Poll: EarthBound on Wii U

Oh man. 50/50

Sadly, I’m pretty sure it won’t. It didn’t make it to the Wii’s VC, I don’t see why it would for the Wii U’s one.

I highly doubt it. I don’t think any of the previous issues have gone away, even with this new release in Japan.

Come on people. There actually is a chance now that it’s been officially announced in Japan. Nintendo may ignore Starmen.net, but they can’t ignore the fans on Miiverse!

I don’t think it will be re-released in North America, but I feel that it may be re-released in at least one other area outside Japan. Although, it’s a tough question because, even though copyright rules are different in various regions, if it’s OK for Japan, does that mean it’s OK for anywhere else?

@NorthofOnett Sure they can. It might be more in their face, but they can just as easily turn away from it. Besides, if the legal issues are in fact still present, there is no amount of fans complaining that could change that.

Itoi knows about the plethora of fans here in the West. And I’d bet five bucks he’s told Iwata, the president of Nintendo, this. So, if NoA gives this game the shaft, again; NoJ will be asking them why they’re not releasing this game when there’s a massive audience.
If it’s any consolation, NoE (Europe) doesn’t seem to have a grudge so they have a better chance of getting it released over there.

@gBev or, even better, they could BAN ANY MENTION of the Mother series on the American Miiverse!
I’m being sarcastic, but if this does happen we’ll have confirmation that someone high up in NoA has a VERY PERSONAL GRIDGE against EarthBound. But since grudges are highly unprofessional, this is very unlikely.

Whining and conspiration theory are a bit annoying.

I said I was being sarcastic. If a member of NoA was harboring a grudge, he’d be fired. It’s bad for business.

It wasn’t about your comment. Just wait a bit. There has been whining and conspiracy theorists in just every article about this subject.

I certainly pray it does!!

I certainly believe it will be released, i have a feeling there will be a surprise on the way. But there will be more questions than answers.

Considering how Itoi is releasing the more legal-issue worthy MOTHER 2 on the wii U in japan, I think it’s gonna come here one of these days.

Besides, the ability to post on the japanese communities could cause the MOTHER 2 community to reach a insane amount of people

I say it won’t, but there is always hope!

Hope is the last thing we really got…

@Euacis It could be Reggie with the grudge, since he was head of sales department when EarthBound was released and it didn’t sell as well as they had hoped.

This poll is as divided as the presidential elections. lol

@EarthBoundRules But that means Reggie had hope for EarthBound, so he can do it again with a much lesser budget.

I voted “yes”, but my honest opinion is that it won’t make it as long as we stand there and do nothing.

Fingers crossed we’ll get it in Europe. If it happens, at least I’ll have one reason to get a Wii U.

Oh, oh man, I thought it said “Do you want”. Didn’t see “think” until after I said yes.

No it most certainly will not ever. Because Reggie hates us with a burning passion.

People shouldn’t be so pessimistic about it. The only reason it wasn’t released on VC here years ago was because of copyright problems, which seem to have been fixed now.

I have to say yes. We’re all so discouraged because we aren’t getting it in March, but you all have to realize that Japan is getting it as part of the 30 cent thing.

NoA is not going to release a game they consider to be a risk and only have us pay 30 cents for it. We’ll probably get it later this year. I could see them announcing it at E3.

The whole Mother revival thing was made so players who don’t have access to the games would have a chance to play them, but the thing is, Japan has had plenty of opportunity to play them. We haven’t. I think this Mother revival thing was for us, and we’ll probably get a huge announcement about it at some point.

Yes. We’ll make it happen.

Yes: people that have got into Earthbound in the last 5 years or so
No: people who have sat back and watched this go down before

I don’t think it’s going to happen. Mother 1 and 2 on GBA was able to be released outside of Japan but it wasn’t. Nintendo was aware of fans then, and that still didn’t make a difference. One can argue that our chances might be different now that Itoi is aware of western fans, but if thats the case why hasn’t he responded to any western fans that have sent him messages on Twitter after the announcement? I do think he tried to put a word in for western fans, but Nintendo seems to have already had their minds made up that we don’t get a rerelease.

It’s really hard to say actually. Part of me feels like Nintendo doesn’t think it’s worth the effort to change the legal issues since VC releases typically aren’t huge money-makers for them. Especially for a game that doesn’t have Mario or Zelda in the title.

On the other hand.

Nintendo would be absolutely CRAZY not to advertise the hell out of an Earthbound re-release in North America of any kind. If they announced an Earthbound remake or even a VC release at E3 with footage and a lot of tongue-in-cheek acknowledgement of the fans from Fils-Aime, the crowd would go absolutely nuts and garner interest from new gamers much like what happened with the Kid Icarus franchise. And from what I’ve heard, Kid Icarus: Uprising sold very well here because it was a great game and they advertised it like it was something special.

