• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Earthbound Creator says something is in the works

P

Padawan of Windu

Member
Oh *insert deity's name* of *insert diety's hang out of choice*, I shall pray to you in whatever fashion you desire should you bring the Earthbound Trilogy to America. We're getting Pandora's Tower in the Wii's 7th year, after I had given up all hope on that, so I certainly have hope this will make it's way here! And given Itoi's hints and comments towards western Earthbound fans lately, I don't think my hope is misplaced. We'll see..
 
M

Makonero

Member
gumby_trucker said:
Is it possible to explain the series' unique appeal and high regard to someone who has never played it?
Click to expand...

Not really. On the outside, the game looks simple, the jokes are quite cheesy at times, and the plot is barely held together. But there's something charming about each game, the characters, the quirky humor, and the overall adventure. I've only completed Mother 3 and played through Earthbound until about three quarters in, but I've become attached to the series in ways I can't really explain. People will swear by Earthbound, but I feel that Mother 3 is a better package. A little more serious, a little more preachy, but overall an amazing game. The gameplay is old school turn based battles, with some fun quirks, but I like that. Again, it all has to do with charm.
 
U

upandaway

Member
Aeana said:
You say that like Starmen.net isn't already preparing to overdo it as always.
Click to expand...
Haha oh man, those guys. I wonder how much they're freaking out right now.

I don't count on them for pulling this off in any case. It's not like they ever did (sorry starmens!)
 
E

extralite

Member
gumby_trucker said:
Is it possible to explain the series' unique appeal and high regard to someone who has never played it?
Click to expand...

It's how the Japanese imagine America to be, based on watching Hollywood movies and reading American literature. It's also a comment on how Dragon Quest type games are fantasies of Japanese traveling foreign countries and becoming American heroes like Indiana Jones.
 
S

Starphoenix

Member
From the wording of Itoi's latest tweets, it sounds to me as though the MOTHER revival isn't going to be a compilation of the entire trilogy, rather a remake/update of Earthbound.

Maybe NCL decided to replace some of the legally questionable elements at Itoi's request. Either way, for once in my life, Earthbound making it's way to the West again looks promising.
 
S

Starphoenix

Member
Makonero said:
After the Mother 3 petition did diddly, they kind of retreated into the fanart/fic stuff. I stopped going there around that time and only popped back in during the translation and it's pretty dead.
Click to expand...

Itoi seems to have been motivated to do what he has been recently because of the dedication of Earthbound fans. Even though it may be years later, their efforts might actually be paying off now.
 
C

Codeblue

Member
gumby_trucker said:
Is it possible to explain the series' unique appeal and high regard to someone who has never played it?
Click to expand...

It's difficult to do without being so abstract. Itoi used the word "Heart-rending" to describe Mother 3. If I had a word for Earthbound it would be "Endearing". Those games know exactly which buttons to push to manipulate the players feelings.

There's a pretty good post by Amirox that probably does a better job of explaining than I ever could, talking about the themes the game covers like "There's no place like home", but I can't find it.
 
B

backlot

Member
Starphoenix said:
Itoi seems to have been motivated to do what he has been recently because of the dedication of Earthbound fans. Even though it may be years later, their efforts might actually be paying off now.
Click to expand...

They are still very dedicated Earthbound fans. They've just given up on trying to convince Nintendo to do anything. Maybe a new release of the game will get them going again.
 
M

Makonero

Member
Starphoenix said:
Itoi seems to have been motivated to do what he has been recently because of the dedication of Earthbound fans. Even though it may be years later, their efforts might actually be paying off now.
Click to expand...

I have no doubt! One of their members just actually met with Itoi and did some work with him, so he is fully aware of his western fans. But after all the work they did over the years (petitions, call ins, letter writjng campaigns), and the lack of any kind of effect is bound to take its toll. I respect them quite a bit, even if they are a bit fanatical.
 
M

M-PG71C

Member
I'm a very huge Nintendo fan, but I have never had the pleasure of playing any of the MOTHER games. I keep holding out that one day all three will be available in English.

