Hobonichi Hints at Goodies for EarthBound’s 30th Anniversary

Hobonichi Mother Project updated its website last week with a message recognizing 2024 as the 30th anniversary of Mother 2: Gyiyg Strikes Back, also known as EarthBound in North America. (Hobonichi is Mother creator Shigesato Itoi’s lifestyle company.)

The site mentions several plans for the year, including various merchandise, events, and collaborations. There’s currently no official talk of any re-release or long-desired localization of the cult classic third installment Mother 3, but longtime fans can dream can’t they?

Noisy Pixel offered a translation of the website’s message for those without a Google Translate plugin:

Happy New Year!
The year 2024 marks exactly 30 years since the release of MOTHER 2.

Of all the games in the MOTHER series, this one has left a particularly strong impression on many people.
In commemoration of the 30th anniversary of MOTHER 2, we are planning lots of fun things, such as…

Anniversary merchandise!
Events we haven’t yet done!
Collaborations!
A measuring ruler! Wait a minute, huh?

Anyways, we are planning a lot of things.
Some of which are almost complete.
Some of which have been decided.
And some of which we can’t exactly announce just yet.
But we hope you enjoy what we have planned.

The Mother franchise made headlines back in November when Itoi, as part of the EarthBound, USA documentary, expressed a desire for Mother 3 to receive some North American love. Among the most interesting bits revealed is that Nintendo has had opportunities to release fan translations, but that it’s “not that simple”. Itoi stated:

I’ve talked about it with Nintendo before. Apparently they were presented with the offer to use the translation, but they said it wasn’t quite as simple as that. I think it’d be really interesting if they took up the offer. It’d be hard to make something like, say, an automobile with fans. But doing it with software, I believe there’d be a chance to make something that would be better than what the company could have made on their own.

If you have yet to check out EarthBound yourself, Switch owners can experience the game with a Nintendo Switch Online subscription. In addition, all of us can benefit from Zach Wilkerson’s excellent review from 2022. If there is more EarthBound news, you can be sure we will cover it on RPGFan. Check back daily for all things RPG!

Source: Noisy Pixel