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Nintendo
 
Starmen.net's EarthBound Anthology
Starmen.net's EarthBound Anthology screenshot
Aaron Linde
\\ 07.06.2007
25 comments

Sure, some might stare a bit cockeyed at the EarthBound fan community, but you can't say they're not resourceful, dedicated, and above all, tenacious. Proof positive: over 250 pages of devotion bound in one book, the EarthBound Anthology.

When the news dropped of the Mother3.org/Starmen.net collaboration, I mentioned something of the Starmen EB Siege project, an endeavor for which the EarthBound fan community was raising a pretty substantial sum of money (now over $7,500). FedEx dropped the fruits of their labor into my lap this morning: a metric ton compilation of artwork, music, and media by members of the EarthBound fan community.

The EarthBound Anthology chronicles the saga of Shigesato Itoi's Mother series and its commercial flop in North America, background information on the franchise, sales data and the myriad campaigns waged by Starmen.net and the fan community to bring EarthBound back to North America. The weighty text portion of the anthology ends with a proposal: the time is ripe for a revival, and there's a mighty audience waiting for Nintendo to capitalize on the opportunity. Driving the point home are 200+ pages of fan art and four DVDs loaded with fan games, music, videos, performances -- it's an absolute avalanche of content.

The goal of EB Siege is to extend the reach of the community out towards would-be allies to the cause, media, developers, and Nintendo itself and communicate their message: that this is a series, beyond all others in Nintendo's catalog, that should not be swept aside. Even if EarthBound ain't really your thing, you have to recognize Starmen.net's gesture as one that goes beyond the standard-issue objections by most of the internet ("biological web shooters!? Quick, to petitiononline.org!"). More than a simple fan DVD or 'zine or somesuch, the EarthBound Anthology is an extremely well-designed, terribly comprehensive love-letter to the fan community and a clear message to Nintendo that they won't soon forget.

Check out the pictures in the gallery. Big thanks to Starmen's Reid for the hook-up.



25 COMMENTS, LATEST BY atheistium
do want :O -    view discussion


 Nintendo Gallery | (15) Images
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There are 25 comments about this post:
The_Psychopsilocybin's Avatar
Man I loves Earthbound! The book looks pretty cool too.
MasterMS's Avatar
Wow these guys are true fanatics, but as a Mother fan myself I'm always looking forward to seeing what they do next.
Mxyzptlk's Avatar
That most definitely beats the hell out of an internet petition.
ChrisFurniss's Avatar
Whoa. I count Earthbound as my favorite game of all time and all, but I am no where near as big of a fan as these people. Neat!
Skeeblar's Avatar
Way better than any petition, man.
Keep pushin'!
CypherVR's Avatar
just got my copy of Contact for the DS today, but it won't compair to Earthbound. I've already sent some letters (via starmen.net) that i printed out and included a pic of my slightly damaged Earthbound cart
Milhouse's Avatar
EarthBound was a great game. Almost every one of my friends back then never heard of that game, so surely that today too, it's not something well known, But never I would have thought that this game would have such a fanatic and loving community. That should show all the trolls in cult fanbases that the internet isn't everything when you love something.
anchorman84's Avatar
How can i get a hold of one of these anthologies?
Sockapal's Avatar
Earthbound is my all time favorite game, I loved it and have beaten it several times, it never gets old. Earthbound was truly a masterpiece and now would be perfect for them to reinstate it on the Wii. Who knows, maybe we could swing the Wiimote with an exact ratio of Ness' bat!
P.S. Hey Linde, can I have that anthology after you're done looking through it, and coercing Nintendo to make another Mother installment? :D
Tron Knotts's Avatar
What sucks is the Mother Anthology will likely never be sold.

It's a shame that Nintendo can't make a deal with them to take a percent of the profits or something, because I would pay a lot of money for it.

If you have a wii, add starmen.net as your friend. wii@starmen.net
Tron Knotts's Avatar
edit

Earthbound Anthology, not Mother
Topher Cantler's Avatar
*drool* @___@
HarassmentPanda's Avatar
They did something very similar to this years ago. I remember Itoi commenting on it and being very impressed.