So I’m staying hopeful until June.

http://www.change.org/petitions/nintendo-of-america-nintendo-of-japan-nintendo-of-europe-rerelease-the-earthbound-mother-series-to-all-regions-outside-of-japan

If you believe there is even the slightest chance, or if you want to create a better chance for the game’s rerelease outside of Japan, please sign this petition. It has been almost 10 years now since we last did a petition. The fanbase has been doubled (possibly tripled) due to all the reviewers making videos and from Super Smash Bros. I believe we have a very strong chance now so long as we are willing to give one last push towards a rerelease outside of Japan. So please, even if you are skeptical, sign this petition. It will only take a few seconds, and at least we’ll start to have a real chance!

Based on what everyone was posting under that other thread, i’m surprised the poll results are this close.

Not all hope is gone, but I believe that it won’t be coming to America anytime soon just because if it was I felt like they would have announced it as the same time as Japan.

I don’t care enough to search for it, but hasn’t it already been confirmed that NOA had at one point tried to put in on the original Wii’s VC? Also, anybody who has a WiiU, and participates in that “storm Miiverse with EB, now” image thing, then I hope you know that you’re essentially a troll. Maybe you’re okay with that.

After E3 is over we can say that hope has been lost but right now we don’t know anything. Nobody expected DK Returns. Nobody expected Kid Icarus Uprising. So there is still hope for EarthBound U.

@PepsiMax and how exactly does that make them trolls? They’re wanting to let Nintendo know that there is a consumer demand for the game outside of Japan. Hardly trolling.

Sorry, but I had to say no. There are still all those legal issues (and Reggie being a jerk )

Mother 3, though, has a chance of being released. Why it hasn’t ALREADY is beyond me…

@Pokey Means Business: How exactly do you know that they didn’t fix these legal issues for the Japanese release?

@DelectaBit: I don’t know for sure obviously, but I’m assuming no. It seems like Nintendo thinks re-releasing it isn’t worth the effort, as it bombed commercially during its first release.

If they didn’t fix the legal issues then itoi wouldn’t have needed to be involved.

Exactly. He would have just given Nintendo the OK to put it on the VC and had a party later. But the fact the he mentioned he’s making Mother “playable again” most likely means that the legal issues were fixed.

@Pokey Means Business: honestly Mother 3 has virtually no chance whatsoever of being released again. NOA never translated the game, and there’s a lot of questionable content/characters (namely the Magypsies). EarthBound has more than a fair shot since it was actually localized here, so they wouldn’t have to do much to it for a VC release other than make those legal changes.
The only glimmer of hope I can see for Mother 3 being re-released (most likely only in Japan) is due to the GameBoy Advance VC that Iwata mentioned. But again, that’s a long shot even for Japan.

I don’t specifically blame Reggie for EB or anything. I just feel sad about our copywright (sp?) laws…

I voted ‘no’ and I’ve only been in this fandom for two years now. I just feel like if Nintendo wanted to re-release it, they would have done it already. I also feel like petitions are kind of pointless because in short, we tried that already (though I wasn’t around for any of that). I’m thinking that posting pictures and such on the balloon fight community is also pointless, since that community is supposed to be for balloon fight and not EB.

I’ve pretty much accepted the fact that this series is dead to me, or at the least it is over here. I’d love to play EB on a WiiU yes, but for now I have an SNES and my cartridge is still working. I’d much rather them bring M3 over, but even then I doubt they’d bring it over. So I’m really lacking the hope right now, but after all those ‘hints’ ‘delays’ and ‘subtle no’s’ I feel why should be obvious.

Maybe if it was a higher profile release (as in a collection or a retail title), but I could see this (as many other VC titles) go completely unreleased outside of Japan.

Did anybody stop to think that the reason they are not releasing it on vc in the U.S., is because they may have a bigger, secret 3 game collection in the works just for us?

It’s not completely out of the question. I was thinking that the other Mother games may be re-released eventually too as part of this Mother revival. Especially since 2014 will be the 25th anniversary of the series. But who knows. I wish people would stop overreacting and just wait patiently. Just because it was only announced for Japan’s Famicom anniversary promotion doesn’t mean that we won’t get it eventually.

If it’s finally being released in Japan, then it’s possible that they ironed out any audio sampling and other copyright issues. If they’ve finally agreed to make changes, or whatever, it makes sense that NOA would be less worried about releasing it here. It seems more likely that they CAN rerelease it here in the states now. Perhaps that’s just myself being hopeful. NOA is quite aware of not only the fanbase’s love for the game, but they must also be aware that a lot of interest in the series has spread to people beyond the starmen community. I’ve found several posts from people on Miiverse about EarthBound already, with hundreds of people like the comments. Miiverse is a great place for Nintendo to learn about what their customers want and I’m sure the game is at least being considered (again) here in the states. I think they’ll release simple games (balloon fight) amd maybe a few major ones first before releasing the major RPG games, as was the pattern withh the original virtual console (chrono trigger and FF3 came pretty late in VC’s life).

