Nintendo Gives Hope For Future Earthbound Titles

Tom Goldman

Crying on the inside.
Aug 17, 2009
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Nintendo Gives Hope For Future Earthbound Titles



There may be hope for another Earthbound game yet.

The voracious following [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/issues/issue_279/8293-Homeward-Earth-Bound] despite a lack of official localizations. Earthbound for the SNES, or Mother 2, is the only title to make it to the West out of three, the others having been released on the NES and Game Boy Advance in Japan. Fans have been holding out hope for a Mother 4, perhaps released on modern machines, and though creator Shigesato Itoi says he'll never make it, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata hints that it could happen someday.

In an issue of Japanese magazine Brutus, Itoi and Iwata got together to discuss Mother and a possible Mother 4. Itoi plainly said: "I'm not going to release a Mother 4; Mother is over now."

Itoi talked about his motivation in creating Mother, calling the series a "letter to his daughter" who he couldn't be in contact with for a while due to divorce issues. In Mother, the character saves by calling his father on the phone, and his father guides him through the adventure from afar. "Looking back at the Mother series, I feel like I had a reason for making Mother 1 through 3," Itoi revealed. "But now my kid is all grown up."

It's not that Itoi doesn't feel a need to create more Mother games, but he wouldn't mind handing the series off so he could be the player this time. Iwata doesn't deny this possibility, saying: "I don't believe there will be any new Mother games made using the same production system as before."

These words aren't a confirmation of anything, but they do give the Mother series a chance to come back in some form rather than completely ruling the possibility out. If it doesn't, there's always that fan project [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/104540-Mother-4-Coming-Without-Nintendos-Help], though getting to experience Mother on perhaps the 3DS would be out of this world.

Source: Earthbound Central [http://earthboundcentral.com/2011/04/shigesato-itoi-discusses-mother-4/]


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Therumancer

Citation Needed
Nov 28, 2007
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It's possible, it took them a while to realize that "Shin Megami Tensei" would do fairly well here in the US, I'm hoping that after all this time they are realizing the same thing about "Earthbound".
 

SanguineSymphony

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Jan 25, 2011
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Mister Benoit said:
That's how sad Earthbound fans are, this is considered hope.
Yeah as hope goes that was kind of pathetic...

(Paraphrasing)I might give the project to someone else but I want nothing to do it with.

Therumancer said:
It's possible, it took them a while to realize that "Shin Megami Tensei" would do fairly well here in the US, I'm hoping that after all this time they are realizing the same thing about "Earthbound".
Who's "they"? Atlus ain't Nintendo. Nintendo has a huge stable of Mascots and Flagships. Atlus has SMT, Mega-Ten Side-Stories and Trauma Center.
 

Mr. Fister

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Jun 21, 2008
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Doubtful. Nintendo of Japan has already shown how little they care for the franchise. If they did care, then why was Mother 3 released on the Game Boy Advance in 2006 instead of the DS, and why hasn't Mother 1 or 2 been brought onto Virtual Console in Japan, where the concerns of copyright infringement are minimal at best? The fact that the lead creator is clearly not interested in growing the franchise only further puts the nail in the coffin.

This series is basically in a coma with very little chance of revival.
 

shaykreth

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Sep 21, 2010
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It's a nice idea that there may be more Mother games, but a game without Itoi is likely to miss the mark for the charm that makes the series what it is. The three games we have are excellent, if difficult to find and play, and I am perfectly happy to play them over and over again.

Mister Benoit said:
That's how sad Earthbound fans are, this is considered hope.
Us Mother fans take what we can get. It's the history of the fandom; we are fed tiny pieces of hope from various sources, and we just wish and wish that it'll actually pan out.
 

Mister Benoit

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Sep 19, 2008
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shaykreth said:
It's a nice idea that there may be more Mother games, but a game without Itoi is likely to miss the mark for the charm that makes the series what it is. The three games we have are excellent, if difficult to find and play, and I am perfectly happy to play them over and over again.

Mister Benoit said:
That's how sad Earthbound fans are, this is considered hope.
Us Mother fans take what we can get. It's the history of the fandom; we are fed tiny pieces of hope from various sources, and we just wish and wish that it'll actually pan out.
I completely understand you, i've been a member of starmen.net for a long time and have probably spent way more money than I should have at fangamer. I wore my Starmen grey track jacket to work today.

I've got 2 of their posters framed up on my wall, the fan made Mother 3 game manual and enough tshirts to keep me looking fresh for well over a week.

My name is Benoit and i'm a starved Mother fan.
 

-Dragmire-

King over my mind
Mar 29, 2011
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sigh... perhaps one day it'll grace our shores... unlikely though.

guess i'll go back and play earthbound again
 

rekabdarb

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Jun 25, 2008
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Mackheath said:
rekabdarb said:
It'll come out... but in japan only. =D
I pictured you with a massive trollface for this...but you're probably right.
wasn't my intention to trolololo this but, it's probably true. And if it is released in a language that isn't japanese, it'll be a shitty fan dub or like 2-3 years after it comes out
 

Macgyvercas

Spice & Wolf Restored!
Feb 19, 2009
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How about instead of more Mother games, you release the first and third games outside Japan, huh, Nintendo?
 

RA92

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Jan 1, 2011
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Well, today Earthbound is the only Nintendo franchise I admire. And of course they are going to dump it, since they're so hell-bent on making me hate them.
 

AugustFall

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May 5, 2009
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I didn't know that was the motivation behind the series. That's really touching.

I'll have to check out these games, seems like as a fan of JRPGs this should be high on my list.