There's a lot of well warranted excitement about Mother 3 and even EartBound/EB Zero on the GBA. Rumor upon rumor keeps coming out of no where. That's usually what this community has thrived on; bits and pieces of exciting information. From the discovery of EarthBound Zero, to the debug menu, to the rumors of Mother 3. I think it's interesting how this community continues to thrive. Whenever we get really down in a slump, something like these massive rumors we're hearing comes up. But how does this keep happening? Are we really affecting Nintendo? I think we are affecting Nintendo, but not in the way everyone is hoping for. But this is actually a good thing.

We've had so many "campaigns" to let Nintendo know what we feel about this crazy game and how we want a sequel more than anything. With several NP Sieges, a handful of different petitions, and no doubt thousands of letters to Nintendo, we've been trying for quite some time to let Nintendo know what we think and what we really want from them. Let's take the last two petitions for example. The first time we demanded that we wanted release Mother 3 to be released, and had over 10,000 signatures to back it up. In this latest one, we're basically doing the same thing but on a much larger scale. But this latest petition is different. We're getting away from "demands" and just want Nintendo to know how much we love the game. And with Jonk's incredible Fanart album, a lot of us are really hoping to amaze Nintendo into releasing the game.

But there is some doubt though. Is what we're doing really affecting Nintendo? When it comes down to actually going out and making the game, all of what we do probably has very little direct affect. HOWEVER (notice the bigness and boldness of 'HOWEVER'), the petitions, the art, the letters, serve a different purpose which I don't think any of us intended. When we have a petition, people come to the site (obviously). I don't know the details, but I'm pretty sure that most of the petition signers aren't (or weren't) regular visitors to the site. Over 30,000 people become aware of EarthBound's existence or its derelict sequel. When people see a bunch of EarthBound art in Nintendo power, they become aware of the game and its sequel. When people see SM.net in EGM, IGN, and other gaming outlets, they become aware of the game. I can't even imagine what people will think when the Fanart album is showcased in some form (I have no doubt that this will happen).

Notice how I keep mentioning our affect on the people. Nintendo consumers are who we're affecting. This is much more powerful than affecting Nintendo directly in my opinion. There's no doubt in my mind that SM.net has broaden the base for "EarthBound consumers". We've helped make a greater market for this game through our NP Sieges and petitions because people are more aware of the game. If people just ignored our petitions and stuff, no one would think much about EarthBound or even buying it. But we've really succeeded in getting the word out to other people and not just Nintendo. It seems like we did this all unintentionally. But we did it very well.

What inspired me to write this article was a post by "Shift Key" in the Mother 3 forums. Shift Key posted a quote from Fran Mirabella from IGN Insider about resurrecting cancelled games. Here's what the quote said:

"...More than anything, though, Earthbound 64 is the title I want revived. Nintendo and project lead Shigesato Itoi cancelled the RPG late into N64's lifespan. I've been hoping to see the announcement that the title is headed to GameCube, but I'm almost out of breath. I know I'm not the only fan who wants to see this either." -- Fran Mirabella, IGN Insider