The Deal with EB on Virtual Console

This doesn’t seem surprising, yet I can’t shake the funny feeling that this just doesn’t add up. It’s not that I don’t believe it all, but why would NoA Legal let this game out 14 years ago and suddenly want to remove pop culture from it. It just doesn’t make sense to me.

Reading that made me sad.

Replace some of those periods with question marks. I make that error sometimes.

Because things are different, companies love to be lawsuit vampires, sucking the blood of successful businesses, and because the Internet now allows easy access to this kind of information.

While this is depressing, at least I can leave the thought of EB coming to VC in the back of my mind now.

It is a shame, but this game will always be remembered.

At least Nintendo still cares enough about the Mother series to leave Ness and Lucas in the Smash Bros. Series.

Glad to finally have some confirmation, although I wasn’t really expecting it from the start.

Poor us…

Its sad, really. Its like earthbound was born under an unlucky star and it will forever get screwed over ;-;

Wait, does this apply to MOTHER2 also, or just EB?

Crap… I was hoping for some good news too.

Depressing. That’s the only thing I can say. Guess I’ll have to spend those Wii points on something else…

But why isn’t it on the Japanese VC yet? Or has it already but I just haven’t heard about it yet?

No, it’s not on Japanese Virtual Console, even a year after Smash Bros. came out with the M2 demo. Why it’s not on the Japanese VC is anyone’s guess, it could be related to these same things though, who knows.

thats stupid, why would you release a demo for a game that isnt/wont be released?

Oh well. Time to being my attention to wanting Mario Parties 1-3, Pokemon Stadium 1 and 2, Bomberman 64, and Game Boy and Game Boy Color games to the Virtual Console.

I think it’s hilarious that you can tell who has been in the fandom for a while and who hasn’t. The people getting sad and outraged are new. The ones that have been worn down to surrender are the old ones

sadface

Blah, so what? It’s just a video game.

Not to mention most people on the internet have already played it now.

*cries a solitary tear while looking into the rubbish filled wastelands*

(sigh) I didn’t want to emulate but this may force me to.

I’m mad at Nintendo, but I had heard about the legal issues for a LONG time. It’s a pity.

Well I think its safe to say that earthbound wont get a vc release anytime soon,but there is always earthbound for the snes.:]

I couldn’t agree more with Mitch. All we can do now is enjoy it through emulation, since Nintendo won’t help us out.

Nintendo transitively encourages emulation.

That was very long-winded.

It’s entirely sensible for Nintendo to be concerned about things like this. Anybody remember The Verve’s big hit “Bitter Sweet Symphony,” which came out (coincidentally) near the same time as Earthbound? It contained an uncleared sample from an orchestral version of a Rolling Stones song. As a result, The Verve were taken to court and lost, and the rights to the song were transferred to the Rolling Stones, along with every penny of revenue it had ever generated.

Earthbound contains more than just one uncleared audio sample. And quite a bit more questionable material besides. Back in 1994, Nintendo wasn’t ignoring this issue; Nintendo was in fact having fits about it. Remember when they changed the Runaway Five? And took the crosses off the buildings? And so forth? They were concerned about copyright. It’s very likely that they weren’t aware of the remaining issues — some of them (like a lot of the samples) are just coming to the attention of the fan base now, and it’s reasonable to assume that Nintendo is only just finding out about them also.

Why NCL won’t allow the changes to be made is a different question, and probably relates to the volume of work that would need to be done. I’m not sure how much there is, but we’re not talking about censoring two or three lines of dialogue, here. If it’s a question of rescoring the entire game, well, I can understand why they’re not willing to put in that much work. Especially since you can bet your boots they’re aware that everybody would just complain that we’re not getting the “real” Earthbound anyhow.

There should be so much sadness in my heart. EB is down the tube, no chance of a MOTHER 3 release, and it seems that the only people who care about us is ourselves.
So…
So…
WHY CAN I FEEL NOTHING!?
AAAHHH!!!
Oh, well. I guess I’ll just have to go back to my SNES, where EarthBound awaits. Still, I WOULD have purchased AND beat it on VC.
I just love that game… I love it SOOO much!

While I do believe that it will eventually come out on VC, all the more excuse to waste my money on the original box set!

…They haven’t ruled out Earth Bound Zero now have they?…

This is becoming real confusing.
EB was rated 1 on nintendo’s magazine 4 times in a row, and NCJ say:

NOA: We need to change all pop culture references from this game.

NCJ: NO YOU CAN’T BECAUSE IT WILL MAKE THE GAME FAIL EPICLY.

It’s only 9/over 100 songs and the ocasionnal band referance. Nobody will know the difference.;)

NessRules – read the comments here: http://forum.starmen.net/forum/Site/Newsroom/406008611/first

You’ll find your answers.

