61 Frames Per Second : earthbound

Talkin' RPGs With Itoi

Bob Mackey — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 20:05:00 GMT

Shigesato Itoi, a true Renaissance Man of Japan's entertainment world, is mostly known to us gamers as the mastermind behind the Mother RPG series. And it's his iconoclastic, "outsider" view of the video game medium that makes his projects so unique and cult-friendly; someone deeply entrenched in the world of RPG development is far more likely to make a derivative Tales of game than anything approaching the level of Itoi's imagination. With how creatively successful the Mother games have been, it's surprising that developers haven't tried bringing in more outside artists to derail the tunnel-vision quite a few franchises and genres currently suffer from.

Thanks to Itoi, I was deeply engrossed in Mother 3 over the fall and winter months of 2008, mainly because it took such a different approach than the other Mother games; rather than having a huge, worldwide scope (the usual method of most RPGs), the final entry in the Mother trilogy scaled things down to a much smaller and more detailed world that eventually changed (for the worse) over time. It was a fascinating approach that led me to care more about the game's world and inhabitants, all the way up until the heartbreaking ending.

The reason I've been thinking about Itoi lately--aside from the fact that he's so dreamy--relates to a few translated interviews with the jack of all trades posted by the equally-dreamy Tomato over at Earthbound Central. The interviews may be framed by a larger discussion of Animal Crossing, but Itoi still has a few interesting things to say about RPG game design.

Take his comments about Mother 3's small scope, for example:

That’s when I thought of an RPG in which you stay in a certain town for a long time...

The game would have character relations, and the people would all have their own lives. This way, we could do all sorts of things in the game. For example, someone who recently hung laundry out to dry would be wearing those clothes the next day. I wanted to make an RPG in which you could grow closer to the people as time went on.

Interesting stuff, though I wish there was much more of it. You can read the first part of the Mother-related interview comments HERE, and the second part HERE.

Related Links:

The Mother 3 Handbook: Better than Advertised
Mother 3's Soundtrack Disassembled
OST: Mother

Why Were Game Magazines So Cruel to Earthbound?

Nadia Oxford — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 03:20:00 GMT

Earthbound Central has been collecting old magazine reviews for Earthbound, circa Summer 1995. Thus far, the stable includes Gamepro, Game Players, EGM, and most recently, Video Games & Computer Entertainment.

I recently blamed Gamepro for destroying any interest my fifteen-year-old self had in Earthbound, as I well should: their review was wretched. But having looked back at Earthbound Central's library of horror, I've come to realise that Gamepro is not exclusively to blame for turning me off to Ness' adventure. American reviewers despised this poor game.

EGM's John Gurka reserved a coveted place beside the Throne of God for mentioning that the storyline rivals that of Final Fantasy VI, but even he can't resist sniffing at the “Nintendo-era graphics.” Every other review sneers at the very same, berating Earthbound's lovingly put-together world as “childish,” “cutesy,” and “McDonald's Playland meets Bobby's World.”

(So, which ultimately endeared itself to the world? Earthbound or Bobby's World?)

Earthbound is looked upon as one of gaming history's least appreciated games. The farts-n-pizza ad campaign didn't help, but the reviewers of olde probably didn't have them in mind when they snapped off the game and started banging on the keyboard. Why did Earthbound get shafted in the first place?

Though the JRPG genre didn't hit mainstream American culture until Final Fantasy VII, 16-bit era RPGs raised the heads of a few gamers who discovered the joy of an in-depth story. EGM wasn't off the mark when it compared Earthbound's story to Final Fantasy VI's—but there are obvious differences between the two games, not only in themes and narrative, but the delivery of said narrative as well.

Final Fantasy VI delivers its character development to the player, though sometimes those gab sessions take a little bit of searching (Sabin and Edgar, for instance, won't relay their past unless they're both in the party while visiting Figaro Castle). Earthbound, by comparison, scatters clues for the player to put together so they can draw their own conclusions. We learn a lot about Ness through the flashes of memory he experiences at his Sanctuary locations.

Both games tell a lovely story in very different ways. Japan, obviously long used to the nuances of JRPG storytelling by 1995, embraced Mother 2. America, still fresh from being hammered over the head with sex, betrayal, suicide, and everything else Final Fantasy VI offered us for the first time, understandably thought that epic RPG stories were meant to be fed to them intravenously.

In other words, America needed time to get tired of JRPGs ramming words down our throats. Now, over ten years later, we look back and see what a friend we had in Earthbound. Alas...

Related Links:

Abandon All Hope: No Earthbound for the Virtual Console
The Mother 3 Translation: We're Not Worthy!
Whatcha Listening To: The Earthbound Soundtrack

The Mother 3 Handbook: Better than Advertised

Bob Mackey — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 18:00:00 GMT

Ever since I found the Starmen.net community (then Earthbound.net) a decade ago, I've been amazed by both the devotion and productivity of the insane (in a good, fun way) Mother/Earthbound fans who call the site home. Since the beginning of Starmen.net, the community has certainly been through its ups and downs, from the disappointment of Mother 3's original cancellation to the elation caused by the announcement that the game was in the works for the Game Boy Advance--then, back to disappointment again when we found out Nintendo had no intention of publishing it here. The Mother 3 translation released last October was unquestionably the group's biggest labor of love; thanks to talented superhumans like Tomato, we Earthbound fans were given a complete localization of a fantastic game far more polished than the work produced by so-called professionals.

Unfortunately, it looks like the Mother 3 translation now has a bit of competition in the category of "most ambitious, insane, and amazing Earthbound projects to reach completion:" now that I finally have the Mother 3 Handbook in my hands, it's impossible to decide what work is more mind-blowing.

One thing that must be stressed about the Mother 3 Handbook is that it's just as good, if not far better, than just about any professionally-made guide on the market--though, this isn't too surprising, given the amount of time it took to write and the people involved in the Handbook's creation. While the Handbook takes a few design cues from Earthbound's pack-in strategy guide, Fangamer's take on Mother 3 is really in a league of its own. I finished playing through the game on my own back in January, but I've been reading the guide on and off like a traditional book; the little details about characters, events, and locations added by the guide's contributors are entertaining and interesting regardlless of reading context--though I am planning on another playthrough with the guide by my side this summer, when it's open season on free time.

Really, if you're a fan of Mother 3, or just plan on playing it one day, you owe it to yourself to pick up the Handbook. Mother 3 isn't a game that necessarily needs a strategy guide, but the Handbook still adds a lot to an already amazing experience. And if my endless fawning hasn't convinced you, take a look at the following commercial produced by the cranstastic people over at FanGamer.

Related Links:

The Mother 3 Strategy Guide: Fandom Done Right
Some Games Nadia Played In 2008 Instead of Working: Mother--Awwww...
Mother 3's Soundtrack Disassembled

Excitement Time: A New EarthBound on the Way?

Bob Mackey — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 15:00:00 GMT

We here at 61FPS looove Earthbound. And from personal experience I can tell you that being a mega-fan of the series is an extremely bi-polar experience; we have our good moments, such as the recent Mother 3 translation, but we also have our bad moments, like every time Nintendo completely ignores the possibility of us seeing any Mother games on the Wii's Virtual Console.

Now, we Mother fans are seemingly beset with more bad than good news, but a recent report from Earthbound Central may contain some of the best news we've heard in a looong time. In an article in the latest Weekly Famitsu about developer Level 5's unfortunately-named digital download service, Roid, the magazine hints at a possible new Mother game--though it doesn't drop any names. Here's what the amazing man behind EBC has to say about all of this:

The article doesn’t say anything about the screenshot in particular, except asking, “Could this be THAT RPG?!” and that really big-title names are scheduled to be released on it. It’s not clear if this screenshot is just concept art or what, though. If you know Japanese, you can do an interactive demo of how the Roid interface works here, but there are no game demos or anything of interest in relation to this image.

People didn't seem to believe Tomato's initial post, so, in Earthbound Central tradition, he overanalyzed the single, blurry picture of this mystery game to show how much of it was similar to EarthBound:

This could be an early April Fool's joke, but I doubt Tomato could ever be that cruel. And while it's unclear if Roid will ever work outside of Japan, you can bet savvy EarthBound fans will find a way if this news is really as good as we want it to be.

