According to various sources (read: Starmen.net via PA) it looks like a certain Mother 3 aka Earthbound 2 has a japanese release date. No screenshots are available at this time.
The following is the relevant section of Itoi-san’s recent post on his website (translation by NattyBumppo):
Mother 3’s release date has been set. It will be April 20th, 2006 (Thursday). At least it’s spring. It’ll go on sale before the start of Golden Week. We’ll be doing an official announcement pretty soon, but this is the “final” date. Once the release date is set, there are no more additions of new specs or anything like that. We’ll no longer be able to fiddle around with anything in the game, unless it’s something especially important. It makes me a little sad, but I can’t be selfish. Since it’s GameBoy Advance software, that naturally means that you’ll also be able to play it on the Nintendo DS that everyone’s so crazy about these days.
Yeah, I’m fairly happy about this too, assuming it’s all true, and assuming we get an american release date, then I’ll start showing a bit of excitement.
C’mon Nintendo, translation please. (hopefully some of the RPG drugs that told them to translate ToP (can’t wait to pick it up, even if Klarth is now Claus) and FF4 will rub towards EB)
Well, they completely translated Mother 1 as “Earthbound,” and never released it, despite it being completed (for the one or two people who don’t know, the “Earthbound” that we <I>did</I> get was Mother 2, and a leaked ROM of the completely translated Mother 1/Earthbound had the word “ZERO” added to the title screen by a ROM hacker to differentiate it from the US Mother 2 release). One could argue that the reason was because RPGs weren’t very popular outside of Japan when Mother was still new or potentially marketable. However, when <A HREF=“http://www.nintendo.com/gamemini?gameid=m-Game-0000-1821”>Mother 1+2</A> was released in June of 2003 for GBA, RPGs were definitely popular in the US, Nintendo held complete translations for both games, and still denied their release.
Before Mother 3 is released, I’d still like to see Mother 1+2. NOJ (Nintendo of Japan) is about to release a “Value” version of the game for GBA (JP release is 2.2.2006). Now’s a great time to re-evaluate whether or not they should release the game in America. The fact that NOA (Nintendo of America) has a Mother 1+2 section on their website (see above link) just makes me angry. They’re openly acknowledging that they are aware that American gamers are interested in the game, but they still, 3 years later, have no intentions of bringing it over here.
Actually, Earthbound sold pretty well in the US, and was critically acclaimed. However, according to Nintendo Power’s hotline, most players who bought it didn’t understand it.
Even if its never released here in the States there are already plenty of rom hackers and translators over at Starmen.net just itching to get there hands on this. So I imagine one way or another we will see Mother 3 in english.
Would much rather have an official english copy, but if it came down to it I’d kill a man with my own barehands if it meant I’d have a chance to play Mother 3 in my native tongue. One can only imagine what sort of odd ad’s they would run for it if it ever saw a north american release. I can still smell the sweet stench left by the EB promotional ads in my old game magainzes
Ironically, back in the day, I was on the verge of buying Earthbound, but it was the ad campaign that swayed me against buying it. All the scratch and sniff ads with Master Belch and the pizzas and all that really turned me off. I honestly wasn’t even exactly sure what type of game Earthbound was at the time either… if I had known it was just a basic RPG, I definitely would have gotten it. And if the game wouldn’t have advertised itself the way it did, I probably would have gotten it…
Anyway, the fact that Mother 1+2 wasn’t released in America is a pretty bad sign (that was something I was sure was going to make it here, especially with the popularity of RPGs and the fact that Ness is a recognizable figure in America due to Smash Bros.). But I also know that Earthbound fans are the most rabid video game fans in the world… and Earthbound is probably the most hacked game ever… so I don’t doubt that it would be translated for sure if it never receives a domestic release.
The ad campaign “This game stinks” probably describes the bosses (Master Belch/Barf, and I imagine the Plague Rat of Doom), as well as the large number of food items you could buy.
(I remember somebody selling a full copy of the game, and getting well over $100 (maybe $200?) for it, just for including an air freshener that supposedly was a promo item. Wonder if the air freshener still worked like 8 years after the game came out. :Booster:
Also gotta love Nintendo (Power)'s article advising readers not to buy the game.
(this “Game Pak” is actually a 24-megabit alien signaling device that’ll set bad examples for your kids)
But, how could players not understand it? I mean, they packed the strategy guide WITH the game.
deadtear: WOW. That was… definitely something. That must have taken a whole day to write. O_O I’ve never played through the entire Earthbound, but it really seems to have made an effect on that guy.
I heard that Famicom-esque track in the SPC set. I’ve beaten EB a couple times, and I could’ve sworn the final battle was rather silent. Did Mother 2 perhaps use it (held off beating EB0, hoping some day NoA would release it in some form. Was it used there, and M2 had it as a reference? Which of course would’ve been really strange to most people playing EB)?
(it’s this song that sounds FC-quality, then after about a minute breaks into heavy metal more representative of the SNES).
It shall be mine!