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Welcome to the Starmen.net Mailbag! The mailbag is your chance to sound off on various topics and ask the questions you want to know about the site and other happenings in the EarthBound world. Updates are made every Tuesday so check this space to see if your letter was posted! Before you submit make sure to read the submission rules.


Mailbag for Tuesday, May 23rd 2006:

Starting to get a bit more letters now. Thanks to everyone who wrote in! This week's topic concerns Mother 3 (not) at E3 and the rumors of a European release.

Next Week's Topic:
The site's Walkthroughs have seen a lot of progress in the past few months for all three games. What do like about them and what're some of the biggest problems and new things you'd like to see?

As always, any other questions and comments are welcome.

Here are this week's letters!


Game Informer Mentions EB:

Issue 158 of Game Informer has an article called "The Top 10 Rare RPGs You Need." Earthbound beat out the likes of Valkyrie Profile, Dragon Force, and Disgaea to reach second place, just behind Panzer Dragoon Saga! Sorry I don't have a scanner, or I'd show it to you.

- TB Tabby

If you or anyone else can manage to get a scan, this is perfect material for the mysterious uberProject 5001

- EBounding


Positive Speculation:

Indeed, why was Mother 3 not shown at E3, and why was a European version annouced first? Does this mean that Europe will get it first, or possibly, even only get it? It seems rather unusual considering Earthbound was never released there.

As for why it wasn't at E3, I can only speculate that Nintendo wanted to showcase the more recent DS and the upcoming Wii. GBA was practically a no-show and very few GCN games were shown. If they are planning on localizing the game, they may have felt that it would be overshadowed at E3, or the opposite (wasn't important enough to bother).

I'm still confident that we will see a North American release. It is the last GBA game to be made by Nintendo, and even though Earthbound sold poorly before, NoA may see that it's got a large following today and great appeal to others. Perhaps as with Tales of Phantasia, it, for some reason,will see a European release first. Or perhaps it was just announced first there but NA will still be getting a release first. There's no way of knowing yet I'm afraid. We'll just have to wait until we hear official news from either NoA and/or NoE (after all, it may not be released in Europe either.)

I'll stay hopeful, but at the very least I'll await an English translation, be it from the US or UK.

- Strawberry Eggs


Negative Speculation:

Mother 3 didn't show at E3 because it's not going to be released in North America at all. The credibility of the European magazine should be taken into account when "validating" the information. The guy's professionalism is crying "I have no idea what I'm talking about."

Mother 3 isn't coming to America.

- Phone

I think there are equally good reasons to be skeptical and hopeful for a release outside Japan. I think the best reason to be hopeful is that a game that was dead in the water was somehow revived. EB64 was set for release here once Mother 3 was finished. And of course the reasons to be skeptical are obvious. Nintendo continues to refuse to give any information regarding the game and any leaked info is arguable ambiguous. For me, they have six months to make some kind of announcement regarding the game before I start loosing hope.

- EBounding


Crazy Speculation:

Dear EBounding,

Mother 3 did not show up at E3 because the fact that Nintendo hates fans that are too crazy. Really, giving us mother 3 would be like giving a methhead a hanful of crystals after seven days of him walking in a circle talking about how Mr. Rodgers is really Bill Gates from the future. We have to use reverse psychology on them and if it seems like we don't care they will give in and we can stay up for seven days not tweaking (ok, maybe a strecth here and there but that doesn't count). They enjoy seeing us in pain, struggling to be happy, but no! They have to dangle the cheese right in front of our noses! Yeah it'll be in Japan, yeah it'll be in England, but no, America likes it too much! This is payback for all that radiation (no offense to Radiation, he's my bud) back in the 40's. Yep, ol' japs on their hundred-year plan to screw us over. Yeah I imported it, can't understand anything but hey, I got the box and the cartridge. I'm not happy. I demand Mother 3 in America! I just want to understand why there are cross-dressers? What happened to Lucas and Claus? What is up with Flint? I'm so sad! Why?! Why do you have to do this to us?! We spend 11 years glorifying this icon and you put it within our reaches then take it away! Why?! Why?

why... I thought we were your friend...

From a slighly bipolar,

~Stevesesy


Future of Gaming and Europe:

The way I see it, E3 is (or was rather) about the future of gaming. What's to come, what we can look forward to. And by the time E3 rolled around, Mother 3 was already out. Done deal. Past news. So it shouldn't be surprising that it didn't show up.

As for the M3 Europe rumor? They may be translating it for worldwide release. We can cross our fingers and hope, right? Games generally get released in the US before they're seen in Europe, so if Mother 3 pops up there it's highly likely it'll pop up here first.

But if it doesn't we can always import, right? Does that PlayAsia Mother 3 link still work?

- WhoopA

I personally get the feeling that this European magazine not only got bad information, but bad information they weren't supposed to get anyway.

And yes, the Play Asia link does still work (it is on the sidebar to buy Mother 3). They've been a great source of much needed revenue to pay the site's server bills. So make sure to buy through that link!

Let the speculation continue!

- EBounding


Already in the Far E3ast:

Mother 3 was a no-show, probably, because it was already released in Japan. Why showcase a game that's already released? Besides, E3 usually showcases new games and new systems for the purpose of international news... it's not just for America. They cover E3 news overseas as well, correct? If this is true, then why showcase a game already released? It's also possible that Mother 3 is going to get a North AMerican release, but Nintendo didn't think it big enough of a deal to show off. Or maybe there wasn't enough time.

Or maybe it isn't going to be released in North America.

- G.Wicks

As someone who's still hopeful, I think this is one good explanation. It seems a bulk of the attention was on the Wii thing. I think it would be awkward to try to promote Mother 3 as the only game there for the GBA.

- EBounding


A Convenient Segway!:

Nintendo was too busy admiring their Wii.

Everyone, send in your best Wii jokes and I may post them.

Thanks for the letters everyone. See you here next week!

- EBounding


Here It Is, Your Moment Of Mu:



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