Earthbound coming to the Wii U Virtual Console

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Announced today is an exciting bit of news for retro gamers: the fan favourite Earthbound will be available in North America for the Wii U's Virtual Console.

Earthbound was initially released as "Mother 2" in Japan in August of 1994 and almost a year later in North America in June of 1995. Like that first release, Japanese gamers already have access to the game on the Wii U's Virtual Console. There is not yet a release date for Earthbound's North American debut on the Wii U Virtual Console, but its pending release has now been confirmed.

The original game, released for the SNES, was praised for its unique take on the RPG genre. The protagonists lived in a modern setting, as opposed to a fantasy world. They wielded baseball bats, ray guns, and frying pans as weapons and used psychic powers instead of magic. Hamburgers and sandwiches could be used to recover health.

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In addition to this unique look at an RPG setting was a witty and irreverent sense of humour that permeated the whole game. You helped a band get out of debt, trapped zombies on "zombie paper", and recovered a trout-flavoured yogurt machine from a desert cave full of monkeys.

While a post looking back on this game is definitely warranted in the future, you should keep your eyes open for the game's eventual release on the Virtual Console.