Anything could happen. It seems to me like a release is logically more likely now, even if its not simultaneous with the Japanese WiiU VC rerelease of Mother 2.

It definitely won’t be a simultaneous release, but it is more likely to happen now than ever before.

Yeah, that makes sense. NOA is always more cautious than their counterparts back in Japan. We just need to be patient and wait until the full picture can be seen.

I voted yes. Maybe it’s just because I want so badly for it to be true.

I’m just looking towards E3 and 2014 but really the most important thing is that mother will live on anyways because of us the fans and even if NOA doesn’t release the Mother series we will always know and understand that they are great games that captured our thoughts. Really what the EB community has done all these years is an amazing undertaking.

I just came back from the future using Dr. Andonuts Phase Distorter, and like most of us were already suspecting we don’t get a rerelease of any kind.

E3 goes by without a single mention of EarthBound or a rerelease. After that all of the fans that were still holding out hope, acted like it didn’t bother them, and held out hope for 2014 to see if anything came from Mother’s 25th anniversary. It didn’t, in Japan there was a small celebration, and Itoi tweeted about it and that was about it. After that some fans still held out hope, but no Mother/EarthBound game got rereleased in North America or anywhere outside of Japan.

The WiiU and 3DS came and went, and the only rerelease for either of those systems is just the recently announced rerelease of Mother 2 in Japan. Also, the 2015 cart only price for EarthBound is $400.

That’s… grim…

Forgot to mention this fans also thought with the EarthBound Zero prototype becoming 25 years old in 2016 that they’d get a rerelease of it. But nothing came of that either.

After 2016. Fans thought maybe the prototype with the 1994 date on it becoming 25 years old in 2019 that they might get a rerelease of it. Then in 2026 everyone thought Mother 3 might get some sort of rerelease for it’s 20th anniversary, but it didn’t But like always with nothing happened.

Well if you want to play pessimist… so be it:

NoA also began cracking down on the fan community. Serving DMCA notices to ALL FANSITES and other fanworks. And by 2020, the average rate of new fans was zero.

You’re only making this situation worse, we don’t even have anywhere near the whole story and you’re already predicting dark times.

I’m not trying to be a pessimist. I love the games, and want them to get a rerelease. I just think holding out hope for E3, 2014, and maybe 2016 after that. Is just setting people up for disappointment. Maybe I came off as a pessimist in my previous comments, but I was just trying to prove a point. Again I love the games and want them to be rereleased. But sadly don’t think they ever will be outside of Japan.

I also came from the future, and Mcdonalds now owns Nintendo and forces them to sell Nintendo toys with every happy meal, Giygas is included with the DX version in both japan and America, their slogan is “IM….LOVIN….IT…”

@Phase Distorter Traveler
no, you are pretty much pessimist and no offense but…RIDICULOUS.

@Arekou Genius.

I’ve always wanted a wind-up Giygas toy! Does he say “NESS” over and over again after you wind him up?

@Delectabit

Only if you pray enough .

I didn’t mean to upset people, and am not a pessimist. Overall I’m a pretty positive person, and was really hopeful for years that we’d get a rerelease. I actully happily teared up when reading about Itoi acknowledging western fans. Seeing all of these fans waiting for E3 and 2014, is upsetting to me because I think they’re getting their hopes up for nothing. I didn’t mean to come off as a jerk with my previous comments. I just don’t think waiting with the hopes of anything Mother/EB getting mentioned at future events, and years from now is the best thing to do, since we probably won’t get a rerelease.

The Mother Fans have waited 22 years for another Mother after EB that is something that will stand the test of time.

At least we will always have Smash Bros.

@Phase Distorter Traveler
that’s pessimist acknowledge it or not, a pessimist is someone who always always looks at the bad things in something and How can things go wrong, which is pretty much what you are doing along with many who think it may not come to the US, I mean there is already much progress, I mean the game was just relased on japan, that’s something, we can just wait and maybe get it in America, or act like pessimists and cry about it.

The release in Japan just improved our situation if not guaranteed it.

In general I don’t look for the bad in things and don’t look for a reason to complain when things go wrong. I wasn’t even complaining I was just trying to prove a point that waiting months, and even years with the hopes that something Mother/EarthBound will get mentioned/rereleased seems hopeless.

Believe what you want. If you want to think at E3 Reggie says we’re getting a rerelease go ahead and believe it. If you want to think we get something in 2014, believe that to.

I already stated I’m not a pessimist, love Mother/EarthBound, and am a positive person. I’m leaving anymore comments, and didn’t come here to upset people, or get into arguements.

