Difference between revisions of "EarthBound (series)"

==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 ''{{vg|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 [[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'''. Though the English localization was fully completed in 1990 and was scheduled to release in the fall of 1991, <ref>http://www.lostlevels.org/200407/200407-earthbound2.shtml</ref> <ref>https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/XYRPYQfZ7HRZGgu1xA1iOeCMVeMzLVTrfdqreV5BI4PsQb6DHFoUI_pMno8l39fj1KxsMfAZWzQKsGhczkt2qjsQhJOxfwORKN8ZhtPEMn_d7MfkFzOVNZvyB1zeRmzk6VgrBWXz</ref> it was cancelled for a multitude of reasons, the largest one being the upcoming [[Super Nintendo Entertainment System]], which was thought to overshadow the English release of the game. Thus, the game was decided too costly to market and produce (despite all of the packaging materials for the game being finalized and ready for production <ref>https://vimeo.com/ondemand/mothertoearth</ref>) and was indefinitely shelved with no plans for a future release, with a {{wp|Canada}}-only release being briefly considered in 1994. <ref>http://www.lostlevels.org/200407/200407-earthbound2.shtml</ref>

With the success of ''Mother'', Shigesato Itoi began to work on a sequel for the Super Famicom, ''Mother 2''. However, the game endured numerous internal delays, with the game’s total development taking 5 years; at one point, the game faced the prospect of 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 critical and commercial 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 by multiple gaming sources and magazines 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 & Stimpy Show}}''; gaming magazine ''GamePro'' also received numerous complaints about the ad campaign and its foul-smelling scratch and sniff stickers than any other ad campaign that year alone. ''EarthBound''{{'}}s poor American sales prevented the game from being released in PAL regions.

Despite this, the game began to receive recognition because of Ness, the protagonist of ''EarthBound'', receiving representation in the 1999 [[Nintendo 64]] title ''[[Super Smash Bros.]]'' and its successors. Because of this, the game began to receive a large following on internet fan sites such as Starmen.Net (originally EarthBound.Net) and EarthBound Central. Retrospectively, the game 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 received 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.