Difference between revisions of "EarthBound (series)"

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 received poor reception in America. During the time of ''EarthBound''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s release, the RPG genre was generally unpopular in the west (this eventually changed with the release of ''{{wp|Final Fantasy VII}}''), and the game was criticized for having simple, cartoonish graphics as opposed to the advanced graphics that were more appealing at the time in games such as ''{{wp|Killer Instinct}}'' and ''{{wp|Chrono Trigger}}''. ''EarthBound'''s unusual, expensive (and satirical) marketing campaign, "this game stinks", is also thought to be one of the leading causes for the game's failure in America, which was styled after the slime-based gross-out humor of the 90s, primarily displayed in {{wp|Nickelodeon}} shows such as ''{{wp|The Ren and Stimpy Show}}''; multiple sources also received numerous complaints about the ad campaign and its foul-smelling scratch and sniff stickers. These poor sales prevented the game from being released in PAL regions.