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None foundMay 15th, 2010 | EarthBound 64, Interviews
Part 2 of this!
Awesomely awesome Chewy managed to get ahold of the EarthBound 64 staff member, but she’s not sure what to ask him now. So let’s come up with some questions! Remember, the guy only did the monster designs for EarthBound 64, and even that was a long time ago, so it’s best to keep questions in that area.
Quick disclaimer: there’s still a chance he might not want his interview posted or that there’s still NDA stuff preventing him from talking about stuff without permission. But hopefully it’ll all work out 😀
BTW, in case you missed it, check out Chewy’s MOTHER 2 novel translation blog!
Other Related Posts:
128 Comments to Let’s Come Up with EB64 Questions!
![]() | Jeagle101 said on May. 15, 2010 |
Hmm… How about this:
What types of enemies were to be in EB64, but weren’t put into MOTHER 3 that you are aware of?
What were some of your favorite sources of inspiration, and which characters did they inspire?
How bout this one: If the game was made and was successful, would you make a sequel?
Do you guys consider Earthboud to be underrated compared to the other nintendo games?
Did you have a favourite monster in the game? If so, than which one and why?
What is the third dimension like? Is it scary?
Also, was there any particular monster that was your favorite?
Here’s a few: “Which of the enemies you created for the game were your personal favorites?” & “Do you recall what the story behind the two-headed Kraken and Hade Hebi, the forest snake were and where they fit into the game?”
I have one: if this game was successful, would you have more and different characters?
Did you have any plans that didn’t make it to Mother 3 on GBA? What were those, and why were they taken out?
![]() | Commander said on May. 15, 2010 |
Who was the planned Final Boss?
![]() | KingDarian said on May. 15, 2010 |
* What was that big blue thing with the wide mouth supposed to be?
* Did any of the original designs carry over to the GBA version?
* Do you have any footage that has never been released? :O
* Do you have any sketches that have never been released? :O
* How many enemies were planned for the N64 version?
Ask them about the different scripts, mother 64 DD and mother 64 both have different scripts, and both are different than mother 3 script. ask about what was cut from the 3D versions in order to make it a pocket game. ask why did they decide to change the game from a “everyday life RPG” to a common magical story rpg.
ask what are those weird unused claus battle bg screens, and if they’re related somehow to the old game script.
ask about the ending, what was it going to be like originally
Ask them this… “If Earthbound 64 was ever completed, and made it to America, what do you think America’s perception of the Mother/Earthbound series would be compared to how it is now?”
![]() | kenisu said on May. 15, 2010 |
What was the Lucas and Claus mine cart ride all about?
Would Porky age be the same as in Earthbound or would he have been aged hundreds of thousands of years like in the final version of the game
![]() | Kyoo said on May. 15, 2010 |
where Chimeras a huge part of the enemy line up?
Ask if theres an unreleased beta that they could release onto the internet
![]() | ShirowWolf said on May. 15, 2010 |
-What was the ice cream cone tank supposed to do, and…why was it shaped like an ice cream cone? .___.
-Were any recurring enemies from other Mother games due to make 3D appearances? Which ones, and why, if so?
How did the parts appearing to show Onett and Fourside fit into the game ? What was the water pipe going through the forest meant for , and why was it taken out of the GBA version ?
![]() | Roo said on May. 15, 2010 |
As an insider, I’d like to know what problems he believed contributed the most to the game’s delays and eventual cancellation.
Oh, and awesome work Chewy, by the way!
I don’t mean to comment again , but I just realized what was said about this guy only being an enemy designer and that the questions should be directed in that area . What I’d like to know in this regard , then , is how many of the enemies’ attacks and battle actions were conveyed through animation , and how much simply in text ?
Did the original team making EB64 come back for Mother 3, or was the team scrapped?
What were some details of the ending that would make it necessarily “darker”?
Do you feel the characters translated from 3D to 2D without much change?
Why did EB64 fall through, while many other 64DD games, such as “Paper Mario”, “Pokemon Stadium”, and the infamous “Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time”, went on to be classics in the 64-bit era?
