super famicom game reviews: Mother 2 Super famicom

EarthBound, known in Japan as Mother 2: Gyiyg no Gyakushū (MOTHER2ギーグの逆襲, Mazā Tsū Gīgu no Gyakushū^?, Mother 2: Gyiyg Strikes Back), is a role-playing video game (RPG) designed by Shigesato Itoi for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. The title was developed by Ape, Inc. and HAL Laboratory as a sequel to the Japan-only title, Mother. EarthBound was published by Nintendo and released in Japan on August 27, 1994, and months later in North America on June 1, 1995. Despite being successful in Japan, the American version was released to a poor commercial response.^[1] Years later, the game is now lauded by gamers for its humorous depictions of American culture and parody of the RPG genre,^[2] and has since become a cult classic.^[3]

Taking place in a modern day world, players assume the role of a young boy named Ness who awakens to discover a meteor has plummeted to the earth near his home. Upon investigating the meteor, Ness encounters an insect named Buzz Buzz who claims to be from the future. Buzz Buzz proceeds to tell Ness that an evil alien, named Giygas, has overtaken the world in the future and that Ness must undertake a journey to prevent this event.

A direct sequel to EarthBound for the Nintendo 64, entitled "EarthBound 64", was in development for many years before finally being cancelled.^[4] This project eventually resurfaced as a Game Boy Advance title called Mother 3 and was released only in Japan.^[1] In 2006, Mother creator, Shigesato Itoi, declared that there were no plans for any more installments in the Mother series.^[5] However, with the release of the Wii, many expect that EarthBound will be re-released on the Virtual Console,^[3] while rumors have also been circulating regarding the release of the Mother trilogy for the Nintendo DS.^[6] On May 2, 2008, the game was rated by the ESRB for the Wii,^[7] indicating a possible Virtual Console release.^[8]