What a Week
It's almost two in the morning, and I'm still awake. I know this isn't unusual for the insomniacs that populate this site but I'm the kind of guy who is destined to get to bed at ten at night and wake up at seven in the morning on weekends when I'm older. The truth is that this past week, with the release of Mother 3 in Japan, has been an absolute rush. I have enough excitement to keep me up for a week.
A few years ago I never would have dreamed that this would happen. When EarthBound 64 was finally cancelled after its long, tortured development, I thought the series was over. I found myself being crushed over a video game that I had never even played. When Mother 1+2 was about to come out a few years later, the impending release mostly felt like a funeral for the Mother series. In hindsight, I can see that the development of that game was probably what paved the road for Mother 3's move to the Gameboy Advance, and sure enough, the release of Mother 1+2 was soon followed by the announcement that Mother 3 was going to be made for the GameBoy Advance.
I have to confess that even when Mother 3 was known to be in development for the GameBoy Advance I was still having doubts that it would even see the light of day in Japan, and I felt that there was a better chance that Jerry Falwell would decide to provide a voice in a Teletubby movie than there was that Mother 3 would come out in America. Part of my doubt was rooted in the fact that I had been really crushed by the EarthBound 64 fiasco. Every time I found out that the game was being delayed again it was another disappointment, and it seemed like there were thousands of delays. I didn't really want to get my hopes up for a Mother 3 release after going through that.
Itoi really did a good thing by keeping the Mother 3 for GBA development secretive. With EarthBound 64 I had seen screenshots, heard music, and seen video clips of the game in action. Although I didn't actually have the game, I had images and sounds to get attached to. With Mother 3, there were no revelations until Itoi was sure that the game was going to get finished, and for that I am very grateful. I know that he didn't mean any harm with the EarthBound 64 delays. The fact is that those delays certainly were more painful for him than for anyone else. I can't lie though, I really enjoyed getting to have the joy of the release without any of the torture of delays.
As if the release of Mother 3 in Japan wasn't enough, something else happened, and after ten years of almost constant bad news, EarthBound fans suddenly found themselves drowning in good news. I know we aren't supposed to make too much of it, but the revelation that there are rumblings that Mother 3 is being seriously considered for North American release is something that I had begun to doubt that I would ever see. I even got to find out about it a little more than a day after Mother 3 was released.
I haven't been this excited for a new video game since Seinfeld was still on the air. When I first played EarthBound, I was nine years old. I'm closing in on my twentieth birthday now and kind of freaking out about it. A mere two years stand between me and "the real world" (no, not the show, although that would be scary too). This week has been a lot of fun for me because it has given me the opportunity to look back a bit while I'm looking forward to the possible US release of Mother 3. EarthBound evokes memories of my childhood like no other video game, and the memories it evokes aren't just any memories. They tend to be memories of summer days with absolutely no responsibility, summers where I could just sit down and play EarthBound all day if I wanted to. I can't wait for the (crossing fingers) possible American release of Mother 3 and spending some more time reliving those moments before life starts to get really serious.
It's almost two in the morning, and I'm still awake. I know this isn't unusual for the insomniacs that populate this site but I'm the kind of guy who is destined to get to bed at ten at night and wake up at seven in the morning on weekends when I'm older. The truth is that this past week, with the release of Mother 3 in Japan, has been an absolute rush. I have enough excitement to keep me up for a week.
A few years ago I never would have dreamed that this would happen. When EarthBound 64 was finally cancelled after its long, tortured development, I thought the series was over. I found myself being crushed over a video game that I had never even played. When Mother 1+2 was about to come out a few years later, the impending release mostly felt like a funeral for the Mother series. In hindsight, I can see that the development of that game was probably what paved the road for Mother 3's move to the Gameboy Advance, and sure enough, the release of Mother 1+2 was soon followed by the announcement that Mother 3 was going to be made for the GameBoy Advance.
I have to confess that even when Mother 3 was known to be in development for the GameBoy Advance I was still having doubts that it would even see the light of day in Japan, and I felt that there was a better chance that Jerry Falwell would decide to provide a voice in a Teletubby movie than there was that Mother 3 would come out in America. Part of my doubt was rooted in the fact that I had been really crushed by the EarthBound 64 fiasco. Every time I found out that the game was being delayed again it was another disappointment, and it seemed like there were thousands of delays. I didn't really want to get my hopes up for a Mother 3 release after going through that.
Itoi really did a good thing by keeping the Mother 3 for GBA development secretive. With EarthBound 64 I had seen screenshots, heard music, and seen video clips of the game in action. Although I didn't actually have the game, I had images and sounds to get attached to. With Mother 3, there were no revelations until Itoi was sure that the game was going to get finished, and for that I am very grateful. I know that he didn't mean any harm with the EarthBound 64 delays. The fact is that those delays certainly were more painful for him than for anyone else. I can't lie though, I really enjoyed getting to have the joy of the release without any of the torture of delays.
As if the release of Mother 3 in Japan wasn't enough, something else happened, and after ten years of almost constant bad news, EarthBound fans suddenly found themselves drowning in good news. I know we aren't supposed to make too much of it, but the revelation that there are rumblings that Mother 3 is being seriously considered for North American release is something that I had begun to doubt that I would ever see. I even got to find out about it a little more than a day after Mother 3 was released.
I haven't been this excited for a new video game since Seinfeld was still on the air. When I first played EarthBound, I was nine years old. I'm closing in on my twentieth birthday now and kind of freaking out about it. A mere two years stand between me and "the real world" (no, not the show, although that would be scary too). This week has been a lot of fun for me because it has given me the opportunity to look back a bit while I'm looking forward to the possible US release of Mother 3. EarthBound evokes memories of my childhood like no other video game, and the memories it evokes aren't just any memories. They tend to be memories of summer days with absolutely no responsibility, summers where I could just sit down and play EarthBound all day if I wanted to. I can't wait for the (crossing fingers) possible American release of Mother 3 and spending some more time reliving those moments before life starts to get really serious.