Related Links:

The Reason Why Mother 3 Never Came to America
Mother 3's Soundtrack Disassembled
OST: Mother

Reminder: Those Mother 3 Handbooks Are Still Coming

Bob Mackey — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 19:00:00 GMT

Remember the Mother 3 translation, released late last October? We at 61FPS couldn't stop talking about it--until that court order limited our Earthbound/Mother posts to only a mere dozen a week. Thankfully, sites like Earthbound Central (a must-visit) exist to fill the needs of the most psychotic Mother fans out there, but that doesn't mean there isn't franchise-related news worth reporting about here. Consider the Mother 3 Handbook produced by the devoted folks at FanGamer, for instance; we were all excited about it last Fall, but as its release date slipped into March, most of us have probably forgotten that we dropped 20 bucks on the guide many moons ago.

So, as we reach the final days of March, where exactly is the Mother 3 Handbook? For all those concerned, a blog post on FanGamer's front page this week has confirmed that all of the books weren't lost in some freak postal accident:

The final proof has been approved and the Handbooks (and Poster Jackets) are now being printed/bound as we speak! They should be done either on Friday or Monday. We had a few printing-related issues which put us a few days behind schedule, but we’re still hoping to get the Handbooks in the mail on or before the 24th, meaning all domestic (USA) orders should arrive well before the end of the month.

Since I played through the entirety of Mother 3 from late October to late December, I probably won't get much use out of the guide until I decide to give the game another whirl--probably sometime in the summer. But that doesn't mean I'm not going to read the Handbook cover-to-cover as soon as I get it. As a psychotic Mother fanboy, it is my duty.

Related Links:

The Reason Why Mother 3 Never Came to America
What's In My MP3 Player: Mother 3+'s "Pollyanna"
Mother 3 Makes Me Feel Human Again

What's In My MP3 Player: Mother 3+'s "Pollyanna"

Nadia Oxford — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 03:29:00 GMT

There exists a song that's a perfect accompaniment to the sunrise on the first warm day of the year. That song, as I discovered though an example of ideal iPod shuffling, is “Pollyanna” from the Mother 3+ soundtrack.

Pollyanna is one of a few pieces of music that recur through all three games in the Mother/Earthbound series. The revision done for the Mother 3+ soundtrack—which you can buy on iTunes (do it)—is very pretty and, as I already stated, God's own theme song for springtime.

However, I dare say that the first occurrence of the song (Mother for the Famicom) is the most impressive. The 8-bit era wasn't lacking for ambitious and memorable game music, but retro-Pollyanna is especially heartfelt and spunky. The story for Mother was a bit less structured than most Famicom RPG offerings: not aimless, but not as urgent as “Holy crap, a Dragon Lord draws near.” Pollyanna, which serves as the basic world map theme for Mother, reflects the laid-back start to Ninten's adventure.

The name of the song is telling in itself: “Pollyanna” is a reference to the hyper-positive lead girl of a popular children's book initially published in 1913 (it's still being printed and adapted today). When things were looking down, Pollyanna played the “Glad Game,” which allowed her to see the good bad situations. “Pollyanna” is even a term in the English language that refers to cheerful optimism.

No surprise that the Mother tune of the same name is so upbeat. Even its lyrics are warm with sugary references to love, hope, and silver linings.

Yes, Pollyanna has lyrics. Karaoke time!

Related Links:

What's in my MP3 Player: Earthbound "Snowbound" OC Remix
What's in my MP3 Player: Castlevania II "Castle of Tears"
What's in my MP3 Player: Shadow's Theme

Behold The Half-Assed Review That Steered Me Away From Earthbound

Nadia Oxford — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 03:31:00 GMT

Gather around, ladies and gentlemen. It's time to share my secret shame. Come for the story, stay for the punch, the pie, and a chance to wallow in the lingering stink of failure.

When I was young enough to believe in honesty, I relied on game magazine reviews to tell me whether or not a game was worth a purchase. I've already gone over how many Great Canadian Funbux typically went into the purchase of one cartridge game, so you can probably forgive me for doing my research.

Unfortunately, I kind of put myself at a disadvantage by taking to heart the opinions of only one magazine: Gamepro. To be fair, I have to admit that I wasn't steered wrong too often. If not for the rave review I read in the November 1994 issue of the magazine, I would have bypassed the majesty of Final Fantasy VI.

But it was my faith in Gamepro that made me turn up my nose at Earthbound until just last year. While bypassing Earthbound because of a magazine review was a big mistake on my part, it wasn't like I'd boiled a puppy or cast an unforgivable curse on a baby. Earthbound's genius was snubbed by a lot of SNES owners; that's why the fandom has since been driven half-mad with regret.

No, my problem is that Earthbound Central has scanned and archived the review that kept me away from Itoi's masterpiece...and I can't believe that I was swayed by such an impotent clump of...assumptions.

The review appeared in Gamepro's July 1995 issue. I think by then, editors and readers alike were starting to look over their shoulders at previews for the N64, Saturn and Playstation. 16-bit RPGs like Earthbound got a quick glance before everyone ran off the other way, like Milhouse writing “MILPOOL” on Bart's cast before diving into the family's swimming pool. I can't fault an editor for being distracted by a new era shining on the horizon, but this 300-word bluff might have held up better with plausible criticisms instead of, “All the main characters look the same, except for differently-colored hair.” If I were Paula, I'd be pissed.

Also hilarious: "Lack of a convincing storyline," "Unintentionally hilarious humor," "Psychic Dog" (who's with you for the whole game, apparently), "Threet," "Big Footprint," and "This one is bound to fall to Earth soon." God knows I've been stuck for closing lines in reviews, etc, but I'm not sure what that means.

My favourite flub in the review: The “Beginner” brand in the score bar. Ha ha! No.

At least the Protips were as fresh and useful as ever. “Because you have such a limited amount of space in your backpack, eat everything you can to pump up your life bar.”

(“Then sit on Giygas.”)

Related Links:

Abandon All Hope: No Earthbound for the Virtual Console
The Mother 3 Translation: We're Not Worthy!
Earthbound's Secret Evil

Unsolicited Scares: Threed, Zombie Central

Nadia Oxford — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 22:26:00 GMT

All this talk about Earthbound and related disappointments made me hungry for a Skip Sandwich DX. I ate the sandwich with a mayo packet and began remembering what parts of Earthbound I liked best.

Earthbound is an unsettling game for a number of reasons. First, the party consists entirely of kids, and even though kids have a deserved reputation for never shutting up, Ness and his pals are quiet, stoic and very much focused on the task at hand. Second, the threat they're up against is ethereal, but Giygas' influence on the grown-up world is unmistakable: adults' greed is amplified, corruption amongst authorities is rampant, and there's that one town with the whole cult thing going on.

The third and possibly most potent reason for Earthbound's dark humour is its masterful blending of innocent colour and mood-setting music. If something bad is going down in a scenario, the sound will tell you before the visuals do. Any game that starts you off investigating an unidentified falling object in the dead of night with disjointed alien percussion as background music is a game that's not going to deliver warm fuzzies if it doesn't bloody well feel like it.

Obviously, Earthbound isn't meant to make your heart stop at any one moment—final battle excluded, maybe—but I've come to think of the party's visit to the town of Threed as Resident Evil Crayola.. Zombies and ghosts have taken over the city, but they're pretty goofy looking critters (less so with Handsome Tom and Smilin' Sam; sorry, I hate puppets). Even so, the darkness surrounding the town is oppressive, and the background music hardly indicates that Ness and Paula are attending a kids' Halloween party.

What's more, it quickly becomes apparent that the citizens are fighting a losing battle. Everyone who's left is slowly being herded into the centre of town; the outskirts are crawling with the undead. They're closing in, slithering around the broken-down circus paraphernalia litters the town's greenery. The “haunted circus” angle is an oldie, but it's definitely a goodie. As was stated earlier, Earthbound is all about mixing innocence with corruption—but whereas most games and movies make sure said innocent themes are trampled into the ground by the adult world's stinking grown-up realities, Earthbound lets innocence triumph. After all, it's shy and quiet Jeff who saves Paula and Ness in their greatest time of need.

