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 Letters Of The WeekTo have your letter branded as the Letter of the Week is truly the greatest Mailbag honor. Unfortunately, many if not all of the winners are forgotten within a month. So, I have come forth to make this shrine to these fine authors. Here, before you, you shall find the greatest Mailbag submitters the site has ever seen. A name in bronze indicates a person who has written a Letter of the Week twice, a silver shows an impressive three wins, a gold representing four or five, and when somebody writes any more than that I'll think of a cool color for them. Click any page number to see all of the Letters of the Week in that page. |
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Do you still play EarthBound? Greetings, Congrats on getting the Mailbag position. I have no idea what it really means, as I'm a veritable newbie to the world that is SM.net, but I'm sure that it's something important. Anyhow, onto addressing the topics of this week. Yes, I still play EB. Mainly because I'm a not-rich college student that just can't afford to keep up with new gaming systems. So, rather than having a nice elaborate setup with a PS2, Gamecube, and tons of games, I have my ol' SNES hooked up to the tv and stereo at present. Just today I finished a couple of Sanctuaries and moved onto Scaraba. Yey! I don't know about funny occurences within my game...aside from renaming certain items at the beginning. Most recently I named my Favorite Food 'cat.' Having Mom say 'have some Cat and scoot up to bed' was amusing at first, but not for long. It was later, with a random NPC that I heard it used most amusingly. It was the guy that says, "You know what I hate most in the world? Cat. The color, the flavor, the texture...hey, you're drooling!" This e-mail addy is based in my website, Paperninja.net. I happened to create a Consumer Service department within it a while back...would I incur your wrath if I wrote about a topic through 'them?' It would mainly involve me referring to myself as 'we' and making lots of nonsensical generalizations. Thanks for the time... --Paper |
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Whta's your favorite EB tune? In my honest opinion. Keiichi Sezuki did a superb job selecting the theme for his music. It perfectly matches the modern-age esque EarthBound is set in. Sure a bit kooky at times, but that's what's good about it. There's so many cool songs from EarthBound I really have a hard time picking my favorite. If I had a pop gun to my head I would have to go with the Scaraba music or any of the battle/boss themes. You may not believe this but when I first played it (I was about 8 years old) during battles when I was strong enough to just keep pressing the 'a' button to win. I would dance around the controller cord to the music, it was really weird. But no other game has got me to do that. And I can't complain with the sound effects. I've always wanted to remix EarthBound tunes but I really lack the knowledge too, maybe someday I will. There ARE lots of great musicians in this community, and other vgame places that have extrodinary talent to remix game tunes. EarthBound really needs remixing love. If EarthBound wasn't so blatantly shunned with bad advertizing and constant repetition of "This game stinks." I believe EarthBound would be right up there with Chrono Trigger, but sadly it's not. oops im trailing off the topic, overall EB MUSIC=GOOD FOR DANCING AROUND CORDS WBAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA p.s get eb music @ ftp://mp3:mp3@wat3r.dhs.org --Aquas |
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Will M3 come out? Will FF come to GCN? Really, sometimes I think Nintendo is just dying to be on my good side. I think the new Link looks stupid, so they change him. I want a sequel to a somewhat poorly selling game, they say they want it too. On top of that, they rejoin with Square. Honestly, I could only be more pleased right now if Nintendo would change Mario Sunshine. For all of my early childhood, Nintendo was electronic gaming and electronic gaming was Nintendo. No one else mattered. Eventually, I caved and actually replaced my NES with a Playstation. Yes, I held onto that NES for a while. I even got a Dreamcast eventually. However, I couldn't last without my Nintendo. I went on the internet and got emulators for NES and SNES. I excitedly requested a Gamecube for Christmas. Unfortunately, the enthusiasm was dwindling: SSBM looked like the only really good thing for the Cube for as long as anyone could predict. Seeing a stupid backpack on Mario that hinted at odd gameplay, an overly detailed face on Fox, and an under-detailed face on Link made me very disappointed. Now, I look at Nintendo in a whole new light. Suddenly, I'm pleased with everything. I think it's all because of that Mother 3 thing. It's really managed to make some news for an underrated N64 title that was cancelled without ever getting a really fair chance. I'm quite pleased. All in all, I think they're getting close to their lost position of being electronic games. Good for Nintendo. --Tetsu |
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How well will the petition do? I estimate an approximate 39,998.4~40,300 signatures by the time reid decides to close the petition. I'd guess higher, but reid says there's an approximate four-month limit on the petition. I estimate such a number because there are a lot of EGM fanboys out there, and EGM is likely to mention us again. Oh, and once that petition is finally released to the Japanese public, a mention from Famitsu is probable, and it would help greatly. Keep your fingers crossed. As for the Mother 2 cast vs. Flint and company, I'd guess Flint. Putting in the Mother 2 cast would be more work than necessary; it would involve a reworking of the whole Mother 3 story entirely. Bringing back the EarthBound cast would be pointless, and I think I'd be more interested in seeing new characters in the spotlight. --Tetsu |