A lot of people are really upset about this, and that’s a shame. A few people are angry about this, and that irritates me. Partly because it shouldn’t be about it not coming out, and also because they seem to direct their anger in the wrong places. This is a greedy, greedy World we live in, and the people who can end the greed are the people who want the money/power/whatever.

I see this as closure. This is IT. This is WHY. It’s not that our efforts were in vain, but the issues weren’t one we could have helped. We all put in to get this to work, INCLUDING NINTENDO. There’s nothing more we can do.

So now we can concentrate our efforts in other ways. We know we’ll never ‘get’ it, but it’s not like Nintendo’s stopped our creative prowess yet; We have M3 translated, and ‘Mato and Jeffman are working on M1, and maybe M2, and I still plan to work on both of those in my own way.

This isn’t the end of the World. This is the start of something new and beautiful.

I guess we can also say goodbye to a Mother compilation on DS too…

Oh, how unfortunate, but it can’t be helped, it seems. Anyone wants cake?

My guess would be…that Nintendo doesn’t want to go through the process of making the changes to the game. Doing that would cost them more money, they probably believe that they would be losing money if they did this as it would be expensive (It does seem strange however…EB has such an enormous fan base that is difficult to ignore).
Anyway I’m not going to lose hope that NoA will one day release a compilation. Who knows maybe they were seriously planning to release EB on VC but something came up and decided to work on something else.

i cant believe i cried when i read this

Dear Mato,

As someone who has translated Mother titles…

Is the sense of humor in the official translated versions representative of the original Japanese versions? And why, and how, did Shigesato Itoi make these games, as someone who is primarily not a video game designer?

There has to be a loophole somewhere…

Ha, I believe I did cried when EB64 was cancelled, but I was a sensitive young boy back then! Starmen.net was even among the first websites I used to visit.

Now all these usual EB sad news these days are pretty much “meh” but still… I’ll always have faith in what this incredible fanbase can do!

The way i see it this is what NoA has to do.

Show the people they think they will get sued from the parts that they believe are ahem ‘rip offs’ from them.

Get a signed piece of paper that states ‘We will not sue Nintendo for releasing this game and they have permission to do so.’

It sounds simple…yes but it would put the FINAL EPIC Nail in the head for Ness if one company said “no we want profits from this game”

The problem is that is a dumb idea and they might not ever do it because…its dumb and waste time with both party’s some how.

…if the game can be released for 2 years they can’t sue it. Earthbound can almost go under the water here…

Really law wise i can’t think of much loophole’s. Also the agreement of “It was released in 1995 and no one complained” is the opposite of Donkey Kong vs MGN King Kong movie. They sued because Donkey Kong was famous. Earthbound back then was int….if it sells like hot cakes the other lawyers eyes will start spinning $_$.

Overall…its that ONE person has to give. One side. I think they can fix the game to remove the references and maybe reuse some music from other places. Or they can just release it as it and get the group ready to go OBJECTION!

Best of luck guys…still a 0.01% chance.

I don’t know, Mitch. I’ve been an EarthBound fan for years and I still get sad when I hear news like this. I still remember how I felt when Earthbound 64 was canceled.

But I agree that longtime EB fans are used to disappointment, rejection, etc. It’s just a part of life as a fan, I guess.

:’(

Wow, way to make a depressing day… I’ve only ever played MOTHER 2 on my Super Famicom which is all I own (and I don’t speak any Japanese), and can’t afford a EarthBound cart/SNES, so I was really looking forward to getting a chance after all these years and finally play it in English… Guess I’ll be waiting for the 1+2 translation now.

It was beginning to look like it was something akin to this. But, short of vast copyright reform that would take out these held copyrights as collateral damage, there’s really nothing we can do about it.

So, what does that make it… PK Siege Congress?

*sigh* A bit upsetting, but expect. Oh well…
No, we should just all dress up as Ness and siege NOA. Hold them hostage and force them to put out the game.
If we don’t die or get arrested, our names will go down in history~

This isn’t big news to me, as the SNES original never arrived in my country. In fact, many cult classics for older consoles were never released here, so consider yourseves lucky. You can see why emulators are so popular here though!

But, on a serious note, I wouldn’t have minded a port to have made it here, so people I know can play it without the hassle of pirating and playing with an awful keyboard. Oh well, what are you going to do in this world?

This is Horrible, Nintendo is a Stinker, Aidan is really upset now, Aidan was looking forward to seeing Earthbound on Virtual Console.

Aidan lost faith in Mario and other games because he felt bad for Earthbound and Ice Climber, It pains Aidan to say it but you fans should try harder to get rights of Earthbound from Nintendo so you could do good things with it.

copyright is utter bullcrap, bye bye eb on vc

Please dont say words like that!

Sowwy but you all need to understand like normal growed ups do, Aidan says Eh eh eh! and Fuzzy Pickles too! tee hee!

Is it true that Lucas is Ness’s Decendant/Friend?

What a let down that EB is not coming to VC and I been waiting so long for it.

