The music is an indisputable barrier to release. There are clear violations of copyright. However, while the music is awesome, it's just music. It could be replaced easily.

Supposedly graphics are a concern, too, but I really don't believe that. Even if the Beatles had a song called Yellow Submarine, they don't have the concept of submarine painted yellow copyrighted. Same with the Runaway Five's similarities to the Blues Brothers. You can't copyright tux and sunglasses. I could go on stage like that tomorrow if I wanted. No problem. Plus, imitation with the intent to parody is legally acceptable.

In my not so knowledgeable opinion, the music is the biggest barrier to release and the easiest to fix. Supposedly Nintendo of Japan doesn't agree with this though and refuses because they have much looser copyright laws. I think that is baloney, though. Otherwise, why doesn't Japan have Earthbound on VC, too? They clearly aren't holding games back (those jerks ).

Even if they are going to get sued, they would most likely win most of the suits, and they can afford the court costs for the sake of keeping a promise.

@Adam i wouldn't doubt that tehy whould win te suits, but they don't want to win, they just want to avoid the problem with all costs nowadays.
Even wining a suit they waste too much money in theire legal department.
And with the everyday quota they want to avoid them with all costs. Unfortually you can't blame, they just want to have a steady bussines.

Yea, I can blame, and I did, for the reasons I just gave, though I'll try to clarify since you seem to have missed that.

They promised it, and that promise hangs over my Wii purchase and others, so they ought to deliver. I'm sure they get sued over lots of things and spend money on those suits. You can't release anything these days without a lawsuit; plus, the legally troublesome areas are easily remedied. Nintendo has money to spare, and the games have actually gained more of a following since their release, so the money would be made back.

As much as I love the Starmen guys, they've been wrong before, and I'm not sure it's even the legal difficulties that are holding the game back. If Japan thought NoA was being silly about this copyright stuff, they could still release it in their own territories. And I highly doubt Japanese copyright laws have changed that dramatically in the six years since M1+2 was released that it's now impossible, so they're holding off on it for something else, I think.

I did hear about this two years ago from my sources, so I can confirm Starmen's story is true, or at least how that it is represented for Nintendo's own employees. In any case, Eartbound is originally from the era when when record companies didn't care much about sampling. Thanks to hip hop and its sampling, US record industry's attitude towards it grew more negative, and by mid-90's time of direct sampling was pretty much over. If you would try to pull something like Earthbound in these days, you would be sued hell and back, and you would lose. Japanese copyright laws tend to be more lenient on the matter, and local record companies are also less aggressive.

I definitely agree that the music would be a problem in the US, but my point was I don't think that is enough to hold them back. They suggested that NoJ might not want to change the music, but apparently Japan has problems releasing it, too, so I don't think it's just the music that's a problem. There's either another problem, or they are holding it for a later release, I think.

Could just be desperate optimism, though.

Well, it originally came out on June 1st.

Maybe it will come out on the game's 14th anniversary. (Next week)

@Adam: Why does your avatar say "Adam" but when someone quotes you it says "weirdadam?"

@theblackdragon: I already did read the article on starmen some time ago.

Good question.

The thing is, games get released with ripped-off music all the time! Chrono Trigger DS contains the same music it always did, including Robo's Theme. Sure, that's only one song instead of the many supposedly plaguing Earthbound, but it still proves that you CAN release a classic game with original soundtrack intact.

Oh my, the ultimate Rick Roll? How horrid.

Using same scale as some popular song uses is quite different from ripping direct samples from popular recordings.

It's definitely not as bad as most of Earthbound's music, but Robo's Theme is more than just "using same scale." It's much too close to shrug off as coincidental.

I loved earthbound but stupidly enough I sold it when i was 12 for a n64 game and I have kicked myself ever since!

agreed. I'm pretty sure that I read somewhere (it was an article describing the music of Wicked) that you can take up to 7 notes' worth of a song before it officially becomes a derivative work or plagiarism.

Perhaps. On the other hand, Earthbound is guilty of circumstances similar to Chrono Trigger's MANY more times over than the direct sample ripping you speak of. As a matter of fact, I have to strain to hear the examples of direct sampling that have been brought to my attention, so I don't really think they're obvious enough to be a legitimate excuse for a lack of release.

For once you agree with me. Music similarities is not enough to prevent a VC release. This is why I have a ROM of Earthbound until it comes out on the Virtual Console.

I'll be sad if it's never released. I am playing the ROM at the moment (love it), but I'll buy the game anyway if Ninty ever decides to release it.

Its an easy question also