Topic: EarthBound Confirmed for North American/European Release

[Adrock]

If this leads to Mother 3 and a new sequel down the line, awesome...

Don't hold your breath for Mother 4. Shigesato Itoi has repeatedly stated that he won't make anymore Mother games. Yeah, Nintendo could make one without Itoi (probably with or without his blessing), but I doubt they would. The Mother series was Itoi's; I doubt Nintendo would make Mother 4 without him and anyone else trying to make it just wouldn't feel right.

Also, the games work really well as a loose trilogy. Ninten (and another party member) from Mother, while never explicitly stated, are speculated and hinted to be Ness' parents. The entire family has ties to Giygas. Then, a certain character shows up in Mother 3 as the main villain. If you played Super Smash Bros. Brawl or read this character's Earthbound wiki entry like I did, you know who it is.

Unlike Nintendo's other franchises, I'd rather there never be another Mother title, certainly not without Itoi and maybe even with him. I want to play Mother 3 desperately, but regardless of the ending, I'd be content leaving well-enough alone. It was written with an ending in mind. I look at the Metroid series and how Super Metroid could have ended the series. Metroid Prime could have easily been a reboot. As much as I like Fusion and don't hate Other M, they suffer because of Super Metroid's fairly conclusive ending. I wouldn't want to see that happen with the Mother series.

[Ceric]

If Nintendo did anything I think they would just go ahead and redo the Mother/Earthbound series as a series of 3DS remakes instead of making a 4th one.

[Fjurbanski]

I wouldn't be surprised by a new Mother game simply because of Kid Icarus: Uprising. A dead franchise brought back to life. To me that's basically Nintendo saying, "We'll do what we want when we want. You might get Mother 4, you might not." So I'm not gonna hold out hope for one, but I wouldn't be shocked if one was made.

[Ceric]

But unlike Mother.  Kid Icarus had things like Captian N to establish a broader personality and a presence in USA.

[Louieturkey]

But unlike Mother.  Kid Icarus had things like Captian N to establish a broader personality and a presence in USA.

Have you ever heard of this really niche game called Super Smash Brothers?  I've heard there might be Mother/Earthbound ties to it.

[Ceric]

If I ask a Random Stanger before Kid Icarus uprising is who is Kid Icarus.  They may mention he had a game.  If I ask someone who is Ness or Lucas.  They would look at me clueless more than likely.

That is one game.  Who knows the Ice Climbers?  Do you know their names?

I think the Mythical nature of Earthbound is more to its favor then the Smash Brothers Mind Share.

[TJ Spyke]

You can't really mention Lucas since his only English appearance is in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. I think most Nintendo gamers would recognize Ness.

Sakurai likes including obscure characters. I had heard of the the game Ice Climber, but didn't know their names until Super Smash Bros. Melee.

[Fjurbanski]

If you're going to talk about Captain N. helping people know about Kid Icarus, then you can't overlook Smash Bros. helping people know about Eartbound. More people (now) know about obscure Nintendo characters from Smash than they do from Captain N. Hell, Captain N. itself is obscure now.

[tendoboy1984]

Captain N? You mean that terribly animated cartoon from the 1980's that featured bastardized versions of famous Nintendo characters? Yeah, only people who grew up in the 80's remember that show.

[Ceric]

If you're going to talk about Captain N. helping people know about Kid Icarus, then you can't overlook Smash Bros. helping people know about Eartbound. More people (now) know about obscure Nintendo characters from Smash than they do from Captain N. Hell, Captain N. itself is obscure now.

I can take Smash Bros out simply because its for both of them.

Captain N? You mean that terribly animated cartoon from the 1980's that featured bastardized versions of famous Nintendo characters? Yeah, only people who grew up in the 80's remember that show.

It sure is amazing how many of you instantly remembered it.

[Fjurbanski]

It sure is amazing how many of you instantly remembered it.

I didn't remember it. I haven't seen a single episode of it. I know about it because I go to Nintendo sites like this one.


People in general do not know about Captain N. or the characters that are in it. Not on the same levels as Smash Bros.

[TJ Spyke]

Anybody who was a gamer and alive in the late 80s/early 90s knows about Captain N and probably watched it. It wasn't "good", but I enjoyed watching it.

[Ceric]

It sure is amazing how many of you instantly remembered it.

I didn't remember it. I haven't seen a single episode of it. I know about it because I go to Nintendo sites like this one.


People in general do not know about Captain N. or the characters that are in it.
...

Earthbound is much the same way.

Most people would consider Ness and Lucas Smash Bros Characters more than anything else in the general population.  Earthbound is in its own way in the exact same bout as Monster Hunter.  A dedicated Fanbase but their is a steep drop off the further you go.

I be sort of curious whether at what point you start getting people who know Earthbound is a game with characters in Smash Bros but, don't know its an RPG.

[Fjurbanski]

So what? The point is that Ness likely has more clout with Nintendo gamers than Pit because Ness has been in their minds with every release of Smash since '99. Whereas Kid Icarus just dropped off the face of the earth (until Brawl), Earthbound has been a constant part of Nintendo, in one form or another.


When it comes to levels of obscurity, there's no reason to think there won't be an Earthbound sequel because it's too obscure. KI: Uprising proves that Nintendo could easily make a new Earthbound/Mother game. In fact, Nintendo stated in the last Nintendo Direct that they acknowledge how much people wanted Earthbound on VC. They know that people know about it. It'll happen if they feel like it, it won't happen if they don't. You really can't predict it.

[Luigi Dude]

As long as Iwata is president and Itoi doesn't want to make another Mother game, there isn't going to be any sequels.  Iwata and Itoi have a very close relationship and so Iwata isn't going to approve any Mother related sequels unless Itoi allows them to be made.  I don't see Iwata breaking up a longtime friendship just to make another game in a series that isn't a very big seller since there's no real money to be made by such a move in the first place.

Even for non-Mother related series, Nintendo's actually pretty strict when it comes to original creators still having control over their series.  For Punch-Out, they still needed the original creators approval.

http://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/#/wii/punchout/0/4

Tanabe:  Right. After we finished Mario Strikers Charged, we discussed what we would do next. I had heard that they wanted to make a new version of one of Nintendo's properties, and since Punch-Out!! has been consistently popular in America, they said that they would really like to make a new version.

Miyamoto:  NOA has been asking for a new version of Punch-Out!! for a long time as well.

Iwata:  What was the first thing Takeda-san or Miyamoto-san said when you discussed this with them after returning to Japan?

Tanabe:  First, I went to Miyamoto-san and he told me to go get permission from Takeda-san first.

Iwata:  Because he originally made the game. What was Takeda-san's reaction?

So yeah, right now unless Itoi approves it isn't happening.

[tendoboy1984]

So Nintendo has to get Sakurai's permission each time a new Kirby game is made?