Until that moment, though, Threed belongs to the dead.

Related Links:

Unsolicited Scares: Terranigma and the Desert
Abandon All Hope: No Earthbound for the Virtual Console
Earthbound in 3D

The Earthbound Legal Conundrum In-Depth

Nadia Oxford — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 04:13:00 GMT

The recent news about Earthbound never coming to the Virtual Console because of legal reasons has struck up a chorus of “But--” and “How come--”. People are understandably upset that Ness's adventure is going to remain in eBay Hell forever, and they want solid answers about why this wretched thing is happening.

There still aren't any solid answers, but the good man in charge of Mother 3's recent fan translation, Tomato, has put together an incredibly in-depth list of reasons why Nintendo is erring on the side of caution. Put in simplest terms, the Internet has made it easier than ever to conjure reasons for an IP lawsuit, and Nintendo already has numerous lawsuits hanging off it at any one time like parasitic fish on the belly of a whale. Even a company like Capcom likely doesn't see half the number of lawsuits Nintendo does, thus explaining why it shrugged off the release of Mega Man and Mega Man 2 on the Virtual Console, despite numerous musical “tributes” in both games.

As Tomato put it:

To avoid crap lawsuits, Nintendo has a team of legal people who have to go through everything Nintendo plans to release and look for anything that can cause potential lawsuits. Then these things are fixed if necessary.

The point is: they’re trying to avoid lawsuits in the first place. It doesn’t matter if they could clearly successfully win lawsuits brought against them; they’d still lose money in the process. Having this team of legal people is cheaper than putting up with every lawsuit that every crazy money-hungry company hits them with.

Remember Star Tropics, an 8-bit RPG by Nintendo? When we were kids, Mike pelted his enemies with a Yo-Yo. On the Virtual Console, his Yo-Yo became a “Star” because some Canadian company owns the rights to the Yo-Yo name. Likely said Canadians are too busy drinking and racing moose to care about an old Nintendo game, but Nintendo figures, why take the risk?

“So why is this all a problem now?” asks the Internet collective. “Why wasn't it a problem when Earthbound first came out for the SNES?”

There were copyright problems, and as Tomato notes, they were addressed. The awesomely-named “Grateful Dead Valley” became “Peaceful Rest Valley.” The Red Cross that marked in-game hospitals was removed, because sure enough the Red Cross will pitch a fit over logo copyrights otherwise. Dr Andonuts' “Sky Walker” craft became the “Sky Runner,” and the logo on the vaguely Coke-ish looking trucks was changed to something generic.

(The “Coke” logo was better off altered, anyway: the trucks in Mother 2 feature a suggestive white line under the word “Come.”)

So is this the very end, my friends? Is a VC release for Earthbound utterly hopeless? Tomato paints a pretty convincing argument, but like the UFO people often say, I want to believe. It's a funny old world out there, and it's full of just as many happy surprises as it is soul-crushing disappointments. Maybe all the lawyers in the world will simultaneously learn how to love again and Earthbound will show them the way.

Related Links:

Abandon All Hope: No Earthbound for the Virtual Console
Whatcha Listening To: The Earthbound Soundtrack
Earthbound and Back Again

Abandon All Hope: No Earthbound for the Virtual Console

Nadia Oxford — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 04:14:00 GMT

The Mother/Earthbound fandom is the loudest on the Internet. It's also the unluckiest. Earthbound was a commercial failure on the SNES. Mother 3 just ain't never gonna doggy-paddle its way here (officially). The first Mother game was dressed up for America, but was pulled at the last minute. And now it's looking like Earthbound won't be granted its long-awaited heroes' rest on the Virtual Console.

“Oh God. What now?”

The problem is beautiful in its irony: because it's such a thorough, loving tribute to the best and most creative bits of pop culture, Earthbound is also a fat target for copyright lawyers, IP theft paranoia and the bureaucracy bred by the same culture (that's irony, right? Right?). Earthbound's soundtrack alone uses a lot of samples from other songs, from The Who to the Monty Python theme.

Shigesato Itoi makes no secret about his love for the Beatles, with John Lennon's “Mother” being not only the series' namesake, but its very foundations. Unfortunately, Apple Corps' sense of humour is about as sharp and attractive as a wet dish rag. Every IP lawyer in the world carries a list in his or her pocket that's titled, “I'm Just Not Going To Fuck With This,” and Apple Corps is on the top of each list.

Interestingly, the sometimes-emotional Earthbound supersite Starmen.net is looking at the situation from a very logical point of view:

You might be thinking, "sampling/references aren't enough to bring a lawsuit", and you'd be right. But it's also true that not everything in EarthBound is simply sampled/referenced, and even if the game was technically legal, that doesn't mean lawyers will be comfortable with it. They get paid to avoid lawsuits entirely, not to get sued and then say "here's why this lawsuit is stupid".

Starmen.net also notes that someone, somewhere, didn't want to “play ball” with proposed alterations to the game. Nintendo of America's lawyers apparently offered suggestions on how Earthbound could be made into a “safe” release, but Nintendo Japan wasn't interested in the changes for some undisclosed reason. It's not even known if Itoi was involved somewhere, somehow.

Maybe a clearer reason will be forthcoming, but for now I guess there's not much to do about the fate of Earthbound except cry many Mr Saturn-scented tears.

Related Links:

The Mother 3 Translation: We're Not Worthy!
Earthbound's Secret Evil
Earthbound's Other Secret Evil

On the Importance of World Maps

Bob Mackey — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 17:00:00 GMT

One of the major reasons JRPGs lost me a little during the last generation was the stripping away of one of the genre's most defining features: the explorable world map, which was taken out of many games in favor of less resource-intensive travel options. Now, I'm still a little conflicted about this; on one hand, I do like the intuitive menu-based exploration of games like Persona, and I've repeatedly learned (especially this fall with Opoona) that making a player traverse large expanses of land is an excellent way to pointlessly stretch out a game for dozens of hours. On the other hand, including a Super Mario World-ish map in an RPG always felt a little cheap and cop-outey to me; when I saw this choice show up in Final Fantasy X, I assumed that Square had signed some sort of contract with The Devil himself (little did I know they had done this a few months prior with Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within). It seems that the whole world map issue is entirely about fooling players into thinking your game world is more than a bunch of "rooms" stuck together, all while making sure not to bore them with interminable traveling.

It's a tricky balance.

My preferred take on the RPG world map--and one you don't see very often--is when the "outside world" of the game is on the exact same scale as the rest of the areas you explore (towns, caves, towers, etc.). Obviously, if you're trying to make your game world a complete, explorable "planet," which is the choice with 99% of all RPGs, this is quite a tall order. Some of the more successful examples of this school of design are Earthbound, a game that felt much more colossal than the standard, epic, medieval RPGs of its era, and Dragon Quest VIII, which to this day feels like the only fully-realized RPG of the PS2 generation--and the fact that everything in the game is on the same "scale," so to speak, may have something to do with that. In fact, the game sort of brags about its epic scope with an early mission where a character asks you to retrieve something from under a red tree off in the distance; he doesn't tell you how to get there, and the entire trip involves careful exploration with nary a loading screen to be found. Very effective.

So, what's the verdict from the rest of you guys on world maps: an important element of the JRPG, or yet another thing I'm blowing way out of proportion?

Related Links:

Your JRPG Narrative is Bad and You Should Feel Bad
Star Ocean and the HD-JRPG Conundrum
Hey, RPG Hero: Go Home and Be a Family Man

The Problem With Video Game Apparel

Bob Mackey — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 17:00:00 GMT

Even though video games invade nearly every part of my life, they're rarely found wrapped around my body. Okay, there was this brief three-year period in my life--roughly around the time I worked at GameStop--where I wore nothing but promotional t-shirts and blue jeans, but at some point I realized that oversized Eternal Darkness gear wasn't exactly winning over the ladies. So I promptly gave away all of my video-game wear and vowed to never return until someone, somewhere could make nerdy clothes that weren't entirely so... nerdy.

