Topic: My Theory about Earthbound

Since Nintendo like to tourture us about the Mother series in general i dont think Earthbound is coming to the VC at all.
This is just my opinion, anyways

Such an ingenius observation there, ryanknight.
But I have another theory: because of the current deal with the Beatles lately (or at least two of the members) with their version of Rock Band, they probably have forgotten all about Mother 2/EarthBound. IMO, TI.

@StarBoy91: Do you mean to suggest that the Beatles themselves ever cared about EarthBound one way or the other? I find that HIGHLY unlikely. It's really just Nintendo's legal team that's supposedly worried about it. Stupid thing is, if they hadn't been worrying about it and had just released the game, there would be less public awareness of the potential legal issues than there is now.

Yeah, sometimes I can say the most childish of things. I'm not exactly 100% sure the Beatles ever knew about the game. Still, it was just a thought, and not a conclusion.

wait what does the beatles have to do with earthbound?

I looked up that apparently there were a few things that alluded to the famous band, i.e. the Yellow Submarine. And if I'm not mistaken there's a Beatles-like song. I might be wrong.

@ryanknight717: Ever played the game? Ever listened to the music? Between the two, there are a number of Beatles references of various levels of subtlety. Enough that NOA's perpetually paranoid lawyers are concerned, easily.

My theory was a little silly. Sorry about that.

so ur saying the giygas theme sound like the beatles? LOL

Here's my theory. Nintendo of Japan/America will eventually get off their butt and solve all copyright issues for those regions, therefore, we should expect the game to be released. It still has an ESRB rating, so I agree with Stuffgamer1, Earthbound will likely be release on the Virtual Console.

It was never supposed to get ESRB rated, Nintendo has said that was an accident.

It seems fans of the series stick their fingers in their ears and scream "I'm not listening!" whenever someone mentions that.

@Panda & The Fox: Do you realize that it isn't possible for a game to "accidentally" be rated? A rating is only given to games that are submitted for rating. Therefore, Earthbound was submitted for rating by Nintendo. They can claim it was an "accident" all they want, but that doesn't mean it's true, plain and simple. I'm not just refusing to listen to you; I know what I'm talking about.

@ryanknight717: Not ALL the music in the game, you fool! Listen to the music that plays when you wake up. Then compare it to "Good Morning" by the Beatles (I THINK that's actually the title...). It you don't hear an obvious similarity, you're musically inept.
Umm...I really don't mean to come off too rude here. Imagine that being said in a semi-friendly sarcastic kind of way. If you can, that is. Stupid limitations of text...

BTW, the Beatles is the biggest reference/influence they're worried about but it's not the only one. I kind of equate it to the issues in the Jump Superstars from coming over. Just too many copyright issues going on with too many hands in the cookie jar. I just wouldn't be fiscally wise for Nintendo to do it. I understand Nintendo's fear, it could end up costing Nintendo a lot more to liscense everything in the game then they could get in return from putting it on the VC. Lets be honest, this isn't a Metroid or Mega Man. I could see it being the #1 VC game for a couple weeks and then fall of completely when the small/loyal fanbase has it purhcased with a smattering of curious folks who want to play it.

In the end, with the liscensing issues Nintendo fears and doesn't want to pay for, it looks like this-

Money spent > Money returned = Not released
Money Spent = Money returned = Not released
Money spend < Money Returned = Released but this is the most unlikely of scenarios.

I think you have a good point about The Beatles themselves not caring about Earthbound but I bet their legal team is WELL aware of it since their job is to scout out the unliscensed use of their songs. Plus, in regards to Rock Band, the Beatles as a corporation is seeing a huge return off Rock Band. Don't think they're not making a ton of cash off this deal. Earthbound doesn't present itself as a cash machine. It would be liscensing for the sake of liscensing and in the business world where the goal is to make as much money as possible, this wouldn't make any sense.

The truth is, the game didn't sell well at all during its initial run during the SNES days. As such, Nintendo hasn't released a Mother game in the US since and has stated repeatedly that they have no plans to do so. I see Earthbound as having a very slim chance of showing up on the VC since, to Nintendo, it's just not worth the trouble.

There are no Beatles songs in Earthbound! And there are no copyright issues! No legal stuff. No similiarities.
It's just the final boss that gives kids nightmares! It's a terror for their minds! And it's bad for a social living.

This game should never be re-released! It's bound to be an underground cult game forever for a handful of weird kids with real psi-powers!!

If Nintendo really can't see that the game's following has increased exponentially over the years, then what you say is true. It also means that they're run by complete and utter IDIOTS! There's no law saying a game that didn't sell well originally can't be re-released...just look at the Greatest Hits PS2 titles Shadow of the Colossus, Disgaea: Hour of Darkness, and Okami! NONE of those sold well enough to gain Greatest Hits status the normal way...they were re-released due to customer demand! If Nintendo followed that example, they'd make out like bandits.

In fact, Nintendo has an ADVANTAGE in that area because of the Super Smash Bros. series. Do you have ANY idea how many people saw Ness and other Earthbound-related things in those games and wanted to play the game they came from? People who would be MORE than happy to drop $8 (or a bit more if Nintendo insists for licensing purposes) to download it. Of course, the licensing is BS any way about it, because it's all suspiciously SIMILAR stuff or simple pop culture references. Okay, that and one or two tiny, well-hidden instances of sampling that nobody would even know about if they weren't searching for Nintendo's so-called legal reasons for the game no being released.

@SKTTR: I'm not going to deny that the Giygas battle is freaky. Honestly, I'm surprised the ESRB rating was K-A at original release and E for the supposedly accidental VC rating! But I don't think that's a good reason to keep it from release. Heck, the second part of the Mother Brain battle in Super Metroid is just a freaky to a little kid (at least it was to me), and they released THAT!

stuffgamer, calm down and take a deep breath. Fact of the matter is Corbie is right. Has the fanbase grown? Yes. Exponentially? Far from it...it's more like a vocal minority. On top of it, Nintendo has other priorities ahead of the VC to begin with. Personally, I would love for it to come to VC to get a lot of you to knock if off with the Earthbound threads because the Earthbound fanbase may be the most obnoxious fanbase in gaming.

@J Bitties: Even if Earthbound was released on the Virtual Console, it wouldn't help calm down the fanbase one bit. In fact, they'll become even bigger and Nintendo will become interested in making Earthbound a huge worldwide franchise.

And beside, if the game isn't coming, I'm surprised Ness and Lucas hasn't been forced out of the series. Like Stuffgamer1 said, the Super Smash Bros. series is one of the reasons why a Virtual Console release is possible.

Also, their are no licensing issues, but their do exist copyright issues.

On top of that, licensing issues are harder to solve then copyright issues. Licensing issues involved licensed characters. Copyright issues just features licensed-related things that are not licensed.

If Earthbound is such a problem, why hasn't the Beatles/EA Sports sued the heck out of Nintendo for one game? We all live in a greedy world after all.

No matter how much you people say that Earthbound won't be released on the Virtual Console, I will never believe that. Only an official confirmation saying that would change my mind.

@STKKR: Someone getting scared is the reason why Earthbound is not guaranteen for a Virtual Console release is stupid.