Normally I wouldn’t think it would come overseas, but now that the situation’s changed and Itoi has a greater acknowledgement of the international fanbase, I think he will push for a worldwide release.

EarthBound isn’t getting announced at E3 I don’t think that Nintendo would waste E3 time on a VC release. They could only announce it at E3 if it’s a remake! I think it would be in a Nintendo Direct.

I don’t think we can speculate either way until March comes and someone can verify whether our identified legal issues have been addressed in the Japanese VC release.

Just jumping in to point out that 22 years ago was before EB got released at all. We haven’t been waiting nearly as long as people like to pretend. At the most we’ve been waiting a decade for any sort of official port (release of 1+2 in 2003, debut of VC in 2005).

As for “d’you think it’ll happen”, I’m gonna wait till we know any details of what M2 looks like on VC before I consider such a thing. Far too early to tell either way yet.

In March things will be cleaner to look at.

I know I’ll have to wait a while before we get any real answers. That’s why I wrote the EB Screenplay to bide my time. And also the EB Origins Fanfilm script.

What if the legal issues have nothing to do with the release here? I know that sounds really dumb, but what if it’s something else.

But in March it’ll be the fans getting a clear look at things. If NCL got Mother 2′s legal issues out of the way, don’t you guys think NOA would know by now as per contact? If they were to do anything Mother related it would be now, and it doesn’t look like it’s even happening now.

NOA doesn’t take S**T from anyone. Especially not from us MOTHER fans.

I agree with blue toad. But NOA is a company and they just want money. If they’re getting sued they’re not releasing the game. If they fixed the legal issues. NOA HAS NO EXCUSES!

Oh snap! Nintendo has broke over 400 people’s spirits! Not that I blame them, it’s been a grueling process just HOPING that we’ll get something on Virtual Console.

Hahaha! When I was about to vote, the votes were both 50/50, so I voted for ‘no’ so now it’s 50/51. Anyway, I’m honestly not going to get my hopes up, because they have been repeatedly shot down in the past.

^whoops, I meant votes were 425/425, and then after I was done voting it was 425/426 (in favor of ‘no’)

More people may think not, but a human mind is as powerful as a newborn, just maintain patience.

Wait, that was a bad comparison. Just wait and see, grab a soda or two, if it helps. The future is undecided, and it always will be, we will never know it exactly, no matter how we try.

I think that it’s really cool that the poll is 50-50.
If you just think abou it for a moment, you’ll get what I mean.

my acc isnt really working atm…oh well..

anyway, even though this proably wont work, we should start one of our famous partitions again!

i posted something about earthbound on VC in the balloon fight miiverse place and got a pretty big 16 yeahs from it (conserding everyone posts a billion times and no one really looks at other peoples work). its a pretty bad drawing as well XD.( u can see it at my miiverse acc at Ring064)

people need to know about the mother series and its greatness. in my opinion, i think its the best RPG out there and im sure everyone here will say that as well.

so starmen.net and earthbound central, do we have another crack at it? if we dont do anything at all, nothing will ever happen. if we at least do something, something will have to happen sooner or later if nintendo dosnt want to lose even more fans…

Nope. It’s just another game that is stuck in Japan.

And the chances of Mother 1 or 3? Never.

Aw, come on guys! They excluded it out of Smash Bros Brawl’s little virtual archives, for pete’s sake! It’s definitely not coming out of Japan. They would have done that already. A LONG TIME AGO. And just waiting for it to come out at E3 is silly. DKC Returns and Kid Icarus Uprising were announced at E3 because they were ACTUAL GAMES, and not just some port onto the VIRTUAL CONSOLE.

If they do release Earthbound in America they might change it for some legal issues .

Oh man. 50-50 chance.

@Ring064 There is a petition going already:
http://www.change.org/petitions/nintendo-of-america-nintendo-of-japan-nintendo-of-europe-rerelease-the-earthbound-mother-series-to-all-regions-outside-of-japan

Holy crap! 459 to 460. That’s insane- I’ve never seen a poll divided so closely, and I never expected to see it on such a hot-topic issue like this one. That’s nuts.

I’m saying yes, but I only have little hope left. If the Wii U and 3DS passes and goes without an EarthBound rerelease, I give up.

@Permafry_42 please stop linking your petition. 90% of us do not care because they either:
A. have lost all hope for the game being released outside of Japan, so they don’t feel signing a petition is worth it
B. still are waiting patiently for the Virtual Console to actually launch to see whether NOA will release EarthBound, so they don’t feel signing a petition is worth it
C. either A or B + knowing that past petitions that netted 30,000 signatures didn’t change Nintendo’s mind, so they don’t feel signing a petition is worth it

We appreciate your enthusiasm, but now is not the time for a petition.

