Mother 3 now official...

[Great Rumbler]

Mother 1 + 2 have been announced in Japan (Earthbound here in North America) for the GBA, and we've got the first commercial for you. (Thanks Quiter!)

Mother 1+2 will be released on June 20th, for 4800 yen. There's no release date for Mother 3, but there's a tease at the end of the commercial. Well have more information when we find our Japanese correspondent. For now, check out the commercial!

Billy adds that they discovered that Mother 3 will also be on the GBA. While that isn't as exciting as a new Mother game on the GC that's still pretty good.

Planet Gamecube

[Darunia]

Is this the same Mother fucker that was the big sure-fire smash hit of the 64DD? Seems a fairly lackluster title to me now.

[Great Rumbler]

Mother = Earthbound

I don't think Mother 3 was going to be on the 64DD, but I could be wrong.

[OB1]

Gamesarefun.com reported on this over a month ago and I even made a thread about it. They also said that Mother 3 would definitely be shown at E3 in some form. They didn't say whether or not it would be coming out for the Gamecube, however. Well they did in the first update, but then they said that Mother 3 would simply be shown at E3, without specifying which system it will be released on.

I told you all that GAF is a reliable source.

[OB1]

Originally posted by Great Rumbler
Mother = Earthbound

I don't think Mother 3 was going to be on the 64DD, but I could be wrong.

Mother 3 was originally planned as a 64DD game.

[Laser Link]

I'm sure this is a different game though, just using the same working title. Unless the GBA suddenly grew some massive poly pushin power.

[OB1]

I certainly hope that's not the case. I want a GC Mother game, damnit!

[A Black Falcon]

Sounds good... but it'd definitely be better on the Cube...

[OB1]

If Nintendo is smart they'll bring it over to the Cube. But you know them...

[Darunia]

What's Earthbound about anyway; I only recall scant previews for the 64DD...I don't even know what kind of game it is anyway.

[WhiteFleck]

Well, I'll be a'buyin', then.

[OB1]

Earthbound for the SNES is a Nintendo-made RPG set in modern day times and involves aliens and stuff. It's a good game.

[Dark Jaguar]

You forgot some stuff. First off, you probably already know this, but our Earthbound is actually Mother 2.

Okay, OB1 is correct. The best part is what he didn't mention, it's a hilarious comedy RPG. It's got all sorts of hilarity, in the "that's insane" comedy style. You get to do all sorts of things, like... MURDER a stop sign.

[A Black Falcon]

But it has random battles... and Ness is bad... well, in SSB anyway... :)

[Dark Jaguar]

Um, you haven't played Earthbound have you? Don't worry ABF, the battles are done just like Chrono Trigger/Cross or Super Mario RPG/Paper Mario. You see the enemies, and you can run to avoid them often enough. Oh, and in fact the encounters depend on how you meet them. If you sneak up on them (touch them in the back while facing them), you are in a preemptive strike battle. If they sneak up on you, they get first attack. If you meet each other head on, it's a standard battle. Oh, and here's a lovely treat. If your party's level is significantly higher than the enemies, the battle is won the second you encounter the enemy.

Oh, and in good hands, Ness is awesome. He's one of the high learning curve characters. It takes time, but with work he does MAJOR damage and has a good number of ground based combo attacks (and I can think of one decent enough air combo, though it does leave you in place in the air long enough to get your arse handed to you, so you better make sure the enemy can't attack you when you start the air combo).

[A Black Falcon]

But figuring out Ness is a much bigger pain than its worth...

Oh, and I didn't know it had Chrono Trigger style battles. That's good...

[Dark Jaguar]

Yep, and as I explained, a more advanced and strategic version of it. From what I understand, the original NES game even has this system.

Well, that's why they have lower learning curve characters in the game. The whole cast of characters really is balanced, even Pichu isn't as sucky as some say. He has more power and speed than Pikachu, but just happens to hurt itself with each move that uses electricity. The unbalanced nature is only in the learning curve. You don't want to bother learning him? That's okay, but some don't mind learning it, and those guys end up really doing well in combat.

[A Black Falcon]

All the Mario-universe characters, Ness, all the Pokemon except Mewtwo, Mr. Game & Watch, and several other characters are, IMO, not very good at all... or, at best, extremely average...

