EarthBound (series)

EarthBound マザー MOTHER
International logo of the EarthBound franchise
Japanese logo
System	Famicom Super Nintendo Entertainment System Game Boy Advance
Genre	Role Playing Game
Rating	T (ESRB)
Publisher	Nintendo
Developer	Ape Inc. HAL Laboratory Brownie Brown
Release dates

The EarthBound series, also known as the Mother series in Japan (マザー MOTHER), is a series of role-playing video games published by Nintendo. There are three games in the series. EarthBound Beginnings, EarthBound, and Mother 3 have been released on the Nintendo Entertainment System, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, and Game Boy Advance respectively. Only Mother 3 has been released exclusively in Japan. Beginnings was released in Japan in 1989, and was re-released in the west on the Wii U Virtual Console in 2015. EarthBound was released in North America in 1994, and re-released on the Wii U Virtual Console in 2013. Mother 3 was released in Japan in 2006, and has yet to gain a western release. Characters, music, weapons, and locations from the series also appeared in the Super Smash Bros. series, with Ness and Lucas being playable characters.

This article or section is under construction.

Franchise history

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 Mother, 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 psychic powers, using average everyday items such as baseball bats and frying pans 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.

On June 15th, 2015, the game was released for the first time internationally to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the series in North America, the game was given the official title 'EarthBound Beginnings. Similar to Japan, the game recieved positive reception, with critics praising its originality story, and its music. However, the game did recieve criticism for its difficulty and balance issues.

With the success of Mother, Shigesato Itoi began to work on a sequel for the Super Famicom, Mother 2. However the game featured numerous delays with development taking 5 years, with the game nearly facing cancellation.

However, the project was saved when veteran programmer Satoru Iwata joined the development team, making the Mother 2 project now a joint effort by Ape and HAL Laboratory (HALKEN at the time), separate studios based at separate locations (employees would regularly have to travel between studios to work). The game was then completed and released in Japan in August 1994. It was then released in North America on June 5th, 1995. While the game was a success in Japan, it recieved poor reception in America. During the time of EarthBound's release, the RPG genre was generally unpopular in the west (this eventually changed with the release of Final Fantasy VII, and the game was criticized for having simple, cartoonish graphics as opposed to advanced graphics that were more appealing at the time. EarthBound's unusual marketing campaign, "this game stinks", was also thought to be a cause for the games faliure in America. These poor sales prevented the game from being released in PAL regions.

Despite this, the game began to recieve recognition because of Ness, the protagonist of EarthBound, recieving representation in Super Smash Bros. and its successors. Because of this, the game began to recieve a large following on internet sites such as Starmen.Net. Retrospectively, the gane became a massive success with critics calling it not only one of the best RPGs of all time, but also the most original. The game recieved praise for its quirky humor, and its many parodies of American culture. The Wii U virtual console release of the game was the first time the game was released in PAL regions, it was one of Nintendo's most popular downloadable games of all time.

Gameplay

The gameplay of the series involves the player traveling through an overworld screen. They can travel in any direction, provided the path isn't blocked, and will be challenged by enemies, most of which will move toward the player. A new screen appears in fight, with there being many options. Also listed is the amount of HP the character has left. If they beat the enemy, the fight will end and the game will return to the overworld screen.

Games

Title
Cover, original release and system	Description
EarthBound Beginnings
July 2nd, 1989: Japan June 14, 2015: International (Virtual Console) Nintendo Entertainment System	Also known as Mother, 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.
EarthBound
File:EarthBoundBox.jpg August 27, 1994: Japan July 2, 1995: North America July 18, 2013: Europe and Oceania (Virtual Console) Super Nintendo Entertainment System	Also known as Mother 2, EarthBound is the sequel to Mother in which Ness, Paula, Jeff and Poo team up to defeat Giygas and save the world. It was released on August 27th, 1994 in Japan, it is also the only game to be released outside of Japan, being released in North America on June 2nd, 1995. It was released on July 18, 2013 on the Virtual Console for the Wii U.
Mother 3
April 20th, 2006: Japan October 17, 2008: Fan Translation Game Boy Advance	The final game in the Mother series, Mother 3 follows the adventures of another group of heroes as they attempt to save the world from a strange pig-themed army. It was released on April 20, 2006 in Japan, however, it was never released anywhere else. Despite its Japan-only release, a fan translation was created. Since Mother 3's release, it has seen a very strong fan effort to try to get the game released outside of Japan. It was re-released on December 17, 2015 on the Virtual Console for the Wii U.

Ports and Remakes

Title
Cover, original release and system	Description
Mother 1+2
June 20th, 2003 (Japan) Game Boy Advance	Mother 1+2 is a port of Mother and EarthBound on the Game Boy Advance, containing various tweaks to audio and graphics to suit the Game Boy Advance's style. It was released in Japan on June 20th, 2003 to hype players for the release of Mother 3. It was never released outside of Japan, likely due to the original Mother being unrealeased outside of Japan at the time.

Common elements

All games feature protagonists wearing striped shirts, and all are about collecting pieces to a song, often heard at the end of each game. Giygas appears as an antagonist in the first two games, and Pokey appears as an antagonist in the last two games.