Mother / Earthbound

[Discoalucard]

www.hardcoregaming101.net/mother/mother.htm

Like the NiGHTs article, this one isn't quite ready to go up next week, but since someone requested it, I've posted it in its work-in-progress state. It's fairly timely now, given that Nintendo has announced that Earthbound will hit the Wii U Virtual Console in America and Europe, though hasn't announced if anything will need to be cut for legal issues.

As for what needs to be done...more screenshots, additional of comparisons to the GBA and FC/SFC versions, and some more localization changes. I'm not sure how many of the localization changes to add, considering that there are sites (that are linked in the article) that do it comprehensively, so it'll most likely be a summary.

[iwant]

I'm really happy to see it published! This is probably the most impassioned article I've ever written, I hope readers like it.


I've proofread the corrected article, so I can help in making it more fit for publication.

SPOILER: Click to show

In Itoi's life ---> "[...] like forbidding employees from coming to work on January 29 as this day, is supposedly reserved [...]"
> Isn't this coma a typo? I may be wrong, though.

In MOTHER ---> "[...] but he had no idea to who he could propose it to [...]"
> I guess it was changed because my "to whom" was not correct or natural-sounding, but I think there's still something off with this one.

In MOTHER ---> "[...] to use a title that wasn't "video game-like" and distinct from all these "Quests", "Legends" and "Storie"s."
> "Stories", instead of "Storie"s.

In MOTHER ---> "[...] so just try to imagine the look on their face at the sight of such an introduction The first Mother game may not be perfect [...]"
> A missing period between "introduction" and "The".

In MOTHER ---> "The game can get so irritating that a fan patch that doubles received experience points, which was made for newcomers when the series started to become popular in the West."
> The sentence is weird. Shouldn't the "which" be removed?

In MOTHER ---> "That attitude of presenting completelyscrew-loose occurrences [...]"
> Space typo.

In MOTHER ---> "And it couldn't have been fitting than this."
> "Fittier", maybe?

In MOTHER ---> "But Tanaka isn't just here for show, and his interest in electronic music will drive him to write more haunting tracks [...]"
> I think this one's a mistake of mine. Doesn't that "will" looks weird? Now that I think about it, wouldn't a "would" be better?

In MOTHER ---> "The only step left was to release it...and it didn't happen."
> Space typo.

In MOTHER2 ---> "[...] and it's only going to get crazier. Actually, it's only gonna get crazier."
> One of the two sentences wasn't removed.

In MOTHER2 ---> "The inventory is still a hassle to deal with it [...]"
> Maybe this one's mine, too ; shouldn't the "it" be removed?

In MOTHER2 ---> "[...] the localization was completed in less than a year later [...]"
> Looks like two sentences fused together here.

In MOTHER3 ---> "[...] Benchmark Itoh [...]"
> wat. I guess it's the result of an automatic spell check or something ; it's Benimaru, not Benchmark.

In MOTHER3 ---> "(now split 1-UP Studio)"
> That one's an error on my part. Just remove the "split".

In MOTHER3 ---> "[...] most of those tracks are more difficult in "hard" versions though [...]"
> Nothing grammatically wrong here, but the way the sentence is worded, it sounds like the game has a "hard mode", while really there just are several versions of the same background music track. Or maybe it's just me.

In MOTHER3 ---> "[...] but the polishing of what seems like insignificant details at first is also what a Mother game can be recognized."
> Doesn't this lack a "by" somewhere?

In MOTHER3 --->> "[...] as the community long expressed unbridled amounts of enthusiasm over at websites like Starman.net."
I think you mean Starmen.net, because Starman.net is a Czech bookstore lol.

In MOTHER3 ---> "[...] or that the vaguely anti-capitalist themes could be construed as an endorsement of the ever-evil communism."
> Honnestly, I don't think this should be added in the article. McCarthy is dead, I don't think anybody would actually go as far as to see Nintendo as crypto-Bolsheviks in this day and age... or so I hope.

I don't mean to be picky, but I thought helping in spotting the typos would make the whole thing easier.






Besides this... I'm thankful for the HG101 staff's edition work and everything, but there are a few changes I don't really get.

- I understand changing "MOTHER" to "Mother", but why change "EarthBound" to "Earthbound"? It's the universally-acknowledged typography from both the fan public and official sources.

- I also understand that the idea behind HG101 is to be kind of an encyclopedia rather than a random reviews website which is why some of the most, hum, "cheerful" sentences get a bit toned down, but the fact that the "out of the blue" bit was removed from the part about MOTHER3's announcement makes it look like it was a "meh" event, while it was actually somewhat of a miracle that really caught people off-guard.