A petition or siege or anything like that are absolutely useless and will do more harm than good at this point. You want your voices to be heard? NEWSFLASH. Voices HAVE been heard. Years ago. We’ve been through this song and dance before. And trust me, Nintendo is very much aware of how many of us there are. It’s definitely possible that it could be released here, but not guaranteed. And there’s nothing we can do to change that. The situation is completely out of our hands. We’re glad that you guys are so set on getting it released overseas, but please be patient. All we can do right now is wait and see what happens.

@Permafry_42 I realize your trying to do something good and help EarthBound fans. While I’m very skeptical about a petition working, you do already have 100 signatures in such a short time, and I imagine if this get more attention you might be able to exceed the goal.

Why don’t you start a Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube page dedicated to trying to get EarthBound rereleased? Sorta like Operation Moonfall or the Operation to bring the Xenoblade Chronicles games to the U.S. Those fan efforts have gotten attention of the right people, and as long as you keep the pages updated and active they would probably get the attention needed. You would also get more signatures and if Nintendo saw a big number of likes/subscribers/followers on your pages it might help convince them.

I really think you might have a good chance if you do that. Best of luck with everything. Fuzzy pickles.

Sheesh people, be a bit more friendly! This guy is just hosting a petition. What’s so bad about that? Just because your too self righteous to sign it because you have been around EB for 15 years doesn’t mean everyone else has. Some of us still have hope and we don’t need pessimistic people ruining it for us. Just counting you two users, the petition could have been at 139, but is only at 137. I seem to notice this frequently among the older fans. They bash the younger fans for no real reason at all. Everyone is entitled to an opinion. You don’t have to sign the petition to bring Mother to America, but don’t whine about over-zealous fans posting links to it. Now that I’m done venting, I don’t believe Mother has a good chance at making it on the virtual console here, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to give up signing petitions and writing letters. If you want something to be done, you need to take action.

I contacted the staff of Operation Rainfall days ago about the situation with Mother 2 on Japanese Virtual Console. They essentially said that they’re familiar with the situation and that they think it’s honestly just a matter of time before the game gets released here. Since the legion of Earthbound fans are so widely known, and also because we’ve been recognized by Itoi himself. A petition or campaign serves no purpose when there are already signs hinting towards the game’s release. Just look at Operation Rainfall, they pushed for a release of these obscure RPGs in America and it happened. They don’t even think such a push is necessary for Earthbound. It’s only a matter of time, with Nintendo seemingly being more open with the idea that people will buy their more obscure games if they just give them the chance to buy them.

ok i know im gonna get a lot of hate now but i have to say it anyway..

nintendo does KNOW about how many fans there are. ok sure, thats a good start. but do they know about the amount of people that this game would also benefit to? no, they dont.

what if through these pentions we could generate more “earthboundians”? i know i was intrested in playing the games when i heard about these huge pentions that were being held to get the games released.

i dont think im the only one who started playing earthbound from hearing about these pentions and the fans love for the games. im quite sure there would be a load of people who would join along, i just know.

so, hopefully that should make people relax about the pentions…

If people want to contribute and support Earthbound being released on VC, I think the best option would be the Wii U Miiverse. Lots of people are posting about Earthbound in the Balloon Fight community, and the posts have become popular. Just be sure not to spam, try to limit it to only making one or two posts a day at most. Quality over quantity! Nintendo actually sees Miiverse messages, and it’s a creative way to let your voice be heard. I’m positive that this would be more effective than a petition.

I voted yes.

Otherwise I don’t think Itoi would be talking about western Mother fans during the same time period that he’s promoting the Japanese rerelease.

So I think there will be a stronger effort at it (Itoi has a lot of moving power), even if it still doesn’t get released in the US.

If it would, it wouldn’t really be Earthbound only. Hence why he was talking about the series, as a whole.

You just got a shoutout on the Insert Credit podcast. http://insertcredit.com/2013/01/27/the-insert-credit-podcast-episode-30-electro-lester-the-unlikely/

I seriously doubt it. Reggie refuses to let anything Mother related be released in America. He hears us, he is just too lazy to take the time and have his team fix the few things in the game that need to be fixed for it to be released in America. During the time he has been president, he has had 3 chances to release something Mother related in America. All of them have been refused. So I don’t see why he will say yes now.

I’m hoping for “yes,” but I voted for “no.” Nintendo doesn’t have a good enough track record with this for me to be convinced.

“Nintendo may ignore Starmen.net, but they can’t ignore the fans on Miiverse!”

Oh, you have no idea how much and how hard they can ignore use

Us. Not use. Us.

Foiled my own joke dur hurr.

Time will tell.

I’m a bit of a stickler on what a good poll question should be.

Personally, I would word it as “Do you think the Wii U SHOULD get Earthbound on Virtual Console?”

Asking if it “will” demands a prescience that none of us have, and to me doesn’t really provide anything useful.

