Suddenly, EarthBound on Virtual Console becomes available in Ireland for 10 Euro!

There was a mini Nintendo Direct TODAY where Shibata announced TODAY that EarthBound was to be released TODAY. All of a sudden! Just like that!

So now we can finally officially play EarthBound. Before, I had to play it using stuttery emulators but not any more!

Here's the trailer for it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwF8Jh3B_TQ

My favourite part is where it boldly declares "THE RPG MASTERPIECE — IN EUROPE FOR THE FIRST TIME!"

Heck yeah! Take that, more-widely-revered-SNES-RPGs!

(Seriously though, we've been waiting a long long time for this)

Link to the Past sequel! More Yoshi!

Still reeling after yesterday's Nintendo Direct. Seriously, go watch it if you haven't already.

I'm thrilled to see a brand new Zelda game! It's a sequel to Link to the Past and takes place in its world. Interesting thing about it is the fact that it's directly top down, meaning you can't see Link's face when he's turning left, right or down. This has to do with the depth perception and the layers he'll ascend or descend during the game. Even Sean Malstrom seems to like it, and he doesn't like anything.

Yoshi's getting a 3DS game sequel as well, so this is another game in addition to the yarn Yoshi that was announced months ago.

But holy shit, EarthBound! Earth! Bound!

EarthBound is coming to the Wii U Virtual Console in Ireland!

This made my day. Standing at a bus stop in the crappy weather, refreshing NintendoUK's Twitter feed from today's Nintendo Direct and this bit of news shows up. WOW!

At long last they're doing something with this! I'm fed up with having to play the game on a shitty stuttery emulator.

Iwata and Itoi chat about Mother 2/EarthBound for the Japanese VC release event

Go to this link to read a translation for it!

http://kamedani.tumblr.com/

They chat about the time when they were developing the game. They even refer to the time Iwata came up with his "2 years or 6 months" solution.

Fascinating read for fans! There's different parts so check back to that site now and again.

More Japanese stuff that could be localised

I hear EarthBound is going to appear on the Japanese Wii U. Bring the MOTHER series over here please!

Hmm... still thinking here...

Shigesato Itoi tweets about MOTHER republication

http://earthboundcentral.com/2012/12/itoi-announces-mother-developments/

Everything you need to know there. What can this be exactly? A MOTHER republication with the intent of making it playable we know that much.

What that tells us at the very very least is a remake of the original MOTHER aka EarthBound Zero. I mean, I can't imagine what else that could mean!

Many people would only appreciate the first game for its legacy rather than actually play it. I really enjoyed the game when I played it and I'm sure I'd enjoy a remake of it as well. There's definitely room for improvement in any case.

Just saw Minecraft's ending, reminds me of EarthBound!

I haven't looked at any Minecraft videos since last Autumn (just before the game came out fully) and I was watching a YouTuber obtain the ending, which has since been added.

It's a load of scrolling dialogue text which immediately made me think of EarthBound's coffee drinking sequence. Obviously EarthBound and Minecraft are structured very differently and you can see that contrast come through in the scrolling dialogue of both games. If that was a nod to EarthBound then Mojang earns many cool points from me :)

What I think of the Mother 3 localisation email

The only point in me blogging about it really is to get people excited about something related to MOTHER/EarthBound.

For reference:
http://earthboundcentral.com/2012/01/the-mother-3-e-mail

I like getting people excited about something related to MOTHER/EarthBound. I should probably do it more often and with things that are positive and gloriously indulgent of the series.

Just caught Shigesato Itoi on NHK World TV! Wow!

This was a nice surprise. It didn't have anything to to with video games or the MOTHER series though. I didn't catch the whole show either. It was called "Today's Close up" or something like that and he seemed to be talking about the the general issue of wellbeing and happiness of Japanese people after the disaster that happened in March.

It was nice and positive and it had a general uplifting and hopeful tone about it. It was like something that would appear on Irish TV about coping with recession.

