Earthbound Mother

>>4164775

Because it's a certain type of Japanese game that almost never gets released in the West. If more games like Gokinjou Boukentai, Famicom Bunko, G.O.D., etc were released stateside, the particular lure of Earthbound wouldn't be so huge

>>4164775
>Why did Earthbound become such a cultural phenomena?

Earthbound was not a cultural phenomenon. The vast majority of people have never heard of it.

>Why did Earthbound become such a cultural phenomena?

It isn't though. It's still pretty obscure

>>4164780
why haven't they retroactively become popular?
Emulation and translation modding exists.
Another question is why is Earthbound the only game of its kind to become popular?

>>4164789
Really? It feels like nowadays a lot of amateur western media feels influenced by it.
For example: http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2013/07/south_park_creators_cite_earthbound_as_a_major_inspiration_for_their_own_game

>>4164790

Because Earthbound was actually released back in the 90s, translations of retro games are for a niche audience that is actually interested in playing retro games in the first place

Besides, none of the games I listed have been fan-translated

>>4164787
Your post means nothing.The vast majority of people haven't heard of Super Mario Bros. because most people, statistically, are Africans and poor Chinese people.

Smash browz

>>4164775
>cultural phenomena
kek

>>4165062
undertale

>>4164775
>Why did Earthbound become such a cultural phenomena?
Smash Bros

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>>4164775
>cultural phenomena
What?
>Why did it get so popular when back when Earthbound was released it wasn't that popular outside Japan?
Smash and emulation were things now. More people.

Anyway I'm sick of all the mother threads lately, I say this as someone who holds it as their #1 game and bought a copy for $220. Either idiots or contrarians who think the game's flaws is some act of bravery.

File: __ness_and_porky_minch_mother_game_and_mother_2_drawn_by_oyugawakimasita__4446404301d42f3d9105e21a7d1c4656.jpg (111KB, 800x566px) Image search: [Google]

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>>4165124
>Anyway I'm sick of all the mother threads lately,
Been noticing threads popping up a lot lately too. It's pretty weird considering I don't think anything big involving Earthbound or the Mother series in general has happened lately. Anyway, to answer OP questions.
>cultural phenomena
Earthbound is no where near close to being that. It's a game that is loved by many Japs yeah, but no where near close to being that well known to anyone who don't/didn't actively play games.
>Why did it get so popular when back when Earthbound was released it wasn't that popular outside Japan?
Smash

ok. maybe cultural phenomena was hyperbole. But as far as I can tell it's always been decently popular online.

>>4165064
What's that? lol

>>4164913
>>4165117
Literally this but people don't want to accept it.

If you really, really want to assign some special quality to Earthbound that might have contributed to its strange modern appeal, you might say that it's different from the JRPGs that were blowing up the West back then which was the biggest complaint about it back at the time - too simple and childish.

This effect pales in comparison to the market manipulation though. I generally go on and on about the free market defining the price of retro games but in the case of Earthbound specifically I know for a fact that market speculators bought up cases and cases of unsold NOS copies of Earthbound the colluded to artificially inflate the price

OP, learn the difference between "cultural phenomenon" and "cult classic"

>>4165887
no, I refuse

>>4165064
Yes it was an alright game that people talked about too much online, what about it?