Yeah Aidan Knows.

Aidan has put his hand in his doggy cup oh he just got his hand out now, anyway it is 1 of the sad days of our sometimes short lives aint it? oh well no matter we can all try harder next time if we try. What do you think Ness?
Ness: Okay!!
There we go then its settled.
Anne:Eh eh ehhhh!
Charlotte: Horray for Earthbound
Vendetta: Earthbound is Stupid
Oh stop it Vendetta!

Aidan why on Earth are you spamming this place? And why are you referring to yourself in the third person? I’m quite certain this is not what the comment box is about, so please don’t abuse it.

Huh. For some reason these news relieve me. Maybe it’s the fact that I didn’t care about it very much since the beginning. Maybe it’s because we finally know the truth. It’s sad to say it, but I was sure it wasn’t going to happen.

However, I feel deeply sorry for everybody who was hoping for Earthbound to be on the VC.

Well, I can always expect a re-release in another form in the future. And if that doesn’t even happen, well, it’s not like it’s the end of the world.

Dam this sucks i was really expecting Earthbound on virtual console, they may let the earthbound series die, well at lease we will remember the 3 games fom mother, i still think there is probaly a chance theres going to be mother 1+2 translated english version, but i still want it on virtual console

Sorry I didn’t mean to.

Aidan talks in Third person because he’s a 16 year old who sounds and acts like a child and baby, also he’s autistic. Don’t say anything about Aidan’s age please.

Man, this makes me really hate the stupid world we live in, where you can get sued for ANYTHING for having a slight resemblance in it…

… how is anyone being hurt because a video game released 14 YEARS AGO has a few samples/references to some music from OVER 14+ YEARS AGO.

Ugh, enough, I’m playing EarthBound on the Wii via the Homebrew channel, it looks like it wasn’t meant to be.

OBJECTION: ANIMAL CROSSING HAS MUSIC SIMILIAR TO GO JOHNNY GO AS WELL AND THEY FACE NO LEGAL ISSUES.

Uh oh someone’s caps lock cool over here!

Why Animal Crossing can get away with it but not EB is anyone’s guess. Maybe they did pay royalties in advance to whoever owns the rights. Or maybe whoever’s handling EB’s legal stuff is someone different from whoever’s handling Animal Crossing. Or maybe they figure Animal Crossing’s worth the risk. It’s anyone’s guess.

Now i gotta get a super nintendo and earthnound on ebay XD better start saving, who knows, maybe ill find it at the swap meet, that would rock XD mannnn EB furniture in animal crossing would be cool XD

[...] a big buzz around Earthbound’s then-pending Virtual Console release (which is now, sadly, a lost [...]

earthbound could be injected via homebrew channel so why not just do that?

I know I’m delayed but I agree with JB2448

i blame reggie(i think its the guy who made mario games )

I can sincerely say that the slogan
“This game stinks” ruined this game. Seriously who says that their own game that already wasn’t popular in the ’89 to begin with!

This news is one of the reasons why the Virtual Console is going downhill in North American. If we can’t have Earthbound on the Virtual Console, then we’ll never see anymore licensing games. If the Virtual Console is ending this generation, all I can say, the service bombed in quality.

This should be simple and easy to release. However, Japanese still haven’t gotten the game. I worry that if Earthbound never see an Virtual Console release, it’ll be the first nail in the coffin for the Virtual Console.

However, we shouldn’t lose all hope. It’s likely that we’ll eventually see it on the Virtual Console. The main reason is because there are no licensing issues surrounding the game, only copyright issues. All Nintendo of America needs to do is go to people where they might have potential copyright issues with and tell them that they want to release Earthbound on the Virtual Console and needs there premission to release it without them sueing them. It maybe diffcult and Nintendo might lose some money, but it’ll be worth it. In fact, it may even save the Virtual Console.

eb on vc reminds me of the manga/anime fruits basket

eb = kyo (one of the characters)

as much as kyo (eb) wants to with the others (others = other vc games) he cant because he is the cat and he will never be a zodiac member

aaaaawwwwww*sad face*:(

Aww come on nintendo… I WANT MY EB!

If they got past the copyright issues by going around the original stuff then and no one seemed to care then why not do it again? And what’s wrong with pop culture, Why does Nintendo have to be a pain when it comes to Earthbound?

When I saw that picture, I was very upset. I also told one of my friends that if NOA doesn’t release it on VC, Thousands of EarthBound fans are going to sue NOA!!!

It will you want to know why?
Look here:
http://forum.starmen.net/forum/Games/Mother2/EARTHBOUND-COMING-ON-VC-SOON

Gabo, you must be new to this community, so I’ll tell you in short, we’ve seen the same situation come and go countless times and you can’t get all hyped up and antsy over a false-heartfelt auto-response email which doesn’t reassure anything.

oh, sorry, i was with hopes up right?
i want to know how i can put Earthbound on my Wii now!