- I thought adding the catchphrase from Kiki's poster at the very end of the article wasn't too bad of an idea for a final, emotional one-liner. Putting the Japanese version definetely was out of place, but would you mind putting it back in its English, comprehensible form with guillemets so that it is made obvious it refers to a quote mentioned earlier in the article?




Also, would you mind if I made pics for the "prior page", "next page", "Itoi's life" and "back to index" links? Something like this. I think it would be fittier for such a "themed" table. I also think I should have slipped a pic of Itoi's pet, Bouillon, in the page about his life ; not only is he really featured everywhere on his website and in his books, it would also come in handy since the image column seems a little bit short.

I'll also try to find additional screenshots and make a summary of the most substantial localization changes asap.

[Discoalucard]

Ah, sure - I took out the Japanese phrase at the end since I wasn't sure what it meant, but looking back over I saw it was the Kiki line...but I think it needs a closer explanation so people don't think it's random Japanese like I did.

If you're up for making up a new menu, then sure! I just kinda tossed this one together while keeping the theme you already did.

In addition to comparison screenshots, just whatever extra ones you can dig up are fine, just to fill in the blank gaps on the right side. I'll make the rest of the changes before it goes live, which won't be for another week or so.

I also added in a few speculatory paragraphs about why people thought Mother 3 hadn't been localized. I'll need to add in a bit about the American release's incredible price too, which has only gotten more ridiculous over time.

[Weasel]

Apr 28, 2013 21:15:34 GMT -5 Discoalucard said:

Ah, sure - I took out the Japanese phrase at the end since I wasn't sure what it meant, but looking back over I saw it was the Kiki line...but I think it needs a closer explanation so people don't think it's random Japanese like I did.

The HTML acronym tag might work; it'll produce a dotted line beneath the string of text and produces a tooltip with alternate text when the mouse is hovered over it.

[mpx]

More about N64 version of Mother you can found here:

www.unseen64.net/2008/04/04/mother-3-earthbound-64-n64-cancelled/

[vnisanian2001]

Reading the article it mentions that Woody Allen was still-unknown.

Wait, that doesn't make any sense.

[iwant]

Uh, I think I may have mixed things up. What I meant was that Woody Allen wasn't a popular figure in Japan back then. Should it rather be "not yet popular" or something?

[vnisanian2001]

Yes, something like that. One of his earliest films was 1966's What's Up, Tiger Lilly (remember that one?), where he took a Japanese film called International Secret Police: Key of Keys, changed the plot, and redubbed ALL of the dialogue.

Back to the subject, I thought I heard Mother 1's grinding, wasn't as bad as that of Dragon Quest 1 and Final Fantasy 1.

[Malev]

Apr 29, 2013 18:41:40 GMT -5 vnisanian2001 said:

Back to the subject, I thought I heard Mother 1's grinding, wasn't as bad as that of Dragon Quest 1 and Final Fantasy 1.

I thought it's more the encounter rate than just EXP grind, especially by Mt. Itoi. Didn't the GBA release tone it down, or is that merely Tomato's Translation hack adding the Easy Ring?

[iwant]

The GBA release basically is just the American prototype version re-translated to Japanese (for some reason), so it's as batshit insane as it was in 1989 when it comes to encounter rate. What the easy ring actually does is double the EXP and money received.

Anyway, I've reworked the table, so here goes the code for it. Just put these in the mother/src/pics folder and it's done.

SPOILER: Click to show

<center>
<table border="1" width="100%" bgcolor="#d10013" style="border:3px solid #93874e; border-collapse: collapse;"><tbody>
<tr style="border:0px;">
<td valign="top" style="border:0px; text-align: left;">
<a href="m1.htm"><img src="src/pics/z_prior.png" style="margin-left: 5px;"></a></td>
<td valign="top" style="border:0px; text-align: center;">
<a href="m1.htm"><img src="src/pics/z_backto.png"></a></td>
<td valign="top" style="border:0px; text-align: right;">
<a href="m2.htm"><img src="src/pics/z_next.png" style="margin-right: 5px;"></a></td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td valign="top" style="border:3px solid #93874e; padding: 0px;" colspan="3">
<a href="m1.htm"><img src="src/pics/z_lifeofitoi.png"></a></td>
</tr>

<tr style="height: 200px;">
<td valign="top" style="border:3px solid #93874e">
<a href="m1.htm"><img src="src/pics/m1.png"></a></td>
<td valign="top" style="border:3px solid #93874e">
<a href="m2.htm"><img src="src/pics/m2.png"></a></td>
<td valign="top" style="border:3px solid #93874e">
<a href="m3.htm"><img src="src/pics/m3.png"></a></td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
</center>

I've also re-written some of the parts that needed it, including that one about localization changes.

