Nintendo Direct seems to be a delicious blast from the past, as many classic franchises and RPGs are being revisited. This time, as Nintendo president Satoru Iwata announced, Earthbound aka Mother 2 in Japan has been announced for the Wii U’s Virtual Console and will be coming to North America and Europe before 2013 ends.
An actual release date is still pending but more details will arrive in the coming months. First released in 1995 for North America on the Super Nintendo, Earthbound is a traditional 2D RPG that didn’t have random encounters. It was arguably the first RPG to reward players for getting the drop on enemies, giving you the ability to strike first in encounters.
The North American release is renowned for its parodying of American culture and the role playing genre as a whole. Hopefully, that trademark humour is retained when the game releases for the Virtual Console later this year.