I would go after Earthbound on the SNES but its way too freaking expensive. I was hoping it would get a VC release, but of course not a chance in hell. I was hoping back then MOTHER 3 was a shoe-in for American release. Wrong again.

This time, I really hope we get our chance.
 
S

Sir Ilpalazzo

Member
Makonero said:
After the Mother 3 petition did diddly, they kind of retreated into the fanart/fic stuff. I stopped going there around that time and only popped back in during the translation and it's pretty dead.
Click to expand...

Well, the people who did the Mother 3 translation were Starmen staffers, and a few years ago, they did send these big Mother series appreciation packages to Nintendo and Itoi, so it's not like they gave up or anything. I do think that they're done with big "get lots of people to pester Nintendo" campaigns, though, and in large part because of the bad reputation those have given them.
 
@

@MUWANdo

Banned
The Starmen dudes are gonna mobilise the moment something is officially announced. I think they've learned enough from the last couple campaigns, as well as campaigns like Operation Rainfall, to know where to focus their energies next time around.
 
C

Cranzor

Junior Member
I'd be happy even if this was just a re-release of Earthbound. I love Mother 3 and I really want to play Earthbound.

This series is really something special! I'm excited for whatever this ends up being.
 
R

Ranger X

Member
I really wish I would play Mother 3.
And since it hasn't been released much everywhere, it would be nice to bring it now.
 
E

Empty

Member
i really hope this is earthbound remake/re-release related as i still haven't played that despite mother 3 being one of my favourite games.

i'm excited about any possible new mother thing though, even though it may never come worldwide.
 
M

Makonero

Member
Earthpainting said:
When he says "Mother", is he referring to the series or the game? I hope it's the series, as I'm pretty indifferent about Mother 1.


Indeed. Some of the greatest heroes of our time.
Click to expand...

When he says Mother, he means the series. That's according to the guy who did the translation of Mother 3 at least.
 
B

backlot

Member
Makonero said:
When he says Mother, he means the series. That's according to the guy who did the translation of Mother 3 at least.
Click to expand...

In the lastest group of tweets he said "Mother" then mentioned a bunch of events from Mother 2 so I'd guess he's talking about the series.
 
O

omgkitty

Member
What I don't get is that even though Earthbound never sold very well in the US, how come with all the fans it has now, Nintendo isn't willing to take another shot? I mean sure, there is a small but very vocal group of people who are the one's pushing all the Earthbound love, but I'd have to assume it would easily sell better now? The internet is so important these days, and where maybe Earthbound didn't reach the right audiences originally, it would have to sell better now.
 
Davey Cakes

Davey Cakes

Member
omgkitty said:
What I don't get is that even though Earthbound never sold very well in the US, how come with all the fans it has now, Nintendo isn't willing to take another shot? I mean sure, there is a small but very vocal group of people who are the one's pushing all the Earthbound love, but I'd have to assume it would easily sell better now? The internet is so important these days, and where maybe Earthbound didn't reach the right audiences originally, it would have to sell better now.
Click to expand...
I can agree with this. The fan base has grown tremendously since EB's initial release and failure, and awareness is pretty much the highest it's ever been. Not only that, but marketing the game (and the Mother series in general) is easier now. My dream is that there's a re-release for Western audiences and the game sells well enough to undo the money wasted on prior efforts in the West.

Obviously that's a dream for a good reason.

But honestly, Operation Rainfall actually worked (though not immediately), so I don't see why a western Mother revival is out of the question. Then again, the EB Siege was a pretty huge movement and it didn't change anything.
 
Y

Yuripaw

Banned
Beyond that, it's a damn shame that Mother 3 never received an official localization before simply because it is one of the best damn games I've ever played. Even when I first started playing the translated version of Mother 3, I was hesitant that I would actually like it. I was worried that my appreciation for Earthbound up til that point had been just nostalgia, and that there was no way that that game would live up to my expectations....and I was so wrong. It exceeded my expectations, and was just a great game on it's own. It deserved getting a wider audience, and is easily one of the best games Nintendo has ever produced. Why wouldn't they want more people to play that game??
 
