Ever since Nintendo announced the Virtual Console for the Wii (a service launched in 2006 that allowed for the purchase of older console games from the NEW, SNES, Genesis and TurboGrafx-16), a vocal group of players have been begging for a release of the 1995 classic SNES RPG called EarthBound. The game's original Japanese version saw re-releases over the years, but none of them ever reached across the Pacific and Nintendo of America wouldn't talk about why.
The Wii came and went and Nintendo released the sequel to the console, the Wii U, last November - and it too would have a Virtual Console. The chorus from ardent EarthBound fans rose up again - "We want EarthBound!" - and on January 23 it was announced that it would be coming to the Wii U... in Japan.
"Why? What about the rest of us?" fans cried out.
One popular idea was that the music in the game was preventing its release. You see, EarthBound has some of the best music ever - and a lot of it is riffs and covers of popular rock, jazz, and blues music (some prominent characters in the game are the Runaway Five - a play on the Blues Brothers). So, without any official word on why EarthBound wasn't being released outside of Japan, fans thought that the licensing issues were just too complicated to sort out for a game that, although a cult classic, was fairly niche.
But, on April 17, Nintendo finally announced what fans had been wanting -Earthbound is coming. And as of yesterday, it is here!
Now, if you haven't guessed by now, I am a fan of EarthBound. In fact, it is my favourite game of all time. Needless to say, I bought it immediately and played a little before coming into work.
The sound design and music were top notch in 1995 and they haven't lost a beat.
Take a listen to some Runaway Five at http://youtu.be/RPnLvTDO2Pg and then feast your ears on a Blues Brothers classic: http://youtu.be/HCTJeT2i9QU
(And pickup EarthBound - http://earthbound.nintendo.com/)
