How did it go from commercial failure to world wide cult classic?
>>12480168In the 90's quirky comedic reddit games didn't exist outside of point and click adventures. Reviewers didn't understand it's uniqueness in the Western market and wrote it off as a Dragon Quest clone with crappy NES graphics in an era where graphics were everything.
>>12480168zsnes
>>12480186This and Ness is Smash Bros. Even by 1998 I had no idea what Earthbound actually was. Never knew anyone that owned it. Fire Emblem probably owes a lot of western exposure to Smash Bros as well.
>>12480176I rented it from blockbuster when i was 8. My favorite comic strips were Calvin & Hobbs and dilbert, I also enjoyed watching Frasier. I think its fair to say I'm the coolest person to ever exist. The exact kind of person who would love this silly shit.
>>12480168It wasn't avertised with smell-o-vision.
>>12480168>How did it go from commercial failure to world wide cult classic? "men" began to drink pic related and and a generation of infantalized 35-45 year olds with the testosterone levels of a 13 year year old girl rediscovered it.
>>12480251you never played the snes frasier?
>>12480350The roz level is really slutty
>>12480347Always makes me think of shadowrun, basedcafe
>>12480350>tfw got stonewalled on the "who stole frasier's wine corkscrew?" level
>>12480168After FFVII came out the JRPG fanbase exploded. Over the next few years these new JRPG fans would visit older titles and rank them, and Earthbound and a few other SNES games were consistently ranked high and eventually gained a legendary status.
>>12480446It was fucking bullshit meant to sell strategy guides.How the fuck am I supposed to know the difference between Counoise and Nerello Mascalese?
>>12480186>>12480194This. I knew what Earthbound was before Smash and thought it sounded kinda cool. I had seen the box in stores and my older brother explained the game to me, I saw the ads in magazines, etc. But I didn't buy a copy of it until after Smash. And a couple years later friends of mine started talking about it because they were playing on ZSNES. I remember one friend in high school (around 2004) getting really excited talking about it, explaining the secret in the desert with the sesame seeds to people as an example of the game being cool.
If it was a commercial success then it wouldn't be a cult classic.
>>12480168It underperformed in the U.S, but it sold pretty well in Japan. Wasn't the biggest game ever to the Nips or anything, but by all metrics it was a pretty good success over there, making profit and reviewing well.>>12480176More or less. I also feel like NOA didn't really know what to do with it, and had low confidence in it, hence why it was marketed the way it was, and included a full fledged guide and all (which probably didn't help profit margins).This then not working out that well is probably why NOE didn't even bother publishing it at all (and imagine having to retranslate both the game and guide to all the countries where kids don't speak any English)...>>12480186... but then we get to this. The game does have its merit, and many people looking for games to try for free and giving it a chance, then found that it was a game they liked.It also got some boosting from Ness being in Smash.>>12480450Also this. Really, there were a lot of factors, and a lot of things which changed.
>>12480168very unique and funny game hidden behind shitty grinding and padding, such a shame
>>12481209>shitty grindingbait?
Emulation. Next question
>>12481047Remember that NOA chickened out and decided not to localize the NES Mother.
>>12481216It might be bait but there are people who think the game is difficult or grindy somehow. I'm guessing some people avoid battles and then end up underleveled and think the game is unfair.
>>12480168JRPG for people who hate JRPGS.
>>12481725Can confirm. I didn't even like Pokemon as a kid, but I really enjoy Mother and Earthbound.
>>12480168Just like any other jarpig at the time, westies didn't care for it and I wish it stayed that way!
are any translation/uncensor hacks worth using?
Same way God Hand did OP, lots of eceleb faggots talking about it
>>12480168Hipsters and scalpers.
>>12481960Just use MaternalBound Redux, it's bugfixes/QOL (menu speeds etc.)
>>12481991i don't really want all the extra stuff it does
>>12482001You're thinking of another hack, Mother 2 Deluxe. MaternalBound is just the vanilla game with QOL.
>How did it go from commercial failure to world wide cult classic?They put it in Super Smash Bros, simple as...
>>12482006https://github.com/ShadowOne333/MaternalBound-Redux#changelog>The character sprites now show up while in battle, just above their HP/PP boxes, just like they do in Mother 3>Sprites have been edited to match their official artwork>Unique overworld enemy sprites for EVERY enemy found in the game, to give it a little bit of a Mother 3 vibe>Characters known by name now get their name displayed at the title of the text box>Dad no longer calls you after a while. You will no longer be interrupted by himI don't think the unique overworld sprites are a bad idea but I'm not really a fan of these other changes. I think some of the sprite changes look kinda bad too.
>>12480168It was only a failure in the West and that was because of the shitty marketing campaign. It became popular because people saw Ness in Smash Bros and were curious about the game he's from. People played it, fell in love with it, and naturally it became popular.
>>12480168by being good
>>12481960For EarthBound not really, they all have issues. The original Maternalbound is ok but it does miss some of the og graphics and has broken English in places. Another one that's ok is the EarthBound consistency patch. It takes a more subtle approach but then for some fucking reason changes Starman Jr.'s sprite and adds a run button.
>>12480446>>12480454>>12480350I preferred the sequel.
>>12480176>90's>redditYou need to do the world a favor and kill yourself.
>>12480168If it was a commercial failure why they made a sequel?
>>12480186>>12480194Thread's basically done here, everything else is just a waste of time.
>>12482708It did well in Japan
>>12481216It's mildly grindy in the same way that the Dragon Quest games it's based on are a bit grindy.>>12481303The game absolutely expects you to fight, and that's also why once you get strong enough, the local enemies start running away from you, because then you've seen the local monsters and your explicitly given the mercy of not having to waste your time further. A sort of soft railroading almost.It really doesn't make you do it tons, hence the grind is actually mostly light, but there's a bit and you're expected to do it. There's the Sword Of Kings, which actually takes some time grinding, but that's extremely optional.
>>12481047I imagine it would probably have sold similarly in Europe as it did in the U.S, actually, due to similar circumstances and a lack of confidence in publishing it.>>12481257Yeah, and they had actually done the localizing and all, but then shelved it.I forget when that was, but it may have been in the twilight years of the NES, which is where other games for the system would also see cancellation and shelving, because it wasn't economically viable enough. Either localizations of existing games, or games which didn't even make it to Japan's own market.Notably, that Splatterhouse RPG which leaked a little while back, which was a completed (and actually pretty good) title, but which was quietly put away in the background without anyone ever knowing it existed, until recent years when Namco said "btw we did this back then."
>>12482065The one change here which I didn't like is the dad calls not coming in after playing a while without saving but there's a hack to re-enable it.
>>12482827Yep, it was supposed to release in 1990, but was cancelled due to the incoming arrival of the SNES and uncertainty about RPGs at the time. It's probably a good thing too, since it probably would have bombed due to similar reasons EarthBound did (they wanted to bundle it with a guide as well) and EarthBound would've been canned.
wasn't the NES localization cancelled because it would have needed a pretty expensive MMC3 cart with a battery?
