Summary
Nintendo has plans to commemorate the 30th anniversary ofEarthbound, having confirmed as much in a recent social media update. While the announcement sparked some speculation among the fandom that thiscult-classic Nintendo gamecould be getting a remake, Nintendo’s plans appear to be more modest than that.
Despite debuting to fairly unimpressive sales in the West,Earthboundis nowadays widely considered as one of the most iconic ’90s RPGs. Known asMother 2in Japan, the SNES game offered an entertaining parody of the U.S. culture and subverted a wide variety of genre tropes, ultimately delivering a decisively unique JRPG experience that eventually helped it amass a cult following. A GBA port of the game was released as a Japan exclusive in 2003.
The upcoming 30th anniversary ofEarthboundwill not go uncommemorated, with the series' official Twitter account confirming as much in a January 1 post, as first spotted byMy Nintendo News. Although the tweet itself doesn’t say much about Nintendo’s concrete plans for the August 27 anniversary, it links to a jubilee page that does offer some additional details about the upcoming commemoration. Specifically, the company mentioned newEarthboundmerchandise and a special type of event that “has never been done before,” according to a machine translation of the website.
While the page says that more plans—including a mysterious brand collaboration—are in the works, there is still nothing to imply that the game itself might receive some sort of a rerelease as part of the celebrations. After all, bothEarthboundand its prequel surprise-launched on the Switchless than two years ago, and are still available on the console via Nintendo Switch Online, which starts at $19.99 per year. Although the Switch version ofEarthboundcannot be purchased outright, Nintendo has lately only been offering its classics as part of its subscription service, making a standalone rerelease even more unlikely.
Nintendo’s Confirmed Plans For Earthbound’s 30th Anniversary
None of that prevented some fans from taking to social media to speculate that the iconic JRPG could be treated to a remake or remaster this year, similar to the Switch version ofThe Legend of Zelda: Link’s AwakeningorSkyward Sword HD. But given the series' overall lack of brand awareness in the West, that still seems like an improbable scenario. After all, the niche international appeal of the franchise is also one of the main reasonswhyEarthboundsequelMother 3has never been localized, which would be a much less risky endeavor for Nintendo than financing a full-fledged remake of any other entry in the series.
Given the sheer volume ofgames thatEarthboundhas inspiredover the last three decades, its legacy is certainly worth celebrating internationally. However, Nintendo has yet to confirm that its plans for the RPG’s 30th anniversary will amount to anything outside of Japan.
Earthbound
WHERE TO PLAY
Nintendo’s old-school, 2D RPG Earthbound was initially released in the 1990s by HAL Laboratory and Ape Inc and puts players in charge of Ness and his friends, who must adventure and battle through the world to defeat the threat of Giygas that threatens Eagleland. The Earthbound franchise originally started out in Japan, under the name Mother, and has since been rereleased on Nintendo Switch Online.