Now, a fan of him and the games he was involved in already knows his job is as a copywriter (or even a journalist you could say) and he's famous for that too. So we know he could very well appear on TV talking about issues like this. I wonder if he appears regularly? Might be interesting to check out.

Another thing about NHK World TV I've noticed is that they very rarely talk about video games. In fact the only time I've seen them talk about games was when they were reporting on the Playstation Network being hacked.

Developer of Mother 4 fangame gives sentimental message, reveals a song from the game.

Mother 4 is getting a huge amount of support from everyone in the video game community. It even got featured in NGamer magazine where they interviewed the development team. It is a genuinely inspiring and exciting project. In a recent blogpost one of the developers talked about how much the project meant to them. They also released a track for the game you can listen to there. Check it out: http://mother4.andonuts.net

Earth Bound Zero's Easy Patch

I just found out about this today, a month or so after beating the original localised version. Oh well! I did have a hard time with it but the game isn't too unforgiving (with the exception of Mt. Itoi that is). I wonder how much easier the patch makes the game? I'll try it the next time I play Earth Bound Zero.

I learned about this from gamespite's recent article. I also learned that the space between "Earth" and "Bound" is what makes the game's title differ from the SNES sequel's title. It's not enough though to make things any less confusing so I'll continue to call the game by its "Zero" fan addition to the title.

Playing RPGs when you're sick

I often hear stories of people who play RPGs when they're sick. One famous example is Shigesato Itoi who played Dragon Quest when he wasn't well and it helped inspired the creation of the Earthbound/Mother series.

Just what is up with people playing RPGs when they're sick? Well when I was sick recently I was playing Mother 3. I'm not sure what it is but it is kind of therapeutic playing RPGs when you're feeling under the weather. There's something comfortable about playing them. Another thing I can imagine is that they're good distraction therapy.

I suppose most people know about it already though. People who've done this always felt a special bond with the game they played too, even if they never really want to play it again.

It's just a very interesting concept to me, RPGs being like chicken soup.

Shigesato Itoi appreciates fans of MOTHER/Earthbound series

http://earthboundcentral.com/2010/12/a-message-from-shigesato-itoi/

I really like the Earthbound/MOTHER fan community as well. I even made my own contribution to it one time and they were very appreciative of it. Someday I'll buy a t-shirt from them or something! This past while as you may have noticed I've been playing the series from start to finish. I played the first two games and loved them and now I'm playing the third. I'm also looking forward to the unofficial fangame, Mother 4. I think everyone is. NGamer Magazine even interviewed the developers behind it in this month's issue.

I recommend Earthbound Zero

I completed this RPG for the first time recently. It's probably best known as "the game that's not as good as Earthbound" which is true but it's still worth trying out, especially if you're a fan of the SNES sequel.

The best place to start though is with the story of its localisation and cancelled release posted on lostlevels.org. Do a quick google of that and read about some really cool stuff(such as the added dash feature which wasn't in the Japanese version) that'll help build some excitement for you to check the game out.

As far as gameplay is concerned, it does a wonderful thing which sets it apart from other RPGS - if you lose all HP then you will go back to the point you previously saved at with all your newly gained experience intact. You also don't lose any money(unless it's carried money) because your dad deposits any money you win from a battle into your bank account. This effectively makes grinding irrelevant and the game in general a lot less discouraging to play since you'll feel brave enough to explore the unknown as much as you can.

Try this game out if you can find it and try out its much improved sequels also!

It is a pity though that none of the Earthbound/Mother games have been released officially in Ireland. I'd love it if they were though. I'd gladly buy them. Oh well, at least I can spread my love for these games!

Map of Earthbound Zero's Duncan's Factory

Duncan's Factory is without doubt one of the horriblest dungeons I've ever come across in an RPG. It's very easy to get lost in and trying to draw my own map of the area proved disastrous. Finding this map on rpgclassics.com was a godsend! If you ever intend of playing Earthbound Zero, please use this map!