Most video-game related shirts are of the variety you see in that image up above: they're usually a piece of clip art paired up with some sort of sassy expression--because your t-shirt's wit level is a good indication of your own. The problem with these goony shirts is that most of us adults have outgrown the witty banter of fourth-grade wordplay and Scarface references (yes, really) in exchange for becoming adults with some sort of taste in fashion. Note: if you're reading this and are currently wearing a black t-shirt with a smart-alecky slogan printed in white text about how you won't fix my computer or something, I expect a written apology sent to my inbox.

In an exciting twist to this fashion-related adventure, my five-year boycott of video game apparel ending this October when I discovered FanGamer. It should be noted that the fact that they sell Earthbound merchandise probably means I would have fallen in love with them regardless, but their shirts are actually fashionable, high-quality, and reassuring to those who fear they will be beaten for wearing clothing based on a 1995 Super Nintendo RPG. I think the main difference between their shirts and the mass-market shirts--aside from all of the love involved--is that FanGamer is working within the constraints of copyright violation; so, their representations of what they're trying to represent has to be abstracted some way to avoid legal troubles. This situation leads to shirts that are both clever to fans and tolerable to the outside world, which is quite a feat. No one quite knows what the pins on my jacket or the "EB" on my t-shirt stands for--and if they ask, they get more information than they wanted to know.

So, have any of you out there discovered some great video game gear? I'm looking to expand my summer wardrobe.

Related Links:

The Mother 3 Strategy Guide: Fandom Done Right

What's In My MP3 Player: Earthbound "Snowbound" OC Remix

Nadia Oxford — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 03:55:00 GMT

“Snowman,” the tune that has carried the Mother/Earthbound games through its wintry spots since the first title on the Famicom, is one of my favourite pieces of game music. I actually heard the song in Super Smash Bros Brawl some months before I played Earthbound and had a name for the it. It's a peaceful bit of music, if not a little melancholy—again, my first encounter with Snowman was the background music of the Abandoned Zoo level in the Subspace Emissary, and it wasn't a cheerful visit (If someone were to make a list of the least joyous places on Earth, I imagine an “Abandoned Zoo” would be close up there with a broken-down Disneyland inhabited only by snaggle-toothed hobos and sick dogs).

I rough out five months of the year in a harsh, dead climate, so the sleepy warmth of the Winters boarding school in Earthbound, accompanied by a soft version of “Snowman,” produced an atmosphere I appreciated. My brother believes winter exists to make snowboarders happy, my dad believes winter exists to swear at, but I believe winter exists to wind us down, bring us closer to our friends and family in warm, happy gatherings.

Until the cabin fever sets in and we kill each other.

“Snowbound” is a trance-style OC Remix of Snowman. It's not as peaceful as its source material, but it's just the thing to rouse you from your winter blahs, should you be suffering from them. There are still many, many days before the Earth once again feels Demeter's gentle kiss.

Related Links:

What's In My MP3 Player: The Mother Mashup
What's In My MP3 Player: Shadow's Theme
What's In My MP3 Player: Endless Skies

What's In My MP3 Player: The Mother Mashup

Bob Mackey — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 01:30:00 GMT

If it wasn't clear by this point, I basically use 61FPS as my platform to talk about the Mother series (known to us Yanks as Earthbound) as much as humanly possible. But because of my professionalism, I'm forced to at least make my Mother chatter relevant; otherwise, I'm sure you'd be reading the 100th or so blog post about why I'm so obsessed with an obscure Japanese RPG series--and I swear I've only made 80 entries on the subject so far.

That being said, today I bring you exciting--and more importantly--not completely irrelevant--news from the mother fan community. SpamM, a member of the fan music community Earthbound Crew, has just released an awesome 40-minute mashup named Earthbound Zero, which mixes the original Mother soundtrack with some highlights from the history of hip-hop. Unsurprisingly (to me, anyway), Keiichi Suzuki and Hirokazu Tanaka's funky, catchy soundtrack serves as the perfect backbone to music that couldn't possibly be more different. Go here to download it for free, and get ready for a completely unexpected experience.

Related Links:

What's in my MP3 Player: Shadow's Theme
What's in my MP3 Player: Endless Skies
What's in my MP3 Player: Kindred

Whatcha Listening To?: 1-Up's Retronauts Podcast Covers the History of Earthbound

Cole Stryker — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 23:00:00 GMT

It's a double dose of Earthbound today and a double dose of video game podcasts. Deal with it.

Think you can handle some superdorks yukking it up about Earthbound for over an hour? Well have I got a podcast for you! 1Up's Retronauts, now broadcasting from UGO offices, has remained intact after the merge.

A few of these guys are my age, but at least one of them admits to be at least sixteen upon the North American release of Earthbound. I was only ten, so I imagine the game's presentation affected me in a different way than a dude capable of growing a mustache. It's also nice to see mainstream journalists discussing the innovations of this lost classic.

For nothing else, it's worth listening to for the awesome chip-tuney music.

Visit 1Up to download the new podcast.

The Best of Wintry Video Game Music

Bob Mackey — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 17:00:00 GMT

When you live in something called "the snow belt," your tolerance for inclement weather wholly determines your sanity. We've gotten so much of the fluffy white stuff recently that traveling anywhere in my town now involves following a carved-out snow trench to its logical end, all while hoping you don't end up in another state or the fabled Canadas. But even with nature trying to snuff me out under a thick pillow of precipitation, I've gone through most of my life without hating this time of the year; in fact, winter-themed video game levels have always been a favorite of mine, despite their irritating qualities. And for some reason, they always seem to have great music--which I'd like to share with you today.

The following are some of my favorite winter-themed video game tunes; they evoke the spirit of the season perfectly without such real-word drawbacks as windshield-scraping, frostbite, and heating bills which spiral out of control.

Super Mario 64 - Snow Mountain

"Snow Mountain" is just a take on Super Mario 64's main theme--which itself is an odd inverse version of the original Super Mario Bros. theme--but the bouncy accordian mixed with traditional tingly instruments makes the perfect soundtrack for bouncing through the snow. If city parks played this on a nonstop loop from December to March, I assume we'd have one more weapon in the fight against seasonal affective disorder.

Donkey Kong Country - Nothern Hemispheres

I don't have many good memories of Donkey Kong Country aside from the snow levels, and "Northern Hemispheres" is probably the reason why. Music in winter-themed video game levels is usually playful, but Donkey Kong Country took a completely different route by including a song that evoked the feeling of aimlessly wandering through a vast, snowy wasteland. Very effective.

Earthbound - "Winters"

All of the music in Earthbound is amazing, and "Winters" is no exception. It has the same sort of bittersweet, nostalgic tint as the rest of the soundtrack, but the jingling bells and oddly trilling organ really make it a highlight of the game. The song has a strange, hopeful feeling that really matches both its location in the game and its specific point in the story.

Final Fantasy VI - The Mines of Narshe

"The Mines of Narshe" is one of the first songs you hear in Final Fantasy VI, and it matches the somewhat-mournful tone of the game perfectly. From the tinkly piano to the breathy sound effect interspersed throughout the track, you get a sense of the gloomy atmosphere and an ominous feeling of what's to come. It always annoyed me a little that the Narshe theme went away after the transition to the World of Ruin.

So, did I miss anything important? Let me know in the comments. Also, links to the songs would be nice if you could dig them up.

Related Links:

OST: Treasure of the Rudras
OST: Rule of Rose
OST: DuckTales

Virtual Console New Year's Resolutions

Bob Mackey — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 21:00:00 GMT

Inevitably, any post you read anywhere about Virtual Console releases is going to contain some passive-aggressive bitching about what's still not available on Nintendo's digital download service. But I'm not saying that I don't do it, or that it's not undeserved; we're currently in the third year of weekly releases, and there are still some pretty big gaps in the Virtual Console library. So, as a public service to Nintendo, I've decided to offer some suggestions for titles we definitely want to see released on the Virtual Console in 2009; for my sake, consider them New Year's Resolutions. It was the easiest framing device to come up with for this concept.