Do you think the Tanetane Island would be scarier in EB64? If so, in what ways?
Do you think moving from 3D to 2D made characters and enemies better or worse? Why?
Compilation? Any time soon?
Was a prototype of the game made? And, if so, did you happen to own one?
1.Who were the main playable characters?
2. Who was the Ness looking boy in some screens?
3. Ws Flint going to be in the party for the entirty of the game?
4. What were the strange ruins of Onett and Fourside?
5. What were the enemies originally planned for this but didn’t make it into Mother 3?
6. What were the roles of the Kraken and the Hebe Hedi?
7. Do you know what were the original Tanetane Island and ending sequences were like?
8. Who was the final boss in this version?
9. How large was Porky’s role?
![]() | LakituAl said on May. 15, 2010 |
Which enemies were the hardest to design?
![]() | OtherJosh said on May. 15, 2010 |
Ask him this: If Nintendo planned to “re”-make Earthbound 64 for the DS, would he be on the development team if asked?
I also second Ninji’s comment. Adding to Ninji’s question, do you know how many prototypes are possibly in the world and their whereabouts? And also, was there ever a completed version of the game? (I doubt this, but hey, you never know.)
When you designed monsters, did you let your imagination go wild or did you try to imagine them within the limits of the N64 hardware?
Did you design in 2d first or with 3d in mind?
Ask him if he has one of the demo kiosks from SpaceWorld at his home.
Damn, I don’t know how to respond to all this questions… But one thing is sure… Ness traveled to the future, that guy was really Ness.
^What are you trying to pull? No one is buying that.
Anyway, I’d like to know more about the Oness/Fourside ruins. That and I’ve never actually seen the screens.
Shigesato Itoi mentioned that the ending was going to be much darker in the Earthbound 64 version of Mother 3. Were you involved in creating the “dark” part of it, and, if so, is it possible for you to mention (or at least hint) as to what was going to happen in the end?
Oh. My. Goodness. This is a dream coming true!
Was Claus the Masked Man? If yes, was the Masked Man’s design much different?
What did Porky’s spider mech look like?
Were the Magypsies present in the game?
Was Kumatora going to have her own chapter?
@ What’s your opinion about the lack of Earthbound on the VC?
@ In the 64 version,did you’ve planned some items that didn’t make in the GBA version?
Only questions I got are very likely already suggested here 😉
– When you saw Mother 3, how many of the characters did you recognise?
– What other things do you normally work on and how different are they all?
– What’s your design process? When coming up with monsters do you find references first or…
– Of all the series and IPs you’ve worked on over the years, which one was your favourite?
—-
I don’t think they all need to specifically be mother related since I’m sure there are other interesting parts of his life, too. :3
What was it like to work on EB64?
What’s his optinion on the GBA-Version?
hey was the un-used enemys Tiny Forest and Alkaline Man going to be used in the 64DD version?
Was the Ultimate Chimera in the game? Or was it just an idea that came up in the GBA game?
Does he have any screenshots or content from the game that was not shown to the public?
Are you still in contact with any of the other members of the original mother 64 team? (We sure would love to interview them if we could as well!)
Did the monsters you designed make it into The GBA Version of Mother 3 as well?
were the unused bosses (lucases nightmare) going to be used in N63M3? if so what did they represent?
1. What was going to be the ending for EB64?
2. What was that tiny chompmonster supposed to do?
3. What were the differences between the pigmasks in EB64 and Mother3
what differences were there in storyline between the 64 and GBA versions?
Mother 3 is already a pretty far departure from Mother and Mother 2. From what we fans already know, Mother 3 version 64 was even less similar to the first two. Are we correct, or was it actually pretty similar?
![]() | Kyoo said on May. 16, 2010 |
is mewtwo really giygas?
![]() | Kyoo said on May. 16, 2010 |
where there clay models used in mother 64?
