That EarthBound Game Is Now Available on Wii U

It's everything that surrounds the mechanics more than anything else. All those other RPG's are based in a setting with story, characters and plot devices that have been driven into the ground, both then and now. Earthbound had, and still has, a unique feel and setting.

I agree that the game feels incredibly dated mechanically, but there's more to it than that.

this may be kind of dumb question but why wouldn't you just emulate it? nothing is being added to the package and its the same experience as you would have emulating it. Is it a moral thing?

anyways this game is a super cute/endearing/funny dragon quest type game that is totally worth playing! Certain gameplay things are incredibly archaic by now but its still really charming.

Everyone saying it should have been on 3ds is exactly right. Thats where JRPGs belong for me.

I feel that Earthbound would not hold up terribly well for me.

I have no idea what this game is about, why is there a character named Poo!?!

I don't have a Wii U, but I hope enough people buy this that Nintendo considers doing an official translation of Mother 3. Not enough people played the best game on the GBA!

There's a character named Poo? Is that why everyone wanted this game so badly? I kid, I kid. Earthbound looks great. Looks like a great game to get me through the long summer along with Time and Eternity.

@rollingzeppelin: @adrian79: Itoi-san don't givva efffffff about romanisation jokes. :)

This was a cool trailer. Pleasantly surprised by throwing the 3D art in there.

@hailinel: Oh man, wouldn't Earthbound ported for the Gameboy Pocket have been awesome? ;)

He just needs to get that tablet controller.

You also get the original pack-in player's guide viewable and optimized for the Wii U tablet while you play the game.

And it still came out as Mother 1+2 on the GBA. So did Mother 3.

@mrklorox: @fobwashed: EarthBound was designed for the SNES. Things like handheld-friendly quick saves don't exist for it. It's a straight-up emulation of the original SNES ROM.

Bought

Right. The Japanese versions of Mother 1+2 came out on the GBA. EarthBound only exists on the SNES in English officially.

Fantastic game. I own the cartridge (with the guide!) but i'll be buying this to support more releases of mother games in the us.

I popped in my cart and played it again recently. It definitely is a SNES RPG. The combat is a little slow and archaic, you might have to grind for levels at times, and it's easy to get lost if you miss the cue of where to go next. But otherwise it holds up - great characters, hilarious, and completely insane.

I remember when I first played this game and discovered that if you were leveled up enough you didn't have to fight some battles. You'd walk into an enemy to start an encounter and the game would just give you the XP. I thought it was the greatest thing to ever happen to RPGs and I'm baffled as to why it has not become more commonplace.

It's really weird to see a trailer in 2013 for this game. Either way, still one of my favorite games of all time and it's great to see it in a spotlight like this.

I should probably note that I'll definitely buy this. I just hope it doesn't turn into a situation where people on the internet claim they want to see a game to return, only to find that they never really intended to put forth the money in the first place. I mean, if this doesn't take off, what are the chances that something like Shenmue 3 would take off? I'm thinking it wouldn't... Trying to meet demand doesn't always guarantee success, neither does backing a petition. We're still not at a point where Nintendo will embrace a unified account where all our purchases are tied, which really makes it tougher to justify buying Earthbound.

That said, from what I've seen of the Earthbound community is actually pretty cool. I mean, it spawned stuff like FanGamer.net. I just hope that with this, Nintendo will not only be willing to put out more Earthbound stuff, but also put out more quirky titles for their systems, at least in terms of retail. Pushmo and Sakura Samurai do a pretty decent job....on the 3DS. I would also like to see them, you know, open the flood gates for all things Virtual Console. Game Room is only a pretender to the throne.

Also, I finally got the first comment on something. I should feel proud!...Maybe?

@casper_: I've played it on the real cartridge and emulators but I'm still buying it because it's a way to let Nintendo know that people care about this game series. It's also nice to be able to recommend the game to people who don't have the knowledge to mess around with emulators. If it's popular maybe they release it on 3DS as well, maybe get an official English translation for the other two in the series, or maybe even get them to create a new one.

Just picked it up now on my Wii U.

This'll be my 5th time through the game and I'm still as excited to play it as the first time

You act like that's a reason why it was put out for the Wii-U and not the 3DS. Did Mother 3 have a quick save feature when it came out on the GBA?

@mrklorox: No idea. But EarthBound being a JRPG doesn't somehow make it ideal for handhelds.

I played Earthbound on my portable android device and had a perfectly great time.

There is no magical voodoo quality to Earthbound that destroys the experience if it isn't experienced on a big, stationary screen.

How about Shantae for 3DS? That's out today too!

That was just one dude's reasoning. I think the rest of us feel like it should have been a 3DS game because of the install base and minimum hardware required to run it in full glory. Not because of what arbitrary genre it's classified in.

I guess my cartridge is about to depreciate in price now.

Oh well, I bought it on Wii U. I'll probably play through it again. I lost count on how many times I actually finished the game in my lifetime. It has to be over 10 times by now.

Sratch n' Sniff

Too little, too late. Nintendo should have took advantage of the Mother/Earthbound franchise years ago.

Yay!

Well, there's also the fact that it's being used as an enticement to sell Wii Us. You want to play EarthBound on VC, then buy the console. The reasoning is pretty basic and easily justifiable, and people complaining that it isn't on 3DS should just get used to that.

People have WiiU's? I surely dont know anyone that does, and I work in the damn industry... Now 3DS on the other hand :) Thats where this belongs!

Pretty much every emulation tool has a save state including I think a couple of the titles that were released by Nintendo themselves. Save state is a non-issue with those old games. The reason why it was put on the Wii-U was because they don't have to do any work besides flip a switch.

Buying a Wii U right the fuck now.

That's awesome that this is the best game Nintendo can put together for the WiiU.

like: I am not going to pay 300 dollars to play a 20 year old videogame.

If this came out on the wii (which so many more people had) then it would not be a solid excuse.

I still have the guide somewhere around here.......

Can't wait for the SNES version prices to fall!

That looked incredible. I need to play that game.

It didn't have a quick save. It has save points, but it has a sleep mode. It was a late era GBA game and was sort of designed with the later model GBA SP and GB micros in mind.

It's amazing how much personality this game has. Although none of the main characters in the game really have more than a few lines of dialogue, the developers still managed to create a world that people liked so much that it was still relevant after almost 20 years.

This is a wonderful game, i'm still sore that it took Nintendo so looooong to release this game on a modern console. Still, to those who haven't experienced it and have a Wii U... get this game. It's quirky, funny, and touching.

Despite it's problems, this game is by far my favorite Nintendo game ever because it has soooo much character and quirky awesome things.

So much endurance run potential with this game. Never gonna happen, but one can dream. :P

looking at ebay auctions for just the snes cart of earthbound and I see listings around 130$ usd. Makes me feel good about buying this again for 10 bucks, which oddly is about how much i paid for my copy from blockbuster.

"Only on WiiU" was a Shyamalan style twist ending. Somehow I missed that in the post title.

@branthog: Just emulate it. I've been playing it on my phone.