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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.
I still have that box, with the strategy guide. Yes, it is huge, but so was the game (in terms of length, not a huge cart).
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.