I voted “yes” because I always thought it was strange how EB didn’t come out on VC in Japan after the Brawl preview, and thought it might be due to the same issues NOA is facing. The fact that Itoi himself is getting involved in announcing the game (rather than it just being quietly released) and talking about making it “playable” might indicate that NCL overcame those issues and fixed the legal stuff.

But of course, this is all wild speculation; it’s way to early to tell. But I’m hopeful!

“Sadly, I’m pretty sure it won’t. It didn’t make it to the Wii’s VC, I don’t see why it would for the Wii U’s one.”

It didn’t make it to the Japanese Wii VC either. I think this is as good of a sign as any that it will happen eventually.

DJMankiewicz: I can understand where you’re coming from. Some of the comments in the earlier topics were all over the place though and I wanted to see where everyone stood on whether or not it’ll get released here or not. I also think that asking “SHOULD EarthBound get released” on an EarthBound-centric site would lead to obvious results. It’s also interesting to compare this to the results of some older polls that didn’t poll the same exact thing but were similar.

Ghastly Gil: Are you sure? I checked out the podcast quickly but it didn’t seem like anything EarthBound Central-related was in there.

I still can’t believe how many people continue to blame Reggie and portray him as the reason for the MOTHER series’ problems.

Unless I’m mistaken, we found out quite a while back that the inability to work out anything with the legal issues originated from NCL, not NOA. Hopefully this release indicates that NCL has found a solution to the problems, and hopefully people overseas will get it too, but it’s not as though an individual person can be held wholly responsible for any problems NOA/NOE might run into in releasing it overseas and their position on it.

Yes, one of Nintendo’s goals is to make money, but you can’t fault them for that – it’s not as though they’re a charity organization. If MOTHER 2 has enough problems that will make it financially (or otherwise) difficult to release outside of Japan, then why should they? If it’s released on the VC this hopefully won’t matter as much as it did in the 90s, but there might be other issues we’re unaware of.

Also, in regards to the petition and perceived bashing of newer fans by older fans: advocating for patience and realism is not the same thing as whining, and I don’t think anyone’s trying to attack anyone else for their opinions. It’s just that those of us who were around for those (in)famous petitions in the 2000s remember what it was like, and perhaps some of the older fans may be a bit “jaded” when it comes to anticipating MOTHER stuff overseas. There’s nothing inherently wrong with petitioning, just be respectful and realistic about the situation.

I’ll repeat a previous comment of mine: I WANT to be optimistic, but MOTHER 1+2 and the MOTHER 2 demo on Brawl being Japan-only is fresh on my mind…

If EarthBound can make its way to the Wii U Virtual Console, totally intact, I will be incredibly happy. That will be a first step to getting all the weird games that did way better in Japan that it did here (like Shenmue) the respect they so richly deserve.

I think all hope is lost. This was the chance to make it happen and it’s gone.

I think Mother 2 being offered on the VC before Mother 1 says something. They could want to put that up on the American VC first as Earthbound, and maybe later down the line release Mother and Mother 3 for an extra buck or two above the normal release price (think Sin & Punishment N64)

It’s very brief. Someone just mentions that EBCentral is his favorite gaming blog during a conversation on game wikis and fansites.

Will it? No.
Do I hope it will? Yes.

Why is everyone such a pesimist?

Because they are poopheads

“Why is everyone such a pesimist?”
actually we like to think of ourselves as realists.

When you ask this, remember:

WE SPENT SIX YEARS BEGGING FOR MOTHER 3, AND EVEN MORE BEGGING FOR EARTHBOUND.

If you think Nintendo gives a **** about what happens to Mother in America, you have no concept of reality. At this point, you probably don’t think “death” is real, either.

Guess what. We’re not going to get the game, and everything that is alive now will someday be gone forever.

Good job at advocating for the “realists,” champ.

Nintendo could be delaying the VC release of Earthbound to get all the legal issues sorted out.

There is still hope… in crappy fanfic!
“Once upon a time Ness went back in time and had children with Paula’s mother, but man door hand hook car door”
THE END

EarthBound is not going to be available over here…for 30 cents. Nintendo knows of its demand from those who have played it and know of its intrigue from younger gamers. My guess is we’re going to have to wait until Nintendo’s keynote @ E3…furthermore, there has to some explanation to this GBA software before N64 on WiiU Virtual Console… I firmly believe all three Mother titles are coming.

From NOA’s perspective, I don’t think there is a reason to release Earthbound on WiiU VC. How many Nintendo fans do you think actually know about Mother? To the average Nintendo fan, Earthbound is worth as much as Ice Climber. I love Earthbound as much as anyone else on this site, but NOA honestly has no reason to release it.

I’m not opposed to being positive either. Considering Japan not getting a release until now, and Itoi being more aware of the fanbase here could mean that the whole thing between NCL and NOA could mean a resolution may come.