C

chertipros

Member
omgkitty said:
What I don't get is that even though Earthbound never sold very well in the US, how come with all the fans it has now, Nintendo isn't willing to take another shot? I mean sure, there is a small but very vocal group of people who are the one's pushing all the Earthbound love, but I'd have to assume it would easily sell better now? The internet is so important these days, and where maybe Earthbound didn't reach the right audiences originally, it would have to sell better now.
Click to expand...

That's more on itoi than on Nintendo
 
B

BocoDragon

or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
omgkitty said:
What I don't get is that even though Earthbound never sold very well in the US, how come with all the fans it has now, Nintendo isn't willing to take another shot? I mean sure, there is a small but very vocal group of people who are the one's pushing all the Earthbound love, but I'd have to assume it would easily sell better now? The internet is so important these days, and where maybe Earthbound didn't reach the right audiences originally, it would have to sell better now.
Click to expand...
Well isn't it all the stuff to do with unlicensed samples in the music, etc? If it were an easy (cheap) thing to do, I assume they would have done it back on the Wii VC.

But I really think Nintendo should pony up that cash... It's a beloved part of their legacy and I think they should have the ability to re-release it when they like. Even if it's more money than it's worth for an initial re-release.
 
Davey Cakes

Davey Cakes

Member
I agree, Mother 3 is great, and a wonderful change of pace in today's world of RPGs. Plus it's just a great game in its own right, with a lot of the same charms as EB. One of Nintendo's best projects ever, and still probably Brownie Brown's crowning achievement.

I'm all for more people playing great games. Lots of quality titles don't see western release though, so maybe I'm selfish by thinking that the Mother series deserves special consideration.

BocoDragon said:
Well isn't it all the stuff to do with unlicensed samples in the music, etc? If it were an easy (cheap) thing to do, I assume they would have done it back on the Wii VC.
Click to expand...
It's apparently way less than people originally thought. It's not like a giant chunk of the game's soundtrack suffers from copyright infringement. It's just two songs that can basically be replaced by other songs in the game, plus the name "Dali's Clock" that can easily be changed. Over the years people in the fan community have been using PK Hack to make all sorts of interesting changes to EB. If a hacker can easily go in at this point and change the [possibly] infringing themes, then Nintendo can.

I'd be surprised if it's somehow way more complicated than that. I just think that Nintendo didn't give a shit and didn't want to waste more resources on a failed franchise.
 
Y

Yuripaw

Banned
legacyzero said:
As much as I love Earthbound, I never got to play Mother 3
Click to expand...

Well if this announcement doesn't lead to them releasing it in some form, I highly recommend you play it. It's not a rehash of EarthBound by any means, it's a totally unique game, but if you've played EarthBound before, there's a lot to appreciate about it also.
 
2

2San

Member
I hope it's remake personally. I tried playing Mother 1 a year ago and interacting with objects and stuff was so obtuse. Stopped after a while, the game has definitely aged.
 
H

Hero_of_the_Day

Member
I just finished the first on my NES the other day for the first time ever. Pretty awesome, but holy fuck is it hard. Normal monsters can usually kill most party members in 1 or 2 hits, new characters joining the party at level 1 with no equipment, no items to bring characters back to life, no item or PSI descriptions. Really liked it, but I hope the SNES version is a bit easier when I get around to it (when I have a good $175 to waste on a single game).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Reggie Fils-Aimé says localising Mother 3 ‘didn’t make business sense’ (VGC)
Opinion News 2
53
3K
PhaseJump replied
Creator of Unicorn Overlord’s jiggly food also made the characters “jiggle”
Game Dev
16
976
Isa replied
Nihon Falcom wants to "eventually" re-release Trails in the Sky for modern platforms
News
20
1K
Gambit2483 replied
Remedy says the GPU creates major challenges when working with Xbox Series S
Game Dev 2 3
149
10K
Lysandros replied
Asphalt Legends Unite Marks Series Debut on PS4 and PS5 (Out July 17)
News
2
271
DAHGAMING replied
Top Bottom