The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask - The much-maligned Majora's Mask is the bastard son of the Legend of Zelda franchise; released just when PS2 fever was at its most insane levels, this installment in one of Nintendo's most-beloved series left a bad taste in the mouths of gamers who really just wanted to play more Ocarina of Time. But those who were so quick to judge the time mechanic and oppressive atmosphere of Majora's didn't stick around to find out that it was just the kind of shake-up the Zelda series needed. So far, the only way to play it on the Wii is through a buggy Zelda collection disc bundled with GameCubes circa 2003; and really, I think it's time for a modern audience to get their mitts on this game.

(Incidentally, I love this game so much that I did a gushing write-up about it over on GameSpite. I'm not one to pimp my non-61FPS writing here, but it's really one my most favorite things I've written.)

Super Punch-Out - With Nintendo's unveiling of a new Punch-Out last fall, there's never been a better time to build up hype for a popular series that's only really had two installments. I'm sure that Super Punch-Out sold well back on the SNES, but it's a mostly forgotten title I'm forced to annoy everyone about whenever a discussion about the awesomeness of the original Punch-Out comes up. While the original Punch-Out might be a little more fun as a pick-up-and-play kind of thing, its bigger brother is actually a better game; the dash of complexity added to the SNES sequel builds upon the pattern recognition of the original for a more challenging experience. Plus, you get to beat up a clown.

Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse - Seeing Castlevania III on the VC in 2009 is a very likely proposition; we've already seen I, II, and IV, so it only makes sense that Nintendo would want to fill in the gaps. It's probably the best traditional Castlevania game next to Rondo of Blood--which really should be released on the VC as well--and one of the few old-school CVs I can play without wanting to murder the world. Like I said, it's very likely that we're going to see this game released on the VC in 2009, but it never hurts to nag.

Earthbound - You all knew this was coming. The fact that piracy is the only real way to play any of the Mother games these days is a modern-day tragedy the likes of which Shakespeare had never seen. Many have predicted that writer Shigesato Itoi's royalties on Earthbound may stop us from seeing the game released in the States again; after all, the Earthbound "demo" was cut out of the American version of Super Smash Bros. Brawl for what was assumed to be monetary reasons. Listen, Nintendo: I don't care if we have to personally PayPal Itoi his royalty money in order to unlock the game. Just let us play it! You're only driving Mother fans further into their already-disturbing insanity.

Related Links:

Virtual Console: Now the Best Thing Ever
Boogerman: Too Immature for Children
Sweet Sassy Molassey! Super Mario RPG on the Virtual Console

Some Games Nadia Played In 2008 Instead of Working: Mother--Awwww...

Nadia Oxford — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 03:17:00 GMT

Mackey stole my big idea to declare Mother 3 one of my favourite games of the year--if not my very favourite of the year--despite it being a two-year-old Game Boy Advance title. I was going to be a rebel. I was going to spit out of the side of my mouth and tell you I don’t give a rat’s ass about your opinion on my taste in games, see?

Oh well, it’s good to know that I’m not the only one who thinks Mother 3 deserves recognition amongst this year‘s shiny big-budget games. Mackey and I need to stop putting things off, get married and name our twins Lucas and Claus regardless of whether or not they’re male.

All right, time to stop saying stupid things for the sake of being funny. I’m going to be serious and stupid, now. Mother 3 is the kind of game that reinforces my love for the pastime. When I finished it, I said, “God damn I am so glad I experienced that. I’m happy I’m a gamer.”

Mackey and I already have about twenty thousand Mother 3 essays between us that covers everything from the game’s emotion-driven story to the rhythm based battle system that involves you in every fight; no more turbo-mashing the “A” button while simultaneously trying to please your girlfriend with the other hand.

Mild spoilers follow the jump.

Mother 3 might be gaming’s last hurrah for sprite graphics. Mother 3 is certainly an ideal showcase for the ancient art, though it’s kind of sad when you realise how beautiful a game can look when it’s put together pixel by pixel and nobody will ever again attempt to scale such lofty heights (and few games in the history of the hobby even tried).

Mother 3 is the title that made me admire Shigesato Itoi as a story writer. I now know that well thought-out stories can co-exist with gameplay. There’s no excuse for rambling monologues, inescapable cut scenes or clichés. Admittedly, the game had me worried at times. The narrative is less subtle than Earthbound/Mother 2, often resorting to tortoise-paced scrolling text at the end of some chapters to inform the reader “THIS IS WHAT HAPPENED. IT IS BAD.”

Somehow, and I have no idea how the brilliant crazy bastard did it, Itoi tipped the story back into neutrality just in time. Despite the game being deeper and more text-heavy than Earthbound, there’s still so much room to form your own opinions and realisations. For instance, the people of Tazmily village are very innocent and it quickly becomes obvious that the introduction of money and worldly goods by mean old Fassad the Arabian peddler is going to rip the utopia apart. The stage is set: Fassad and the Pork Troopers are the bad guys. The people of Tazmily are the victims, corrupted by the same material goods that have turned our brains into slush, according to our scared elders and smelly hippies lording over communes.

But Itoi didn’t take the easy way out. As the game progresses, it becomes apparent that the story isn’t black and white, despite its potential to be straightforward. Tazmily’s villagers, are innocent, but not necessarily kind. They don’t lament the loss of their simple paradise; they want things to be even bigger and more modern, which is a very human reaction to a “convenient” society. Meanwhile, it’s impossible to not feel some measure of affection for the Pork Troopers, the extended army that forces Tazmily to catch up with the wonders of technology. Despite being faceless, the Troopers’ array of personalities is impressive. Some are faithful to Porky’s mission (Screw Up Everything), but most are just going along with orders, forming friendships with one another and discussing whether or not it’s important to take off their masks before using the washroom. In other words, they act like low-end soldiers who are largely clueless about their role in a vague war, so they simply do as ordered.

Then there’s the small things that make the game unique simply because most game developers are busy making sure they have something that looks beautiful. Perfect hero, perfect teeth, perfect hair. Since Mother 3‘s release, has anyone else attempted a lead character who’s crippled, balding, lives in his father’s basement and isn’t dripping with obvious emotional baggage? There’s one instance in the game where we get a dark glimpse of Duster’s past: a quick clue that his crippled state is somehow the fault of his unpleasant father, Wess. It’s never elaborated upon, nor does the player even get to find out if it’s true or just part of the exaggerated visions that come with mushroom trips (long story). Even so, it’s a more thoughtful scene than the slow character revelations that tend to come packaged with most JRPG heroes and leave nothing to the imagination.

Itoi claims there will likely never be another Mother game. But stranger things have happened in this crazy ol’ industry and I’m confident Itoi will return to risk running his beloved series to ruin like a pack of huskies in an Alaskan race. Just kidding. The man doesn’t seem to rely on games to tell the world what he thinks. Too bad he mostly sticks to Japanese.

Merry Christmas, 61 FPS. May Santa grant you many gifts and not linger to touch himself while you sleep.

Related Links:

The Reason Why Mother 3 Never Came To America
Mother 3 Makes Me Feel Human Again
Hey RPG Hero: Go Home and Be a Family Man

My Top 10 of 2008 in No Particular Order: Mother 3

Bob Mackey — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 17:00:00 GMT

It's the end of another year, and that can only mean one thing: it's list season. Inevitably, you're going to see top ten lists by the thousands; and, as an official member of the enthusiast press, I'm afraid I can't violate my directive. But, to make things a little more interesting, I've decided to assemble my 10 favorite games of this year in non-hierarchical form because--let's face facts--it's hard to pick a favorite. And unlike other top 10 lists, this one will be doled out to you in piecemeal for--oh wait, we've reach the end of the list! Thanks for playing.

I know, I know; Mother 3 didn't come out in 2008--its Japanese release date was April of 2006. But none of that matters when you're a love-starved Earthbound fan looking for his next fix--and besides, who's writing this list, you or me? Sorry for getting a bit emotional there, but I can't help it; Mother 3 is a game worth getting emotional about. Finally getting a sequel to something you've loved for over thirteen years is a pretty monumental event, especially when said sequel doesn't pee all over what made its predecessor good in the first place. Mother 3 may be tad different than Earthbound, but in keeping with the tradition of the series, it's completely unlike any game out there--despite being built on a very old, Dragon Quest-y foundation. And thanks to the heroic efforts of Tomato and his translation team, Mother 3 might just be my favorite game of the year. I now regret never ranking my list entries.