Oh, and having first strike / hit from behind isn't rare in RPGs... its not always there, but its not a innovative feature or anything.

[Dark Jaguar]

I didn't say THAT was new. Read a tad closer (well it's late so I can forgive you misreading it). I said the METHOD of how those types of encounters happen is unique. Read it again and you will see what I said was that if you sneak up on them in the adventure field (outside the battle that is) and touch them in the back, it's an instant preemptive battle. No randomness about it, it's determined by your sneaking abilities in the field. The rest of what I said regarding them touchign you in the back to start a back attacked encounter and so on is selfexplanatory I think.

Now for SSBM:
I can see you thinking they aren't that good, but all it takes is a lot of practice with all the characters to see they really all have points they excell at. Mario is indeed a very "average" character, but that's not bad. No strengths, but no real weaknesses (well, he has a slight lack of speed, but that's just my fighting game bias for fast characters coming through). He's got some small projectile attacks (cape reflection and the fire ball), though they are generally used for distraction during battle (not that that's a bad thing, a good fighter knows how useful light but quick damage attacks like Metroid bombs can be for starting a good combo). His advantage is how easy it is to learn how to use him. His special moves are used in pretty much all his combos, and so are his normal moves (while there are a couple characters where most combos will either be one or the other, Ice Climbers and their norm attack heavy combos come to mind). However, it is apparent you haven't practiced too heavily (understandable, with no one nearby to play against, this isn't a game that will be played much, it's really a party game) when you talk about ONLY using Sheik, and thinking that the CPU would be better off always using Sheik. The fact is, a good Zelda user will be switching and using both forms pretty often. Relying on either one too much will kill ya, especially if you are playing only as Sheik against some player who is a power character expert, like Sacred Jellybean and his Ganondorf. Basically, there is a lot of depth hidden under the simple nature of Smash Bros Melee to discover, if you care to that is. Otherwise, no matter. It's hardly the most important thing in the world to "understand the depth and intensity" of a frickin' game. I myself know next to nothing about how to fight decently in a Street Fighter type game.

[A Black Falcon]

I didn't say THAT was new. Read a tad closer (well it's late so I can forgive you misreading it). I said the METHOD of how those types of encounters happen is unique. Read it again and you will see what I said was that if you sneak up on them in the adventure field (outside the battle that is) and touch them in the back, it's an instant preemptive battle. No randomness about it, it's determined by your sneaking abilities in the field. The rest of what I said regarding them touchign you in the back to start a back attacked encounter and so on is selfexplanatory I think.

Um, that's what I was talking about... having enemies who attack you from behind get to attack first, etc... I don't know how new the idea was when Earthbound came out, though.

Like Paper Mario, how if you jump on enemies you attack first and if they hit you they do... I think Mario RPG did it that way too...

Mario is too average... average to the point of uselessness...

Fast characters? I like those too... see: I usually use Sheik...

I forgot the Ice Climbers. They are bad too.

I play SSB:M a little bit in multiplay, but not often... and I just find Zelda not any good. Sure she hits harder and has more useful spells, but is slow and weak... I just find Sheik (despite her lack of useful special abilities except the teleport) better pretty much all the time...

Do I win? Not all that often... but that's because I'm not all that good at the game and never practice since it gets boring quick (single or multi player). When I play it multiplay I'm usually bored after a few games (of going to 5 lives, usually)... and I haven't really played single player in the better part of a year...

[Dark Jaguar]

Well, I was talking about Earthbound being first to do that, since it came out before Chrono Trigger and Mario RPG (actually, I don't think Mario RPG had that, I think that was only added in Paper Mario, but I could be wrong, still the point stands).

[N_A]

On GBA !!!??? WHY !!! That sucks. They've already got the thing worked up for 6 years on a 3d system... just soup up the graphics and finish the damned thing !!!!

[Dark Jaguar]

Well souping up the graphics, as you put it, would either be the simple fix they did for OOT's port, or a total rehaul of the whole game that would take a very long time to do. The former would result in a game that might not sell (though Animal Crossing's popularity attests to people not really caring if the game is good enough, and remember that EArthbound for SNES purposly made the graphics kinda bad for comedy purposes. While I would like to see them just finish what they started and port it over, you and I really don't know the details of what they actually did and didn't do. Maybe they got really far into the project and cancelled it not for the announced reasons but because after playing it they discovered they made a terrible game. It happens sometimes.

