Mother 3 Sale at Play Asia

[Wolfrider31]

Just thought I'd give everyone a heads up. Play Asia is selling Mother 3 for 14.99. Pretty effing sweet deal. The sale will continue for about a week. I can't wait to finally play this thing. Oh, Earthbound, it's been too long.

via DSFanboy http://www.dsfanboy.com/2007/09/11/yo-mama-so-cheap-you-can-buy-her-at-play-asia-for-14-90/1#c7440325

DIRECT LINK:
http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-67-49-en-70-13ba.html

Er.. sorry I put this in the wrong section. I didn't realize where I was.

[cyberfluxor]

I guess it could belong in Modern Gaming or Inport-Mania, but good to know. I've only bought one game off of them and was very pleased as it cost me only $15 shipped and it was still $25 new here in the States.

[PDorr3]

As ashamed as I am to admit I have ever played more than 10 minutes of earthbound, however I am thinking of buying this, just a few quick questions.

How import friendly is it? is it easily playable with some sort of translation?
how long is the game?
will it be easy to understand if I have never played earthbound?
and lastly, is this game ever coming to the US in any form?

[studvicious]

English walkthrough:
http://walkthrough.starmen.net/mother3/

English translation project:
http://mother3.fobby.net/

[heybtbm]

Just wait for the Mother trilogy on DS. You know it's coming.

[Kroogah]

How import friendly is it? is it easily playable with some sort of translation?

Yep.


how long is the game?

i dunno lol


will it be easy to understand if I have never played earthbound?

Yes, though some of the plot points will have less of an impact


and lastly, is this game ever coming to the US in any form?

Seen any new GBA releases lately?

[Jorpho]

Just wait for the Mother trilogy on DS. You know it's coming.

One can only hope. (Really, you'd think the prospect of touch-screen menus would have developers falling over each other to release - or at least re-release - RPGs for the DS, but not so much so far.)

I'd be tempted were it not for the prospect of being hit with those duty charges (http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?t=99889) again. (Do you think boxed orders are less likely to be stopped and opened than enevelope orders?)

[joedick]

You shouldn't be taxed if its declared value is only $15.

[Jorpho]

Why not? It happened with $40. (More precisely, they charged me PST and GST on the declared value of the item - plus $5 for the priviledge of being charged.)

[Promophile]

Just wait for the Mother trilogy on DS. You know it's coming.

I peg the chances of Mother 3 coming out in the US around %10, and this is coming from one of the biggest Earthbound fans out there. Nintendo has had so many chances to make Earthbound relevant again in the US, yet they continue to bring over games like Fire Emblem, which require just as much translation work, but are half as popular.

[The EdgeCrusher]

goodbye 50 dollars, hello mother trilogy.

[Wolfrider31]

I peg the chances of Mother 3 coming out in the US around %10, and this is coming from one of the biggest Earthbound fans out there. Nintendo has had so many chances to make Earthbound relevant again in the US, yet they continue to bring over games like Fire Emblem, which require just as much translation work, but are half as popular.

True, but I think Nintendo sees a better market for Fire Emblem in the US than Mother. First, strategy RPGs tend to be extremely popular over here, and as Nintendo lacks any real RPG flavor its pretty much a sell with RPG starved Nintendo fans.

Earthbound didn't do well at all over here, despite its fanbase and how well it was received critically. Not to mention the humor is very post-modern and Japanese something that doesn't translate well over here. I'm not saying it wouldn't be a popular choice, but I do understand Nintendo's decision not to bring it over, especially when you consider that the GBA is pretty much dead and Mother 3 would be competing with a TON of DS RPGs if they released it there.

Maybe a VC release? I dunno. I'm not risking missing out on this. I'll play it with a walkthrough. :)

[Jorpho]

I really do want to play this sometime, but owning the physical cart would just be a feel-good legality thing: I plan to wait for the translation hack. I might even get an EZ Flash for the principal purpose of playing it on my DS.


Mother 3 would be competing with a TON of DS RPGs if they released it there.

There aren't that many of them, are there?


Not to mention the humor is very post-modern and Japanese something that doesn't translate well over here.

I would have put Phoenix Wright and maybe even Warioware in the same category. (The GBA being dead certainly did nothing to dissuade the publication of PW, as it were.)

[Wolfrider31]

There aren't that many of them, are there?


Well, Final Fantasy III and IV, Revenant Wings, DQ, ASH, Mario and Luigi, etc etc. I just mean it would probably get lost in the shuffle.



I would have put Phoenix Wright and maybe even Warioware in the same category. (The GBA being dead certainly did nothing to dissuade the publication of PW, as it were.)

Pheonix Wright perhaps. Though I would argue its a little more accessible than Mother 3. And yeah Warioware, but that can be enjoyed for just the wacky gameplay.

[Promophile]

Many games are released in the US that are very Japan centric (Altus, I'm looking at you), just not by Nintendo.

[joedick]

Why not? It happened with $40. (More precisely, they charged me PST and GST on the declared value of the item - plus $5 for the priviledge of being charged.)

I don't know the reason for it, but items declared under a certain amount (I think $30 CDN) won't get hit. Above that amount it's hit and miss. I've had items declared at $50 go through without a charge. It seems that at Christmas time you're more likely to have something sneak through without a charge (probably dur to the sheer volume of packages going through, they just focus on the big expensive ones).

Oh, and try to avoid couriers (Fed Ex, etc). You're more likely to get charged, and they'll tack on a $50 brokerage fee on top of your duties.

[Wolfrider31]

I don't know the reason for it, but items declared under a certain amount (I think $30 CDN) won't get hit. Above that amount it's hit and miss. I've had items declared at $50 go through without a charge. It seems that at Christmas time you're more likely to have something sneak through without a charge (probably dur to the sheer volume of packages going through, they just focus on the big expensive ones).

Oh, and try to avoid couriers (Fed Ex, etc). You're more likely to get charged, and they'll tack on a $50 brokerage fee on top of your duties.

Yeah. Get the thing sent by regular mail (in a regular bubble envelope if possible) and you should be ok. They can charge duty on items that are over $10 and aren't marked as "gift" but from my experience that's relatively rare. Weight is also a factor, especially if the declared value doesn't "feel right" in terms of weight.

What bothers me is that the NAFTA agreement was supposed to cut through all this duty garbage. How exactly is it "free trade" when the government doubles the price of anything I import? And then uses those fees to snort blow off the backsides of various hookers. And by hookers I mean members of parliament.

[Sirus]

Thanks for the heads up Wolfrider31, much appreciated! :)

Ahh! Also ended up getting some interesting looking Tales games on the cheap... so I guess I better start searching for some translations or start practicing Japanese, hehe!

[boatofcar]

I peg the chances of Mother 3 coming out in the US around %10, and this is coming from one of the biggest Earthbound fans out there. Nintendo has had so many chances to make Earthbound relevant again in the US, yet they continue to bring over games like Fire Emblem, which require just as much translation work, but are half as popular.

Couldn't have said it better. Why would N bring Earthbound here now when they've had so many chances to in the past?

[Jorpho]

Yeah. Get the thing sent by regular mail (in a regular bubble envelope if possible) and you should be ok.

Last time it was a bubble envelope, actually, which is what makes me wonder if a box would be more likely to escape detection. I postulate that incoming mail from Hong Kong video game stores might be particularly easy to flag for examination.

And I shouldn't say it was duty; it was sales tax. For some reason. (Heck, I might not even mind paying sales tax up front if they just wouldn't put the additional charge on top.)