But now, things are looking pretty swell for Japanese gamers. Well, swell in comparison to North American EarthBound fans. Mother 1 & 2 are being released on June 20 in Japan for the Game Boy Advanced. While any EarthBound activity is always good for the community, and gets lots of people excited, it doesn’t exactly mean that we’re ever going to see EarthBound activity in the future. I’m not trying to be a pessimist, this is factual information, there is no North American release date as of this writing for Mother 1 & 2 on GBA. (More to come on my opinion of the likelihood of a North American release in a article in the near future)

So, what exactly are your options? Well, this site has and continues to petition and protest to Nintendo, and basically anyone who will listen for a North American release, but that is besides the point. Your only real options at the moment are;

• Neat Japanese box, booklet, and junk
• The GBA is not territorial, as in, you can play Japanese games on your North American model of the GBA without worry, so the expense of just playing this game isn’t as high as if you’d want to import, say Mother, where you’d have to buy a Famicom. (The Japanese equivalent of our Nintendo Entertainment System)
• Both Mother 1 & 2 are included in this cart, so it is arguably a much better value than buying the much rarer Famicom and Super Famicom versions of each.

• If you cannot read Japanese (Which is by far a majority of those reading this) your usefulness of this item is incredibly limited to looking at the box and book, or struggling your way through the games not understanding anything.
• Importing isn’t exactly cheap, you can expect to pay $10 or more than you’d pay on a domestic release if you lived in the region it was being released in, and that’s not even counting shipping and handling charges.

Now, even though the amount of pros outweigh the cons in this case, the fact that you (I’m talking to the general amount of the demographic) cannot understand Japanese, which is a big thing when you sit yourself down and realize you’re playing a text heavy RPG.

Now, for the alternative option...

• You already have EarthBound (Or it’s available and ready for a used sale in your Country, at least, if you don’t already own a copy) and Mother 1 is available in a mediocre translated prototype version to anyone who is generally familiar with a search engine. So you aren’t missing out on anything new, unless they are more than straight ports, but that, at this time, is completely unknown.
• They are in English, which is quite the significant difference to take into account when making your importing decision.
• You don’t have to fork out a load of cash.
• The chance that this will be released in North America isn’t incredibly illogical on Nintendo’s part, they already have EarthBound fully translated (And in my opinion, it’s original translation is fantastic) They also have a near complete prototype of Mother lying around Nintendo of Japan headquarters somewhere. The GBA could always use more RPG’s, as well, but this is all my opinion, and as I mentioned previously, this issue is in the works for its own article.

• If this game indeed never reaches North America as a domestic release, importing it later may cost more, and any possible preorder goodies and junk may not get to you. Many of you who had to buy a copy of EarthBound late after it’s initial release and were unfortunate enough to only be able to find a used copy may know of this pain, never receiving the players guide or box and only getting a cartridge. This, my friends, is an opportunity cost.
• If you’re a major EarthBound fanatic you may not be able to help importing it, and your logical thinking may be too much and you’ll come down with some type of mental disorder, so if you cannot resist importing, go for it, it’s your money. I’m just here to present the facts, and to give my own perspective on what is a costly decision on your part.

Well, that sums up both sides of the issue quite effectively. But from reading this, you may be already drawing conclusions on what I, Leeman, your humble article author’s decision is on the matter. I honestly don’t plan on importing the game unless I either come across a large sum of money, or they announce that it will be packaged with some type of thing that would interest me enough to really make the purchase justifiable in my own mind. If it is just two straight ports of games I’ve already beaten in a language I can understand, I don’t think I could care less. I’d definitely buy it if there were a North American or European release, because playing EarthBound on the go is actually desirable to me.

But in the end, it is your decision, just weigh out the pros and cons I’ve provided you with, and incorporate your own if I’ve neglected to mention them. In the end it is your decision, just don’t do it ‘cause all your friends are doing it, mmkay?

As a closing, I’d like to thank waffy for helping me remember the spelling of Famitsu! You rock dude!