.

[edit] Background

Pokey temporarily joins Ness to find his younger brother, Picky (who acts more like his older brother), at the top of Onett's mountain, where the meteor landed. After meeting Picky, a bee flies out of the meteor. It verbally identifies itself as "A bee I am not" and calls itself Buzz Buzz. It informs Ness that he is one of three boys (and one girl) who will defeat the evil Giygas. Pokey reassures himself that he is not one of those four, and after an encounter with another time traveller, Starman Junior, Pokey and Picky arrive home and receive a harsh scolding from their father, Aloysius.

Pokey is not seen again until Ness finds Paula imprisoned near Happy Happy Village. He sics some Insane Cultists and Spiteful Crows on Ness, but Ness prevails and defeats Mr. Carpainter, the leader of the Happy Happy cult. Outside the Happy Happy headquarters, Pokey feigns shaking off the effects of mind control, asks Ness if they can still be friends, and then runs off, insulting Ness along the way.

When Ness and his friends arrive at the Monotoli building in Fourside, Pokey and his dad are working for Mr. Monotoli. Pokey acts like a typical rich snob when Ness meets him, and has his bodyguards throw Ness out. After Ness confronts Monotoli himself, he goes for the businessman's helicopter on the rooftop landing pad, but Pokey is there before they can take it, and he flees. The helicopter is later found in the Deep Darkness swamp, crashed and wrecked beyond repair, with its engine missing.

The last place Pokey appears is after Ness and his friends use Dr. Andonuts's time machine, the Phase Distorter, to travel through time to fight Giygas. Pokey has allied himself with Giygas and now rides an organic-looking spider mech. Pokey taunts Ness throughout the fight, but loses, and when Giygas is destroyed, Pokey flees after taunting Ness one last time.

Pokey's fate for a time was unknown, but he left a message for Ness via Picky: "Come and get me, loser!"

Pokey returns in Mother 3. The game features Pokey revealed as the infamous Pig King, referred to more generally as "King P", leader of the Pig Army and the one responsible behind the strange chimeras appearing on Nowhere Island. Pokey by this time has aged an unknown number of years due to a side effect of time travel, which he has abused to a great extent. Despite having gained a sort of immortality he is restrained to his bed, but has worked around this by implementing a robotic movement system and weaponry into it. Pokey himself comments that he could be 1000 or 10,000 years old, but that he doesn't even know himself. Also, while Pokey's body aged, his mind remained that of a child. During the last Chapter of Mother 3, Pokey has constructed a highly advanced city, claimed himself to be the ruler of the world, and relocated the people of Nowhere Island to the city. This city, New Pork City, resembles a giant amusement park and is filled with images of young Pokey, most notable of them all being a giant stone statue topped with a crown, similar to the Statue of Liberty. He also apparently misses his childhood as New Pork City holds many references to his past life in EarthBound. For example, the room leading to his throne room contains a boat ride through a museum of sorts containing various objects from the previous game, including the Phase Distorter and Pokey's original spider mech. After he's defeated in combat, he encapsulates himself and his mecha-bed in the "Absolutely Safe Machine", a completely indestructible device invented by Dr. Andonuts which Pokey intended to use as a safe haven during an emergency. However, Dr. Andonuts designed it so that nothing could get in or out of it upon activation. Thus Pokey Minch survives the end of Mother 3 and has escaped once more, but is no longer a threat due to being trapped for eternity within his machine.

Recently, unused sprites were found showing Pokey in a different machine, and the glass of it breaking[1]. This shows Pokey unconscious or dead, which may be why the subtitle of "The Fall of the Pig King" was removed.

Mother/EarthBound video games  v • d • e

Games: Mother • EarthBound • Mother 3 Characters: Ness • Paula • Jeff • Poo • Giygas • Pokey • Dr. Andonuts • Mr. Saturn Locations: EarthBound • Mother 3