Got a lot of good letters this week concerning Mother 3 marketing. Check 'em out! I'd still like to hear more "marketing" ideas though. So if you didn't get a chance to write in this week feel free to write in for next week too. Or you could write in for next week's topic, or any other question you may have.

Next Week's Topic:
As an elite privileged staffer, I'm privy to the goings-on with the site. Right now, the staff is gearing up to start EBFGP again. Anything new you would like to see with the event? How long should it go for, and have you gotten anyone new to participate?

I think that the best thing that NOA could do when marketing in North America would be to package in something with the game. Like a poster, or maybe a collectible such as the Franklin Badge. Beyond that, full page advertisements or posters in magazines would be great, because I honestly just want something to put on my wall...

Or maybe just more really strange merchandise. I mean, I want air freshener type stuff. Really, really strange things that would get people interested.

- askthemaster

The big box, the player's guide, and the smelly cards are definetly some of the things that made EarthBound unique. They should definetly keep up that tradition.

-EBounding

First, wait until it is after the summer. Games don't sell in the summer. Everyone is on vacation. Then, as a preorder bonus, you should recieve Mother 1+2.

And Nintendo will give out entire games as a promo. Remember when you preordered Wind Waker and got Ocarina of Time on your GCN? Nintendo will release entire games for free.

So, advertising with a "Get all three Mothers for the price of one!" will be effective, especially when Christmas comes along.

Now, about the name issue. Mother should NOT be Earthbound Zero. That is the name of the ROM, and the two will get too easily confused. Mother should be known as Earthbound NES. Mother 2 should be Earthbound, and Mother 3 should be Earthbound 2.

Simple strategy, but I would rebuy Mother 3, in English, just to get Mother 1+2 in English as well.

That, and Mother 1 and 2 are already translated for them! They've done the work. Mother 3 is easy to translate, too. The only thing is importing the new font, which is also easy, and then reprogramming the text from Japanese to English. The game will take no effort to translate, but will bring in the big money.

And it will be much more successful than Earthbound's SNES release.

Much more successful.

...Wow, wasn't that sorta long?

- lewahi

I would hope they at least make an announcement by the summer...but don't we all.

- EBounding

well i think that they could release 1,2 and 3 as a trilogy set. It would be a better investment, than lets say, the Phantasy Star collection released by THQ, but, back on track, they could promote all three as a box set, or 1 and 2, and 3 seperately

-Earthmile63

We open on an over-photoshopped title screen for "Generic RPG", then cut to a group of ridiculously-dressed people with walking in a straight line on the beach.

We cut to the leader of the group, overlooking his destroyed hometown, then to the group boarding a giant vessel of sorts. Fade to the hero and a semi-hot-yet-modest girl inside the ship, sharing an intimate moment. "I think I love you." "And I think there's a chance I love you too."

Cut to the hero, by himself, sitting on the same beach from the opening. "Oh, why have I been chosen to save everyone? Why?" Enter a small boy, roughly 11 years of age, carrying a baseball bat. He has a look of annoyance. "Shut up." The child procedes to smash the hero's kneecaps. Text is displayed, which boldly states, "Forget Standards". Cue Mother 3 gameplay footage.

- 1up_clock

I dunno about the kneecap busting, but displaying EarthBound's "unconventional" qualities are always a must.

-EBounding

Ways to sell Mother 3: Mildly spoilerful.

1. What did they do for Fire Emblem? Seriously, what? That apparently worked wonders.

2. For the ads, take a picture of the overworld map and super impose a bunch of words that describe things in the game, "Love. Revenge. Dancing. Monkeys. Shrooms. Death." etc. And in the center "EarthBound 2"

3. A really cool subtitle "Rise of the Pig King" "Age of the Chimera" or something else neat.

4. Have the rabid fan base force their friends to buy a few copies. :P

5. Free Hat!

6. "You need SOMETHING to put in your DS Light's GBA slot!"

7. "A dedicated father. A loving mother. Heroic twins. A thief in a village with nothing worth stealing. A tomboy princess. The family dog. A dancing monkey. Can they save the world?"

8. Live action commercials! Have stars act out some of the game. Robin Williams as Duster! Natalie Portman as Kumatora! And Clint Eastwood as Flint!

9. Hire the old guys from Working Designs! Who better to give a cult game the treatment it deserves? Man, I miss those guys...

10. Who is that overpowered character in Smash Bros. Brawl? Why I think he's from that EarthBound 2 game! I might want to pick that up!

11. Katamari sold and it is crazy crap. Perhaps Nintendo should focus on the weird stuff in this game. And they would not run out of material. Ever...

- Salookanana

I personally think that in order to market Mother 3 you have to market EarthBound again too. A free "Mr. Baseball Hat" would be neat.

- EBounding

How to market it? Well let me think.....

(By the way, I'm assuming there's a pigmen symbol. If there isn't, substitute that with a pigman helmet silhouette in pink.)

TV Commercial:

An elderly couple sits on the couch, talking about how they met so long ago. As they're talking, a small pig scurries in front of the couch, the wife picks it up and starts talking cute to it and petting it, as if it were a pet cat. Then the camera turns around to reveal a pink TV behind them with the pigmen symbol on it. Cut to pure black with the Mother 3 (EB2) logo in the center of the screen for about 2 seconds. Cut to pure black with the Nintendo logo in the center for a second.

Magazine ad:

Entirely pink page with a black pigmen logo about 1/3 of the way down, 2/3 of the way down would say "The invation begins on <date>". The Mother 3 (EB2) logo would be in the bottom righthand corner, small enough to not be the main focus.

- TheChef321

Hi Ebounding!

I don't think it would be all that hard for Nintendo to market this game. All they really need to do is make a few good commercials and have a fleet of store displays. For the commercial all they would really have to do is find a dead squirrel and video tape it for about 30 seconds and at the end say that Earthbound 2 is better than a dead squirrel. You may think that idea is stupid, but with the current state of advertising I believe that commercial would really catch the attention of many Americans... (Unfortunately)I think Earthbound 2 would make a great filler game while everyone waits for the Wii and the DS's winter line up. Its not like they have much else to market this summer.

Have a nice day Ebounding...

Keep your hand out of the cookie jar.

-Geekboy20X6

Thanks everyone for the great letters and ideas. See you next week!

- EBounding