---
title: "Combining EarthBound Battle Shader Effects in Phaser 3"
subtitle: "Final Background Tutorial"
date: 2026-01-14T12:00:00.000Z
category: tutorial
url: https://phaser.io/news/2026/01/combining-earthbound-battle-shader-effects-in-phaser-3
site: Phaser - https://phaser.io
copyright: © 2026 Phaser Studio Inc. All rights reserved.
---

# Combining EarthBound Battle Shader Effects in Phaser 3

*Final Background Tutorial*

This tutorial combines WebGL shader effects to recreate Earthbound's trippy battle backgrounds in Phaser 3 using multiple layers and transparency blending.

### The Layering Approach

The key to Earthbound's animated backgrounds is layering multiple textures with different shader effects. Instead of applying all shaders to a single image, use separate images for each effect:

- Background one: horizontal oscillation
- Background two: vertical oscillation and scrolling
- Blend both layers using transparency

### Two Blending Methods

**Game Object Alpha**: Modify the alpha property on your second background image. Set it to 0.5 for a simple transparency effect without custom shaders.

**Render Textures**: Create dynamic textures that capture each background after shader processing. Draw your background images to render textures in the update method, then pass both textures to a transparency pipeline applied to a rectangle game object.

Render textures let each shader work independently before blending the finished results into one final effect.

[Watch Tutorial](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzpPnEePtKw)

---

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