An Advance? Not necessarily.
The community has come back to life. But why? There are many reasons for this. One is Ness' increased role in the second game in the Super Smash Bros. series, Super Smash Bros. Melee; another is the influx of EarthBound envelope art in the Players Pulse section of Nintendo Power.
Most assuredly, these are moot points compared to the latest twist in our reality: the ranking of EarthBound on a Nintendo Power Most Wanted chart. Although I don't have the issue myself, I've heard it reached a point higher than Pokémon on the charts. For some reason, many people at this community have taken this as a sign that, no matter what, EarthBound will be released for the GameBoy Advance. This is nothing more than wishful thinking.
Most Wanted charts are just that: charts stating what's most wanted. Nintendo of America might consider these rankings when considering which Nintendo of Japan games to bring over here, or they might not. The charts do not imply that anything appearing on them will come out. Both Mother 3 and the 64 Disk Drive, both often appearing on Nintendo Power's Most Wanted charts, were delayed and delayed. Eventually, they were cancelled.
Yet based on two envelope art sections and one Most Wanted chart, members of this community are taking this as a good omen. It would be recommended they take it with a spoonful of salt. Of course, I will grant them that there is an eerie amount of attention being paid to the Mother series. But this will not necessarily constitute a game being released for the GameBoy Advances. It only indicates that the series is being acknowledged, and nothing more.
Smash Brothers Melee is a Japanese product; Nintendo of America has no control over that. Even with all our petitions and sieges, I believe only the Mother 3 / EarthBound 64 Petition actually reached Nintendo of Japan. The sieges have not truly been intended for the purposes of forcing a new game out of Nintendo, in my eyes; they were intended to foster knowledge of EarthBound in others and rekindle the hidden love of EarthBound found in others.
But still, I doubt our actions were enough to reach across the world to Japan. Smash Brothers was devised before we decided to go on the offensive, rather than be reactive. Itoi himself acknowledged he didn't want to cancel Mother 3 when the time came; the only reason it was canceled was because the team working on it had to be assigned to work on the GameCube, not on Pocket Monsters games.
The Mother series was indeed popular in Japan, unlike here, where its main acknowledgment during the time of its release was an advertisement with the motto, "This game stinks." I expect the motto contributed to its unpopularity here. In Japan, the Mother series was celebrated in manga and 4-koma; we got nothing of the sort here. Until now.
However, as I have mentioned many times above, this refreshing show of attention does not outright ensure that EarthBound will come out on the Advance. Too many treat it as a sure thing; it's not even a maybe thing now. Once more, I remind those of you reading this that the Most Wanted charts are just what their names say they are. They do not serve as a predictor for Nintendo's future actions.
In conclusion, I have this to say: Believe what you may. If you think EarthBound will come out on the advance and will buy the Advance for that reason alone, so be it. But if it doesn't come out, don't become enraged at Nintendo and insult the Advance. Personally, I will buy an Advance, but I won't buy it just for EarthBound. I might be an EarthBounder for life, but I won't blindly buy a system just for an EarthBound game. I'll buy it for other reasons, too.
The community has come back to life. But why? There are many reasons for this. One is Ness' increased role in the second game in the Super Smash Bros. series, Super Smash Bros. Melee; another is the influx of EarthBound envelope art in the Players Pulse section of Nintendo Power.
Most assuredly, these are moot points compared to the latest twist in our reality: the ranking of EarthBound on a Nintendo Power Most Wanted chart. Although I don't have the issue myself, I've heard it reached a point higher than Pokémon on the charts. For some reason, many people at this community have taken this as a sign that, no matter what, EarthBound will be released for the GameBoy Advance. This is nothing more than wishful thinking.
Most Wanted charts are just that: charts stating what's most wanted. Nintendo of America might consider these rankings when considering which Nintendo of Japan games to bring over here, or they might not. The charts do not imply that anything appearing on them will come out. Both Mother 3 and the 64 Disk Drive, both often appearing on Nintendo Power's Most Wanted charts, were delayed and delayed. Eventually, they were cancelled.
Yet based on two envelope art sections and one Most Wanted chart, members of this community are taking this as a good omen. It would be recommended they take it with a spoonful of salt. Of course, I will grant them that there is an eerie amount of attention being paid to the Mother series. But this will not necessarily constitute a game being released for the GameBoy Advances. It only indicates that the series is being acknowledged, and nothing more.
Smash Brothers Melee is a Japanese product; Nintendo of America has no control over that. Even with all our petitions and sieges, I believe only the Mother 3 / EarthBound 64 Petition actually reached Nintendo of Japan. The sieges have not truly been intended for the purposes of forcing a new game out of Nintendo, in my eyes; they were intended to foster knowledge of EarthBound in others and rekindle the hidden love of EarthBound found in others.
But still, I doubt our actions were enough to reach across the world to Japan. Smash Brothers was devised before we decided to go on the offensive, rather than be reactive. Itoi himself acknowledged he didn't want to cancel Mother 3 when the time came; the only reason it was canceled was because the team working on it had to be assigned to work on the GameCube, not on Pocket Monsters games.
The Mother series was indeed popular in Japan, unlike here, where its main acknowledgment during the time of its release was an advertisement with the motto, "This game stinks." I expect the motto contributed to its unpopularity here. In Japan, the Mother series was celebrated in manga and 4-koma; we got nothing of the sort here. Until now.
However, as I have mentioned many times above, this refreshing show of attention does not outright ensure that EarthBound will come out on the Advance. Too many treat it as a sure thing; it's not even a maybe thing now. Once more, I remind those of you reading this that the Most Wanted charts are just what their names say they are. They do not serve as a predictor for Nintendo's future actions.
In conclusion, I have this to say: Believe what you may. If you think EarthBound will come out on the advance and will buy the Advance for that reason alone, so be it. But if it doesn't come out, don't become enraged at Nintendo and insult the Advance. Personally, I will buy an Advance, but I won't buy it just for EarthBound. I might be an EarthBounder for life, but I won't blindly buy a system just for an EarthBound game. I'll buy it for other reasons, too.
