Weekly Round-Up #12

April 5th, 2009 | Weekly Round-Up

Some cool stuff happened this week! Reggie talked a lot, we took a look at a couple old reviews of EarthBound that made us cringe until we laughed tears out of our ears, and there was an EarthBound merchandise explosion. And lots of other stuff too. EarthBound is like the Terminator – it just won’t die.

Anyway, let’s look back at what happened this week!

Site News

• Added a new handy-dandy page that lists all the EB reviews and previews
• New automatic monthly design! This month is Onett. The green of the town always made me think of April/May. Though I have fond memories of playing through Twoson one Easter long ago.
• The offer for badges/custom avatars is now over, after like three weeks. There’ll be other chances in the future to get one of these, though.

EarthBound News

• Reggie talks about MOTHER 3 a little bit
• Reggie talks some more about MOTHER 3, no good (or usefuL) news, of course
• MOTHER3+ and MOTHER3i are no longer on iTunes?
• We looked at the Game Players review of EarthBound, less than stellar
• VG&CE’s 1995 review of EarthBound – geez is this horrible
• A look at one of Famitsu Weekly’s earliest MOTHER 2 previews, from 1994
• We looked at Nintendo Power’s first (and only) preview of EarthBound Zero
• Giant Mr. Saturn plushie on eBay – people faint at the price tag
• The unofficial Courage Badge keychains are selling on eBay for a ton 😯
• EarthBound and the Virtual Console situation in a TalkRadar podcast
• We all had some laughs at the April Fools stuff
• You’ve been Giygas Rolled!
• Fans make a crazy ladder out of Mr. Saturns
• The new giant Mr. Saturn plushies are invincible!
• A Mr. Saturn in fruit form!

Cool Auctions & Merchandise

Last week I mentioned that there’s been a surge in EarthBound stuff on eBay, but this week that surge got so big that it actually broke my merchandise updater for an hour, because I initially didn’t expect there to be this much merch on eBay at once. This past week, there’ve been approximately 200 different EarthBound-related auctions at any one time. Last month and before, it used to hover around 120-130. I wonder what’s caused this surge.

Anyway, if you ever want to see what the latest stuff on eBay is, just check here! The listings update approximately once an hour, and things come and go all the time. It’s kind of neat to watch, almost like a mini stock market sometimes 😛 Here are some of the latest cool auctions:

• Giant Mr. Saturn Plushie!!! – but the price is $800?!?!?!3S#
• That almost makes this MOTHER 3 Mr. Saturn plushie seem like a huge bargain 😯
• Rare MOTHER 3 guide – not even I have this one
• MOTHER 2 Encyclopedia – quite rare!
• MOTHER 2 cartridge for only $8.99!
• MOTHER 1 cartridge for only $29.99, free shipping!
• MOTHER 1+2 and MOTHER 3 Deluxe Box, free shipping!
• MOTHER 3 Cartridge with box, only $49.00, very good deal! – they usually go over $65 now
• EarthBound cart for $74 with free shipping

Here’s some cool stuff from Yahoo! Auctions Japan:

• A very rare Famimaga issue featuring MOTHER 2 – I have no money to get it 🙁
• The next issue, which also features part 1 of a MOTHER 2 guidebook
• And the next issue after that, featuring part 2 the MOTHER 2 guidebook
• Set of super rare MOTHER 1+2 screen cleaners!! – 😯
• Complete set of super rare MOTHER 1+2 keychains 😯

And here’s some stuff I found on Amazon and Play-Asia:

• MOTHER 3 Perfect Guide for $21.90, a pretty good price for a non-auction
• Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band – the music when you walk around with Dungeon Man comes from this
• I Am a Cat, by Natsume Soseki – this famous book’s title was sort of the inspiration for Apple Kid’s nameless mouse (details here)

Community News

• The Memory Card .60: Flint’s Rage
• MOTHER/EarthBound Marathon Details – The Speed Gamers
• Handbook of Great Justice – Some Other Castle
• MOTHER 3 Fan Handbook Ships
• Ninten and Oreos?
• Pigmask Peril forum game
• Adventures of Birdy & Chimera – puppy dogfish’s cuteness has defeated me
• The Chosen Four is updated more! – hey that rhymes
• Of Pigs and Masks comic updated

I’m still somewhat human, so I can’t honestly keep up with every single thing that happens in the EarthBound community, so if you’ve done something cool or if you know of something cool that belongs here, let me know!

What’s Up With Itoi

This week Itoi did his cherry blossom watching. Everyone talks nonstop about cherry blossoms this time of year in Japan, and Itoi’s no different. Like last week, he mostly talked about stuff in general rather than what he’s up to. Most of the stuff he talked about had to do with cherry blossoms or other projects his company’s working on at the moment. Also, this is the time of year that school starts in Japan, and it’s also the time when people who just graduated start working for companies that hired them. I think his office might have a new face or two, but I’m not sure yet. This is the time of year everyone in his office changes seating arrangements too, which seems to be a fun thing for them I guess.

Upcoming Stuff

I’ve been working on the MOTHER 1+2, so I’ll probably make an update about that sometime this week. I also have another EarthBound review or two to put up. Again, if you know of any old EarthBound reviews, let me know, because this stuff is fun to read. I might also do another food-related update or two. And then all the regular stuff that somehow I manage to scrounge up to write about, of course 😀

End

How is there still so much EarthBound-related stuff going on????