Editing EarthBound (section)

{{Short description|1994 video game}}
{{other uses|Earthbound (disambiguation){{!}}Earthbound}}
{{Good article}}{{Use American English|date=July 2017}}{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2019}}
{{Infobox video game
| title = EarthBound
| image = EarthBound Box.jpg
| caption = North American box art by Mike Takagi, depicting a Final Starman with Ness' reflection in its visor
| developer = [[Ape Inc.]] <br />[[HAL Laboratory]]{{refn|group=nb|Pax Softnica developed the Game Boy Advance port.}}
| publisher = [[Nintendo]]
| series = ''[[Mother (video game series)|Mother]]''
| platforms = [[Super Nintendo Entertainment System|Super NES]] <br />[[Game Boy Advance]] <!-- Do not list Wii U or Virtual Console here, per [[Template:Infobox video game#platforms]]; Virtual Console is emulation -->
| released = {{vgrelease|JP|August 27, 1994|NA|June 5, 1995}}'''''Mother 1+2'''''{{vgrelease|JP|June 20, 2003}}
| genre = [[Role-playing video game|Role-playing]]
| modes = [[Single-player]]
| director = [[Shigesato Itoi]]
| producer = Shigesato Itoi <br />[[Satoru Iwata]]<br/>[[Tsunekazu Ishihara]]
| designer = Akihiko Miura
| programmer = Satoru Iwata <br />Kouji Malta
| artist = Kouichi Ooyama
| writer = Shigesato Itoi
| composer = [[Keiichi Suzuki]] <br />[[Hirokazu Tanaka]] <!-- Only list the main composers, per infobox documentation -->
}}
'''''EarthBound''''', originally released in Japan as {{Nihongo foot|'''''Mother 2: Gīgu no Gyakushū''''',|MOTHER2ギーグの逆襲|Mazā Tsū: Gīgu no Gyakushū|{{lit}} '''''Mother 2: Gyiyg Strikes Back'''''|lead=yes|group=nb}}<ref>{{cite web | title=MOTHER2 ギーグの逆襲／EarthBound / ハル研究所 | url=http://www.hallab.co.jp/eng/works/detail/002738/ | url-status=live | archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20211111/http://www.hallab.co.jp/eng/works/detail/002738/ | archive-date=2021-11-11 | work=[[HAL Laboratory]] | access-date=August 7, 2017}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.nintendo.co.jp/n02/shvc/mb/index.html | url-status=live | archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20211111/https://www.nintendo.co.jp/n02/shvc/mb/index.html | archive-date=2021-11-11 | title=ＭＯＴＨＥＲ２ ギーグの逆襲 | work=[[Nintendo]] | language=ja | access-date=August 7, 2017}}{{cbignore}}</ref> is a 1994 [[role-playing video game|role-playing]] [[video game]] developed by [[Ape, Inc.|Ape Inc.]] and [[HAL Laboratory]] and published by [[Nintendo]] for the [[Super Nintendo Entertainment System]] as the second entry in the [[Mother (video game series)|''Mother'']] series. The game focuses on a young boy named [[Ness (EarthBound)|Ness]] and his [[party (role-playing games)|party]] of Paula, Jeff and Poo, as they travel the world to collect melodies from eight Sanctuaries in order to defeat the universal cosmic destroyer [[Giygas]].

''EarthBound'' had a lengthy development period that spanned five years. Its returning staff from ''[[Mother (video game)|Mother]]'' (1989) included writer/director [[Shigesato Itoi]] and lead programmer [[Satoru Iwata]], as well as composers [[Keiichi Suzuki]] and [[Hirokazu Tanaka]], who incorporated a diverse range of styles into the [[Music of the Mother series#EarthBound|soundtrack]], including [[salsa music|salsa]], [[reggae]], and [[dub music|dub]]. Most of the other staff members had not worked on the original ''Mother'', and the game came under repeated threats of cancellation until Iwata joined the team. Originally scheduled for release in January 1993, the game was completed around May 1994 and first released in Japan in August 1994, and in North America in June 1995. A port for the [[Game Boy Advance]] developed by Pax Softnica, bundled with ''Mother'', as ''Mother 1+2'', was released only in Japan in 2003.<ref>{{Cite web |title="Game Boy Advance March 2001 - January 2005 Releases Section" |url=https://www.nintendo.co.jp/n08/before/n2005_b01.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230407113613/https://www.nintendo.co.jp/n08/before/n2005_b01.html |archive-date=April 7, 2023 |access-date=2023-07-04 |website=www.nintendo.co.jp}}</ref> 

Like its predecessor, ''EarthBound'' is themed around an idiosyncratic portrayal of [[Americana (culture)|Americana]] and [[Western culture]], subverting popular role-playing game traditions by featuring a modern setting while parodying numerous staples of the genre. Itoi wanted the game to reach non-gamers with its intentionally goofy tone; for example, the player uses items such as the Pencil Eraser to remove pencil statues, experiences in-game hallucinations, and battles piles of vomit, taxi cabs, and walking nooses. For its American release, the game was marketed with a $2 million promotional campaign that sardonically proclaimed "This game stinks". The game's puns and humor were reworked by localizer [[Marcus Lindblom]]. Since the original ''Mother'' had not yet been released outside Japan, ''Mother 2'' was called ''EarthBound'' to avoid confusion about what it was a sequel to.

Although it was positively received by Japanese audiences, ''EarthBound'' sold poorly in the United States. Journalists attributed the game's poor sales in the West to a combination of its simple graphics, satirical marketing campaign, and a lack of market interest in the genre. In the ensuing years, [[EarthBound fandom|a dedicated fan community]] spawned that advocated for the series' recognition, particularly after Ness appeared as a playable character in the [[Super Smash Bros. (series)|''Super Smash Bros.'']] series. By the 2000s, multiple reader polls and critics had named it one of the [[greatest video games of all time]], and it became regarded as a "[[sacred cow (idiom)|sacred cow]] among gaming's [[wiktionary:cognoscente|cognoscenti]]".{{r|Eurogamer: M3 review}} It was followed by the Japan-only sequel ''[[Mother 3]]'' for the [[Game Boy Advance]] in 2006. ''EarthBound'' was later made available worldwide on the [[Wii U]] [[Virtual Console]] in 2013, [[3DS]] Virtual Console in 2016, the [[SNES Classic]] in 2017, and the [[Nintendo Classics]] service in February 2022.