12 Facts About EarthBound

EarthBound, released in Japan as Mother 2: Gigu no Gyakushu, is a role-playing video game developed by Ape Inc and HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System.

EarthBound had a lengthy development period that spanned five years.

Themed around an idiosyncratic portrayal of Americana and Western culture, EarthBound subverted popular role-playing game traditions by featuring a modern setting while parodying numerous staples of the genre.

Since the original Mother had not been released outside Japan, Mother 2 was called EarthBound to avoid confusion about what it was a sequel to.

EarthBound was later made available worldwide on the Wii U Virtual Console in 2013,3DS Virtual Console in 2016, the SNES Classic in 2018, and Nintendo Switch Online in February 2022.

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EarthBound takes place in the 1990s, several years after the events of Mother, in the fictional country of Eagleland, a parody of the United States.

Additionally, he felt that the mix tape Wired Magazine Presents: Music Futurists presented a particular selection of artists that embody the ethos of EarthBound, running the gamut from space age composer Esquivel to avant-garde trumpeter Ben Neill, along with innovators Sun Ra, Steve Reich, Todd Rundgren, Brian Eno, and Can.

EarthBound originally received little critical praise from the American press, and sold poorly in the US: around 140,000 copies, as compared to twice as many in Japan.

EarthBound was listed in 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die, where Christian Donlan wrote that the game is "name-checked by the video gaming cognoscenti more often than it's actually been played".

Physical copies of EarthBound were hard to find before the rerelease, and in 2013, were worth twice its initial retail price.

When Nintendo launched its digital distribution platform, Virtual Console, for the Wii in 2006, IGN expected EarthBound to be among Nintendo's highest priorities for rerelease, given the "religious" dedication of its fanbase.

The game was a top-seller on the Wii U Virtual Console, and both Kotaku users and first-time EarthBound players had an "overwhelmingly positive" response to the game.