It's not one of Nintendo's biggest franchises, but it's easily one of its most beloved. The EarthBound series, known as Mother in Japan, has a complicated history. The Mother franchise didn't arrive in the west until Nintendo decided to localize EarthBound, Mother 2, in 1994. It would take over 20 years before the first game, Mother, would be released in the west, rebranded to Earthbound Beginnings. Even then, many Nintendo fans never got the chance to play either game due to their limited availability. That's about to change for Nintendo Switch owners.
During Wednesday's Nintendo Direct event, Nintendo announced that both EarthBound Beginnings and EarthBound, also known as Mother and Mother 2, will be made available on the Nintendo Switch. The last time either game was made available was on the Wii U via its Virtual Console. The Wii U Virtual Console notably shut down on January 22, just over two weeks ago, so today's announcement will return both games to availability.
There is one major catch, however. Neither EarthBound Beginnings nor EarthBound will be available for purchase, per se. Instead, the two RPGs will only be available through a subscription to Nintendo Switch Online. EarthBound Beginnings will be available via Nintendo Switch Online's NES library of games and EarthBound will be a part of the SNES library. The Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pass is not required.
As for when EarthBound fans can expect to play both titles, the answer is near-immediately. Both EarthBound Beginnings and EarthBound are being released on Nintendo Switch later today. It must not have been too difficult of a process to convert the Virtual Console games over to the Nintendo Switch Online libraries.
The lingering question, as every EarthBound and Mother fan is already considering, is what this might mean for Mother 3. The follow-up to EarthBound has never been localized for release in the west, despite launching on the Game Boy Advance in 2006. While it's not impossible that Nintendo might be considering bringing Mother 3 over eventually, the release of EarthBound Beginnings and EarthBound on Switch probably aren't evidence of that. It's just Nintendo keeping the brand available after the Wii U Virtual Console shutdown.
Regardless of the reasons why Nintendo is releasing these two games on Nintendo Switch Online, it can't be understated how valuable it is to have these two games available. They may be cult classics, but among that cult following, they're regarded as two of the best RPGs in Nintendo's history. Plus, Super Smash Bros. players would otherwise get confused wondering who Ness and Lucas are.
EarthBound and EarthBound Beginnings are available now on Switch via Nintendo Switch Online.
