AFTER 25 YEARS, NINTENDO FINALLY RELEASED THIS RPG
A CLASSIC NINTENDO game that was only ever released in Japan has finally found its way to the rest of the world. Mother, originally released on the Famicom system in 1989, is now available in the U.S. and Europe on the Wii Us Virtual Console download service, under the title EarthBound Beginnings.
The game is a unique twist on the Japanese console role-playing game from back when that genre was still a rather recent invention. You play as a young boy in a small town, using a baseball bat to fight enemies. It’s the brainchild of author Shigesato Itoi, and well-remembered by Japanese players of the era.
Mother was originally intended to be released here under the name EarthBound, but even though the game was fully translated into English, Nintendo of America scrapped it back in the 1990s. Its Super Nintendo sequel was eventually released here using that title, and that’s been the only experience that Mother fans outside Japan have had—legally. (We’re still hoping for a worldwide version of Mother 3 eventually, and hopefully today’s announcement takes that closer to reality.)
You can find it on Wii U’s eShop today for $6.99. Caveat emptor: Mother is a classic of the 8-bit RPG era in all ways, including the fact that it can be pretty difficult and require lots of grinding and dying. (Not sure if Nintendo has made any difficulty tweaks to this version, but I doubt it.)
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