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Earthbound 2/Mother 3 Fan Translation Nears Completion

Posted by Cole Stryker

Shigesato Itoi's brainchild was known in the West as Earthbound, a quirky RPG that eschewed every role playing convention. Like L. Frank Baum and Lewis Carrol, Itoi lured children into a world of bizarre fantasy. He realized the limitations of his technology and the infancy of his medium, opting for a breezy, existentialist humor instead of the sweeping melodrama characterizing most role playing games. Deconstructing the console RPG into its fundamental parts, Itoi was able to bring the genre's mechanics outside of Tolkien-esque storyboards and into a world closely resembling modern-day suburbia. Its hero wasn't a muscled he-man nor a femme half-elf, but an ordinary adolescent kid. Ness saved the world with a cracked baseball bat and a t-shirt rather than a broadsword and chain mail.

I received Earthbound for my eleventh birthday. Having never played an RPG, this quirky little bastard blew my mind. It's still my favorite game, which is why I'm thrilled to report that the fan translation for Mother 3, the Japanese GBA sequel to Mother 2 (Earthbound) is nearly complete! Fueled by the dedication of a few insane Earthbound nerds along with the zeal of the internet's most fervent fan community, the translation should be completed sometime this fall, if progress continues at its current rate.

I'm not sure how Nintendo is going to react to this unofficial ROM release, but I can only hope they ignore it. It's the only way English-speakers will be able to enjoy the game, after all. The Starmen forums are renowned for their petitions, which pleaded with Nintendo to release the sequel stateside for well over a decade.

+ DIGG

+ DEL.ICIO.US

+ REDDIT

Posted Jun 12 2008, 10:00 AM

Filed under: rpg, earthbound, mother 3

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Cole Stryker is an American freelance writer living in York, England, where he resides with his archeologist wife. He writes for a travel company by day and argues about pop culture on the internet by night. Find him writing regularly here and here.

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