Rumor: Mother compilation coming to US?

by Ross Miller { Jul 14th 2006 at 2:25PM }

From the EGM rumor mill (which is often a bit more reliable and well-connected that some rumor sites) comes rumbling that Nintendo may re-release Earthbound in America as a DS title. To make the deal sweeter, Nintendo would make it a compilation and have touch-screen capabilities.

There are three games in the Mother trilogy -- Earthbound is technically Mother 2 -- so the compilation could include the first two titles, the latest two titles (Mother 3 was released in Japan for GBA earlier this year), or all three titles. So far, only Earthbound has been released in the US.

Despite EGM's general reliability when it comes to rumors, the continued popularity of Earthbound, and the Ness love shown in Smash Bros, we are not getting our hopes up just yet. Nintendo recognizes the popularity of the series in the US -- they would be blind not to notice -- but the likelier outcome is Earthbound being made available on the Wii's Virtual Console, and possibly downloadable to the DS.

[via Nintendo Wii Fanboy]

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

MetaHuman @ Jul 14th 2006 2:32PM

EGM has been covering EB rumors for the last ten years. :sadness:

However, if they DO bring it to America, I want them to be on DS for the Stereo sound so that I can enjoy close to the same quality as the console versions and Mother 3. :)

Sean @ Jul 14th 2006 2:36PM

I've never played the mother series but, it looks fun. I'd buy it. =)

Artimus @ Jul 14th 2006 2:37PM

They're not going to put it on the Virtual Console for $15-20 when they cna put it on a cart and sell it for $30-$35. They'll probably put Earthbound on both.

Chip @ Jul 14th 2006 2:44PM

hell yes! earthbound was by far my favorite snes rpg, and I've been waiting for mother and mother 3 to come stateside forever.

32_Footsteps @ Jul 14th 2006 2:46PM

Something seems really odd about it. If they were going to make an updated Earthbound with functionality with the DS, the Japanese version would already be announced and you'd have Starmen.net going crazy with coverage. Instead, they're all still wrapped up in Mother 3 and they have absolutely nothing on a Japanese release like this.

Not only that, but it wasn't that long ago that we already had one rerelease of Mother 1+2 (I even imported it)... I think Nintendo would have much better profits if they just translated the GBA rerelease rather than whip up a DS rerelease.

I'm not saying it's false... but I see quite a few reasons to doubt it.

BPM? @ Jul 14th 2006 3:13PM

Although it came from a different company, Megaman Anniversary Collection and Megaman X Collection were both released in North America only, despite how popular Rockman is in Japan (and Capcom doesn't care abouth European Megaman fans).
And after that, Capcom has made the (so far) English-only DS remake of Gyakuten Saiban 2 called "Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Justice for All".

So, it's not impossible for NOA to do an English-only DS compilation of the EarthBound/Mother series.
But until something official is said, I wouldn't get my hopes up.

DM_L @ Jul 14th 2006 3:29PM

Dude. I can see it now. This is just me being giddy, but here's my take:

The touch screen could simply be used for menus and communication. Everything you did with buttons in Earthbound you could do with the stylus. Tap people to talk to them, etc. Tap an icon to open up the menu... The usual. Not especially creative, but practical. The game could also be played with buttons, much like Animal Crossing Wild World.

The game would be advertised as a compilation of Earthbound 2 (the main attraction) and the original Earthbound. An extra selling gimmick (perhaps being exclaimed on the box) would be that the original, "never-before-played in the US" Mother 1 (renamed to whatever name they see fit) would be an unlockable, allowing you to play all three games of the series on one cart (perhaps, and this is a fanboy's wet dream, but perhaps Mother 1 could be played in Onett's arcade).

Y'know, if Mother 3 would ever make it over here, it seems like it would actually be best to throw it in a compilation. Despite its cult classic status, the game alone, being a sequel to a 10-year-old nonseller, wouldn't make huge sales and would probably equate Four Swords Adventures. However, toss it into a compilation and you've got three games for the price of one. Everyone will want to play "the game with Ness in it." It has a lot of potential, especially on the DS rather than the GBA.

