Earthbound Zero - Is It Good?

[Enigmus]

See what I did there?

[pixelsnpolygons]

Word to your Mother.

[megasdkirby]

Quote:

Earthbound is a joke of a game but with a Mona Lisa price tag.

[buzz_n64]

Will this thread be good? No.

[The 1 2 P]

You know something is wrong when Earthbound is getting just as much coverage as Osama Bin Laden's death.

[megasdkirby]

You know something is wrong when Earthbound is getting just as much coverage as Osama Bin Laden's death.

It's because the game is filled with tiger blood.

[Satoshi_Matrix]

I voted yes, but it's really not as simple as "yes it's good" or "no it's bad".

Mother is very much a product of its time. Compared to other 2D sprite-based RPGs, The first Mother is rather dated and uninspired. It's rife with all the problems of early RPGs - progression goals are often unclear at best, there are wild difficulty spikes that crop out of nowhere, hours of grinding is pretty much essential, inventory space is limited and menus are somewhat confusing.

All that said, Mother is one of the first RPGs One could define as "emotional", as you really do get attached to the characters and their adventures. The music is top notch and the battle system works really well.

If you judge it compared to other console RPG offerings of 1989, Mother does stand out quite a bit. It deserves praise as a retro gaming gem, but only for those willing to put up with the quarks of 80's RPGs.

[goatdan]

Actually, this seriously applies to it:

Nothing about it makes sense,

If it wasn't for the PSI powers that you're supposed to just 'know' when to use, it would be cool. With that, it definitely brings it down a level.

And stop talking about Earthbound. No one cares.

[Baloo]

You know something is wrong when Earthbound is getting just as much coverage as Osama Bin Laden's death.

Haha, that's great. I'm going to sig that if you don't mind.

I've heard this game is so hard you can't even level grind.

[Rickstilwell1]

All that said, Mother is one of the first RPGs One could define as "emotional", as you really do get attached to the characters and their adventures.

One of the only Famicom RPGs that precedes this statement is Final Fantasy II. You're always making a 4th friend and then losing them to some disaster. I think there was like only 1 survivor who stepped down rather than died before getting that long-lost friend from the beginning back. It's funny how the same thing really repeated in Final Fantasy IV later on.

[mobiusclimber]

I liked it better than Earthbound. The problem is really that there are certain spots where I just can't imagine playing it on regular hardware without the benefit of save stats. It can be pretty brutal at times.

[wingzrow]

I'm playing through this right now.

So far my only complaints on the NES version are as follows.

Too many random battles
translation could use some work

The GBA version fixes both of those but you lose the great music and the graphics take a hit.

[Cryomancer]

I've heard this game is so hard you can't even level grind.

There is in fact an enemy you can fight by talking to. NES Advantage + that guy = level grinding on automatic.

The only parts that are usually considered hard are the factory and the mountain. the mountain you could just 4th-D slip away from every battle until you get to the final boss, who is super easy.

[The 1 2 P]

Haha, that's great. I'm going to sig that if you don't mind.

Go for it

I've actually seen a few copies of Earthbound Zero advertised on my local craigs list before but it always looked like a decently made Nes bootleg.

[Baloo]

Go for it

I've actually seen a few copies of Earthbound Zero advertised on my local craigs list before but it always looked like a decently made Nes bootleg.

The game was unreleased, I believe that's the only way you can play it.

[jdheins]

The game was unreleased, I believe that's the only way you can play it.

If you know Japanese you can play the released Japanese version on the Famicom, or you can play Earth Bound Zero (Prototype) cancelled US release on your emulator of choice.

Not quite sure what you are trying to say there.

[Cryomancer]

That there is no official US release, and that any copies you see for NES are going to be reproductions?

[Baloo]

That there is no official US release, and that any copies you see for NES are going to be reproductions?

^This. Any copies you see of the game on the NES have to be bootlegs, because the game was never released. I was referring to The 1 2 P's comment about all the copies of the game he sees on Craigslist looking like bootlegs.

[Satoshi_Matrix]

Well hold on there. NES reproductions of the Mother 1 English prototype aren't "bootlegs". the term "bootleg" carry a negative connotation, and the term itself means a product that is a direct copy of inferior quality sold to steal sales of the original product away by fooling the buyer.

A more accurate term would be a legal reproduction. The prototype Mother 1 translated into English that is the basis of EarthBound Zero has no legal standing as copyrights for it were never put into place and the game cannot be legally purchased in any fashion.

Therefore, its abandonware and free public use until such time as
A. The game is released on some download service such as Wii Virtual Console (extremely unlikely)
B. Copyright steps are taken to actually cover it.

EarthBound Zero will probably be forever ignored by Nintendo of America as the game is too similar to Earth Bound/Mother 2 and they won't even release THAT game.

[Gameguy]

Well hold on there. NES reproductions of the Mother 1 English prototype aren't "bootlegs". the term "bootleg" carry a negative connotation, and the term itself means a product that is a direct copy of inferior quality sold to steal sales of the original product away by fooling the buyer.

A more accurate term would be a legal reproduction. The prototype Mother 1 translated into English that is the basis of EarthBound Zero has no legal standing as copyrights for it were never put into place and the game cannot be legally purchased in any fashion.

Therefore, its abandonware and free public use until such time as
A. The game is released on some download service such as Wii Virtual Console (extremely unlikely)
B. Copyright steps are taken to actually cover it.

EarthBound Zero will probably be forever ignored by Nintendo of America as the game is too similar to Earth Bound/Mother 2 and they won't even release THAT game.

Bootleg means something produced without permission from the proper rights holders. Earthbound/Mother isn't in the public domain, you aren't allowed to produce and distribute anything from patched fan translations(you're supposed to patch it yourself from a copy you own and backed up yourself) to fan games involving the characters. In any case, I thought most copies of Earthbound Zero were taken from an official prototype, not from the previous fan translation so someone owns the rights to it.

You might be allowed to back up your own Japanese famicom copy and patch it yourself, but I'm pretty sure buying a copy that someone else produced isn't exactly legal. Maybe if you supplied the materials yourself, mailed them with a prepaid return envelope to someone to assemble for you(for free) it would be ok, but I'm pretty sure it doesn't work like that. It's nice that Nintendo currently hasn't done anything to stop people from selling bootlegs of the game, but they could if they really wanted to.

It also should be noted that the version of Mother included in the somewhat recent Japanese GBA port is the English NES Earthbound Zero version which was re-translated back into Japanese. There are several differences in that version of the game compared to the original Famicom version, so it hasn't been completly forgotten about or abandoned.

So yes, bootleg seems to be an accurate description.