A history of zealous Earthbound fandom

by JC Fletcher { May 8th 2008 at 12:45PM }

Members of the Mother series fan site Starmen.net may be celebrating now, with Earthbound recently rated on the ESRB's web site, but just getting to that tenuous victory (as Ys I & II can affirm, ESRB rating is not the same as a Virtual Console release) has been the culmination of years of agonizing effort and constant campaigning that may not have actually had anything to do with the news.

Shacknews has posted a great retrospective of Starmen's 11-year campaign to get something related to Earthbound to happen outside of Japan, from a Game Boy Color release of Mother to localized versions of Mother I & II on the DS to (of course) a U.S. version of Mother 3. They've carried out insane plots like creating a beautiful book of fan works to show Nintendo how much they care about the series. Nintendo's response has ranged from politely dismissive to nonexistent, though the feature reveals that somewhere within Nintendo, Starmen's efforts were at least attracting attention.

Tags: earthbound, mother, rpg, shigesato-itoi, starmen

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Sisyphus @ May 8th 2008 12:58PM

Man, I don't really like RPGs, but I wish Ys I & II would come out already. I still have it with my Turbo Duo in a box, but I'd much rather have it on a system already hooked up. I'd buy it the Monday it was released.

Jumbo @ May 8th 2008 1:06PM

Again, if they love it so much... why not just play it on the Super Nintendo?

Its readily available... and if they're so in love with it, they obviously had it at some point.

Just turn it on again.

And learn to relax.

SoshiKitai @ May 8th 2008 1:11PM

We DO just play it on the Super Nintendo.
But we love our Wii's as well. We'd like something more "permanent"... instead of the fear of an old system eventually dying of old age. (or dying because soda spilled on it)

The fact that we can have a "new" (not new, just re-released) version is what makes us crazy --- by the fact that we don't have it now. :/

Jumbo @ May 8th 2008 1:21PM

I dont know what you're doing to your system, but I'm yet to have a system fail on me.

But if a $10 download feels more "permanent" to you, throw your money away.

Dreganfyre @ May 8th 2008 1:47PM

Well, I know that all of my Super Nintendo games require vigorous blowing and delicate wedging of paper in appropriate places in order to get them to work...

Of course, there are other solutions... Now VC can be one of them. :)

Jumbo @ May 8th 2008 1:59PM

Maybe you should take better care of your things.

Alex @ May 8th 2008 2:03PM

I think it's more of wanting the game to gain a new audience on the Wii rather than playing something you already have at hand. With a new audience, there'd be more of a chance to get other games in the series localized.

SoshiKitai @ May 8th 2008 2:05PM

Question: "I dont know what you're doing to your system"
Answer: "(or dying because soda spilled on it)"
^^;

...I was young when I owned a SNES, I didn't give it the care it should have gotten. :(
It ain't dead, it just hates me. :P

Jumbo @ May 8th 2008 2:07PM

your parents should have taught you responsibility

HellsHammer @ May 8th 2008 4:08PM

"why not just play it on the Super Nintendo?"

I play mine on SNES all the time. I'd still like to own a copy without having to rely on a 13 year old battery to save my game.

"Its readily available... and if they're so in love with it, they obviously had it at some point."

If spending $70-$250 on ebay for a used game is what you consider 'readily available', I've got to move in with your parents too.

SoshiKitai @ May 8th 2008 6:39PM

Responsibility?

1. My parents could have cared less about video games. Even if it was their money that bought it. They (mostly mother) were the type that considered video games as "brain rot". Understandable.

2. It's hard to teach responsibility to an ADHD kid. Let alone, two other kids. My parents aren't to blame. They did their best. I was the one that was screwy.

3. Dude, I just spilled soda on my SNES. I'm sorry if that's like breaking a Ming Dynasty Vase for you.

4. What you could say is: "Just get a new one. They're cheap now."
Of which I'd reply "No thanks, I like my Wii just fine."

5. Don't talk like you're the "head honcho who was the best of the best, and still is" to us. We all make mistakes, dude. And some of us really do like the Virtual Console. And we DO have a right to complain about Earthbound/Mother not being on the VC yet.

A. Because we expected it to be one of the first on the Virtual Console, since it was one of Nintendo's GOLDEN GAMES.

B. Supporting games on the VC also allows Nintendo know that fans want a remake, or something like it, in the future.

James @ May 8th 2008 1:34PM

I think the big push is for Mother 3, which was never (officially) localized to English. Which I'd buy the day it was released...

Christina Warren @ May 8th 2008 2:15PM

I stupidly let an ex-boyfriend borrow my NES (which I paid to have factory refurbished so it was just like new, even though I got it for Christmas in 1988), my SNES and a bunch of games -- sadly including Earthbound (complete in its oversized Mario Paint sized box with strategy guide with scratch and sniff cards). How I miss that game. Having it on my X-Box (which is now just a game emulator behemoth) is fine, but I would love to have it on my Wii, either in VC or a localized Earthbound 64 port.

What a great, great game.

xAnarChisTx @ May 8th 2008 4:46PM

It's one of those cases where we need our "fix" of a new Earthbound game. It's the same thing about any other gamer who needs their "fix" on games such as the Chrono Series, GTA (thank god IV came out), Resident Evil, Silent Hill, etc.

Yeah, we can go back and play Earthbound for SNES, and it will give us a nostalgic "fix", but not a fresh one.