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None foundJune 27th, 2011 | EarthBound
While I was putting together the next couple of pages for my MOTHER 2 vs. EarthBound comparison section, LucasTizma sent me a tweet asking about a line way back at the start of the game that I hadn’t covered:
@MatoTree Ness’s mom before heading out with Pokey at the beginning: “Yeah, right, you’re cool! Whatever…” What the HECK was that all about?
This made me realize it might be a good idea to ask site visitors for text they might want to know more about. If there are any lines from EarthBound that you’ve been curious about or that always sounded strange to you, let me know in the comments here and I’ll take a look at them. There are so many lines in EarthBound that it’s tough for me to remember them all – in fact, we’re still finding new text!
Incidentally, my answer to LucasTizma’s line was:
I looked it over, and the “whatever” part looks like it shouldn’t be there. I don’t think it was mean to be sarcastic originally
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30 Comments to M2 vs. EarthBound Specifics
![]() | Carl said on Jun. 27, 2011 |
I agree, I always interpreted that line as Ness’ Mom humoring him, and not sarcasm, exactly. I don’t know how that compares to the original Japanese version of the line.
That line always sounded really weird to me, I’m glad someone pointed it out.
What’s with the Mr. Saturn in Saturn Valley who says “I do what I say… Cross heart…” He’s the first one you see when coming from Grapefruit Falls. I think he starts saying the line after you beat Belch.
@ Ann Chovie, I think Poo is a pretty accurate translation of his Japanese name, プー (Puu), if I recall correctly.
I just read about Rishosha Richmonde. I always just figured they were making up a name that contained “Rich” in an obvious way because Summers was supposed to be very opulent. I thought THAT was the joke, and never considered otherwise. Is it possible that localization staff would have felt the same?
![]() | Mato said on Jun. 27, 2011 |
Hukky: I looked and he actually says that at the end of the game. He basically says “We pull out all the stops when we really gotta do something.”
FreshFeeling: Yes, that’s why the Richmonde is there in both versions, although the “Reso’cha”/”Risosha” thing is what that section was actually about.
![]() | Mato said on Jun. 27, 2011 |
If anything, it’s more of a fart sound.
![]() | LucasTizma said on Jun. 27, 2011 |
1. At the same point in the game, Tracy has some weird lines… Trying to remember what they are specifically? Something like, “Oh, wait, it’s my line?” And then when you say “No” she says something else strange.
2. Are there any hints in the original M2 script that Tony might be gay or have feelings for Jeff? Not sure if Itoi tacked this on after the fact or if he tried to model Tony’s dialog around this aspect.
I was wondering if the name of Ness’s tree house gang- “We’ll laugh about it tomorrow”- is the same in Japanese. Also, from what I remember there’s an NPC text box inwhich the text ends with an arrow pointing down, as if there’s more text, but there isn’t. I think it’s in one of the first three towns. Anyway, I just wonder if maybe there’s more to what that townsperson says.
“We’ll laugh about it tomorrow” is an AWESOME name for a club.
There are several places in the game that use a colorful metaphor for taking a dump, as in “Oh, be careful where you walk. It’s filthy. A chubby kid did his business out here somewhere…” Is that, like many things in Mother 2, somewhat more matter-of-fact in Japanese?
P.S. My apologies for being such a self-important prick all those years ago.
![]() | Mato said on Jun. 28, 2011 |
Holy moly it’s guruzeth, awesome 😯
There’s a line that is said by one of the NPCs in the Stoic Club in Summers. It was something like “Didactically speaking, seminal evidence seems to explicate the fact that your repudiation of entropy supports my theory of space-time synthesis. Of this, I am irrefutably confident.”. Was this directly translated from Japanese? Or is this guy just supposed to sound snobby and smart? Or…well…what exactly IS up with this text?
![]() | Mato said on Jun. 28, 2011 |
From what I recall, it’s basically the same in Japanese, just a bunch of big words to make him seem like he thinks he’s a smart guy. I’ll give it another look though.
![]() | Zinco said on Jun. 28, 2011 |
Oh, guruzeth, we were all terrible back then. Except reidman, I guess.
I always though Ness’s Mum was cool how she didn’t care about her son too much, unlike alot of stereotype videogame mothers, *cough*pokemon*cough*
![]() | kenisu said on Jun. 29, 2011 |
This isn’t so much a question as it is seeking your personal opinion, Mato, but I’ve always wondered if “Ness’ Nightmare” (as opposed to the “Ness’ Demon” of MOTHER 2) might not be 100% censorship-related. Since “akuma” and “akumu” are so close, and the game’s text is written out in hiragana, this could have been another mistranslation (not that “demon” wouldn’t have been censored anyway). Any thoughts?
Ness’s Nightmare sounds a lot cooler than Ness’s Demon, anyway, so thumbs up to the localization team for that one.
![]() | Mato said on Jun. 29, 2011 |
It’s certainly possible, but given that they did place a lot of attention on the enemy names I’d be surprised if it really was a mistake and not censorship instead.
「どっちのげーむをやるですか?」
That’s what M1+2 says when you pick games… Did they put the hiragana gēmu by accident? This is for the Mr. Saturn-font part after you play to a certain point in M2. I’ll check what it says in normal font…
Just checked the original text on an emu since I don’t know how to change it back on my original cart… Anyway, the original one:
「どっちのゲームをはじめますか?」
So, the Saturn one is either an error or they didn’t make a katakana Saturn Boing font… Anyone know more?
![]() | Mato said on Jun. 30, 2011 |
It’s not a mistake, it’s just a goofy way of writing it.
Hi! This is my first post! Thank you for translating Mother 3!
Anyways, could you investigate when your father tells you that he’s deposited money? They put it rather poorly in Earthbound.
Also…
Thank you Mato, but your Magic Butterfly is in another castle!
![]() | kenisu said on Jul. 10, 2011 |
Oh, and hey, it actually took me until last year to figure this out, but I think, since the name of the Gumi tribe is essentially the word for “gummy,” the localizers meant “Tenda” to be a play on “tender.”
You’ve probably already figured this out, Mato, but I thought I’d throw that out there just in case, since it’d be a fun tidbit to include when you get to that point.
In M2, Ness’s mom’s line sounds more like “Yes honey, you look cool” in a humoring-your-child sense.