Difference between revisions of "EarthBound (series)"

|jpreleasedate=[[EarthBound Beginnings]]: July 27, 1989<br>[[Mother 2]]: August 27, 1994<br>[[Mother 3]]: April 20, 2006

The series was created by an influential Japanese copywriter, actor, and minor television celebrity named [[Shigesato Itoi]], who took part in Nintendo's video game industry in the late 1980s. After forming his own subsidiary [[Ape Inc.]] with then-Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi, he began working on the franchise starting with [[EarthBound Beginnings]], later released internationally as [[EarthBound Beginnings]]. Released in July of 1989, the game took on a different theme opposed to the medieval sword-and-sorcery theme found in most RPG games at the time. Instead, the game was set in modern-day [[America]] with the cast consisting of average children with [[PSI|psychic powers]], using average everyday items such as [[baseball bat]]s and [[frying pan]]s as weapons. Mother was a commercial success in Japan, and so the game was then planned to be translated and released internationally with the title '''Earth Bound'''. It was scheduled to release in 1991, however it was cancelled because the upcoming [[Super Nintendo Entertainment System]] was thought to overshadow the English release of the game, thus the game was decided too costly to market and produce, and was shelved with no plans for a release in the future.

Despite Mother 3 not recieving an English release, the EarthBound series is now seen as a mainstream franchise in gaming culture rather than staying as a minor Nintendo classic. EarthBound in particular is widely viewed as the best example of a {{wp|cult classic}}. Many EarthBound references and cameos began to appear in many other Nintendo games, ranging from Ness and Lucas appearing as {{mw|mystery mushroom}} power-ups in {{mw|Super Mario Maker}}, to an entire EarthBound themed level<!--Please put the name of the level--> in {{wk|Kirby Planet Robobot}}, and continues to be an important franchise represented in the Super Smash Bros. series. The series has grown to the point where it has spawned fan games such as Mother: Cognitive Dissonance, as well as numerous indie games that took inspiration from the series, a prime example being the critically acclaimed {{wp|Undertale}}.

|Also known as [[EarthBound Beginnings]], [[Mother (video game)|EarthBound Beginnings]] is the first game to be released in the ''EarthBound'' series. It follows the adventures of [[Ninten]], [[Lloyd]], [[Ana]], and [[Teddy]] trying to find the [[Eight Melodies]]. It was released in Japan on July 27, 1989. It was released via the Virtual Console on the Wii U on June 14, 2015.