It'll be nice to finally get Mother 1 (wonder what it'll be called in the US?) over here anyway.

Anyway, I should suggest to you N_A some relaxation. Take time off to just think about what is GOOD about the world. There's nothing wrong with just revelling in the good for a while. Don't worry, be happy. Really, all that anger can't be good for you.

[N_A]

When theres good, I'll revel in it, but not yet as of now. Btw, Mother 1 will likely be called Earthbound 0 as it was planned to be called I believe, but for some reason the game was pulled. An English NES cart existed. Some employee of NOA got it in an inhouse clearing, people on Earthbound.net, now Starmen.net paid him to dump it, and now its a ROM saying Earthoubnd 0.

[Darunia]

It's only out on the GBA, not the GC???

[Laser Link]

My understanding was that the new Mother 3 was a GBA game also, but I may have assumed that. I don't know if they ever said that for sure, so it could be a GC game. In which case it probably would be the old 64DD Mother 3.

[OB1]

Here are the first screens of Mother 1&2 from Games Are Fun, as usual:

[Dark Jaguar]

That sounds like a rumor N_A. I highly doubt such an amazing sequence of events actually took place. It's more reasonable to believe that someone just dumped and made their own patch for Mother 1 and then later such a story was made up by someone.

Nice pics, old Famicom Ness (or whatever his name is if it's not that) looks very.... weird.

[A Black Falcon]

No, DJ, its true... Nintendo really did finish a English version of Earthbound Zero but never release it... the translated version isn't just a translation patch from anything I've ever heard...

[Dark Jaguar]

Well then, can ya source me with some official data on this? Otherwise, I'll just have to assume it's a very popularized urban legend. I'll need something straight from the horse's mouth.

[A Black Falcon]

http://starmen.net/mother1/

http://www.rpgclassics.com/reviews/earthboundzero.shtml

[OB1]

I have EB Zero on my NESter DC emulator.

[Sacred Jellybean]

Earthbound on GBA is sex in a whiskey bottle... or something...

I don't get the nomenclature, though. Was the NES version Earthbound Zero aka Mother 1, followed by the SNES version being named Earthbound aka Mother 2? That's pretty screwy.

[OB1]

Mother 1 in Japan, EB Zero in the U.S; Mother 2 in Japan, Earthbound in the U.S. EB Zero would have come out after EB1 in the U.S., so that's why they gave it that name.

[Dark Jaguar]

Those links aren't exactly official. That wouldn't be bad, except they are merely stating this supposed fact without any source for their info. Did Nintendo themselves say this happened? That's all I'm asking for, some confirmation. Someone else just repeating what very well could just be a rumor without any evidence to back it up isn't proof.

[Darunia]

Is that a battle of a car and a big rig truck...? What the hell is the story behind this, common household/modern wordly things vs. you? Whats that giant thing about?

[A Black Falcon]

DJ, I'd call that pretty conclusive proof... Starmen.net isn't exactly a untrustworthy source...

[Great Rumbler]

Originally posted by Dark Jaguar
Those links aren't exactly official. That wouldn't be bad, except they are merely stating this supposed fact without any source for their info. Did Nintendo themselves say this happened? That's all I'm asking for, some confirmation. Someone else just repeating what very well could just be a rumor without any evidence to back it up isn't proof.

....Umm...Why exactly are making such a big deal about it anyway? Oh, your only kidding...right?

[A Black Falcon]

Yeah... good question. DJ, why do you care this much? And when presented with the only thing I've ever heard called the truth, why do you doubt it so much?

[Laser Link]

Nintendo would never admit to anything like that happening. Nintendo won't even admit that they will be at E3 until 2 days before the show.

[Dark Jaguar]

I don't really care THAT much at all, I'm just making a point of it. If I sound like I really care a whole lot, don't take it that way. I'm just making a point that there's not sufficient (read: any) evidence to show that's where this translation came from. I don't really CARE about it, and I don't actually think that DIDN'T happen, so much as I don't have any reason to think it DID happen. Don't worry about it so much, I just won't buy it without proof is all. No reason to go on, let's just continue talking about the game.

