EarthBound, known as Earthbound in Japan and Mother 2 in Japan, is a 1994 role-playing video game developed by Ape and HAL Laboratory for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. The eighth installment of the EarthBound series it was published by Nintendo originally on June 5, 1995 only in Japan. It has been rated E for Everyone by the Electronic Entertainment Rating Organization (or ESRB). EarthBound was re-released via the Wii U’s eShop in North America, Europe, Australia, and Japan in 2013. EarthBound is set around 1980 in ‘Earth’ or Earth Year 198X on a fictional universe called “Nowhere”. Players control Ness, a teenage boy from Onett who is given the task to stop an alien force called Giygas from controlling Earth.
The game’s EarthBound universe is heavily influenced by the UFO theories that surrounded Earth during the middle of the 20th century. EarthBound takes place in a setting with few limits; the geography, climate, time, and wildlife are all examples of this. EarthBound does not have a specific Earth time, location or theme even though Earth is shown in EarthBound Beginnings. EarthBound also has several real-life locations within the game including Summers, Oregon, an area based on part of Portland, Oregon that includes Condominium Row and The Dalles Bridge; Happy Happy Village is located at the foot of Mt. Fuji in Japan; Threed is based on Northern California’s coastal city, Eureka; the seaside resort Twoson is modeled after Oregon’s Tillamook Bay area and Winters; Fourside is a futuristic version of New York City and it has a Golden Gate Bridge-inspired building called “The Fourside Tower”.
The EarthBound series has been on a hiatus since EarthBound’s North American release in August, 1995. EarthBound Beginnings was released exclusively in Japan on July 20, 2015 for the Wii U Virtual Console. EarthBound was known as EarthBound Zero while it was being developed and had expanded from a bare-bones RPG to a larger project. EarthBound Zero was originally intended to be re-developed for the Nintendo 64DD, but was cancelled. EarthBound Beginnings finally released after EarthBound had already been out in North America and Europe leaving fans wanting more of EarthBound. EarthBound Beginnings was also the only game in the series not to see an English localization.
