Like many beloved niche titles, EarthBound — known as Mother 2 in Japan — was ahead of its time. The game’s cutesy graphics and unabashed weirdness belied its dark and meaningful storyline. At a glance, it’s no great surprise that it initially failed to find an audience.
But when you look closer, you’ll find that EarthBound had everything it needed to be a success. A dedicated localization team ensured that every offbeat cultural reference was translated perfectly. Moreover, it had an impressive marketing budget, with ads for the game appearing in most major gaming magazines.
Miyamoto was convinced that North American gamers would love EarthBound as much as he did. He believed the game could sell millions of copies and made sure it had the budget to pull it off. Nintendo sunk $2 million into advertising, sending out mailers and placing numerous ads in major gaming magazines. According to early PR statements, their plan was to target a teen and young adult audience.
Somewhere along the way, things went terribly wrong.
Many indies try to capture the magic of Nintendo's urban RPG, but the game that comes closest is SEGA's crime drama, Yakuza: Like A Dragon.
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.
Seriously, look at this garbage.
https://www.youtube.com/wat...
The game deserved so much more than this.