1.who were the other main charaters that were not shown to the public
2.what was the ultimate chimera going to look like
3.was it hard to design the enemimes in the game
4.what roles did claymen,the main playable charaters,porky,mr.staturn, and dr.andounts had
5.how did you feel when it got cancelled
Heres one, how different do the Pigmask Soldiers look from EB64 and Mother 3?
do you have anymore music from EB64 up for downloading?
and
what were claus and lucas’s role in the story gonna be like (since flint was originally gonna be the main character.)
![]() | LakituAl said on May. 16, 2010 |
This will be really off-topic, but, has anyone noticed that Earthbound cart with a price of $0.01 in the auctions?
@Sam with spoilers
I always supposed the ending in EB64 would actually be a regular battle, in which it is revealed that Claus was the Masked Man just after Lucas killed him (and yeah, I suppose the concept of kill would have been used,instead of defeat). What’s darker than accidentally killing your own brother?
I was going to think of some questions, but most of the ones here are already pretty solid. Can’t wait to see the guy’s responses! 😀
I got one: What was your favorite part on working on the Earthbound64 project?
“Why did the Pork Army look so different compared to the GBA version?”
Ah… sorry, I kind of strayed from the Monster Design question.
My new question is- did the shape of the Pig Mask’s suits vary by rank? Did any of the higher ups look like the later version?
id just wana know how much the battle system changed from 2d to 3d cuz the battling style is what i like about the mother series. i would think it would b hard to replicate it into 3d while still having a mother look
Could you tell us some things that greatly differ in the plot of the Nintendo 64 version from the Gameboy Advance version?
From the few beta screenshots and the trailer, it appears as though many character designs were much different than one would expect from a Mother game. Were the Mr. Saturns, assuming they were in this version, any different from their Super Nintendo/Gameboy Advance counterparts?
Do you think that Mother 3 would have made as great of an impact had it been released for the N64 instead?
![]() | OKeijiDragon said on May. 17, 2010 |
* Were there any internal problems within the development team that contributed to MOTHER 3’s cancellation on the N64? (That she is willing to disclose, of course.)
* What were the reasons for the delay of MOTHER 3 on the Nintendo 64 and the 64DD?
* Did you receive any sort of input from the North American branch of Nintendo for you designs?
* Are you willing to disclose and share any of your old designs from the N64 project to the internet?
This one is more unlikely, but it never hurts to ask.
* Do you or anyone you know from the development team, happen to possess a working build of the N64 game?
(I cannot wait for this interview to published! I’d love to mention it on my Shat-Canned Legends documentary!)
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t54L5SBXXhM
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeXUowDWbCw
~Keiji Dragon
If there is a remake of the seris how would u improve the monster design personally.
![]() | neonix said on May. 17, 2010 |
It seems as though in not having anything to ask, Chewy now has an overabundance to sift through and pick just a few, haha. 🙂
What I’d REALLY like to know:
“As a developer, did you interact directly with Shigesato Itoi? If so, was it on a regular basis? Was he determined on certain aspects of character design, or did he give you a lot of freedom?”
(I recall once reading that Itoi was lax and gave developers freedome with either M2 or M3).
Also wouldn’t mind this one getting asked:
“Did you play MOTHER and/or MOTHER 2? If so, before or after (or during?) working on MOTHER 3 (64)? Have you played the MOTHER 3 released on the GBA? What do you think of it–did it turn out anything like what you thought the N64 one would?”
![]() | Axl-fox said on May. 17, 2010 |
just one question
in regards to the final boss
what did Itoi meant when he said that the ending in EB64 was going to be much darker than the actual one in Mother 3?
What do you think happened to the prototype and is there anyway we can ever get a hold of it?!
![]() | Giovanni said on May. 17, 2010 |
In terms of character / plot-related stuff, the most worthwhile question that this guy would probably have an answer to is whether Itoi had any concept of the Magypsies in mind since the beginning of the project. Most of these other M64/M3 comparison issues can be inferred from interviews and photos we already have, but the Magypsies are a pretty unique exception in terms of the secrecy with which they seems to have been handled.
It would also be interesting to confirm whether Itoi’s association with Hayao Miyazaki’s projects – Princess Mononoke in particular – is known to have had any significant influence on M64’s development. In particular there are some pretty strong similarities between Yokuba’s design and characterization and the movie’s travelling monk/merchant/mercenary character that probably can’t be entirely coincidental.
