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Earthbound and Back Again

Posted by Nadia Oxford

If you've never played Earthbound, known to the pure as Mother 2, I sincerely hope you'll give it a try someday, somehow. Most of America overlooked the title when it was released towards the end of the Super Nintendo's lifespan: the world was awash with Playstation-Saturn-N64 hype and nobody had any time for a (deceptively) primitive-looking Crayola adventure. Having only just recently experienced Earthbound myself, I know that the love and care put into the game's characters, atmosphere and story won't leave me for a long, long time.

Seriously, I'll be rocking on the porch of Pine Box Acres and rasping for my grandson, Ness, to bring granny her cigarettes. I'll slowly draw one out and take a large drag after three shaky attempts with the lighter, producing nothing but sparks until I finally put flint to steel. And Ness will watch me patiently with his hands behind his back while I talk about the time his namesake took down three Krakens in the Sea of Eden. And then I'll die and Ness will steal my wallet and never look back.

If you're insane like myself, you'll want to check out Earthbound and Back Again. It's a list of the Japanese enemy names used in Mother 2 compared side-by-side with their english translations from Earthbound. The list is compiled by Tomato, the gentleman in charge of the Mother 3 fan translation project. Write to your local Pope and elect him for Sainthood.

Lists like this usually exist for American fans to get angry about shoddy translations, but Tomato's list has a different motive: it points out exactly how much work went into the translation for Earthbound. The enemy names for Mother 2 are definitely amusing, but they often border on the generic. Earthbound does a fantastic job with enemies like the "New-Age Retro Hippie" (known as "Carefree Guy" in Japan) and "Ramblin' Evil Mushroom" (simply called "Walking Mushroom" in its homeland).

Check out the list and gain a new appreciation for translators. Then hope for Earthbound on the Virtual Console.

Related Links:

Mother 3 Fan Translation Nears Completion

+ DIGG

+ DEL.ICIO.US

+ REDDIT

Posted Jul 29 2008, 06:08 PM

Filed under: earthbound, mother 3, translation, mother 2, enemies, fan translation, ness, tomato

Comments

That Fuzzy Bastard said:

But... How did *you* experience Earthbound? I mean, I'd love to, but... was it an emulator? Or what?

July 31, 2008 11:32 AM

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