Warden Chult
Pokemon Trainer
Towns Folk
So I wanted to take this moment and open a thread for one of my all-time favorite video game franchises. It's such a massive cult hit and has one of the strongest and best fanbases I've ever seen. I went ahead and put up a poll just to see if you guys have experienced the series for yourself. If not, SHAME ON YOU you should definitely consider checking out these games. Each game has its own set of protagonists, most notably Ness from all the Super Smash Bros titles and Lucas who was playable in Brawl.
To sum up what these games are, they're RPG games with their own unique charm, characters, story, and themes that makes these titles far deeper than you'd ever expect. EarthBound Zero and EarthBound take place in the present day(which at that point was the 80's and then the 90's). Mother 3(because no one calls it EarthBound 2) on the other hand takes place a few hundred years or so in the future but ultimately still keeps that modern day feel to it. These games are considered wacky, funny, strange, but incredibly charming.
Now for some quick history and I'll tell you where you can get the games.
EarthBound Zero/Mother 1 - This game was launched for the Famicom and Nintendo actually had plans to release it to the US. They had the game fully translated and ready to go but Nintendo decided at the last second to cancel its release seeing as the NES lifespan was ending and shifted their focus to the SNES. So unfortunately, there's no "official" way of obtaining this game unless you know japanese and purchase a copy from over seas.
However, there were a few prototype cartridges that were released on the internet through various sources and eventually one of them found its data to be copied to a ROM file where everyone in the world with internet access could play it. They just made a small change by adding "Zero" to it since EarthBound was already a game title in the US. However, due to to the gray legal issues regarding emulators and ROMs, I can't personally post any of them here so you're better off using Google.
EarthBound/Mother 2 - Launched for the Super Famicom in Japan and released to the US for the SNES. This stars our most recognizable EarthBound mascot, Ness. Nintendo had really high expectations for it but unfortunately it didn't sell nearly as well to where Nintendo claimed it as a commercial failure. However, over the years it slowly became a cult classic seeing its reputation kept alive for modern days via smash bros.
It was so big that when Nintendo announced the virtual console, EarthBound fans from Starmen.net consistently called into Nintendo headquarters asking if they could put it on the Wii virtual console. Unfortunately, Nintendo wouldn't give in for years to come due to some copyright issues within the games themselves. However, Nintendo managed to bypass on that years later and in 2014 EarthBound made a huge release to the Nintendo eshop on the Wii U. If you want to get started on this series, this is your best bet.
Mother 3 - The final game in this trilogy and it was a journey just to create this game. Originally planned for the n64 and then delayed years later to be released for the GBA in 2006 for Japan. Like previously, Nintendo feared about bringing this to the states seeing that EarthBound was a failure in the past. Additionally, 2006 the GBA was already passed its lifespan in Japan and the US was already about 2 years into the DS lifespan to care. This game has yet to be translated and unfortunately we may not see an official one anytime soon.
However, the fanbase is very strong and a professional translator(who's done translations for various anime films in the past) actually lead a fan project by hacking the ROM file of Mother 3 to create an English fan translation. They even offered it to Nintendo for them to use it but it still seems they're not interested. So in result, the only way to play Mother 3 in english is once again through emulators and ROMs. Once again, I can't link them here. Technically, linking to the translation patch is still legal and rarely opposed by official companies but I won't take the chance here. Just google them on your own.
So there you have it. Share your thoughts and opinions on this series. Talk about your progress in them. For example, I'm playing EB0 again only this time planning on completing it all the way through
To sum up what these games are, they're RPG games with their own unique charm, characters, story, and themes that makes these titles far deeper than you'd ever expect. EarthBound Zero and EarthBound take place in the present day(which at that point was the 80's and then the 90's). Mother 3(because no one calls it EarthBound 2) on the other hand takes place a few hundred years or so in the future but ultimately still keeps that modern day feel to it. These games are considered wacky, funny, strange, but incredibly charming.
Now for some quick history and I'll tell you where you can get the games.
EarthBound Zero/Mother 1 - This game was launched for the Famicom and Nintendo actually had plans to release it to the US. They had the game fully translated and ready to go but Nintendo decided at the last second to cancel its release seeing as the NES lifespan was ending and shifted their focus to the SNES. So unfortunately, there's no "official" way of obtaining this game unless you know japanese and purchase a copy from over seas.
However, there were a few prototype cartridges that were released on the internet through various sources and eventually one of them found its data to be copied to a ROM file where everyone in the world with internet access could play it. They just made a small change by adding "Zero" to it since EarthBound was already a game title in the US. However, due to to the gray legal issues regarding emulators and ROMs, I can't personally post any of them here so you're better off using Google.
EarthBound/Mother 2 - Launched for the Super Famicom in Japan and released to the US for the SNES. This stars our most recognizable EarthBound mascot, Ness. Nintendo had really high expectations for it but unfortunately it didn't sell nearly as well to where Nintendo claimed it as a commercial failure. However, over the years it slowly became a cult classic seeing its reputation kept alive for modern days via smash bros.
It was so big that when Nintendo announced the virtual console, EarthBound fans from Starmen.net consistently called into Nintendo headquarters asking if they could put it on the Wii virtual console. Unfortunately, Nintendo wouldn't give in for years to come due to some copyright issues within the games themselves. However, Nintendo managed to bypass on that years later and in 2014 EarthBound made a huge release to the Nintendo eshop on the Wii U. If you want to get started on this series, this is your best bet.
Mother 3 - The final game in this trilogy and it was a journey just to create this game. Originally planned for the n64 and then delayed years later to be released for the GBA in 2006 for Japan. Like previously, Nintendo feared about bringing this to the states seeing that EarthBound was a failure in the past. Additionally, 2006 the GBA was already passed its lifespan in Japan and the US was already about 2 years into the DS lifespan to care. This game has yet to be translated and unfortunately we may not see an official one anytime soon.
However, the fanbase is very strong and a professional translator(who's done translations for various anime films in the past) actually lead a fan project by hacking the ROM file of Mother 3 to create an English fan translation. They even offered it to Nintendo for them to use it but it still seems they're not interested. So in result, the only way to play Mother 3 in english is once again through emulators and ROMs. Once again, I can't link them here. Technically, linking to the translation patch is still legal and rarely opposed by official companies but I won't take the chance here. Just google them on your own.
So there you have it. Share your thoughts and opinions on this series. Talk about your progress in them. For example, I'm playing EB0 again only this time planning on completing it all the way through
Too bad the Virtual Console game is only for Wii U and not the 3ds :/
I love it's super average America setting instead of the overused Medieval setting in RPGs and it's just so dorky