Dear Reader:

You are viewing a story from GN Version 4.0. Time may not have been kind to formatting, integrity of links, images, information, etc.

GoNintendo 'End of Day' thought - Is this your first time playing Earthbound?

by rawmeatcowboy
19 July 2013
GN Version 4.0


Friday is here already? That means it's my last day of my NC vacation. Time to hit the beach and pool one more time! That's happening between rounds on the site, of course! See you in a few, short hours.

We all know that Earthbound wasn't a hit when it first released. There are a number of factors you can chalk that up to. Perhaps the graphics weren't doing the game any favorite at the time. Maybe the promotional push for the game wasn't well thought out. Maybe the RPG scene wasn't wide open enough yet. Whatever the reason, Earthbound failed to attract a big audience.

The sad thing is, fans in North America have been paying the price for years. Nintendo decided to give us one shot at Earthbound, only to keep the series away from us for all these years later. Sure, there was only one other entry in the franchise in that time, but we still missed out. It was clear that Earthbound interaction in North America would have to come via Smash Bros. appearances.

There was a little glimmer of hope when Earthbound got rated for the Wii Virtual Console, but that release never came together. We still don't know why the rating popped up but failed to see release. When that happened, we all thought that hope was lost. Then many years later, a Nintendo Direct surprises us with a confirmation of Earthbound hitting the Wii U VC in Europe/NA.

Equally surprising was another Nintendo Direct that cropped up today, which included the announcement of Earthbound releasing just a few hours later. Now we can all play the game we love from our SNES days...or the game we never got to try for any number of reasons. I know tons of you have picked up the game on your Wii U, but is this your first time with the game? If so, leave a comment and let us know why you couldn't resist.