Duality is at the essence of all great stories. Comedy and tragedy. Sense and nonsense. Light and a dark. Dreams and nightmares. Smiles and tears.
Though outwardly bright and silly, the Nintendo game series EarthBound, called Mother in Japan, thrives on this duality; contrasting its cheerful exterior with themes of horror and hopelessness. The remarkable degree to which series’ creator Shigesato Itoi and his team pulled this off, not once, but three times, is made manifest in how beloved these games are. Mother plays host to beautiful musings on life and love, but those messages would be meaningless without evil lurking underneath: from the lowliest Stinky Ghost, to the cruelty of mankind.
IGN writes: Mother 3 is one of the most hotly-desired RPGs ever, having never received an official translation in North America despite the cult popularity of its predecessor, Earthbound. But over all these years, series creator Shigesato Itoi has never weighed in on the discussion - at least until now."
A translated version of this game on Switch Online would be nice, and it would add a lot value to the Expansion Pak service.
I would love to see an Earthbound game just redone with 3D-ish models and characters. Just having a remaster for Switch Online would be awesome!
Did you ever see the Earthbound 64 concept/materials? That actually looked really good, but I'd also take a HD-2D remake as well.
Nintendo seems very whimsical about what they give they're fans, sometimes they'll give them a bone (e.g. Mario RPG, Thousand Year Door for the Switch), and other times, they just give them little to nothing (agh, the Zelda anniversary).
When you consider the cost of gaming back then and even now, no excuses when costs are involved.
The long-awaited documentary, which highlights the online community that's built around cult SNES RPG EarthBound over the years. It's an examination of the power of online communities and fandom, and the impact that Shigesato Itoi's series has had on its fans.
EarthBound is bona fide classic and part of gaming royalty that somehow still feels like a hidden gem.