[A Black Falcon]

So you think those people are lying when they say that a group paid money to be allowed to dump the US NES cart that Nintendo had sold? Er...

[Dark Jaguar]

Um, what?

Look, when it comes to urban legends, I don't accuse people of lying, just being misinformed. That's how they spread, not because people lie to each other, but because they think they are telling a true story.

Look, no need to make a big deal of this, I just have my doubts about this story. It's a matter of occam's razor. Which is the more plausible explanation? Is it that someone at Nintendo sold a mostly finished translated ROM to someone, or that a group of people just translated it and a story got out? Since the former is the more unbelievable of the two, the burden of proof is on those claiming it's so, not me. As I said, I don't out and out think it DIDN'T happen, I just don't actually believe this yet. Proove it, and I will believe it. It very well could have happened, but being someone who happens to visit an urgan legends message board where people discuss and often disproove stories just like this one (regardless of how many reputable sites may have fallen for it before), it just smells a tad fishy is all. Don't take it personally, I'm not trying to offend anyone by just not believing it. I'm not calling anyone stupid or a liar, so don't take it that way. There's no need to make such a big deal about this. I just made the comment that it seems hard to believe, so leave me to that statement.

[Great Rumbler]

Hmm...you know after reading that story again it does sound a bit...suspicious. I mean a guy from Nintendo got a hold of the cart? How likely is that to happen, right? And then this site paid this guy money? And he took the money and dumped the rom? No way that just isn't something a guy from Nintendo would do. Why would they give him money anyway? Just for a rom? No way. That story is just so far fetched I can't understand how anyone can believe it.

[A Black Falcon]

I believe it because I think that if it was a translation patch there would be a translation patch for the game out there and the guy who made it would want credit... neither is the case...

[N_A]

Well its not an urban legend because my friend donated a couple bucks to the dumping cause. Thats not to mention this info was circulating all over Zophar.net at the time, and the certain Nintendo employee had the cart with pics, screen caps from his NES and such. And several months later when we got the 400 something odd bucks that he requested, we got the dump, and no one translated it and we all played the ROM - because it was already done in English.

Btw, he didn't just get a hold of it. It was in their store rooms, and they were cleaning it out and he happened to "appropriate it," because they would have tossed it anyways. You know its no lie, when the game ROM is actually out.

You want proof, go download it, and play it, because I did. And many others have.

And the reason he requested money is because there was only 1 of these prototype carts made. He requested money because he felt it would have decreased the intrinsic worth of such a unique cart if it were to be dumped. So he wanted money to make up for it.

BUt this is definitely a game to buy. Hopefully they redo the graphics to EB0. I'm definitely getting these Mother games. Itoi btw, said that he's making MOther 3 off the original storyline he had for the N64 game. Thats good news.

[Dark Jaguar]

Playing it isn't proof of anything other than the fact that there's a translated ROM out there. It's all too convenient that you happen to have a "friend" that knew the guy, but since I'm so nice :D I'll trust ya.

[A Black Falcon]

DJ, you are being ABSURD! What are we supposed to do, go mail you the cartridge?

[Dark Jaguar]

Um, but the ROM isn't proof though. It's not a hard concept. NA didn't once say anything to proove it, just "get the ROM if you need proof", which of course isn't proof of anything other than the fact it was translated. And no, you don't need to do anything. I never expected you to actually proove it, I just expected you to let it be really. Here's the deal. When the GBA game comes out, if the translation is exactly, or almost exactly, the same as the ROM out there, that'll be enough for me. Of course, if it's not, that doesn't proove that this didn't happen of course. Me saying that would be absurd, since they could have just decided to retranslate it. I'm just saying that would be the kind of evidence that would proove it. How might it be disprooven? I really can't think of any way to disproove it.

Anyway, as I said I'm going with a little faith here that N_A isn't just making up stories, so I'll just go with some blind faith as proof.

[A Black Falcon]

I believe it because of the Rom. If it was just a translation patch, it'd probably not change the game's name from Mother to Earthbound Zero, but the rom does... and it says Nintendo. No translation group name, like every other translation patch I have. No translation patch listed for the game at Zophar's... which all the translation patches I have are.

If someone had gone to all that work I think they'd want credit.