But my love of Mother 3 shouldn't come as a shock to any of you loyal readers out there; the fact that about 50% of my output on 61FPS has been entries about all things Mother proves that I'm absolutely crazy about the series in a "this man must be institutionalized for his own safety" kind of way. When the Mother 3 translation patch hit in late October, I celebrated the event by heading over to Fan Gamer and forking over some serious cash for unofficial Earthbound merchandise. I guess we should consider ourselves lucky that a game with such a troubled development history actually turned out good; otherwise, there wouldn't be such a call for celebration or the irresponsible spending of semi-disposable income. Of course, I haven't exactly finished the game yet, but unless it somehow makes all of my limbs fall off after exploding the final boss, Mother 3 deserves its ranking at the top of my best games of 2008 list.

Thanks for following these installments of the past few weeks; I'll be back in 2009 with more baffling choices. Happy new year!

The Final List:

Audiosurf
Braid
Grand Theft Auto IV
Fable 2
Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney
Persona 3: FES
Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2
Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen
Rock Band 2
Mother 3

What's in my MP3 Player: Earthbound "Bus" and "Funky Bookas"

Amber Ahlborn — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 21:00:00 GMT

So I was sifting through my music collection, picking out some tracks to burn onto a CD I could listen to while driving to work and I came across this very short and very sweet piece from Earthbound: Bus.

It's a funky little surf rock piece that will definitely make my commute to work a little more lively. And just because I like you, here's another Earthbound remix: Funky Bookas. This one sports an electric Arabic vibe for quite a unique sound.

Both of these remixes were created by “Shadow”, who really needs to produce some more excellent work.

Related Links:

What's in my MP3 Player: Kindred

Wii Music: A Rare Miss For Miyamoto?

Whatcha Listening To: The Earthbound Soundtrack

Hey, RPG Hero: Go Home and Be a Family Man

Nadia Oxford — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 00:35:00 GMT

So on Saturday I indulged in my weekly Mother 3 play session--

("Oh God, she's talking about Mother 3 again, you sneak up behind her with this piano wire while I slip this cyanide into Mackey's coffee.")

Please let me live. I don't know when I'm going to be so motivated to pick a game's brain ever again. Mother 3 is unlike any RPG I've ever played--and for the simplest reasons. This, more than anything, is what fascinates me about the game. Shigesato Itoi realises that the easiest way to get people to love your characters is to treat them like human beings. For some reason, woefully few of his fellow RPG designers have picked that up.

It's rare to find an RPG cast that everyone can relate to on a human level. Mother 3's world-saving brigade casts ground-shaking magic and racks up experience points and throws giant staples at enemies like any other JRPG (okay, the staples, not so much), but Itoi wants us to feel close to them. So he draws us in by being realstic about the one thing that unites even Superman with the common Earthling: family.

Here there be spoilers.

(Oh and don't feed Mackey any cyanide. Thank you. His parents appreciate your restraint.)

Parents don't mean much in JRPGs. They usually exist as target practise for bad guys, a catalyst to turn fresh-made orphans into Super Saiyans. In instances where they do survive, they stand blankly in front of the kitchen sink all day, every bit the same plastic "house" accessory as the ever-ticking clock, the endlessly-burning fire and the assembly line coffee table with the book nailed to it.

Or, sometimes a parent exists as a shadowy legend that the hero is destined to chase (sidenote: DragonQuest V did a wonderful, wonderful thing by casting you as an aspiring hero who travels along with his Pop, then grows up and makes more traveling/slime-fighting babies). In short, mom and dad are a springboard to get the main character out of the house and on the road. The standard shonen game hero is usually fine with this, even though he's a little punk who's barely off the tit and has probably never spent a night away from home. In fact, he's rarin' to go without a backwards glance.

JRPGs never grew up, much as fans like to think they went through a growth spurt with Final Fantasy VII. Realistically, they share a lot in common with young adult fiction. The story isn't supposed to be about parents, right? It's supposed to be about the kid, the adventurer the audience is supposed to relate somehow. Parents are old and slow. They're uncool.

But moms and dads are cool. All right, so "cool" might not be a great descriptor, but as you grow older, you start to appreciate the dedication your mom and dad have towards one another. The bond between two people is a deep and ancient thing that has held society together since the dawn of humanity. If you're lucky enough to have two parents who still love each other after years of living together, you're witness to something special. It's not as exciting as a rampaging dragon that only you can stop, but it's still one of the most powerful forces on Earth.

It's Itoi's exploration of this bond that makes Mother 3 special. In the game's first chapter, Lucas vacations with his grandfather, mother and brother in the mountains. Mom (Hinawa) sends a carrier pigeon to tell Dad (Flint, stuck at home) that they'll all be coming home that evening. A forest fire begins a chain of bad juju that prevent Hinawa, Lucas and Claus from coming home. There's one brief scene where Flint, unsure about his Hinawa's whereabouts even after the fire is put out, retreats inside their house and reads over the note she sent. Even with mere sprite graphics and Flint's silence, you can clearly feel what he's thinking.

Eventually, Flint gets the inevitable bad news: Hinawa died to save Lucas and Claus from a nasty creature altered in an experiment and set loose in the mountains. Flint loses it completely, seizing a burning stick from the fire pit his sons are warming themselves next to and pummelling fellow villagers who try to comfort him. He breaks down further when Claus goes missing, and as the game progresses over three years, Tazmily's villagers remark that Flint does nothing except visit Hinawa's grave and search for Claus.

People freak out when their significant other is killed. They maintain fruitless searches for children long after others have given up and moved on. The loss of Hinawa and Claus irrevocably changed Flint the way it would change any human being--so why is this the first time a JRPG has conveyed such a sad but common occurence so powerfully? Why is this the first time, in my recollection, that a JRPG husband has had such a strong reaction to the death of his companion?

I'm holding hope that more game developers will begin to look at their family for inspiration instead of bothering with more corrupt Churches and Governments.

Related Links:

The Reason Why Mother 3 Never Came to America
Mother 3 Makes Me Feel Human Again
OST: Mother

OST: Mother

Bob Mackey — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 16:00:00 GMT

Everyone knows that Earthbound has some godly music, and we've all recently come to discover that Mother 3 is no slouch in this department, either. But what about the first Mother, AKA Earthbound Zero? Sadly, this is the one game in the trilogy that's almost always overlooked; it may be the least fun to play out of all three Mothers, but the soundtrack by Keiichi Suzuki and Hirokazu Tanaka helped lay the foundation for some of Earthbound's best tracks. American gamers had no idea back in 1995, but the sleepy, heartwarming music of Ness' house is a direct callback to one of the overworld themes of the first Mother; makes sense, given the connection with childhood homes and nostalgia.

The greatest--and at the same time, strangest--thing about the first Mother is without a doubt its Japan-only (duh) soundtrack. Instead of putting out the simple NES tunes on a CD, the producers went one step further by creating "complete" versions of Suzuki and Tanaka's songs with full instrumentation and lyrics. I'm not going to lie; most of these lyrics are pure Velveeta straight out of the late 80s--but at least a native English speaker is singing them. Embarrassing or not, these songs give us a peek into an alternate universe where Mother was a Disney musical instead of a Japanese 8-bit video game.

And notably, two of the OST's songs are far more sweeping and epic than any Celine Dion Titanic single could ever be. In order to show you just how mindblowingly awesome this soundtrack is, I now present "Wisdom of the World," which, along with "Eight Melodies," is one of Mother's best songs. Try not to giggle at the sexual subtext in the lyrics:

And, in case you want to hear the original 8-bit tune, here it is:

In closing, click here for a version of the song that, while beautiful, may scare the pants off of you.

Related Links:

The Reason Why Mother 3 Never Came to America
"Have You Heard the News? He's Gay!"
What I'm Playing This Weekend: Mother 3. Doi.

"Have You Heard the News? He's Gay!"

