Massive.... Soooooooooooo when are we going to see a release of Mother and Mother 3 here in the States?

FUCK YES!!!!!

Edit: If everyone buys this, then maybe we'll finally get Mother 3.

http://digg.com/gaming_news/Earthbound_Bound_coming_out_on_Virtual_Console

Here is the digg story, help me digg it to the front page!

I plan to throw money at this the moment it's available.

Your digg avatar scares me :(

Only Ness is from EarthBound.  Lucas is from Mother 3. <_

Glad you noticed! NOW DIGG.

I'll finally get to see what the hype is about.

I'm tempted to go all "doubting Thomas" here and not believe it 'til I see it.  For years this and Super Metroid were those two first party SNES games that everyone begged for some sort of re-release on modern hardware and for some reason never got.  Like when Super Metroid showed up on the VC this will be a HUGE deal.  It would suck for everyone to get their hopes up, only for Nintendo to somehow but the kibosh on the whole thing.  Has the ESRB method always been accurate?  I can't remember off the top of my head but I'm almost certain that at least some VC game got an ESRB rating and then just disappeared.

After this I guess Super Mario RPG will be the first party VC game everyone will be asking for.

Hopefully if this sells really well Nintendo will release Mother 3 here in some form.

Hm, just in time for the new import VC games batch...

I've been waiting for this since the launch of the VC. I was pretty close to cracking and buying a snes cart on ebay... Thank goodness.

So is it worth tracking down a ROM of Earhtbound Zero for NES and playing that to get prepped for this game?

Excellent!  I never thought this would happen after the Earthbound demo was ganked from Smash Brothers.  I'm glad I was wrong.

Hmm, that's a tough one. I'd say yes, but you might enjoy it more after playing Earthbound, so I don't know (making this post officially worthless :P)

I was actually going to order a copy of EB0 from www.nesreproductions.com but never got around to it.

Most North American gamers played Earthbound first without any knowledge of the NES game.  In a way not playing it would be more accurate to what it was like for someone to play it back in 1995.

But then no one actually played Earthbound when it came out.  We'll all lie and say otherwise but for most it was likely discovered years later when the SNES was no longer current.

The staff are celebrating right now behind the scenes.

But like Ian, I'm remaining skeptical. I'll believe it when I see it. Also, where's Zombies Ate My Neighbors HUH?!?!

"EarthBound Zero" and EarthBound's story are connected, but not nearly enough that you should play one to be able to understand anything that goes on in the other.  The three games, though in the same series, were mostly designed so that they could each be picked up and played.

For what it's worth, EarthBound Zero and EarthBound share one character, do not occur in the same places, and little is referenced from the first game to its sequel.  Additionally, remember that EarthBound was released in North America, while EarthBound Zero wasn't, which goes to show that the first game wasn't necessary at all.

Now then, as far as if you should play EarthBound Zero, that's up to you.  EarthBound Zero is an NES RPG.  It's difficult, requires grinding, luck (when you level, your bonuses are decided by the RNG), among other things.  Where to go and what to do isn't always clearly defined, though the story eventually is defined.  It's a great game, yes, but if you ask me, I'd really have to say that the game wasn't translated as well as it should have been, and that it's got several quirks that old RPGs do.  By comparison, EarthBound is much more fun to play.

I suppose, then, my recommendation is to play EarthBound Zero if you really enjoy EarthBound and you want some more after you play it.  I think it deserves to be remade, honestly, in an engine a little closer to its sequels, but that's just me.  In fact, there are fans out there who are working on creating Earthbound Zero in EarthBound's engine, so you may even want to wait how ever many years it would take for that to happen.

As far as that site goes, I'm not all that sure if what he's doing is legal.  Nintendo would certainly say it isn't, but essentially, he's selling roms of games he doesn't own the rights to.  The legalities of free distribution of some of those games is disputed, yes, but selling them, however, is not.  I just figured I'd mention that.


Edit:  And Ian, I actually did play EarthBound way back when.  I discovered Final Fantasy III, Chrono Trigger, and EarthBound all about the same time from rental stores before the N64 came out.  In the end, I was able to obtain used copies of all three when those stores sold their old stock, and I even was able to get a copy of the player's guide that came with EB.  I was pretty happy about that, I must say.  Of course, I'll be honest, and admit that something terrible ruined the Chrono Trigger cartridge, which really saddens me :(

I am compelled to offer some troubling news, true believers.

Just because a game is RATED by the ESRB for the VC does not guarantee it will be released on the VC. There are several games which have been approved but have not been released. However, I somehow doubt that Earthbound will be one of those games, as its fanbase is such that it would make plenty of buck here in the States.

So keep those candles burning, and in the name of Miyamoto, pray for the release of Earthbound...and soon!

Which will we get first? This or Zombies Ate My Neighbors?

For the record, I first rented it in '95 and bought it in '96.  Probably didn't beat it till '97, because it was my first RPG and I was really horrible at it.

I can't really say that this VC news affects me.  I still have the game and try to play through it once a year on the SNES.  There's no reason for me to buy it unless Nintendo says, "Buy Earthbound on the Virtual Console, and we'll translate and release Mother 3."