> However, Nintendo of America's legal advisers almost had an heart attack at the sight of this cultural mess, and they edited out these quirks by the dozens as not to upset copyright holders and moral guardians alike. Not only were any kind of references to alcohol, sexuality, death or religion an obvious no-no for NoA, but they chased down every little detail: A lot of references to such things as Star Wars or even The Beatles were removed, the Blues Brothers-like band was denied its iconic clothing, the Klan-ish Happy Happyists got their hood ridiculously altered as you can see hereabove, and that's only a part of it. Hell, they went after the drugstores because they had "drug" in their name, and even after the RED CROSSES on hospitals for whatever reason you can think of. It's kind of sad to see that such polished localizations could get that kind of treatment when it came to these picky things. The good news is, a patch now actually restore the quasi-entirety of those original subtleties, so you can enjoy the original references as they were intended to be!

I've also kind of tempered the bit about MOTHER3's reception. I've come to realize a lot of Japanese almost HATED the game, actually.

> Reviews were mostly positive, but somehow the reception remains mixed overall in Japan. It seems a lot of Japanese gamers ended up really disliking the game, apparently due to its change of focus when compared to its predecessor. The game has its numerous defenders anyway, who acknowledge the game had a different feel to EarthBound but still found it to be a very compelling experience. However, that wasn't the most upsettin part about Mother 3's release... Indeed, Nintendo decided not to localize the game in spite of the drama this decision caused overseas, against which numerous petitions and campaigns proved unsuccessful.

> No official reasons were ever given for that decision. Some postulate it may have had to due with lingering resentment over the failure of EarthBound when it was released on the SNES a decade before. Other theories suggested that the dark overtones meshed with the cutesy graphics and would subsequently not be kid-friendly enough to go over with the Game Boy Advance audience, a system typically thought of for children. However, the most likely reason for Mother 3 never to be release outside of Japan is probably mainly economic concerns over a title that came out so late in the console's lifespan, actually even after the Nintendo DS was released. The fact that Nintendo of America's effort to localize Namco's Tales of Phantasia and Game Freak's Drill Dozer met with poor commercial success certainly didn't help, and this was also probably the cause why the first episode of Rhythm Tengoku ended up never being localized either.

> Coming from the perspective of an English-speaking EarthBound fan, this seemed outrageous, as the community long expressed unbridled amounts of enthusiasm over at websites like Starmen.net. That is when some Western fans decided to take the issue into their own hands: In 2007, when it became clear the game would never be released outside of Japan, Starmen.netco-founder and professional translator Tomato decided to start an ambitious project ; no less than a complete, high-end translation for Mother 3! It would mobilize a whole team of hard-working translators and hackers for more than one year, and a patch was finally released on October 17, 2008. The result was so flawless that even industry figures including but not limited to Nintendo employees lauded their colossal achievement. Western Mother enthusiasts can now main Lucas on Super Smash Bros. Brawl with an easy conscience thanks to this effort. Fans even went as far as to produce an unofficial guide, complete with old-school clay models.

[The Great Klaid]

and even after the RED CROSSES on hospitals for whatever reason you can think of.

It's a trademark held by Red Cross. A lot of games have been getting rid of them. Earthbound has to be the earliest, probably due to the over zealousness due to how much was in there and they really did their homework to make sure they couldn't get sued at all. However, look at the DOOM 3 BFG versions of DOOM and DOOM II. The medkits no longer have the Red crosses on them.

[iwant]

Wow. The thought had occured to me that it could have been a copyright issue indeed, but I brushed the idea aside figuring it was a bit far-fetched to think there could actually exists a serious risk of legal dispute over this. Well, turns out I was wrong!

[Malev]

Red Cross trademark is more enforced by the company over Mature rated games. The Red Cross generally doesn't like having their mark on such brutal acts such as mowing down waves of Nazis or hellspawn with buckets of blood and guts, since they don't see it fitting for their mantra.

Technically, Nintendo could've left the cross in (which they sorta do in Burglin Park) since it's used as a sign of safety and care facilities, but they didn't feel the need to take the chance in the West. Considering the crosses are still in the Wii U VC version in Japan, the international company hasn't struck NoJ down for it yet.

[kyouki]

Apr 29, 2013 18:41:40 GMT -5 vnisanian2001 said:

Back to the subject, I thought I heard Mother 1's grinding, wasn't as bad as that of Dragon Quest 1 and Final Fantasy 1.

Mother doesn't have much artificial grinding (though neither did FF1). As long as you don't run unless necessary, and actually explore the game (rather than using a walkthrough) you will tend to be strong enough at any given point in the game. You can also turn bread into breadcrumbs, which act like town portal scrolls in Diablo.

The first Dragon Quest though, that is a game that definitely requires grinding...

[iwant]

Oops. Now that I read the article again, I've noticed another typo on my part: The place Itoi went on vacation with his employees is NOT Mali (the African country) but Bali (the Indonesian island).