Nadia Oxford — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 00:19:00 GMT

I'm still not done with Mother 3. You could say I'm savouring it (something Mackey can surely appreciate).

I'm coming close to the end though, so I'm in an adequate position to talk about the game on message boards. This is an especially fun way to waste time because Mother's papa, Shigesato Itoi, never struck me as a convential game designer. He's a writer first, something that I think comes out clearly in his games.

For instance, I was talking with a dapper gentleman in a tophat about some of Itoi's characters in Earthbound and Mother 3. Both games feature at least one gay character. This is nothing new in Japanese-developed games and anime, where gays and transvestites serve the same function as our own laughtracks. Everyone laugh at the flamboyant man fretting over his shoes and dress! It's funny 'cause men aren't supposed to do that!

The difference with Itoi's characters is that the player is not really supposed to laugh at them. They're vital to the plot, but they just so happen to be gay.

Earthbound has Tony, a boy who boards with Jeff in the Winters' School. Even in the game's translation, it's (very surprisingly) obvious that Tony harbours a special affection for his roommate. Mother 3's translator, Tomato, posted a snippet of an interview with Itoi wherein he talks about his decision to make Tony bat for the other team:

"Well, for example, there’s a gay person in MOTHER 2. A really passionate friend who lives in an England-like place. I designed him to be a gay child. In a normal, real-life society, there are gay children, and I have many gay friends as well. So I thought it would be nice to add one in the game, too."

Needless to say, Tony is pretty young, but that's what's cute about his devotion: there's a childlike innocence to it that stays comfortably far away from sexuality. It's precisely like the crushes we had as schoolchildren, before puberty made its noxious presence known. I'm unclear about how many gay men become aware of their orientation before puberty (feel free to enlighten me), but the fact that Tony has accepted his own orientation at such a young age--and the fact that nobody seems to isolate him because of it--is nice.

Even nicer is that Itoi's writing of a gay character is miles above the Internet fangirl standard. Tony loves Jeff, but when the time comes for Jeff to leave, Tony understands and helps him get past the school's gates. There's no extended sessions of weeping and wailing, but there is a certain excitement towards adventure, even if it's an adventure he can't participate in. In other words, Tony acts like a boy who's gay. Itoi didn't just give Scarlett O'Hara a penis and say, "There, I have a gay character."

Now that I've revealed the write-by-numbers method of the yaoi fandom, I'm afraid I'll have to kill you with the Crimson Spear of the Seme.

Mother 3's portrayal of gay characters is more coomplicated and worth an entry of its own. Say, I just gave myself an idea.

Something besides "Chicken for dinner sounds good."

Related Links:

Flying Gay Men Invade Virtual Console
Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix C-C-Combo Makers
Penn and Teller to Cover Gaming Violence and I'm Not Sure How I Feel About It

Earthbound in 3D

Bob Mackey — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 20:00:00 GMT

With writer Shigesato Itoi calling it quits with the Mother franchise after Mother 3, it won't be long until we start seeing remakes--or maybe that's just wishful thinking. As charming as the original Earthbound (Mother 2) was, those 3D renders of in-games towns Onett and Fourside in Super Smash Bros. Melee were enough to make any EB fan squeal with glee. In my wildest of video game-related daydreams, I've often thought of an Earthbound remake, made completely in 3D, with the characters looking just like their little clay models did in the strategy guide.

Some men dream, while others do; like YouTube user cswavely, who has painstakingly rendered a few of Earthbound's town in glorious 3D. Even with that whole new axis, they feel completely authentic to the original game's stubby sprites; but I'll let you judge for yourself:

He also has an awesome version of Fourside:

As well as a super-creepy version of Threed, perfect for Halloween:

Maybe I'm misremembering my adolescence, but it feels like I've really been to these places. I'll have to check the family photo albums and get back to you on this.

Related Links:

Whatcha Listening To: The Earthbound Soundtrack
Earthbound and Back Again
The Reason Why Mother 3 Never Came to America

On Renaming Characters

Bob Mackey — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 00:30:00 GMT

As part of my generally anal-retentive gaming habits, I never rename characters in RPGs. In my eyes, anything other than the original, intended names would be sacrilege; even at the age of twelve, you could find me correcting the all-caps names of my characters in Final Fantasy III to a more sensible case setting. For me, it's always been about immersion. As creative as I can be, it just feels so wrong to go against the designers' original choices, even when I'm given the option to change those choices. Maybe watching my stepdad play through Final Fantasy II starring my family warped me somehow--after all, he made me Kain.

When I'm given an array of ready-to-be-names blank slates, I typically don't get too wacky. The guys are typically named after me and my friends, while the single girl character (there's usually only one) is reserved for my current girlfriend or possible girlfriend-to-be (god willing). I'll admit that games like Earthbound, with relatively personality-free main characters, also fall into this habit of mine, as do games like Secret of Mana, where I learn that the characters have names years after the fact--and also that these names are very dumb.

In the era of voice-acting, renaming characters is no longer the norm. The awkward, off-putting, just-chugged-a-bottle-of-NyQuil conversations of Final Fantasy X were made all the more creepy by the simple fact that the other characters could not say Tidus' name--after all, you might've changed it. Years later, Dragon Quest VIII handled this problem much better; the name you'd chosen for your character still appeared in the written dialogue, but characters would say things like "my boy" and "guv'nah" instead of the offending proper noun. Here, I could name my character "Bob" and not worry about the consequences.

So where does everyone else fall on this issue? I can't be the only one who feels compelled to stick to the original names I'm given, no matter how asinine they may be.

Related Links:

Know Your Final Fantasy IV Trivia. It Could Save Your Life.
Earthbound and Back Again
Whatcha Listening To: The Earthbound Soundtrack

The Reason Why Mother 3 Never Came to America

Nadia Oxford — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 09:35:00 GMT

None. There is no good reason why Mother 3 never came to America.

Oh, there are a couple of valid reasons why we never officially received Earthbound's follow-up, but they're not necessarily good.

The easiest blame can be laid on finances. We are elbow-deep in the era of the Nintendo DS right now and the heyday of the Game Boy Advance is long over. Nintendo might get away with releasing all three Mother games in a DS collection, but that's obviously not going to happen in a grand hurry.

By now, the universe knows that the original Earthbound bombed on the Super Nintendo. Nintendo did a beautiful, loving job with the packaging and translation, but dropped the marketing ball hard enough to cannonball clear to China. Earthbound was marketed as a cheesy science fiction game brimming with toilet humour, which it wasn't. Alas, a mass-mailing of scratch-and-sniff stickers made to smell like rancid pizza will do a lot to kill an appetite for game.

Besides, after experiencing the majesty of Final Fantasy VI and Chrono Trigger, why would anyone want to fight against giant piles of barf? I sure didn't. Earthbound tanked, Nintendo made up their mind about American tastes and Mother 3 never had a chance at a ticket to America.

Since the release of the translation patch, however, more than one person has claimed that maybe Nintendo's fear of another financial disaster wasn't the only thing keeping Mother 3 from the States. There was suddenly talk about in-game content being inappropriate for American audiences: the dark story, the characters (oh, the characters) and whatnot. God knows Japan has thousands of little quirks that only those born under its flag can truly appreciate, but I don't see how Mother 3 is one of them.

Mother 3 is certainly unorthodox. Much like big brother Earthbound, it adheres to basic JRPG battle rules, but its heart and soul are wholly unique. The game ladels endless charm over the player, but at the same time, the story is unapologetically sad and says a lot about our tendency to listen to shit-disturbers disguised as charmers instead of making our own sane judgements.

American gamers could do with a story as raw as Mother 3's. It's not what we're used to, but that shouldn't matter. Before I inevitably die under a falling safe, I want to see game stories earn recognition as true literature. Unless games like Mother 3 reach a wide audience--games that have stories worth listening to--that's not going to happen.

Mother 3's other damning trait, the townspeople say, is its questionable content. The strongest example cited thus far are the magypsies, an immortal, all-knowing and all-powerful troupe of...er, transvestites who aid Lucas and his friends in saving the world. This makes for interesting times. Lucas, for instance (PSSST, MILD SPOILERS), has his PSI powers awakened through a questionable encounter with a naked magypsy in a hot tub.

