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Is This The Real Reason EarthBound Isn’t On The Virtual Console?

Fans have been clamouring for EarthBound to appear on the Virtual Console but Nintendo seems determined not to acknowledge its existence. Hirokazu Tanaka who created the soundtrack for the game says that the reason why the game hasn’t arrived on the Virtual Console could be down to the game’s sampling.

“The sampling issue is a little sensitive, because… well, I don’t know for sure, but it sounds like that is one of the reasons EarthBound is not able to come out in America. It’s a topic we should probably avoid.”

71 thoughts on “Is This The Real Reason EarthBound Isn’t On The Virtual Console?”

  1. Seriously … get this on an emulator if you are THAT desperate for a Rpg.

    Move alone and look forward to Rpgs of this gen and next gen…

    1. But the fact is, I normally don’t enjoy RPG’s. Earthbound/Mother is an RPG I actually like and can stand playing. There’s just something about it.

  2. Played them already anyway. I don’t feel bad for using an emulator if it’s the only possible way to play the game. But is it really that hard to put some different music in?

        1. I wasnt talking about u :P I was talking about Nintendo being fucking LAZY and not changing the music. I make 8 bit game music and it really isnt that fucking hard today…

          1. Definitely, but I think Chrono Trigger was a major step forward for console rpgs. With its awesome storyline, revoutionary battle system and compelling characters. It definitely set a high standard for rpgs.

        1. I’m soooo glad that I bought my copy of EarthBound back in ’08. $126 for the cartridge, box and strategy guide (with stickers) :P

      1. I’m guessing that you are fully aware that that’s not a practical solution at all, but technically you are correct. Thanks for trying to be a smartass.

    1. Exactly. “Sampling” is the term they use one a song uses bits and pieces of another.

      And Earthbound is filled with bits and pieces of other people’s music.. XD

      1. Davin (aka Platinum Lucario)

        This is one good reason why copyright should only be limited to logos. Currently right now, copyright is far too extreme and it’s preventing others from sharing and changing it into something different. One day, we WILL run out of ideas… and there will be no ideas to come up with. The only way we come up with ideas in the first place… is from other content, and content shouldn’t be kept all to yourself. It’s just plain greedy.

        1. Technically you can’t copyright a series of musical notes. You can only copyright the individual recording or the entire song. As such, legal issues only arise when entire songs are covered for profit without credit to the original artist or when part of a specific recording is used without permission from the individual/record company/etc.

          If someone takes existing material and truly turns it into something new then there is rarely an issue. If something is recognisable enough to violate copyright then that ‘artist’ has failed to turn it into something new of sufficiently different.

          The idea of only being able to copyright logos is downright ridiculous – if someone goes to the effort to create something (something that is in turn, not so similar to something else as to violate copyright) then by your suggestion they should have no ownership over that. By that rationale I should be able to copy out The Lord of the Rings word for word, click ‘find/replace’, change a few character names, and then make money off of it just so long as the font on the cover was not the same as any previously published versions. You must see what’s wrong with that?

  3. how fucking stupid .. they cant even put a game on tge shitty vc shop .. see ? nintendo never listens too us .. they want to forget about mother coz their greedy basturds that milk mario to make money ..

  4. Why can’t they just redo the music, look at the pc port of Sonic 3 and Knuckles, copyright reasons meant they couldn’t use the music Micheal Jackson composed so they just redid it. I didn’t like the redone music, but who cares it isn’t that huge of a deal that it will stop people from playing the game

        1. It’s an artist mentality – they hate adapting something they create to fit somebody elses visions or expectations.

          And this This is why the game will not see a western release…because Nintendo do not and will not allow their pride and artistic integrity for this game be compromised.

          No answer for that, sadly – this ones a no-go!

  5. I really want Earthbound, in one way or another. I have played through it on an emulator, but its not the same as playing on a TV screen. If anything, this great game deserves a remake, because it’s 17 years old and needs to see the light of day again.

  6. How is it being greedy if they refuse to release a profitable version of the game and make no money what so ever on the cartridge copies floating around? But seriously in all reality if you can take mike Tyson out of punch out then just friggen change the music, no one will care, hell no one will really notice anyways

  7. Ok let see the so call reasons,Sampling,religious issues etc. Now Nintendo why won’t you just release it on the virtual console with the fixes that you need in order to appease the groups that you claim will have issues with the game. Second a franchise as popular as this why not bring it or just better yet remake it. I know I would buy the game ASAP. I guess we need another Rainfall Operation for Earthbound to come again.

    1. Not even Operation rainfall repeats will solve this.

      This is about their artistic pride…and nothing is going to break that!

      1. I do agree with you post up to a point, but Nintendo needs to know the fans want Earthbound. Something a long the lines of Rainfall might show then how much fans care.

        1. There’s also legal implications – and I don’t think Nintendo want to even adjust to work around those…

          A kickstarter can’t achieve anything if the product you’re funding is, for the most part, likely to cause a conflict in a legal sense…for Earthbound, that is a huge chunk of soundtrack.

          That’s not something easy to fix if nobody is willing to!

  8. They made a remake of earthbound to the gba with the name Mother 1/2 pack, but they cant add earthbound to the VC? Seriously nintendo, i really want to play earthbound on the wii and feel like the SNES days, not using emulators all the time.

    1. Because some of the music in the game, as is, would get them into legal issues – and they have too much face/pride to want to change anything in their original vision.

      Sadly, I don’t see them putting their pride aside here on the matter.

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