Nintendo Mother/Earthbound game (Photo : YouTube)
Classic NES games not only include Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, and Tetris, but also Japan-only titles, such as "Mother." Over 25 years after its original Japan NES release, the Nintendo RPG game is now available in the United States as "Earthbound Beginnings" on the Wii U Virtual Console.
The gaming company's official announcement of the game's release happened at the start of the Nintendo World Championships. It was a shocker.
"Mother" was originally available in 1989 on the Famicom system, Japan's NES game console. It sold 150,000 copies when role-playing games (RPGs) were a fairly new genre.
In the classic Nintendo game, the player is a young boy living in a small town who uses a baseball bat to battle enemies. It was designed by Shigesato Itoi, a popular Japanese game designer during the era of classic NES games.
"Mother" was originally to be released under the game title "Earthbound" in the 1990s. However, it was a no-go even after Nintendo of America had translated the entire RPG game into English, according to Wired.
The game was later released in 1994 as a sequel on Super Nintendo. It was known as "Earthbound" in the U.S., and "Mother 2" in Japan, according to Nerd Reactor
Ironically "Earthbound" only sold about 140,000 units in the U.S., yet as time passed it earned a loyal following, and fans of the game series have been waiting decades for "Mother." Many hope that "Mother 3" will also have a U.S. release date.
The classic NES game "Earthbound Beginnings" is now available on Wii U's eShop for $6.99.
As a word of caution, while this is a classic RPG the 8-bit title has all the quirks of a 25-year-old video game. For example, the grinding game is quite difficult.
