While EarthBound had always been in high demand for a re-release, many may not realize the original game, MOTHER, was nearly equally demanded in the West. The earliest example of this interest was Starmen.net’s “MOTHER on the Game Boy Colour” petition, which was sent to Nintendo of America in May of 1999. The petition was made after the public release of the EarthBound Zero ROM by Demiforce. Upon seeing that the localization was more-or-less finished, Reid Young and Clyde Mandelin created the petition under the impression that a port of the ROM to the Game Boy Colour wouldn’t be difficult, seeing as other NES titles like Super Mario Bros. were coming to the platform. Within 24 hours, the petition had over seventy signatures, which eventually grew to 1,500 when IGN shared a letter about it on their blog. Things seemed very promising, with Starmen.net admin Reid Young ending his letter to Nintendo with the statement,

“So we present this petition to you. I again ask you to look at it objectively. We have spent lots of time on this, talking with the biggest gaming sites all over the net, trying to get coverage, updating incessantly. Please don’t let these past months of work go to waste, muffled by a cold shoulder. Sincerely, Reid Young.”

Unfortunately, they were met with the cold shoulder. However, the effort led the way to many other MOTHER petitions, using Nintendo’s silence as motivation to try harder rather than giving up. Interest in an official release for MOTHER didn’t fade away either, with talk of interest rising anew when the classic NES lineup of titles were being released on the Game Boy Advance. While the game may not have been included in that lineup, nor did the 2003 release of MOTHER 1+2 make its way overseas, the community remained hopeful that perhaps the game would finally be released as a Virtual Console title on the Nintendo Wii. For years, EarthBound on the SNES remained as the crowned king on most wanted lists, with MOTHER not far behind, in second to third place. While insider information from Nintendo representatives concerning music sampling made it seem like a re-release was impossible, in July 2013 EarthBound surprisingly was released on the Wii U Virtual Console; was the first MOTHER still a possibility? The community remained hopeful, seeing that the game had been fully translated already, with many marking their words we’d see an announcement soon.

It was two years later that the audience at Nintendo World Championships 2015 were met with a familiar face.

“Hello, everyone overseas, I am Shigesato Itoi. Today I have some somewhat happy news for you!”

Cheering erupted in a synchronized wave of joy as the words “EARTHBOUND BEGINNINGS RELEASING 6/14” appeared on the screen.

“This is a work that had never been released overseas despite being created long before EarthBound, but it will now be released in America and Europe under the title EarthBound Beginnings.”

The title itself was not only a reference to the game being viewed as a prequel due to the late release, but also alluding to the beginning of Itoi’s tenure as a game creator. Itoi’s words inspired heartfelt tears by many viewing his personal message on the big screen. Before the trailer for the game began, he led into it with the touching trail of thought,

“When I think perhaps, even after I’ve left this world, someone may still be playing the MOTHER series. I feel a little uneasy…but also very…kind of happy. BOING!”

And with that, the game was promptly available for purchase that same day, completing a fifteen year-old wish that started as one of the internet’s earliest game petitions!