Shigesato-Itoi
Latest
Earthbound and children at play
This is Making Time, a column about the games we've always wanted to play, and the games we've always wanted to play again. Earlier this month, a friend on Twitter asked his followers to name a "perfect game." The resulting conversation was fascinating, as hordes of players listed games while also admitting that each had "flaws," or that the plot wasn't strong enough to be considered perfect. Some refused the notion that a perfect game could ever exist, or argued that it shouldn't exist, because perfection is unattainable. After spending time with Earthbound's recent Wii U Virtual Console, I've come to think otherwise. Earthbound is perfect. To be clear, it's not perfect because it's a flawless product, but because it expresses a coming-of-age adventure in every ounce of its code. At its roots, Earthbound (Mother 2 in Japan) is like a group of children at play, in a world much larger and darker than themselves.%Gallery-195204%
You could buy this $435 Super Mario Bros. sweater, or ...
You could buy this PlayStation 3, this Xbox 360, or two of these Nintendo Wiis. You could get two beautiful sets of Global chef's knives. Heck, you could even purchase a top of the line netbook! Or you could buy a sweater with Mario on it made by the developer of Earthbound. For 435 dollars. The choice is yours.
Japan can stay healthy with new DSiWare app
Earthbound creator Shigesato Itoi, by way of his Hobo Nikkan Itoi Shimbun company, has a new DS project on the way in Japan. Hobonichi no Kenkou Techou ("Almost-Daily Health Notebook") is a DSiWare app designed to help users keep track of what's going on with their health, and it's every bit as likely to be localized for English-speaking users as Mother 3. The app allows you to log your height, weight, allergies, recent illnesses and other health-related data daily, as well as prepare answers for seven questions you'd be likely to be asked upon admission to a hospital. The free app, out tomorrow, is based on a physical notebook produced by Itoi's company in collaboration with physician Miwako Honda. It's really a lot cuter than the concept sounds, on account of all the cartoon animals. [Via Andriasang]
Brownie Brown interested in DS version of Mother 3
The lack of a localized Mother 3 on the Game Boy Advance must rank as one of Nintendo's more heinous crimes, but that's not to say they can't get out of our bad books. All it would take is, oooh, let's say a DS version of the classic RPG and A MILLION DOLLARS. Or, y'know, just the game.And look, Nintendo, Mother 3 co-developer Brownie Brown is happy to indulge us! Speaking to Siliconera, company President Shinichi Kameoka said Nintendo just needs to give the go-ahead. "If we were asked to make [a DS version of Mother 3]," he said, "then we would definitely like for fans abroad to play the game."The ball is very much in Nintendo's court, then. Until they take a swipe at it, there's only one way to sample (and fully comprehend) Mother 3's myriad delights.%Gallery-34946%
Mother 3 fan translation available this week
After almost two years of hard slog, Starmen.net's Mother 3 fan translation patch has finally been completed, and will be released at the end of this week ... a whole month ahead of schedule! That's according to the latest blog entry on the project's site, in which team member Mato records that, "Testing's pretty much over now. Some bugs did turn up over the last few days, but they were all minor and quickly remedied. Some really hard-to-spot typos were also found and fixed."Joyous news indeed, though the patch will require a few other things before it's of any use: namely a slot-2 flashcart, a GBA emulator, and -- cough -- an entirely unauthorized ROM copy of the Japanese game. While we don't condone piracy, a western localization of Mother 3 doesn't exactly look likely at this stage, and we do condone passionate fan projects such as this one. Hit up this FAQ to learn more, and don't forget to check out some beautiful, Anglicized Mother 3 screens.%Gallery-34505%[Thanks, Joel!]
A history of zealous Earthbound fandom
Members of the Mother series fan site Starmen.net may be celebrating now, with Earthbound recently rated on the ESRB's web site, but just getting to that tenuous victory (as Ys I & II can affirm, ESRB rating is not the same as a Virtual Console release) has been the culmination of years of agonizing effort and constant campaigning that may not have actually had anything to do with the news. Shacknews has posted a great retrospective of Starmen's 11-year campaign to get something related to Earthbound to happen outside of Japan, from a Game Boy Color release of Mother to localized versions of Mother I & II on the DS to (of course) a U.S. version of Mother 3. They've carried out insane plots like creating a beautiful book of fan works to show Nintendo how much they care about the series. Nintendo's response has ranged from politely dismissive to nonexistent, though the feature reveals that somewhere within Nintendo, Starmen's efforts were at least attracting attention.
Mother 3 translation seven months away [update]
Celebrating Mother 3's release in Japan two years ago today, Starmen.net co-founder and fan-translation project lead Tomato posted an update on the unofficial localization's outlook. With ten months of work already behind them, the team predicts that the completed English patch (GBA ROM required) still needs about seven months of hacking, script editing, and testing.While that may sound like a long time, keep in mind that some fan-driven translations can take years before they're finished, and that's if they even make it past the first months of work before dissolving. Besides, it's not like Nintendo of America is rushing to translate the RPG.To help you deal with the wait, Tomato has posted ten minutes worth of video showing the team's progress, all of which you can watch above! So close, and yet so far away![Update 1: Corrected Mother 3's age -- two years old. Thanks, ShadowX!][Update 2: Straight from the horse's mouth.]
Mother 3 battle clips snuck up from behind!
Unwilling to compromise on the quality of its project for the sake of a quick release, the Mother 3 fan translation crew has been tweaking every setting and smashing every bug in its path to releasing an English patch for the Earthbound sequel. In addition to posting regular updates on the programming process, the team has put up screenshots and videos from its work so far, like the Flint vs. Mischievous Mole movie above. We can't wait to try out that rhythm combo system ourselves!On a disappointing note, the project's FAQ now states that the translation group no longer has plans to put out the patch before Super Smash Bros. Brawl's North American release, even with the Wii game's delay to early March. It's a painful wait, we know, but at least you'll get a few bonuses* that aren't in the Japanese game, like this secret enemy in the clip after break.*provided that you have a flashcart/emulator and, uh, the Mother 3 ROM
Iwata on lack of Wii Sports sequel
Considering the lengthy conversation between Nintendo president Satoru Iwata and Mother creator Shigesato Itoi over dinner six months ago, we're beginning to wonder if they consumed any actual food at their meal. Where did they find the time? So long as they didn't starve, however, we're glad to be privy to their chat, since so many interesting tidbit have come to light. The latest is on something close to our hearts: Wii Sports.Is Nintendo considering a sequel to the popular pack-in? Maybe, says Iwata, but it's not something that's even in the planning stages at this time. The last thing Nintendo wants to do is take the "easy" way, he says, by slapping together something that's exactly the same, just with different sports featured. Our love for Iwata was renewed in spades as he spoke about the need to do something new rather than to rehash old ground just to make money. If we were feeling snarky, we might bring up a few franchises (like, say Mario Kart ... even though we love it, it tends to be pretty much Mario Kart), but Nintendo has been forging so much new ground lately that we'll let it slide. Some might argue that Nintendo did exactly what Iwata is talking about not doing with the recent Brain Age sequel, but the big man is quick to point out that the director of the titles has been breaking new ground himself: he's responsible for several of the Wii's channels. Iwata did make the point, however, that it 's easier for Nintendo to take this stance right now because they're doing so well. If they weren't, he said, they might scramble to those "easy" sequels and decisions just to keep the boat afloat. We just wish other companies who are also in the black might take a similar line. Sure, the same game with slight tweaks may sell every year, but does it improve or expand the industry? Does it produce better games for everyone? [Via Infendo]
