May 8th, 2013 | Audio Stuff, MOTHER 1 | 40 Comments

Skotein sent me this e-mail a while back and it sounds like a pretty neat project!

Hi, Tomato! I’m a big fan of both Pokémon and MOTHER and have been running the Pokémon Reorchestrated project on YouTube and Facebook. Basically, I orchestrate and arrange music from the Pokémon games with emphasis on weaving a game’s story/narrative into the music itself. I’ve also enjoyed the success of having my first full-length album, ‘Pokémon Reorchestrated: Kanto Symphony,’ reach the top 25 best-selling albums on the iTunes charts in all categories. (here’s a preview of the album)

Right now I’m trying to get feedback on whether or not enough people would want to hear beautifully orchestrated versions of music from MOTHER 1, which is one of my favorite soundtracks of all time (*especially* the dreadful 80′s vocal arrange album). If there’s enough of a demand, I would like to hold a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for hiring a.) an actual orchestral ensemble to play the music, and b.) a local children’s choir to sing the iconic ‘Eight Melodies’ theme.

I was wondering if you might be able to help me get the word out–I’m currently gathering Likes over at my personal Facebook page, but I figured it might be more effective to go straight to the MOTHER/EarthBound community and ask them directly. Any help is sincerely appreciated!

~Skotein

P.S. Attached is a piece of MOTHER fan art I drew about 4 years ago that I’ve been using to promote my post on Facebook, which may or may not also be used as an inspiration for the album cover.

I think the 80s soundtrack has its own charm, but it’d definitely be cool to hear something more orchestral too, especially if it sounds like that Pokemon reorchestrated album!

May 7th, 2013 | EarthBound | 8 Comments

By now it’s pretty old news that EarthBound had been rated by the ESRB back in 2007 for the Wii. What I never knew was that it had also been rated by Germany’s ratings board:

To see it for yourself go here and enter “earth bound” where it says “titel”.

As you can see, it, too, was classified as a Wii release. It got a rating of “6+” and received this rating in 2007. So it sounds like the original plan for EarthBound was a worldwide release on the original Wii, not just a North American release like back in 1995.

Thanks to KingDarian for digging this info up!

May 7th, 2013 | Auctions, EarthBound, Merchandise | 31 Comments

Official EarthBound posters are notoriously rare and usually fetch really high prices on eBay. After a year or two of not seeing one, a poster popped up on eBay the other day for $2499.

Man, you’d have to beat up like 800 Runaway Dogs to afford that

May 6th, 2013 | EarthBound | 27 Comments

I don’t know why, but for some reason EarthBound for the Wii U is up for preorder on Amazon.co.uk here. I figured it was just someone outside of Amazon selling something fake, but it says it’s dispatched and sold from Amazon, so I don’t know.

I really have no idea what to make of this other than that it has to be some sort of mistake… right?

Does anyone have any thoughts/insight? Is this sort of mistake common on Amazon sites?

May 6th, 2013 | EarthBound, Itoi, MOTHER 1, MOTHER 3 | 11 Comments

One of my favorite gaming sites is called Hardcore Gaming 101. It’s full of really detailed and interesting information, and I sometimes find myself spending too much time on there reading through all the articles they have.

Well, a series of articles about the MOTHER series recently went up – it covers each of the three games in the series in great detail, plus some background information about the series in general and who Shigesato Itoi is. Check out the articles here!

If you’re just starting to get into the series because of all the recent buzz surrounding it, give the articles a read – they’ll get you up to speed with everything. If you’re already a MOTHER series expert though, you might still learn stuff you never knew before, so give ‘em a read anyway!

May 5th, 2013 | EarthBound | 90 Comments

It looks like EarthBound was recently rated by Australia’s rating board as seen here. It’s rated “M”, which means it’s “suggested for mature audiences“. The site describes the “M” rating as follows:

“Films and computer games classified M (Mature) contain content of a moderate impact and are recommended for teenagers aged 15 years and over.”

I’m guessing this means EarthBound is getting close to being released on the Wii U Virtual Console… but with Nintendo you can never be too sure. Hopefully it comes out soon, though!

Thanks to Thedreaminghawk for the tip!

UPDATE: I’m really curious to know why the game is listed as having moderate sexual themes but absolutely no drug themes.

