Lots of release information popped up via the Nintendo Direct conference today. Among the clutter, it was announced that Earthbound/Mother 2 would be coming to the Wii U Virtual Console. No date was announced, but it was promised that the game would be released within the year in North America and Europe.

I am torn by this announcement. I have heard fantastic things about Earthbound, but I am reluctant to purchase a system for which I have little interest. It would be nice to see the game show up on the 3DS. I understand the reasoning behind keeping the game exclusive to the new console, but I don't think it will sell me the system. What is your reaction to this announcement?

I just can't believe it's coming, due to all the legal roadblocks. This will be the last time we see the franchise in the West if it doesn't sell gajillions though to recoup whatever costs they had to pay (unless they removed or altered that content, which would also be prohibitively expensive).

Either way, it's a great game.

This was an awesome thing to hear since last week I almost bit the bullet and was heavily considering buying a copy off ebay for a fuckload of money. This is good!

In seemingly unrelated news Earthbound rom downloads skyrocket!

Are people shocked that Nintendo has abandoned the Wii Virtual Console? It's been this way as long as I've owned a Wii.

@lordandrew: I thought they were supporting it alright for a while. I got the chance to play the first Castlevania, Ufouria, and Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask on the Wii, which I never previously had the chance to play.

Now they just need to buy the rights to the the English patch to the Mother 3 rom and put it up somewhere.

oh ho ho, that's really really devious aka smart.

Damn You Nintendo! You might make me buy your console yet!

Mother 3 > Mother 2.

Those were years ago. I got my Wii in 2011 and the Virtual Console was dead then. It's 2013 now.

@lordandrew: Aha! You are correct. The drop-off started around 2011 and the Virtual Console for the Wii has largely been abandoned. I guess the 3DS VC announcements make me believe that the promotion is still making progress. It would have at least been nice to have the option to play Earthbound on a Wii or a Wii U, but Nintendo's strategy makes sense.

Guys, I might get a Wii-U now. Bayonetta 2, Earthbound (Which I've never played but always wanted to), Pikmin 3. Talk me out of it, guys. Bring me down, guys!

Now let's see everyone put their money where their mouth is. Half the people bitching won't even buy it.

So why not put it on the 3DS, Nintendo, where I will actually play the bloody game legally!? I'll get a Wii U if you can get Atlus to support it as well as you've gotten them to support the 3DS.

No. You're getting a Wii U. Embrace it.

Welcome to the Miiverse.

ONE OF US ONE OF US

Now... PLEASE RELEASE MOTHER 3 NINTY

Not taking away from this game or anything but if a 15 year old jrpg is you're big game to rally around as a system seller you know things are bleak.

Everyone enjoys purchase justification. CLING, CLING YOU BASTARDS.

Fuck. I really want this game and really don't want a WiiU. Fuck.

Even though I still have my SNES copy of this I might still pick up the Wii U version just to support a possible release of Mother 3 here. Although the likelihood of that happening is less than 1%.

Gooble gobble gooble gobble!

I am glad I JUST installed a snes emulator onto my phone. Now, I can play this and then when this game blows up again, I can be all " lol, I played it before it was out here". Also the bonus of being able to talk about earthbound when the game blows up on the forums. You know when that happens, there will be a new Earthbound coming.

Eh Earthbound is okay. The setting and characters are super unique and the game is absolutely hilarious but I can't stand the combat.

Hey do I need to jailbreak my iPhone to do that? Can an iPhone do roms at all? Can I have a link to answer every question I could conceivably have about such things?

@jewunit: Well Nintendo pretty much released everything they could on VC other than this and Yoshi's Island. I don't think they could release the Capcom SNES and NES classics of Disney games on VC due to licensing issues with Disney.

Still this is great news. I've actually owned two physical copies at two different times and sold em both =/. Never owned the original boxed version that came with the giant ass players guide with it. That was really the main issue with retailers when it was realeased is that the damn box took up to much space and retailers had no where to put it really.

@turtlebird95: Rolling HP counters say "to hell with you sir".

Also you feel homesick and are lost in thought.

@maskedarcstrike: I forgot about the strategy guide that came with the original game! I remember seeing the box at a Babbage's once. It was the size of a brick. I also remember that an issue of Nintendo Power included weird scratch-and-sniff stickers for Earthbound. It was kind of weird, but the game looked really neat.

@jewunit: I remember the scratch and sniff stickers, I rented the game when it first came out and the video store let me rent the players guide as well for free. There was a sticker for Master Belch as well.

I wanted to get it for B day or xmas but by the time those rolled around I couldn't find it anywhere. Which wasn't that big of a deal cause I think I got Donkey Kong Country 2 that xmas anyways for my game choice. Found it later it on in a Babbages bin cart only for ten bucks and I forgot where I bought it a second time.

What's funny is I remember asking a Target employee if they had it in electronics and he told me that he gets quite a few requests of people asking for it but they only received very copies few originally.

Honestly it was not expected this and I'm just trilled one of my top five games is coming out for the first time in almost 20 years. I wonder if the price on eBay will drop now a bit??

Yea--I wish that the virtual console games wouldn't be tied to a platform. These virtual console games would all be perfect on the 3DS.

Wii install base vs that of the Wii U... I get their believing it will sell many Wii U consoles, but they will end up selling a lot less than if they made EB available for the standard Wii as well.

At this point, there's nothing to gain from them putting the game on the Wii. Nintendo wants to sell Wii Us. The best way to do that is to put plenty of content on the console that people want to play. Splitting the difference between hardware doesn't serve that goal.

It's out. I bought it. I did my part.

MOTHER 3 next, please!