During today’s Nintendo Direct, Satoru Iwata announced that Earthbound will finally be coming to the Virtual Console in the West, which coincides with the Wii U getting a proper Virtual Console itself.
He cited fan requests on the Nintendo Miiverse as a big reason that this was happening. That’s right, fans have a voice. This is great news both as a victory for video game fans everywhere, and because, well, Earthbound is a great game.
Many of us have fond memories of that Super Nintendo classic, full of oddities and yet so much truth. It had a one-of-a-kind quirkiness to it that hasn’t quite been matched by any other series. Gamers in North America and Europe have been wishing for the chance to play the other two games in the Japanese series, Mother and Mother 3, for many years now. Seeing Earthbound (known as Mother 2 in Japan) appearing on our Virtual Console may just be the first step.
Unfortunately, the time frame that Iwata gave us for the game was simply “the end of this year,” continuing a frustrating trend of not giving us release dates. Still, this is something many of us have been asking for for a long time.
Miiverse is apparently the place to ask Nintendo for our gaming wishes. What would you ask for?
