Earthbound: Complete Capsule Guide + All Locations
This post may contain affiliate links. If you buy something we may get a small commission at no extra cost to you. (Learn more).
Capsules are disposable items that permanently increase a party member’s stat by 1.
There are five different capsules to find in Earthbound, each one relating to a specific stat – Guts, IQ, Luck, Speed and Vital.
In short, this is who you’ll want to give the capsules to:
Guts – Ness
IQ – Poo
Luck – Anyone other than Ness
Speed – Ness
Vital – Paula
In total there are 15 capsules to be found in Earthbound. All of them are found in treasure chests, and you can’t obtain them any other way.
Here’s a table with the locations of all 15 capsules in the game:
Capsule
Quantity
Locations
Guts
3
Desert Gold Mine, Stonehenge Base, Lost Underworld
IQ
4
Belch Base, Desert Gold Mine, Deep Darkness, Lumine Hall Cavern
Luck
3
Peaceful Rest Valley, Desert Gold Mine, Lumine Hall Cavern
Speed
3
The Pyramid, Stonehenge Base, Fire Spring
Vital
2
The Belch Base, Fire Spring
Once you use them all, they’re gone for good.
In this guide we will show you the details of each location for each capsule, as well as the best character to use them on.
Guts Capsules
Gold Mine entrance in Dusty Dunes Desert
You can find a total of three Guts Capsules in Earthbound:
Location 1: Dusty Dunes Desert Gold Mine
This is guarded by a Guardian Digger at the northern tip of the Mine.
Follow the snaking path towards the north. The chest is located on the entrance floor, so there is no need to use any of the ladders.
Location 2: Stonehenge Base
Found in a treasure chest in the 4th purple area of the Base.
Once you arrive at a large square area from the west, take the eastern path and follow it right to the end.
Location 3: Lost Underworld
This is found at the very northern tip of the Lost Underworld.
If you start from the fenced-off Tenda Village, walk east until you hit two rocks next to each other. Walk north and stay left of the lake to find the capsule.
Guts Capsule in Stonehenge Base
Guts Capsules will increase the Guts stat by one. This determines the probability of landing a SMAAAAASH!! attack in battle.
For this reason, it makes sense to use these on Ness. Because out of the four party members he’s most likely to use Bash in battle.
IQ Capsules
Belch Base exit guarded by Master Belch
In total you can find four of these in Earthbound:
Location 1: Belch Base
From the entrance, move right until you get to a ladder. Go down and then go down the next ladder on the left.
Enter the door on the right, and you’ll find two trash cans.
These trash cans contain a Broken Laser for Jeff and an IQ Capsule.
Location 2: Dusty Dunes Desert Gold Mine
From where you start, go all the way north to a ladder. Go down and then move left and north at the split.
Defeat the Guardian Digger, and the chest behind it will contain the IQ Capsule.
Location 3: Deep Darkness
This is in a chest located roughly in the center of the map.
Follow the fairly linear path south, west, and finally northwest and you’ll arrive at a dry patch of land tucked into some trees.
The chest is on the south side of this land.
Location 4: Lumine Hall Cavern
When entering from Tenda Village, go north and then all the way to the west until you reach a ladder at the end.
Go down this ladder and go all the south, and you’ll arrive at the IQ Capsule.
IQ Capsule in Dusty Dunes Gold Mine, guarded by a Guardian Digger
Each point of IQ equates to an increase of 5 PP. Obviously this means you’ll want your PSI heavy characters to have a high IQ stat.
You may think that Jeff is a good beneficiary of IQ Capsules, since his IQ determines what broken tools he can fix. However, Jeff can’t use PSI, and his IQ will naturally increase from leveling anyway.
Ness is better off using Bash attacks, and Paula already has a high PP pool.
Therefore, Poo benefits the most from IQ Capsules. He has both offensive and healing PSI, but a rather small PP pool.
Luck Capsules
Tenda Village, where the entrance to Lumine Hall is located
Three Luck Capsules can be found in Earthbound:
Location 1: Peaceful Rest Valley
From the Twoson Entrance, move north until you reach the Pencil Statue. Use the Pencil Eraser and cross the bridge to the east.
Move to the right side of the elevated land, to find a slope upwards.
On the southwest side of this area will be a chest containing a Luck Capsule.
Location 2: Dusty Dunes Desert Gold Mine
This is guarded by a Guardian Digger in the southwest corner of this area.
From the entrance, go north, then west and south. Follow this as it snakes north and then go west.
Go south at the fork, then follow this path to the west.
Defeat the Guardian Digger to obtain two chests – a Platinum Band and a Luck Capsule.
Location 3: Lumine Hall Cavern
Entering from Tenda Village, go north and west and then north as soon as you can.
Follow this linear path to the end to obtain the Luck Capsule.
Luck Capsule in Lumine Hall
Out of all of the core stats in Earthbound, Luck is easily the most negligible.
It determines the chance of secondary effects of attacks landing on their target, whether it be from you or the enemy. This means the accuracy of the effects from attacks such as HP Sucker, Shield Killer and Defense Down are all determined by Luck.
Ness already has high enough Luck as it is, so don’t use the capsules on him.
Poo is a good candidate as he has low Luck, although you can offset this by finding his Kings equipment.
But if you do end up getting the Kings gear, then use the capsules on either Paula or Jeff.
Speed Capsules
Speed Capsule in Fire Spring
There are three Speed Capsules available in Earthbound:
Location 1: The Pyramid
From the entrance, just keep heading east.
Eventually you’ll reach a room containing two caskets. One has a Cup of Lifenoodles and one will have a Speed Capsule.
Location 2: Stonehenge Base
About halfway through the base, you’ll eventually reach an area where the floor will change color.
When the path splits, follow the eastern path to reach a chest containing a Speed Capsule.
Location 3: Fire Spring
Luckily this is found near the beginning of this area.
Simply enter the first cave you see on the right, and on the right side of this room is the Speed Capsule.
Entrance to Fire Spring in the Lost Underworld
The Speed stat factors into quite a few things in Earthbound.
Firstly, it determines the turn order in battle. Also the success rate of instant wins comes from the Speed stat.
It also affects the accuracy of your attacks, as well as PSI Rockin’, and each iteration of the Bottle Rocket item.
This makes Ness the perfect recipient of Speed Capsules.
Having him move first in battle, and then subsequently firing off a successful PSI Rockin’, is a good way of quickly blasting through enemy encounters.
Vital Capsules
Outside the Monotoli Building in Fourside
You can find two Vital Capsules in Earthbound:
Location 1: Belch Base
From the entrance, go down the first ladder and then go all the way left to another ladder.
Climb this and enter the room on the right. In here you’ll find three trash cans containing a Calorie Stick, HP-Sucker, and a Vital Capsule.
Location 2: Fourside, Monotoli Building
Enter the building and use the elevators to reach the 48th floor.
Head left, and enter the first door you see after the bathrooms. Then go through the north door to reach a room with two desks.
Go left to a room with no desks.
The leftmost door here will lead to the Vital Capsule.
You’ll need to talk to this girl to gain access to Monitoli’s 48th floor
Vitality increases your HP by 15 points per level up.
For this reason, Paula is hands down the best candidate for Vital Capsules. Her HP pool is easily the lowest out of the four party members.
