Originally overlooked by many fans, Earthbound has since become a generational RPG that has influenced many indie games. Now, fans are planning to remake the sublime SNES classic with beautiful visuals for a more modern audience.
Revealed as part of the recent Mother Direct, MOTHER² is a complete remake of the SNES RPG. This was one of the many Mother-related games revealed at the “Direct,” though this one is relevant for obvious reasons.
Based on everything we’ve seen in the trailer, this looks like a modernized version of the quirky RPG. While the character sprites are more detailed and expressive, everything from the menus and battles still feels faithful to the original.
For those unfamiliar, the series was originally called Mother in Japan. Mother 2 was ported to Japan and called Earthbound so fans wouldn’t be confused since the first game didn’t make it stateside. Only years later did the first Mother game, now called Earthbound: Beginnings, get officially released on Wii U, 3DS, and Nintendo Switch.
Seeing fans take it upon themselves to remake this RPG is heartwarming. However, it’s also a stark reminder that Nintendo has yet to officially publish Mother 3, despite constant fan demand. Nintendo seems to be aware of this as they constantly put Lucas in the Super Smash Bros. games.
No official Mother 3 release aside, MOTHER² looks like a phenomenal remake. It’s still in development and fans shouldn’t expect it anytime soon but we hope fans get to enjoy the remake when it comes out. Knowing Nintendo, they will probably take it down once it’s available to the public but fans have ways to preserve it.
Admittedly, Nintendo has been making more remakes and remasters lately. Super Mario RPG was announced for the Switch and it looks like a gorgeous remake. We also got Metroid Prime Remastered earlier this year and that was also well-received.
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Earthbound and its predecessor Earthbound: Beginnings are readily available as part of the basic Nintendo Switch Online service.