• Hey everyone, staff have documented a list of banned content and subject matter that we feel are not consistent with site values, and don't make sense to host discussion of on Famiboards. This list (and the relevant reasoning per item) is viewable here.
  • Do you have audio editing experience and want to help out with the Famiboards Discussion Club Podcast? If so, we're looking for help and would love to have you on the team! Just let us know in the Podcast Thread if you are interested!

Discussion EarthBound/Mother 2 30th Anniversary Thread

JB2448

Piranha Plant
Pronouns
He/Him
Mother 2: Giygas' Counterattack originally released on August 27, 1994 in Japan, which makes 2024 the game's 30th anniversary!
MOTHER_20240101.jpg
Before we crumble into collective dust, series creator Shigesato Itoi has put up an official website for the second game's third decade of life:



This thread is meant to cover whatever events and merchandise and other announcements will be made, as well as anything else posted by official Hobonichi and Mother series development staff. Feel free to share your memories of EarthBound and the entire trilogy here as well!
 
I'm sure all of that merch is gonna come stateside, right? And when it does, it won't be limited to just the NY Nintendo store, right?
 
I'm sure all of that merch is gonna come stateside, right? And when it does, it won't be limited to just the NY Nintendo store, right?
I don't believe Nintendo has too much involvement with Mother related merchandise. I've seen a lot of new Japanese Mother merch over the years and have never heard of it making stateside without someone importing it for themselves.
 
I hope some merch makes it over here, I know it won't though.
 
A series of interview installments between Itoi and Miyamoto began on Jan 1st too; daily from then until the 12th.

 
I hope some merch makes it over here, I know it won't though.

theres a lot of mother merch on the hobonichi website already and they have somewhat reasonable international shipping. no reason to assume this stuff wont be relatively accessible.
 
theres a lot of mother merch on the hobonichi website already and they have somewhat reasonable international shipping. no reason to assume this stuff wont be relatively accessible.
I didn't realize Hobonichi did international shipping, I will be checking that out right now.
 
A series of interview installments between Itoi and Miyamoto began on Jan 1st too; daily from then until the 12th.

Yep! One of the upcoming days will talk about their time during Mother 2's development, so I'm really looking forward to it! It's also just cool to see photos of Itoi and Miyamoto together in 2024!
image.png
 
This is great. I absolutely loved EarthBound when I finally played it on Wii U in October 2014, so nearly a decade ago now. I played the whole 30 hours over the course of a single weekend!

I'm adding a replay on Switch to my 2024 goals and looking forward to it. What a brilliant game.
 

According to the teaser, EarthBound will be featured in the second season of Japanese TV program "Game-Genome" .
 
Would be good if earthbound got a remake for it's 30th.
There's a naive part of me deep down that is hoping that gets announced this year, but I know there is no chance of that happening.
 
0

This is the segment that goes over Miyamoto making Itoi cry.
 
Last edited:
Just finished my 30th playthrough of EarthBound. I've been sick the past two weeks and playing this game everytime puts me in the feels. I do not think I'd love video games as much as I do today without this game being in my life. It will always be the most special game to me. Can't wait to see what they do with the anniversary!!! Also can't wait to go through this Itoi/Miyamoto interview.
 
This is the segment that goes over Miyamoto making Itoi cry.
the description is wild. (google translated)
There is a famous story among some people about how I cried on the Shinkansen . That happened when I showed Mr. Miyamoto the notebook in which I had written the plot that would become the basis for the game MOTHER . At that time, I honestly thought that Shigeru Miyamoto , the creator of Mario, would see this plot and receive rave reviews. So, I showed him the notes I had written in pencil, but Mr. Miyamoto just said, "Ah..." and didn't praise me,

I was hoping that Shigeru Miyamoto would look at my proposal and say, Wow!'' So, on the ride home, I thought to myself, ...nothing happened,'' and tears started to well up.
 
the description is wild. (google translated)
Yea, this is a somewhat known story (I thought this sounded familiar but it took a bit of internet digging). I feel like I read about this a while back on one of the EB fansites or in the Ask Iwata book.


Original source seems to be a translation from an interview between Arino and Itoi:


EDIT: Ah I found where I read about this previously:


It's also hinted at in this 1989 interview:

 
Last edited:
I don't want to get hyped up but does anyone think that Nintendo is actually planning anything in November for the anniversary for the west.
 
I don't want to get hyped up but does anyone think that Nintendo is actually planning anything in November for the anniversary for the west.
Maybe a tweet or marketing email about how Earthbound is available on Nintendo Switch Online.

Unfortunately, Mother as a series is narratively over. Without the possibility of a new game, I can’t see Nintendo doing anything particularly special. I’d love to be wrong though.
 
One day I hope he changes his mind about a fourth game.
It is absolutely blasphemous to say but I believe the series can continue without him, I believe Itoi has expressed interest in the series moving forward without him being involved, though I could be wrong.
 
0
I don’t think there will ever be a Mother 4.

HOWEVER

I do absolutely think there will come a time in the next handful of years where Nintendo releases a ground-up remake of EarthBound. With Super Mario RPG last year they proved that a top-to-bottom remake of a SNES era RPG is a viable commercial product. It won’t sell as well (it won’t have Mario on the box) but I think it’ll absolutely make it’s budget back. Maybe they could even get ArtePiazza themselves on it, if they’re available. I know they’ve done a lot of work for Square Enix but I don’t remember off-hand if they own them or not.

And then if it does well enough, Mother 3 (which will get rebranded as EarthBound [subtitle]) will be next up to get remade and released worldwide, with all the legally/morally questionable content excised/changed enough to avoid problems.

If the EarthBound and Mother 3 remakes sell well, like really well, and Itoi is still around and working at that point, Nintendo might revisit the possibility of a Mother 4, but that’s probably at least a decade away.

Maybe Itoi will hand the reins of the franchise to someone he trusts to get it.
 

This is the segment that goes over Miyamoto making Itoi cry.

Have these interviews been translated yet?
I remember reading that Miyamoto that said something in it how having one successful product every 3-5 years is what it takes to keep the company going, and that the successful product would have to sell like 30 million copies.
 
0


Back
Top Bottom