Even this particular scene isn't close to explicit. It certainly implies that black-screen hot tub shenanigans went on between Lucas and the magypsy, but only in that coy, joking way that happens all the time in anime, games and manga. When the picture comes into focus again, it becomes obvious Lucas' head was being held underwater to awaken latent powers vital to his survival--also an extremely common occurrence in anime and manga. The entire scene wouldn't be too difficult to censor, though it would be unfortunate.

(End spoilers, babe.)

Now, I'm probably just talking out of my proud, firm buttocks because I'm only about halfway through the game. But so far, I'm comfortable saying that Nintendo never released Mother 3 because they're still throwing a profit sulk. They could take a chance on Mother 3, which could easily get away with a Teen rating, but they're a business and must step carefully. If game companies didn't have to think about profits and made games solely to lighten the hearts of fans, we would have had Mega Man Legends 3 by now.

It's a shame, because the whole world deserves Mother 3.

(And now we have it either way. Heh heh.)

Related Links:

Mother 3 Makes Me Feel Human Again
What I'm Playing This Weekend: Mother 3. Doi.
The Mother 3 Strategy Guide: Fandom Done Right

Mother 3 Makes Me Feel Human Again

Bob Mackey — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 17:00:00 GMT

Nadia's recent post got me thinking (and sniffling) about a game I've been playing--and a game I hope you're not sick of hearing about yet--Mother 3. The Japanese advertising campaign for Mother 3 declared the long-awaited sequel to be "strange, funny, and heartrending." While I haven't exactly been shedding tears over Mother 3, I can at least say that it's remarkably sad; and shockingly, scenario writer Shigesato Itoi has made his game "heartrending" in a completely sincere way. Forget about melodramatic depictions of flower girls being impaled; the tiny sprites of Mother 3 have been able to convey more emotion than any other game in recent memory.

Spoilers for Chapters 1-3 coming up. This Japanese Mother 3 commercial should provide a nice buffer:

The introduction to Mother 3 presents a pristine, small town where everyone knows your name; and if you've ever played an RPG, then you can probably guess that Tazmilly village will soon be destroyed--hey, it's the oldest of RPG cliches. But the destruction--so far, at least--hasn't been physical (well, for the most part); rather, the story of Mother 3 depicts the chipping away of a peaceful, communist ideology by materialist, capitalist, and hawkish antagonists. As the game progresses, a constant sense of quiet, inescapable dread accompanies the narrative of a naive town slowly losing its innocence.

So far, there haven't been any "Get ready to cry! And...NOW." moments because, despite its cutesy, quirky look, Mother 3 is remarkably mature for a Japanese RPG. Consider your playable characters: the first time you really get to dig into game, you're thrown into the shoes of a blue-collar dad who has to cope with the sudden death of his wife--and his reaction to the news, conveyed only in simple sprite art, is stunning. And the second chapter's star is far from being the RPG staple of a sexy teen with an ambiguous gender; instead, you play a balding loser with a heart of gold, bad breath, and a slight limp.

As for chapter 3, what I've experienced so far has been the world through the eyes of a captive, abused monkey. As much as the word is thrown around these days, Mother 3 is truly unique--and I doubt we'll see such an unconventional video game narrative in quite some time. Now more than ever I understand why Nintendo was so hesitant to bring the game out here; I'm still not happy about it, but I do understand.

Related Links:

When Video Games Make Us Sniffle
What I'm Playing This Weekend: Mother 3. Doi.
THE MOTHER 3 TRANSLATION IS OUT

Note: In your comments, please make it clear if you're going to talk about anything after the beginning of chapter 3. I don't want anything to be spoiled!

The Mother 3 Strategy Guide: Fandom Done Right

Bob Mackey — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 15:00:00 GMT

Since I've had the chance to play it all weekend, I can say that I've been completely impressed by the Mother 3 translation project--so much so that the kind people at 61FPS are probably going to have to send people to my house to get me to stop blogging about it (this also happened with Mega Man 9). But until hired goons show up at my door, I'd like to write about the upcoming Mother 3 strategy guide, which shows just as much devotion, hard work, and obsessiveness (the good kind) as the translation itself.

In keeping with the theme of the amazing (though mostly unecessary) strategy guide originally bundled with the American release of Earthbound, the fine people at Starmen.net and Fangamer have been working on a Mother 3 strategy guide in a pseudo-travelogue format--though this is no paltry .txt file uploaded hastily to GameFAQs. We're looking at a full-color, roughly 200 page tome of Mother 3 goodness, fully illustrated (and clay-modeled) by devoted fans, that won't ship until early next year. And if you've got a small amount of disposable income like me, you can head on over to Fangamer's Mother 3 handbook page and give up a mere twenty dollars to make yourself happier in the future. As a bonus, you'll also get a Franklin Badge keychain that probably won't ward off lightning. I wouldn't try it, anyway.

Believe me when I say that I am not being paid in cash, goods, or services to promote the Mother 3 Handbook; this is an item all Earthbound/Mother nerds need to have in their home, lest they be judged by stronger nerds. On Friday, I was so drunk on Mother 3 madness that I even went and added one of these kickass t-shirts to my order; so the next time I'm out at a bar, an attractive woman can tell me "Hey, it's that video game I never played!" while I spill beer all over myself and others. Thanks, Fangamer!

Related Links:

THE MOTHER 3 TRANSLATION IS OUT
What I'm Playing This Weekend: Mother 3. Doi.
Earthbound Saga Pt. 4

What I'm Playing This Weekend: Mother 3. Doi.

Nadia Oxford — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 00:57:00 GMT

When we log onto the wide, wide Internet and talk about the games we loved as children, it's inevitable that a mean person will say, "That's just nostalgia talking. Game X was actually badly designed/badly written/infected with rabies." Then you break down and cry because you know it's true, at least to a point.

But having only experienced Earthbound for the first time a mere few months ago, there is nothing nostalgic about my naked, shameless love for that game. I wholly believe that video games try way too hard to be art, but there are only a rare few titles that I would be comfortable about shooting into space to represent the human species as a whole. Earthbound is one, a lovely story about growing up in the shadow of world-devouring elder gods.

I am fortunate because my wait for the Mother 3 translation has been short compared to long-established Earthbound fans'. Even so, it's been a nail-biting few months; I checked the site every day, poured over the trailers, marvelled at Tomato's work. Finally, the wait is over.

Almost. I have a big assignment to finish, blogs to write (hello!), etc etc. Focusing as been a monumental challenge today: inside of me I have a ferret bashing against my ribcage and running in crazed circles. "Let's play let's play let's play c'moooooooon!"

Soon, inner ferret. Soon.

Related Links:

THE MOTHER 3 TRANSLATION IS OUT
Earthbound's Secret Evil
Earthboudn's Other Secret Evil

THE MOTHER 3 TRANSLATION IS OUT

Bob Mackey — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 16:00:00 GMT

I have to apologize for posting about the Mother 3 translation project twice in one week, but this post contains actual news, as opposed to just speculation. Today--right now--you can finally grab the Mother 3 translation patch; though how you choose to use it is entirely up to you (Note: it cannot possibly be used for evil). Here's the newest trailer, in case you still need convincing:

I can't think of a better way to end this post than with project lead Tomato's comments about this project finally wrapping up:

After more than 13 years of waiting, the sequel to EarthBound is now in English! I hope fans of the series, new and old, will find MOTHER 3 to be just as unique and interesting as its predecessors. We tried our very best to make a worthy translation, and I think we came close to hitting that mark. With any luck, the translation will seem just as "strange, funny, and heartrending" as the original Japanese version.

MOTHER 3 is filled with secrets and rarities. Characters say new things after even the tiniest of events. Take your time to explore the game's intriguing world - you won't be disappointed! And when you're done, be sure to come back here, because we've prepared many more goodies for fans to check out and enjoy post-game!

Enjoy your time in the world of MOTHER 3!

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to waste a significant portion of my Friday. Go and grab the patch HERE if you didn't do so immediately.

Related Links:

Earthbound and Back Again
Earthbound Saga Pt. 4
Persona 2: Innocent Sin Translation Complete