Neither. First we'll be treated to Hey You, Pikachu!

Wha?

Earthbound was probably my single best Christmas Gift of all time.

That or Ninja Scroll at the tender age of 10.

F**K Yeah!!

I'm going to optimistic route on this one fellas

not me, I'm buying it even though i have the cartridge. I wouldn't want to wear out that battery or anything :)

I had my friend replace the battery on mine.  Though I'm not the one who killed it in the first place.  I found a used copy and the battery was already dead.  Typically in that kind of scenario I would just return it (this store has a very good warranty policy on used games) but since this was f*cking EARTHBOUND I figured the odds of finding it again were pretty slim so I got it fixed instead.  My instinct was dead on because I've NEVER seen Earthbound in that store since then.  I've seen the Star Fox Super Weekend cartridge there twice (and naturally bought one of them) but Earthbound only once. :)

WHEN this game finally comes to VC I too will quickly snatch it up!  I am however kinda worried that all the hype may ruin it a little...

I'm sure I'll be disappointed but I'm going to pick it up.  Funny thing is we were just talking about this game.  Not the first time this has happened.

This is a game I've wanted to play for a long time, I'll get this one immediately. It's been a good couple days for the VC, with Iwata coming close to confirming a storage solution yesterday and now this.

I'm not really one for a lot of profanity, but these are my sentiments exactly...Mother 1 and 3, too, please...

Okay, maybe I shouldn't get greedy... =(

Give the VC review to whichever staff member dislikes the Earthbound the most. I want a "Not Recommended" rating just for delicious irony. ;)

That would definitely warrant some e-terrorism... >=|

THIS POST HAS BEEN CENSORED FOR YOUR PROTECTION.

--Bureau of Internet Morality

ShyGuy is a jerk. ):

Aw come on, I just want more site traffic for NWR! :(

At the expense of the Mother fandom?  Why don't you exploit some less desperate group for you crazy schemes?  Jerk. ):

It's all fun and games until you wake up and find a New Age Retro Hippie on your doorstep...

I've heard a lot of talk about this game and it would be cool to see what the big deal is. I thought Zombies Ate My Neighbors was released already, what's the hold up on that?

Well, it makes sense - there's a bit of a drought coming up for Wii games. Wait a second, but WiiWare is launching soon, right? I predict Earthbound will be released after the initial hype for WiiWare dies down and there aren't many new releases.

Wrong. Earthbound will be released at the same time as the WiiWare launch, handicapping it's sales. Nintendo will then interpret this as a lack of interest in the series and a failure decisively destroying any plans to bring mother3 over in the future and most likely going on to remove earthbound from the VC, nay, the world.

No, EarthBound will be released at the same time, like you said, however, Nintendo will remove the link to the virtual console off of the Wii Shop Channel at the same time, then blame it on poor sales.  You're not thinking hard enough about this one!

I wonder if Earthbound will get a fireworks icon and come out in Europe...

You're probably right, but if there was a legal way to obtain these games, I wouldn't have to resort to using that site.  I've not yet purchased anything from him yet, but personally I have no moral qualms in doing so.  He makes very little money on the site compared to how much time he puts into it (at least, so I've inferred based on a few interviews I've read with the guy).  From my perspective, he offers a service that is valuable - the ability to play those games on an NES rather than a PC.  If he was selling them for $50 a pop, then maybe I'd be skeptical.

Anyways, good advice on EB0, I think I'll hold off for the time being.  I guess I was thinking the game was more Zelda 3, less Dragon Warrior I, in style.  But that's based on the 15 minutes I once put into it's sequel, so go figure.

For what it's worth, Zombie Ate My Neighbors received an ESRB rating over 14 months ago.

You used some elaborate markup for that there link....

The italics are to signify the title and the bold is for emphasis of my point.  :D

A lot of the hype comes from the fact that it's an obscure Nintendo first party title that's quite good.  But it's not the best RPG on the SNES or anything like that.  I wouldn't even consider a GOTY candidate for the time it came out.  But it's still very good and well worth buying on the VC.

Pfffff, Chrono Trigger has nothing on Earthbound...Not even Super Mario RPG...

I actually have a mint copy of Earthbound that I've never played (and won't any time soon, since it's back at my Mom's place which is 800 miles away in a different country).  I bought it at Wal-Mart a year or two after it came out for $15 or something ridiculous like that.

How much would it fetch on eBay?

Nothing.  It's not even worth listing.  You might as well just have it sent to me so I can get rid of it for you.

Is it the one with the player's guide included? If so, then I may be willing to trade you my eternal soul.

Yes, it's the one with the player's guide included.  I'll take a poll of the group - is Kai's eternal soul worth it?

No.

Not a chance.

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z310/CarmineRed/AA-SadLarryIsSad.png

QFT

To me, the reason its such a good RPG is it doesnt feel like a traditional RPG even though it is. It's the same reason i like playing Mario RPG but since i played that after EB, I prefer EB more as a whole.

Fixed? (weird... it did the same thing to my quote)

For anyone who's interested, this article chronicles the Starmen.net community's struggles to get NOA's attention and NOA's perpetual indifference.