EarthBound (series): Difference between revisions

The series' Japanese title, ''Mother'', was inspired by a song of the same name by {{wp|John Lennon}}. The lyrics of "Mother" deal with Lennon's experience of growing up without a father. ''EarthBound'' creator Shigesato Itoi chose this name for his project because his own father was absent through much of his life. This theme is addressed in the first two ''Mother'' games, in which the main protagonist's father is never seen and only makes an appearance as a voice on a telephone. Itoi also felt the title of ''Mother'' was especially fitting as the game series was more feminine than other RPGs.<ref name="chugga">[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UOLj1-q67U&ab_channel=DidYouKnowGaming%3F EarthBound - Did You Know Gaming? Feat. Chuggaaconroy]. ''YouTube''. Retrieved June 12, 2020.</ref>

The origin of the name "''EarthBound''" came from ''Mother'''s English localization team in 1990, when its head, [[Phil Sandhop]], thought of the name "''Earth Bound''" (stylized as ''EARTH BOUND'') while on a bullet train to Kyoto. Beforehand, the team considered using the ''Mother'' moniker for the English localization, even going so far as to trademark the name in America on November of 1989,<ref name="chugga" /> but Phil Sandhop thought that it wouldn't work well as a title for the game in America; after coming up with ''Earth Bound'', Phil Sandhop and the team ultimately decided upon the name after it stuck.<ref name="mother2earth">https://vimeo.com/ondemand/mothertoearth</ref> Later on in 1995, the team behind the English translation of ''Mother 2'' decided to carry over the ''Earth Bound'' (now changed to a one-word "''EarthBound''") moniker in their English translation, as the English translation for ''Mother'' was never released in America by Nintendo until 2015, when they released it under the name "''[[EarthBound Beginnings]]''".