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Earthbound Petition Making A Difference?
Thanks to Nintendojo for their story regarding Shigeru Miyamoto's positive reaction to an online petition about the Earthbound games. Miyamoto, discussing the series (soon re-released for GBA in Japan) in an interview with Official UK Nintendo Magazine, says "We had high hopes for Earthbound, the Super NES version, in the US, but it didn't do well... You might not know this, but there was a petition in the US, a 'Please make Mother 3 [an Earthbound sequel]' petition and it got about 30,000 signatures! After that, we thought 'Wow... Earthbound fans are really solid'." The petition in question was put together by the fansite Starmen.net, and Video-Fenky previously got hold of a copy, commenting on the "testament to the Mother fanbase's... deep-seated devotion to the game they love."
I still own this game, and while the graphics are not up the par with the likes of Final Fantasy, it just didnt matter. The game was just fun, plain and simple.
It was one of the few RPGs that actually made me laugh, and I am definately looking forward to the prequel to appear on the GBA.
...probably increased after he appeared in a Super Smash Brothers game. People had to wonder who the heck this character was, did a search on him, and either found a copy of the original game or downloaded a ROM.
I can't remember the exact issue, but in a Nintendo Power magazine I recall seeing scratch-n-sniff stickers for Earthbound. It was Nintendo's original marketing strategy for the game. "The first game to interact with different human senses" or somesuch.
You were directed to keep the stickers handy while playing, and at key moments in the game smell them to have a more interactive experience.
Very strange.
you didn't go to school in the game... in fact, sometimes when you'd call your mom, she'd tell you about how "the teacher came around again for you missing school, but don't worry, I gave her an excuse."
you do, however, get money from your dad: when you beat monsters, you get experience, and the next time you call your dad, you get equivilent money from him, depending on the monsters you fought.
there are a few pop culture references in the game, but mostly, the game is very childish humor ("you'll be so scared, you'll pee your pants! haha!", oh yeah, and sentient vommit monsters). the only pop culture reference I can recall probably wasn't even in the japanese version of the game: a guy asks you to "fill in the blank: a popular beatles song, ---terday. and you can answer yes or no...) for the most part, the humor doesn't rely on knowledge of anything. the humor just works, because its so wierd and stupid, its funny.
I hope Nintendo decides to release their upcoming Mother1+2 on the GBA in the US, I've long since lost my SNES cart and would love to be able to play the first game in the series.
Your mother is *crying* for you.
Its shitty japanese pop culture garbage.
I completely agree, and I personally think that Earthbound (the SNES version anyways, haven't played the others) is the most overrated game I've ever played. It contains just about every Japanese-RPG cliche every invented (while inventing some new ones), and the whole feel of the game is so Japanese that I find it almost unplayable. Most of the dialog didn't even make any sense to me (Do Japanese people really act that childish? Or is that what passes for humor in Japan? I've lived in Canada my whole life, so I seriously don't know... Canadian girls certainly don't burst into tears when they don't get their way)... Perhaps someone will reply saying that I "didn't get" the game, or that I can't appreciate it or something to that effect... frankly, I'm glad that I "don't get" the game.
I'd always heard that it was such a good game, so I was happy to find a copy of it in a pawn shop (for a pretty decent price too), so I was willing to give it a go. By the time I found out that the second city was called Twoson (the first city being called Onett), I realized just how much I would dislike the game. What a dissappointment. From that point on, I've made it a point to warn people not to buy the game unless they know damn well what they're getting into. If new versions come out, I'll be sure to warn people against getting them too.
To be completely honest, I've always thought that all these Japanese RPG's (Final Fantasy, Grandia, etc) were shite. However, if someone can point me towards petitions for a new version of Dungeon Master, or an Ultima 4 remake, I'd be more than happy to sign it!
I'm sure I'll be modded back to the stone age for not liking this game, such is the fanaticism of moderators around here. Oh well, my karma can take the hit.
-"One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men. No machine can do the work of one extraordinary man." -EH
I'm sure I'll be modded back to the stone age for *fill in the blank*
Pity I just ran out of points, because there's nothing I love more than moderating down anyone who says that.
The next towns were called Threed and Fourside, which I found (and find) hilarious. Another great thing is instead of fighting dragons and goblins, the battles in the game are more along the lines of, "The New Age Retro Hippie Approaches.", and, "You engage the Annoying Old Party Man." It's definitely a nonconventional twist on the standard RPG, and this fact is why most players either love or hate it.
Well, you're just a god damn American Hero aren't you. You haven't even seen the new game yet and you're already "Preaching to the Masses" against it. I have no idea where you got all these misconceptions of this game from, and rather doubt you played past the beginning.
Well, gee. When the characters you play in a game are kids, I guess they might act a little childish. In most of your post you make this game sound like a 'Hello Kitty' clone of something. WTF? Did you really play any of this game or just see an opportunity to Troll?
Troll -1. No karma for you!
The orginal cart was translated by a group a few years back. If you ever wanted to play the orginal its out there and understandable if you don't know Japanese.
"I am a kernel in the linux army"
Every reason you cite why it sucks is what made it so good. The game was a satire of the generic RPG. Hence all the cliches, the naming of the towns alluding to the linearity of the game, etc. It was also a throwback to NES rpgs, hence the simplistic graphics.
:)
Also, the main characters were children. I'm Canadian too and I see little Canadian girls (and boys) burst into tears sometimes.
This game has always polarized people, but it bothers me that you would warn them against it when you admit you don't even like Japanese RPGs in general. I despise sports games, but I don't tell people "skip Madden, it sucks" because it isn't to my tastes. If anything, you should say, "I don't like Japanese RPGs - go ask someone that does." I know people that don't like Japanese RPGs and loved this game *because* it was a good parody of the Japanese RPG style.
That said, both Ultima 4 and Dungeon Master have been remade. Ultima 4 was redone with VGA graphics and a MIDI soundtrack. Someone else has reprogrammed Dungeon Master in Java, but the graphics aren't enhanced.
I'm sure I'll be modded back to the stone age for not liking this game, such is the fanaticism of moderators around here. Oh well, my karma can take the hit.
The Law of Inverse Slashdot Moderation strikes again!
Robots are everywhere, and they eat old people's medicine for fuel.
So, which Mike are you? Mike Mentalist or Mike Hawk?
Isn't this the first time ever that an online petition has been taken seriously?
What's so bad about being lazy? What if there was a war and nobody showed up?
The character that appeared in the Super Smash Brothers games is known as Ness. Earthbound is just the game's title.
Goo goo g'joob.
Every reason you cite why it sucks is what made it so good. The game was a satire of the generic RPG.
:)
I've been told that about this game before, but it just never feels like satire to me... Instead, I just get the feeling that they decided to call it a satire after they realized how the game turned out. Obviously, that's not the case, but I can never seem to shake that feeling that I get from the game. It's like watching a B-movie where the directory was thoroughly convinced that it would be a blockbuster.
You're definitely right about this game polarizing people though. There are very few people that think the game is "pretty good"... everyone seems to think it's either one of the best games ever made, or a steaming pile of hog fat. I still don't think Earthbound is a game that most people would like. Very few of my friends are into RPG's, and I can't imagine that this would be the game that would draw them into the genre. Any supposed humor content would definitely go over their heads (Hell, I've been playing video games for years and it apparently goes over my head).
The Law of Inverse Slashdot Moderation strikes again!
Funny how that works sometimes... I've made other outbursts that somehow got modded up to +5 that I certainly didn't expect. This one is already marked as Flamebait as I write this though, so it's not looking good.
-"One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men. No machine can do the work of one extraordinary man." -EH