I'm optimistic, but I'm used to disappointment with the Mother series, so even if this never graduates from "rumor" status, I'll be fine.

zero @ Jul 14th 2006 3:36PM

It's kind of ironic that I see kids playing Super Smash Brothers and using Ness. When I ask them if they know who he is, they ALWAYS say no. That means we need to have a new Earthbound game in the US. I'd be happy with just a SNES to DS port.

ndoerr @ Jul 14th 2006 3:45PM

Ross, you know Ness rocks the SSB:M world. He and Link... well, they both want this rumor to be true. Heck, I'm going on ebay right now to look for the SNES Earthbound. Sure, I could emulate, but it loses something.

PK Fire!!

idioteraser @ Jul 14th 2006 3:51PM

Ahem the DS version could easily be in the stages of planning. Also Mother is still on the gba so the DS compliation could be US first or US only.

zenprism @ Jul 14th 2006 3:54PM

I'd buy it for DS and Wii just based on it's legacy as a quirky RPG people adore more than their own kidney.

And didn't Earthbound for the SNES use the mouse? That makes it seem like it'd be easy to impliment some kind of touch-screen functionality...

Saxon @ Jul 14th 2006 4:00PM

No, Earthbound did not use the Mouse. It was pure SNES controller, and a GREAT game. I found a copy at a Best Buy a few years ago for like $10. I couldn't believe how lucky I was. :)

Rodents @ Jul 14th 2006 4:08PM

backstabbing joystiq tip readers! i sent this in a week ago! screw you guys, bigtime

epobirs @ Jul 14th 2006 6:31PM

Sure, just like the characters from Ice Climber made their big comeback after appearing SSBM.

No, an NES Classics release does not count as a comeback.

Seifer @ Jul 14th 2006 6:44PM

"From the EGM rumor mill (which is often a bit more reliable and well-connected that some rumor sites)..."

I wouldn't use the word often...

rainking187 @ Jul 15th 2006 12:56AM

32_Footsteps, what about Phoenix Wright? The second game in Japan was originally on the GBA, and it is being ported to the DS in america, but I've heard nothing about a japanese release of it. It could happen. Plus, putting it on the DS is probably less to do with touch functions and more to do with getting all three games to fit on one cart.

Daniel @ Jul 15th 2006 3:08AM

Fitting them on one cartridge shouldn't be a problem. I believe the largest GBA cartridge is 16 megabytes, while NDS games can be up to 128 megabytes. SNES games are of course much smaller than either. So there's plenty of ROM space to be used,

Alex Land @ Jul 15th 2006 2:25PM

I, for one, would buy a DS lite for this.

And I'm sure it would sell many times the copies pheonix wright sold.

Deone @ Jul 16th 2006 5:55AM

I'm still waiting on the Earthbound sequel. Not on GBA. I'm talking about the one thats going to be on N64 disk drive. I think it has been delayed a couple of times. Anyone have release info?

sonictails001 @ Jul 21st 2006 11:49AM

Hey, maybe this is our reward for waiting so long for new earthbound games! A touch screen earthbound would be awesome, but I wont believe it until i see it!

chakan @ Aug 8th 2006 7:07PM

Please let it be true!

Starman Super @ Aug 17th 2006 9:16PM

[Goes into rant mode]

As much as I pray to God this is true, I won't kid myself. The chances of it being true are about as likely as, say, a game like Mario Galaxy being brought to the DS. Well, okay, not that much. -_-

What I mean is, Nintendo has said so many things about new EarthBound games being made, failed us fans, many times, and answered our prayers with a Japan-only Mother 3. Not that it's not great of them to do, but it leaves us US fans in the dust. I don't see what's so hard about translating it. Sure it's a gruelling process, and does require lots of work, but it's less strenuous than actually making a new game. Heck, Nintendo bothered to translate Mother as a simple prototype. Why couldn't they do something like this for the benefit of all of us? Plus, of course Ness is now more popular in the states. I say have a go at it, Nintendo.

But dunno if this rumor thing is valid. I wish it could be...;_;

PsiOpSeven @ Aug 22nd 2006 12:57PM

Well, if they were going to release a compilation, I'd say it'd be all 3 games on the DS. They already have Mother 1+2 on GBA, and Mother 3 takes up pretty much the entire GBA cart (It's like 13 MB, I beleive).

As unlucky as western gamers have been in the past with Mother games, I'm still praying for this to be true.