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You're bound to look sharp in these Earthbound duds

by Ben Gilbert { Oct 27th 2009 at 1:45PM }

We may raise our snobby noses as we pass by cosplayers at conventions, but once a year it becomes socially acceptable for us to embrace our inner theater student and don a disguise. Being people who spend quite a bit of time writing about or playing video games, we tend to err on the side of nerdery when it comes to Halloween outfits (shocking, we know). The folks at Fangamer coax this urge all the more when they release a full outfit of Earthbound's hero, Ness, on their site. Considering the striped "Shirtness," the accompanying "Earth Bounder" (the yo-yo) and the guarantee that it'll arrive before Halloween, the $54.99 asking price seems almost acceptable. Almost.

[Via Kotaku]

Mother has been earthbound for 20 years, bound for US just as long

by Alexander Sliwinski { Jul 27th 2009 at 10:15AM }

Twenty years ago today the original Mother was released for the Nintendo Famicom in Japan. Since then, the Japanese have continued to receive more of Mother's lovely RPG gameplay and storytelling, while other lands have been Earthbound with vague rumors of official releases and fan translations.

EarthBoundCentral has compiled a sweet little homage to the series -- check it out after the break. And keep wishing upon a star that Mother finds its way outside Japan ... one day.

[Image]

Continued →

Earthbound auction ends at a sky-high price

by JC Fletcher { May 5th 2009 at 12:15PM }

A recent auction for a new-in-box copy of Earthbound revealed a level of Earthbound fandom rivaling Starmen.net (of which the high bidder was probably a frequent visitor!) The boxed SNES game, originally acquired by eBay seller dave2236 for $25, ended up selling for $1,025.01, or 128.17 times what a Virtual Console download would cost.

The big cardboard box that Earthbound came in was never "factory sealed" in the traditional sense, so unlike most "sealed" games, it would be possible to (carefully) open and play this game and look through the player's guide without causing any physical damage. But we can guarantee that will not happen.

[Via GoNintendo]

Level-5's ROID service opens June 1 with suspiciously Earthbound-esque game

by JC Fletcher { Mar 26th 2009 at 10:00AM }

Level-5 has announced that its ROID digital distribution service will launch in Japan on June 1, two months later than originally announced at TGS. The service's mobile game distribution service will be available first, with the PC-based service following soon after.

A Famitsu article about the service reveals one shockingly familiar-looking game. There's no information about what it actually is, but, as the caption asks, "could it be that RPG?" There's very little actual chance of it being Earthbound, but it is possible that Level-5 lured creator Shigesato Itoi into creating an unofficial sequel. Level-5 is full of surprises!

Gallery: Level-5's Roid

Starmen: Earthbound will never come out on Virtual Console

by JC Fletcher { Feb 16th 2009 at 1:45PM }

The insane-for-Earthbound fansite Starmen.net claims to have some insider information about the problems behind Earthbound's no-show on the Virtual Console. The site is very serious about getting the game out somewhere, going to extreme steps for publicity. So we don't think it would lie about something of as much grave importance as the game's ESRB rating.

According to a new writeup on the site about the state of VC Earthbound, it's not coming. Like, ever. Legal issues, mostly with music licensing due to the preponderance of references to other works in the soundtrack, keep the game from being approved by Nintendo of America's legal department. And according to Starmen's source, the ESRB rating -- about which we rejoiced back in May -- was a mistake. A clerical error that nobody cared enough to correct. The ESRB went and rated the game, thinking that Nintendo wanted them to.

We're not entirely satisfied with this story. It handily explains why we haven't seen Earthbound in North America, but what about Japan? There didn't seem to be legal issues around the Mother 1&2 GBA release, and Earthbound is actually popular enough there to sell on the Virtual Console.

Touch Ruminations: Serious business

by David Hinkle { Feb 13th 2009 at 4:59PM }

In the latest edition of Touch Ruminations, former DS and Wii Fanboy Lead David Hinkle talks about how lousy Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop looks and why the Wii needs to be taken more seriously. Basically, he just rants about stuff. The opinions expressed here belong to the author and don't necessarily reflect those of Joystiq, Weblogs Inc. or its affiliates.

You've seen it, right? Horrible, I know. How does something like this even happen? I don't have all of the answers, but being an individual that has worked in the Wii trenches for years now, I can tell you one thing: this isn't helping the Wii to get the respect it deserves.

Continued →

Brownie Brown interested in DS version of Mother 3

by Chris Greenhough { Jan 21st 2009 at 6:30PM }

The lack of a localized Mother 3 on the Game Boy Advance must rank as one of Nintendo's more heinous crimes, but that's not to say they can't get out of our bad books. All it would take is, oooh, let's say a DS version of the classic RPG and A MILLION DOLLARS. Or, y'know, just the game.

And look, Nintendo, Mother 3 co-developer Brownie Brown is happy to indulge us! Speaking to Siliconera, company President Shinichi Kameoka said Nintendo just needs to give the go-ahead. "If we were asked to make [a DS version of Mother 3]," he said, "then we would definitely like for fans abroad to play the game."

The ball is very much in Nintendo's court, then. Until they take a swipe at it, there's only one way to sample (and fully comprehend) Mother 3's myriad delights.

Gallery: Show and Tell: Mother crafts

Wii Warm Up: Give us Earthbound already

by David Hinkle { Dec 10th 2008 at 8:00AM }

Seriously, how long have we been waiting for this? The ESRB rated the game for the Virtual Console back in May and we haven't heard anything since. Why is that? Who wants to download the game via Virtual Console as bad as we do?

