WikiBound:Nomenclature

This is an official WikiBound policy. In a nutshell: If an official English name exists, we use that. For Mother 3 we use the names from the fan translation. Please follow any guidelines provided on this page.

The following should serve as the guideline for English nomenclature from the EarthBound series.

Article titles

Titles should use the official English name whenever applicable:

Game titles and respective nomenclature

• The first game in the series is to be referred to as "EarthBound Beginnings" for all purposes except for distinguishing among the original Japanese version ("Mother"), the American prototype's ROM ("Earth Bound" or "EarthBound Zero"), said ROM's Wii U Virtual Console release ("EarthBound Beginnings"), and the Japanese GBA re-release ("Mother 1+2").
  • English nomenclature is to follow that of the EarthBound Beginnings Wii U VC release, as translated by Phil Sandhop.
• The second game in the series is to be referred to as "EarthBound" for all purposes except for distinguishing among the original Japanese version ("Mother 2") and the Japanese re-release ("Mother 1+2").
  • Again, English nomenclature is to follow that of the commercially available EarthBound release.
• The third game in the series (GBA) is to be referred to as "Mother 3" for all purposes.
  • English nomenclature is to follow that of the most up-to-date version of the Mother 3 fan translation (at the time of this being written, version 1.2).
• The planned third game in the series (N64) is to be referred to as "EarthBound 64" for all purposes to distinguishing from the released Japanese title ("Mother 3").

Subjects with multiple names

There are several cases where an article's subject has a different name depending on the game. When this happens, the article's title will be decided based on either one of the following criteria:

• The most recent official name for the subject.
• The name used in the most games throughout the series.

For the former, the article will use the name it is referred to in EarthBound. For example, in the case of the enemy Mr. Batty, which was referred to as Mr.Bat in EarthBound Beginnings, the article will use the name used in EarthBound.

For the latter, the name used in the unofficial Mother 3 Fan Translation will also be taken into account. As an example, the item known as the Antidote in both EarthBound Beginnings and Mother 3 is referred to as the Vial of serum in EarthBound, but are meant to be the same item, as such because the former was used more, Antidote was chosen as the article title.

In cases like these, any alternative name the subject has been known by should always be mentioned at least once in the article, preferably in the opening paragraph. When referring to the subject within the context of a specific game, they should be referred to using the name used in that particular game, for instance because the item was named Vial of serum in EarthBound, it should be referred to as that when talking about its appearance specifically in EarthBound.

Items with shared pages

Several items that are part of a "set" share the same page. Items that share pages are those that have a similar name and effect, such as the Hamburger which covers information on the various burgers in EarthBound and Mother 3, as well as various equipment such as Baseball bats. For these cases, the article either uses a general title which often is the "first stage" in the set (for example the Hamburger), or a generic name that collectively refers to the various items in the set (for example the Baseball bat).

Other guidelines to remember

While it is generally preferred to use the most recent official name when naming an article, this is not to be treated as an obligation. There are rare instances where it is preferred to use the name that is most recognized within the fandom. These instances normally only accur whenever something major recieved a new name and most readers will be unfamiliar with the new name, as they have become accustomed to the previous name for a long time due to it being very widespread.

This was enforced back in 2015 when EarthBound Beginnings recieved an official English release. Up until that time, however, the game had only been known as Mother to all fans, and as such were unfamiliar with the official English name EarthBound Beginnings. For the sake of recognition within the fandom, the article was kept as "Mother (video game)" instead of immediately being renamed to its official English name, and was similarly referred to as Mother throughout the wiki. Only once the general public became accustomed to the official English name was the article renamed to EarthBound Beginnings and was similarly enforced to use that name accross the wiki.

Additionally, the wiki may also use fan names for articles in place of official names under certain circumstances for similar reasons. For example, the unreleased sequel to EarthBound which was planned for the Nintendo 64 is referred to by its fan nickname EarthBound 64 in favor of Mother 3: Fall of the Pig King, as that is the most recognized name within the fandom and additionally does not overlap with the released Game Boy Advance title.

Instances like these are very rare, however, and likely not to come up in the future. If such a case were to come up, it will be decided on a case-by-case basis what name will be used with the staff likely to make the final decision.