I’m a fairly new fan myself, being around for only 2 or 3 years. However, I’ve done my history, and petitions or pleas to Nintendo seem trivial at this point. Nintendo is fully aware of our presence. They knew about us when they receive all the letters. When they got petitions. When Starmen.net made news about releasing Earthound. Even whep they took Earthbound out of the Masterpieces in Brawl. Nintendo knows we are here, and they clearly don’t plan on changing things. At least not at the moment

No! the 50-50 balance has been disturbed.
Vote yes. Don’t be so pessimistic. Think logically.

http://www.change.org/petitions/nintendo-of-america-re-release-earthbound-for-the-virtual-console-in-the-us

I wonder if starmen.net are interested/will get another chapter of PK Siege going.

edit: looks like they have a miiverse movement going.

Starmen.net is not interested in doing another siege whatsoever.

The Miiverse movement, however, isn’t a bad idea at all. It’s a really cool way to let your voice be heard, and it’s also harmless.

Sony should buy out mother

reading through this more, i think we could create a siege through miiverse. as most have been saying here, post in the balloon fight section with some earthbound related stuff only about twice a day ( or maybe a little less) and you dont only get a lot of yeahs, you also get a lot of people intrested.

so basically my message for today is: got a wii u? post some earthbound stuff in miiverse and spread the word.

PS: seems people LOVE Mr.Saturn ( who dosnt???)

Doubt it, but we’ll see.

If it does get a release on the US Wii U VC, I’ll buy it only to support. Probably wouldn’t play it much. I’d prefer to load the ol’ cart on my SNES or emulate on my phone and play on the go! :p

At this point Starmen.net doesn’t care to help get Eartbound in the US. It surprises me the “The premiere Earthbound fansite” pulls Bullcrap like not promoting the efforts that many fans (Me included)are making to get this on the VC.

Copyright laws in the US have gotten even more absurd and draconian in the last couple of years, so the idea of a NOA even taking the chance at officially releasing any of the Mother series in the states ever again is worse than finding the Sword of Kings.

@renstimpy1 are you that thick in the head, or do you just have tunnel vision in getting EarthBound on the VC? Everyone else is waiting patiently for the Wii U Virtual Console to ACTUALLY LAUNCH before making any other decisions about this. YOU, on the other hand, are obsessing over something you have absolutely no information about. You assume it won’t be coming the the VC without some sort of fan push, but that’s exactly why everyone is waiting. They may put it on the virtual console in March, so shut up, pipe down, and wait.

My opinion: Because the US copyright industry is a communist dictatorship (quite possibly not just a comedic metaphor), it’s not likely, but possible. One reason they may not be releasing Earthbound as part of the Western launch ceremonies for the WiiU VC is because, while the Mother series was fairly popular in Japan right from the get-go (taking off with M2), it was always fairly obscure in America and only really got most of its fanbase a few years after its release. That’s the definition of a cult classic right there.

That canned response to inquiring its VC release is disappointing, but that “we have no plans” thing usually means “at the moment we have no plans to…”, not “we have no long-term plans to…”

I’d be more surprised if it was released on VC outside of Japan.

And what about the PAL region? We have even less possibilities of having this game in our Wii Us! ;A; We never knew about this amazing series of games…

@Chivi-chivik After playin’ the game I have no choice but to feel sorry for European gamers, as they never officially got the game. Maybe if you try hard enough you’ll get it, just don’t lose hope.

Considering the amount of obscure titles littering the VC, I doubt sales are really that big a factor, especially since Ness is already a recognizable gaming icon. Heck, Sonic Labyrinth, a game most people have never even heard of until they’ve been told how infamously bad it was got announced for the 3DS VC.

@Anonymous Why should i shut up? because i am trying to get Earthbound on the VC in the US. These legal problems don’t matter in Japan so i want them resolved here and Earthbound re-released. So, you can sit around here discouraging fan efforts all YOU want but i’m not going to stop till’ justice is served.

Oh I see, so I guess you really are that thick then.

Never mind, carry on.

So, this is how I’m seeing the voters population right now:

Those in favor:
+ think that changes were made to the game (implied by Itoi’s tweets), so it’d be legal for Nintendo to add it to the Virtual Console
+ believe that since Japan is getting Mother 2, North America/the world must be getting it too (eventually)

Those not in favor:
- think that Japan’s copyright laws are somehow different than America’s
- are jaded by all this because past attempts at getting some sort of re-release have ended in failure

Pick your side…

To those weeping over the PAL gamers not playing the game, please bear in mind we don’t freak out at the ideas of locating/playing ROMs, so all we’re really missing is paying for it.

Nearly everyone I’ve come across who’s mentioned the game in passing has played it, despite the game not ever being released here.