-Need to know if they looked at drawings before making the 3D models: How were they different?
-Was the original 64DD Mother 3 design present? If so, what changes were made with the regular N64 version?
-Overall we need to know [more about] how the N64 game was different from the GBA one.
Why was the project not moved to Gamecube like Dinosaur Planet?
What elements from the Game Boy Advance Mother 3 were not planned for the Original N64 Mother 3 (if anything)?
What was in N64 version that was removed in Game Boy Advance game?
Was Gyiyg/Giegue/Giygas supposed to be in the N64 version?
![]() | Lol said on May. 18, 2010 |
I know why was it canceled!?
![]() | Bruce said on May. 19, 2010 |
If there is a remake of the seris how would u improve the monster design personally.
This has been bugging me, since some sprites in various game of the N64 era didn’t look all that nice.
“Where there any models that looked significantly better in 3D then as a sprite?”
Please say this:
1. Was Claus supposed to become into Giygas in the ending? If so, What was the Darker part of it?
2. Was Pokey/Porky supposed to die in EB64?
3. What was The Ending?
4. Was the Masked Man supposed to be Someone else or Claus?
5. Did Ness play an important part in the Game?
was mother 4 ever thought of or did you always know mother 3 would be the last game in the series?
did ness make a similar appearance in earthbound 64 or did he play a bigger role?
![]() | OKeijiDragon said on May. 20, 2010 |
So what is the status of MOTHER 3 N64’s Monster Designer here?
Early shots showed something that looked like Onett and a destroyed Fourside. Were those shots actually part of the story?
One of the promos I saw appeared to have a Ness/Ninten character in it. To your knowledge were either of those characters originally slated to star in the game?
I remember seeing somewhere that the game was supposed to have around 14 chapters instead of the 8 in Mother 3. What chapters were dummied out if any and which chapters were simply lumped together? Of the dummied out chapters, what did their storylines involve?
Itoi also mentioned that the initial story was supposedly darker than its finished product in Mother 3, what were these darker elements and how do they contrast to the current storyline?
![]() | Kyoo said on May. 21, 2010 |
does pudding taste better warm or cold?
Oh, another thing. What was Lucas “Call” action command seen in the playable demo used for?
What’s working with Itoi-chan like? Is he cool to hang out with, or is he kind of scary?
Was it difficult to design monsters given the limitations of the Nintendo 64? Did you have to make many compromises because of it?
@ LakituAl
Hmmm…not a bad idea for a way darker ending…MUA HA HA HA. OOO, OOO! What if that was an alternative ending, where if you whooped the Masked Man too hard he died and Lucas found out who he accidentally killed?? GENIUS.
If you were offered the opportunity to work on either Mother 4 or a remake of Earthbound 64 would you?
It said EarthBound 64 had 10 main characters, MOTHER 3 only has 7, who were the 3 unused main characters?
was New Pork City going to be in the game and if so how would it differ from the gba version
We may or may not, relax.
(Of course NPC was going to be in the N64 ver.!)
![]() | Ricardo said on Jun. 10, 2010 |
NPC was going to be in the N64 version, just as New Pork Island!
My main question is how Earthbound54/Mother 3 was originally meant to end. I wanna know more about this “let the players feel betrayed” ending Itoi had in mind.
![]() | Mato said on Aug. 23, 2010 |
Sort of but not really. I need to make a post about it sometime, but nothing much to say.
WAS *SPOILERS* PORKEY *END OF SPOILERS * IN IF SO PLEASE SHOW A MODLE
![]() | Dark Kirby said on Mar. 11, 2011 |
I know one!
Where did you get the ideas for the monsters
and if MOTHER64/Mother 3 64
was realeased,what date would it probably be
realeased!
![]() | Dark Kirby said on Mar. 11, 2011 |
WHY WAS MOTHER 3 ON GBA!
in an interveiw Itoi said the ending was going to be much darker in eb 64… how?
I got one: What other kinds of characters were planned, but didn’t make it?