Earthbound Beginnings: Difference between revisions

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{{quote|''Take a melody

Simple as can be

''Simple as can be

Give it some words and

''Give it some words and

Sweet harmony

''Sweet harmony

Raise your voices

''Raise your voices

All day long now, love grows strong now,

''All day long now, love grows strong now,

Sing a melody of love

''Sing a melody of love

Oh love.'' }}

''Oh love.''}}

In the late 1980s, [[Shigesato Itoi]] got ahold of ''[[Dragon Quest]]'', the first video game he ever played. Though he definitely enjoyed the game, as a professional writer, he couldn't help but be intrigued about the game's use of the unconventional medium to tell a story and say to himself, "I could do better". Several meetings with people from [[Nintendo]] and a [[Beatles]]-inspired name later, that's exactly what he did.

''MOTHER'' is a 1989 [[Famicom]] [[Eastern RPG]], the first installment of [[Mother|a series]] and the predecessor to the significantly more famous ''[[EarthBound]]'' and ''[[Mother 3]]''. Set in the year 1988, the story follows Ninten, a normal American boy. He's got a workaholic dad, a loving mom, and twin kid sisters. Everything is pretty normal and everyone is happy, up until the day [[Everything Trying to Kill You|his desk lamp suddenly attacks him]], another lamp attacks a sister and the other sister's doll starts threatening her.

'''''MOTHER''''' is a 1989 [[Famicom]] [[Eastern RPG]], the first installment of [[Mother|a series]] and the predecessor to the significantly more famous ''[[EarthBound]]'' and ''[[Mother 3]]''. Set in the year 1988, the story follows Ninten, a normal American boy. He's got a workaholic dad, a loving mom, and twin kid sisters. Everything is pretty normal and everyone is happy, up until the day [[Everything Trying to Kill You|his desk lamp suddenly attacks him]], another lamp attacks a sister and the other sister's doll starts threatening her.

Calling his dad after settling this, Ninten learns that psychic powers run in the family, and to learn more about it he has to get his great-grandfather's diary and learn about what happened many years ago, including what happened to his great-grandmother Maria. Meanwhile, strange phenomena are happening all over, and it's become quite apparent that an alien force is arriving. Just what connection does Ninten's family have with the alien invasion?

In the late nineties, a prototype for an unreleased English version was found by a collector and subsequently put on the internet as a ROM. This prototype version, named ''Earth Bound'' (with a space, unlike [[EarthBound|the more famous bearer of the name]]), contains a mix of technical enhancements, [[Bowdlerization]] modified maps to reduce difficulty, and a significant lengthening of the rather short old ending. Several other prototype cartridges have since turned up on eBay; [http://earthboundcentral.com/2009/09/earthbound-zero-prototype-info/ four legitimate ones are known to exist, with at least one more ~~theorised~~ to be archived at Nintendo of America's headquarters]. After several modifications to the ROM to make it playable on the widely-used NES emulator of the day, the game became widely known as ''"EarthBound Zero"'' to attempt to avoid confusion with its far more famous sequel. This page was located at that name for years, but was eventually moved to its current location.

In the late nineties, a prototype for an unreleased English version was found by a collector and subsequently put on the internet as a ROM. This prototype version, named ''Earth Bound'' (with a space, unlike [[EarthBound|the more famous bearer of the name]]), contains a mix of technical enhancements, [[Bowdlerization]] modified maps to reduce difficulty, and a significant lengthening of the rather short old ending. Several other prototype cartridges have since turned up on eBay; [http://earthboundcentral.com/2009/09/earthbound-zero-prototype-info/ four legitimate ones are known to exist, with at least one more theorized to be archived at Nintendo of America's headquarters]. After several modifications to the ROM to make it playable on the widely-used NES emulator of the day, the game became widely known as '''''EarthBound Zero''''' to attempt to avoid confusion with its far more famous sequel. This page was located at that name for years, but was eventually moved to its current location.

In the lead-up to the [[Development Hell|long-awaited]] release of ''[[Mother 3]]'', this game was rereleased in 2003 along with its immediate sequel, as ''[[Compilation Rerelease|MOTHER 1+2]]'' for the [[Game Boy Advance]]; it contained almost all of the modifications of the ''"EarthBound Zero"'' prototype, confirming that the prototypes were indeed the real deal. The port was [[No Export for You|only released in Japan]], though word has it that it was ''almost'' released internationally. In 2011, the ''MOTHER 1'' portion of the game received [http://mother12.earthboundcentral.com/ a fan translation] from the same team behind the ''MOTHER 3'' translation, providing a much more polished take on the script than the rather barebones and dry ''"EarthBound Zero"'' translation.

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On June 14, 2015, the game was finally released on North America on the [[Wii U]] Virtual Console as '''''EarthBound Beginnings'''''.

* [[The All-American Boy]]: Ninten.