—-

renstimpy1: You’re not serving justice, it’s a videogame. You’re serving your own entitlement. This is not a war, you’re not winning a battle, and being agressive makes you look bad. Stop getting ahead of yourself.

If changes have been made to the game on VC, it means there’s a very real chance the game can be released internationally. That’s good! If they haven’t been made, there may be hurdles still to jump, and then you can patiently remind Nintendo that you would still pay for it. By jumping the gun and screaming about it, you look like an entitled loser. That’s bad!

If you have time to scream about not having the game, please go play the game. It’s actually a lot more productive than you might realise.

@Satsy

For a main member you don’t seem like you care much about EB…

You say that like I haven’t played the games to death, keep music of it on my Mp3 player, draw the characters (frequently) taken inspiration for several artistic projects over the years (and there have been a few), collected figures, and manga, and doujinshi, which I have spent much time (and still do) scanning and cleaning for others to enjoy who would never get that chance.

You also say it like I don’t own Mother 2, Mother 1+2, Mother 3, and have played and completed them all.

Have you considered there’s more to these games than having it on Virtual Console?

@Everyone I am only trying to Re-assure NOA of this Fan Base so i will stop….For now.

“you look like an entitled loser” Insults won’t have any effect on my efforts.

“please go play the game” I have played it through many times, and i only want this game available through legal and fairly priced means.

As others have said, I’d like to remain hopeful.

The 50-50 has been restored.

The 50-50 has been restored.

Wow, all these years of being ignored really broke a lot people’s spirits. Can’t blame them, enough is enough, if something was meant to happen about this series fate outside of Japan it would have already happened by now. Many realatively obscure games from first and third parties are getting released and/or translated while there is still no word on the Mother series after all these years of campaigns and pestering Nintendo.

Seriously, it’s starting to feel almost… unhealthy to keep obsessing over some kind of release since despite all the efforts to make our voices heard we always, always seem to get sent back to square one.

This could be the last chance for a US release. A Japan release at least sheds some light of hopefulness. If anything, I dream of something being announced by or before August. We still have to see if there are changes when it releases in March…

I’m starting to think we should all just be happy that Nintendo has turned a blind eye to the ROM-hacking and translation patches, etc. Does it really matter if Nintendo re-releases the games at this point? As a gamer in his mid-twenties, I cringe a little at the idea of shelling out $400 for a Wii U just so I can play a game I originally bought when I was ten. And I honestly don’t see much else to justify the purchase (for me, anyway).

GEEZER ALERT: I still remember getting really psyched when starmen.net petitioned for MOTHER on Game Boy Color. And every subsequent few years, I’ve gotten equally excited about some other fleeting possibility. Now, this isn’t to say that Nintendo of America will never re-release EarthBound, but part of me doesn’t really care at this point.

More than anything, I’m grateful that Mato and Reid took matters into their own hands and did more to serve the legacy of the series than its own publisher.

I WANT TO PLAY EARTHBOUND SOOO BAD!! (CRYING)

That I Never Got The Chance Of Playing It!

WHY ITOI WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS TO YOUR ULTAMATE NINTENDO FAN WHY?!?!?!

Is it really A 50/50 (Scout) What?! This Sucks!!! (But Not EarthBound The Game) We Want A Lot More Yeses!!

Yo Max Are You Paying Attention To me Or Are You & the Guys Ignoreing Me?

We’re ignoring you

jeffrey this is not that hard

I voted yes. By the end of the Wii’s life I had given up hope, but this Japanese release has changed that. I think the only reason we’re not getting it as part of the whole 30 cents promotion is so Nintendo can make more cash off it when they do release it. They know it’s the most wanted VC game.

It’s amusing how close this poll is. I check back every couple of days and see it bounce back from a slight victory on one side to a slight victory on the other.

I voted “No.” I’ll be ecstatic if it is released, but the evidence seems to stack against us.

Has there been any official mention of resolving the possible legal issues? Nope.

Would NOA have released Earthbound on VC, or given us Mother 1 + 2, if they could have? Very likely.

Was Earthbound missing from the US release list, which was nearly identical to the Japanese list? Yep.

Has this issue been going on for so long that it almost feels insane to think we’re going to get the release? Hot diggity yes.

That said, if we do get the game, I will gladly eat my doom-and-gloom words. I will print them out, cover them in chocolate sauce, and eat them, all with a smile on my face.

I echo BOX’s post.

^ Same as above.

If that happens, I’ll buy a Wii U.

I believe we should wait until it is released on the VC in Japan before we make any predictions. Who knows? Maybe they changed somethings to it.

first one to post on here since march

“That said, if we do get the game, I will gladly eat my doom-and-gloom words. I will print them out, cover them in chocolate sauce, and eat them, all with a smile on my face.”

I’m calling you on that, BOX.