Wii Warm Up: VC 2008

by David Hinkle { Dec 3rd 2008 at 8:00AM }

There's been a lot of Virtual Console releases this year (been keeping up?), and we were wondering which were among your favorites? We've received Secret of Mana, Super Mario RPG, and River City Ransom, to name a few. So, which sit at the top of your list for this year? Sure, we were hoping we'd have another to consider, but let's not dwell on that.

Show and Tell: One dedicated community

by Alisha Karabinus { Oct 21st 2008 at 12:50PM }

We've been talking a lot about Mother 3 recently, and for good reason: the fan community is one of the strongest around, and they function without even a scrap of official love. Still, they soldier on, translating games, and, even better for us in this space, they make things.

Of course, a fan translation is about the biggest DIY project we could feature here, but we've already done that. Instead, let's talk other things Mother, and by that, we mean crafts and similarly fun and frivolity. Take the tour of our picks, or just jump right into the gallery below.

Gallery: Show and Tell: Mother crafts

Show and Tell is all about fan stuff, so long as it's Nintendo-related. We love to see your collections, your crafts, your frosted creations, your t-shirts and swag of all sorts.Just snap a few pictures, tell us what's up, and send it all to showmeit [at] dsfanboy [dot] com. We'll take care of the rest. Not a handy type, but found something neat? Send us a link instead.

Mother 3 fan translation complete, ready for download

by Ross Miller { Oct 17th 2008 at 12:00PM }

After two years of development (and an endless string of tipsters keeping us up-to-date on every update on the project), the Mother 3 Fan Translation version 1.0 is now available for download, so English-speaking gamers without fluency in Japanese can enjoy the title. You'll need a copy of the Mother 3 ROM (also known as Earthbound 2) to use the patch, as well as your own copy of the imported game for legal purposes, moral clarity and a sense of contentment for supporting the franchise despite Nintendo's insistence to not bring it stateside.

In other news, Earthbound for Wii (possibly Virtual Console) is still rated by the ESRB, and since May 2nd that's all we know about it.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]

Mother 3 fan translation available this week

by Chris Greenhough { Oct 14th 2008 at 4:15PM }

After almost two years of hard slog, Starmen.net's Mother 3 fan translation patch has finally been completed, and will be released at the end of this week ... a whole month ahead of schedule! That's according to the latest blog entry on the project's site, in which team member Mato records that, "Testing's pretty much over now. Some bugs did turn up over the last few days, but they were all minor and quickly remedied. Some really hard-to-spot typos were also found and fixed."

Joyous news indeed, though the patch will require a few other things before it's of any use: namely a slot-2 flashcart, a GBA emulator, and -- cough -- an entirely unauthorized ROM copy of the Japanese game. While we don't condone piracy, a western localization of Mother 3 doesn't exactly look likely at this stage, and we do condone passionate fan projects such as this one. Hit up this FAQ to learn more, and don't forget to check out some beautiful, Anglicized Mother 3 screens.

Gallery: Mother 3 Fan Translation

[Thanks, Joel!]

Earthbound cubeecraft is out of this world

by Candace Savino { May 31st 2008 at 7:00PM }

Even with its ESRB rating, we can't help but be skeptical about Earthbound descending onto the Virtual Console. While we'd like nothing more, it seems too good to be true that Starmen.net's hard-fought battle to get the game on the VC would finally end in victory. As we've also mentioned, an ESRB rating does not necessarily equate to a Virtual Console release.

Since all we can do now is wait and see, we have to find Earthbound related ways to keep ourselves busy. Aside from playing games like Smash Bros., we thought we'd try our hand at some Earthbound cubeecraft (aka papercraft). Is it just us, or does Mr. Saturn look rather swank when shaped like a cube?

Gallery: Awesome Nintendo papercraft

[Via GoNintendo]

The dirt on Cave Story DS, Cave Story-engraved DS

by Eric Caoili { May 13th 2008 at 9:30AM }

Praised by almost everyone who's played the freeware PC title, Cave Story is considered by many to be the pinnacle of the "Metroidvania" genre, a polished action platformer embellished with endearing characters and a catchy soundtrack. No matter how many times we're reminded of the fact, it always astounds us that the game was designed and developed by a single programmer, Daisuke Amaya, or Pixel, as he's more commonly known.

As you might should know, homebrew developer Ravenworks has been working on a DS port for Cave Story. As it turns out, however, Pixel doesn't own a Nintendo DS, so it would be unlikely that he'd be able to play the port once it's completed. In fact, he hasn't owned a handheld or home console since the Nintendo 64! Isn't it a crime nowadays for gamers in Japan to not own a Nintendo DS?

To keep Pixel out of jail, Ravenworks and the rest of the "All Things Studio Pixel (ATSP)" LiveJournal community raised $410 and put together a care package of handheld treats as a "thank you" for the DS-less developer's work. Here's everything the group purchased and sent:

Onyx Nintendo DS Lite system (laser engraved with Cave Story characters and a message that reads, "Thank you")
R4 cart with 2 GB microSD (for playing Cave Story DS! and perhaps DS development one day?)
DS carrying case
Mother 3
Game Center CX

So, how did Pixel take to the package? You can read his reaction, as well as the community's reasons for picking those two particular games for their offering, past the post break! We also used this effort as an excuse to catch up with Ravenworks on Cave Story DS's progress.