May 4th, 2013 | EarthBound, Merchandise, Videos | 10 Comments

Good ol’ Fangamer made some EarthBound-related videos recently, so I thought I’d share them. First up is a video for their Awesomeness combo, which features all the stuff you’ll need to save the world:

Next is a video for their Franklin pin and Courage badge:

I see the folks from Fangamer on a regular basis (they’re just a few miles from where I live), so if you do order something from them, mention me or EB Central in the order comments and I’ll write you a note or draw something for you on request!

I don’t get paid for this or anything, but I do get to hear inside info, which is just as good. And it sounds like some really, really cool stuff is in the planning stages now!

May 3rd, 2013 | Audio Stuff, EarthBound, MOTHER 1 | 16 Comments

You know that version of “Bein’ Friends” that’s on the official MOTHER 1 soundtrack? If not, here it is:

Well, folks are starting to work on the music for the MOTHER remake hack, and the latest one by vince94 is based on this vocal version of Bein’ Friends, and it turned out really cool!

Bein’ Friends

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

(Download MP3)

Man, hacking EarthBound music is one of the things I could never really get into just because it’s so complicated and crazy. EarthBound hackers continually astound me! And I can’t wait for this remake hack to get finished

May 2nd, 2013 | Audio Stuff, EarthBound, MOTHER 1, MOTHER 3 | 7 Comments

A fan by the name of G reminded me that a bunch of the MOTHER series soundtracks are still available on Japanese iTunes:

• Mother 1 soundtrack
• Mother 2 soundtrack
• Mother 3+ soundtrack
• Mother 3i soundtrack

Even if you don’t live in Japan, you can still buy from Japanese iTunes if you jump through a few hoops. You’ll probably need to create a new account just for Japanese iTunes. You might also be able to use your normal credit card to buy stuff, but if not, you can get point cards for Japanese iTunes at places like Play-Asia – like here, for example. That’s how I bought the MOTHER 3 soundtracks years ago, in fact.

There WAS a short time that the MOTHER 3 soundtracks were available on iTunes outside of Japan, but they were taken down years ago for whatever reason.

Of course, if you don’t want to go through all that hassle I’m sure there are less-than-legal ways of getting the soundtracks, but if you like the music/series enough to throw some money at it, this is one way to do it.

If you do get MOTHER3i (which I personally recommend over MOTHER3+) then don’t miss out on the MOTHER3i online booklet too!

May 1st, 2013 | Auctions, EarthBound | 19 Comments

Every month I manually update the price info on buyearthbound.com so fans can get good deals and avoid spending too much money. Here’s the latest pricing data:

Average Prices:

• EarthBound cart: $188 (down from $199, lowest: $100.00 / highest: $280.00)
• EarthBound guide: $127 (up from $115, lowest: $114.99) / highest: $138.99)
• EarthBound complete set: $628 (down from $713, lowest: $300.00 / highest: $3550.01)

It looks like prices have fallen a bit since last month as a result of the announcement that EarthBound is going to be released on the Wii U Virtual Console this year. But that announcement happened in the middle of the month… what were prices like before and after that? Well, I looked into that too, and there was a definite price change before and after:

Average April price for EarthBound cartridge before announcement:

• $201.26

Average April price for EarthBound cartridge after announcement:

• $176.77

I think that when the game actually gets released and as more casual gamers and fans start to learn that EarthBound is available on the Wii U, the prices will lower even more. I don’t think they’ll drop like crazy, but cartridges shouldn’t cost an arm and a leg anymore. Maybe just a leg.

Anyway, as always, check out good ol’ buyearthbound.com if you’re considering getting a physical copy of EarthBound – it’ll save you tons of money!

$198.99 EarthBound Rare Super Nintendo Snes Game EarthBound	$152.50 EarthBound SNES Game with Original Box (Super Nintendo, 1995)
$0.99 EarthBound RARE Great Condition	$99.95 EarthBound (Super Nintendo, 1995) Snes Guide Only Manual NO Scratch / Sniff
$399.99 23 super nintendo snes game lot earthbound chrono trigger secret of mana mario	$4.24 Mother Earthbound 2 Super Famicom/SNES JP GAME.

See all 391 auctions here!