Linde, I am now more jealous of you than any other man. I had been dying to get my hands on one of the old ones and now you sit before me with this masterpiece.
Kaikara's Avatar
God I can't think of how much work has gone into one of these. I think through this aspect of their campaign especially they'll suceed in convincing Nintendo. This shows a HELL of a dedicated fanbase willing to put many hours and much money into getting their way. There is no way in hell Nintendo haven't noticed this. Expect an Earthbound announcement in the next 6 months imo.
jamisu's Avatar
Where do I get one of these?
Jacki Jinx's Avatar
If I could buy the book, I'd do it in an instant o.o

...although I'd prefer some more Mother.
GWicks's Avatar
The love for EarthBound spans far beyond the weirdos at starmen.net. People really, really love this game everywhere, all over the U.S. Just the other day I was talking to an employee at gamestop and he was all "yeah, the Wii's Virtual console is nice but I'm still just waiting for them to release Chrono Trigger and EarthBound".

Nintendo needs to know that people beyond starmen.net also like this game. These weirdos aren't crazy bcause they're crazy... they're crazy because they have every right to be, because EARTHBOUND IS JUST SO DAMNED GOOD.

And yes, I am one of those weirdos. Long live starmen.net and long live anyone else who loves earthbound as much as they do.
Im OK's Avatar
How in the blue hell did I miss this thread until just now?

Here is my EarthBound story.

Back when I was 10-12 years old or so, I used to write letters to Nintendo all the time. Yes, I mean I would actually take out some notebook paper and a pencil and write physical letters to Nintendo. (As an aside, Redmond Washington seemed so far away back then that it might as well have been Japan or another planet. I never would have dreamed back then that I'd actually be living there some day, as I am now.) Most of these letters were about whatever game I was playing at the time. I actually remember writing them an excessively detailed letter about how I was stuck in Turtle Rock, the final dungeon of Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, and then writing them another letter a few days later saying, basically, to never mind and that I had figured it out on my own. Give me a break, I was like 12 or something, okay?

Anyway, it was in one of their responses to these letters (yes, they actually responded to them, and it wasn't just a crappy form letter either, as astonishing as that is to look back on today) that they made mention of an upcoming game that they thought I would be interested in. Pure marketing on Nintendo's part, of course, but back then I only had the vaguest of impressions of what "marketing" meant, and to me it consisted only of commercials on TV or advertisements in magazines or newspapers. To me, back in the day, this was about the same as if one of my friends had said, "Hey, there's this cool game coming out that you might want to check out." All I can remember now of their description of the game in the letter was that it was a RPG set in modern times and that it let you actually use modern things like baseball bats and ATM cards and such. I didn't know what a RPG was at the time, but I was still totally amazed and couldn't wait for the game to be released.

Well, on the day of its release I got someone to take me to a little mom and pop video game shop/rental place that I used to frequent (yes, those did used to exist at one point in the ancient past), and they'd never even heard of the game, and obviously didn't have it for sale. I was shocked and dismayed. But then, my chauffeur for the time being (aka one of my sisters) took me to the mall, where they had an EB Games (it was still just called Electronics Boutique back in those days).

And there it was, in that ridiculously huge box that it came in with its strategy guide. Using money that I'd carefully saved up from an allowance, supplemented by money meant for school lunches that I sometimes surreptitiously skipped just for this purpose, I bought the game and then we went home.

To make a long story slightly less long, EarthBound was the first RPG I had ever played, and I have forever afterward judged every RPG that I have since played by the bar set by this game. Only a few of those later RPGs, in my opinion, have managed to scrape the bottom of that bar.

To conclude: Hot damn. Is this book, in any possible way, going to be available for public consumption, and if so how does one go about acquiring it? In any case, if nothing else will crack the stone that is around the heart of Nintendo when it comes to releasing new (and, for that matter, old) Mother games in countries that are not Japan, this will be the thing to do it. And if it fails, that will be a crying, stomping, hair-pulling, shrieking-with-rage shame.

I think I may just have to break out a pencil and some notebook paper and start writing letters to Nintendo again.
Im OK's Avatar
Oh, damn, and I totally meant to mention that I originally got the address for Nintendo out of an issue of Ranger Rick magazine, from where I was in the Cub Scouts. That Wikipedia article there may make the magazine seem kind of lame, but it was more than just nature shit and the like. I remember that it once also featured a preview of the original live action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie, and that they called Splinter "Skeeter" in it, for some dumbass reason.
Im OK's Avatar
I am, of course, merely rambling at this point, so I will stop now.
Gavin's Avatar
Where is the link to order this?!?!?!?
Dale North's Avatar
I have music on those discs!
owenkun's Avatar
If they need money to finance their translation project they should put some of these up for sale. I'd buy one in a heartbeat.
Nameless Monster's Avatar
If anybody got one of those to sell, my money is all yours ! Earthbound is and for ever shall be my favorite RPG.
atheistium's Avatar
do want :O

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