Welcome to the cult: Blue, Blue.

Mother 3 is also amazing. And surprisingly even more story driven than its predecessor. I would highly suggest following up your Earthbound adventure with more, um… amazingness.

You almost missed out on one of life’s greatest experiences - you should thank the heavens they sent you that used copy for you to play.

The Earthbound situation is so frustrating at this point… cause you’d like to believe Nintendo in fact cares.

I mean they put the effort in to mentioning the characters and reminding gamers of this amazing game through the likes of Super Smash Bros. and not to mention the fact that in Japan they were able to release Mother 3.

Why is it that Nintendo despises North America so much I have no idea. You’d think they would simply release the game… if not in large quantities then in a small minute launch that relied on people pre-ordering the game perhaps.

Not to mention Earthbound (Mother 2) should be on VC, yet it isn’t and there is no real reason why there shouldn’t be one on the VC.

Speculation is that NoA hates EB because A) they lost money selling it the first time and B) they think it’s a potential lawsuit magnet because of the music/characters. On the other hand, I think NOC likes EB because Iwata worked for HAL and knows Itoi personally.

Earthbound and Mother 3 = pure magic. Now only if I didn’t suck at turn-based RPGs so bad, maybe I could beat the latter. Only a few more chapters to go…

Well that’s it. This is something that can’t be overlooked.

I get your job.

@amauriel - But I’m not overlooking it now. So you get my job in the past, which does neither of us any good.

No love for the NES Mother?
Seriously, after you beat Earthbound, you should go play Mother and Mother 3. Pure gaming bliss I tell you.

To be honest. Earthbound was kinda boring to me.. Maybe it was the battle system or something. 10 years ago I thought it was a decent game, but nowhere near what rabid fans make it out to be today.

Two days ago, however, I decided to give the whole franchise another chance, and I am now playing through the 1st Mother game (Earthbound Zero?). So far, it’s pretty enjoyable, as an RPG. The story is quite simple, puzzles aren’t insanely hard, but I HATE random battles. The music is amazing, and probably what makes me keep coming back for more.

So far, Mother 1 is keeping me entertained. Hasn’t blown me away yet, but for a NES RPG, it’s pretty fun. Perhaps, by the time I’m done with all three games, my opinion on the franchise will change.

As someone who’s played Mother 3, beaten it, and loved every moment I have to also admit that it kind of makes sense that NOA never localized it. Due to the content of the game they pretty much had two choices: heavily censor the game, which would upset all the hardcore fans of the series, or give it a “T” rating, which the cutesy graphics would ensure that nobody besides the already established fanbase would try it. In either scenario they likely wouldn’t make enough money to make the transition worth it, as great as it would be.

Proof that they don’t care, though: Earthbound isn’t on the VC yet. I know that apparently there’s copyright issues, and Japan hasn’t even gotten the game on their VC service, but… come onnnn.

I too have never given Earhtbound a fair shake despite so many people raving out it. Maybe someday…

Man… I feel a little better seeing that there are still people who still haven’t played the game. I actually borrowed it from a friend and tried to beat it, yet did not succeed… I think I only made it to Twoson. I don’t know what it was that stopped me… maybe my lack of understanding of RPG games at the time.

Otherwise, Mother 3 had been my friend for the few months that I spent with it. It is one glorious game… though it felt sick and disguesting playing it for free on a PSP… I loved every minute of that game. Maybe I will go back and beat Earthbound because of how great Mother 3 was.

@Shaun: Ahh, you may have gotten me with psuedologic, but the game has been out for many a year. This is like missing Chrono Trigger or Final Fantasy VII until recently. Still think I get your job. :p

Earthbound is one of those games that I would put on my “gamers in the know” list. When you discuss games with other gamers, and you are testing them to see if they are worthy of an extended discussion (I’m not a jerk about this, I just mean sometimes you are talking with a gamer in GameStop or whatever that has never heard of and FPS older than the first Halo) this is a game I always bring up. If they know Earthbound, they at least know a bit of more obscure gaming history. And no, they don’t have to LIKE Earthbound, they just have to know of its existence. I don’t expect every person I run into at GameStop to know that Rabbit Ninja statues guard the Pink Cloud.

@amauriel

I’ve beaten DoDonPachi. I hope this redeems me in your opinion of me as a “gamer.”

Final Fantasy VII is overrated, and crap.

@amauriel

But in all seriousness, I do get what you’re saying. Gamers who play only Halo and have no knowledge of games that predate it are like music fans that listen only to Limp Bizkit. It’s always better to learn of different kinds of games, especially key titles that stand as shining examples of how the videogame is a compelling and worthwhile form of entertainment - Final Fantasy VII included.

FFVII is crap? Blasphemy!! (No, but seriously, games aren’t objective, they’re subjective - if you didn’t like it, that doesn’t mean everyone else shouldn’t have.)