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What was your favorite game of all time? If you think about it, the SNES has bundles of games that we all still love. Of all the game systems I ever felt like selling, the SNES was the one that I felt the closest to, and so far I have not sold it (although now I might not get a price worth the effort). EarthBound is still lovable, because no other game has really given it a run for its money as far as concept, humor, style, and storyline. I think that many of us who are looking for a new Mother game are looking for all of those qualities. If we get our new Mother game, I think that we should also feel twice as lucky if it has all of the qualities we fell in love with several years ago. It would be quite disheartening if Mother 3 were too much like another game that we don't like. That would probably trigger a massive schism at Starmen.Net. Now that I think about it, any incarnation of Mother 3 would cause a big uproar. We're all brought together by the love of EarthBound and Mother, but we all might be separated by our split opinion on Mother 3. Ev ery member of the community came after the release of both EarthBound and Mother, so we have yet to see how a new game would impact our community. (Jeepuhz, I start talking about my SNES and end up talking about the community.) --Sephy |
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What was the WORST game of all time? What makes a game good and what makes a game bad is all in the opinion of the player, regardless of factors like playability, graphics, sound, plot, and replay value. However, as the gaming industry expanded and embraced better technology, something very odd occurred: Games became able to be worse. Let me offer an example. Tetris is a classic game, but these days, it just doesn't cut it in terms of sophistication, graphics, sound, and flashiness. However, it took those Russians ages to develop and program that game, and the effort put into it showed. For an 8-bit game, Tetris rocked. Now take a look at what we're dealing with in the modern gaming industry. We have awesome games like Grant Theft Auto 3, Metal Gear Solid 2, and Final Fantasy X. All of these games were achieved through the same dedication and creativity of the makers of Tetris, and even the makers of Pong. However, with the new technology, people became lazy. There are some PlayStation games out there that are just plain bad, even though they beat out Tetris on the sophistication scale. Think about the Agetec games. Sure, they're low budget, but the dedication and creativity are not there. There are knockoffs of past games which were more solid and playable in their 8-bit incarnations. Technology, therefore, has allowed games to become worse. In the Atari days, you needed to know what you were doing to make a game that worked. It was a small industry, and the quality standards were high, even though the technology standards were low. These days, you have huge companies developing fifty games at once. Certainly some of the released games will be awful. You can get kits now to make games; in fact, gamers can get kits to make their own games (think RM2k). Laziness has evolved with technology; people who program machine code are either part of a larger team, or nonexistent in projects. Does this mean all games have become worse? Absolutely not. Games have become better. But, upon examining the industries of 1982 and 2002, it is clear that in 1982, many more games stayed on the top of the quality game. "It isn't really hard to find bad games" is a statement that supports my argument, I believe. Could the issue be that we're spoiled? Sure. Back in the eighties, video games were a thrill. People lined up to play Pole Position, an estimation of car racing with funky pixellation and a very simple interface. These days, people scoff at the newest surround-sound, realistic cockpit, all-3-D graphics, and 8-player capability. Why? Because they didn't include Paris as a circuit. That certainly is not a line for Pole Position. We're choosers in this era, a big change from the days of the eighties when we lined up in front of Pac-Man. The good news is, we've been spoiled by good games. RPG fans from pre-1990 would have loved to play any of the Final Fantasies. But people of today? "I only like FF7." "FF8 was terrible, the Junction system was horrific." "FF10 was too linear." I would have rather played any of those games instead of Dragon Warrior. What is the future of game quality? I think that the gap will widen. We will have totally sweet games, and we will have real bombs that don't deserve to be in the Clearance bin at Blockbuster. The industry will get more industrial, and we will get both good and bad games shoved down our throat. I think the future of games is not in the technological aspects, but the conceptual ones. Look at Dance Dance Revolution. A huge success in Japan and the U.S., and it doesn't even have to compete with Square or Konami for graphics. In fact, they didn't even need a Nobuo Uematsu for the music. They got fun-loving pop and dance musicians to create the soundtrack! Head-to-head fighting games are passe and lend themselves to harsh, routine criticism. Dancing video games? Wow! It's the concept that makes the games of today good, and it's laziness that makes games bad. Laziness includes not being able to have a concept, making a copy of another gaming style, and almost always making the genre less interesting. I have faith in the future though, I think that the next few years will produce some really awesome games that will make the bad games worth the agony. --Sephy (P.S. my least favorite game has to be Metroid, because I was no good at it, and it used to scare me and give me nightmares. I also didn't care too much for the soundtrack. Not too focused.) |
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Have you ever done something EarthBoundy? My real-life experiences with EarthBound usually never leave the realm of music, but those experiences that I have lived have been quirky, odd, and even awesome. When I played EarthBound right after it came out, I was renting it from a local movie store. I must have rented it ten times, players guide and everything. One of the big things that stuck with me was the soundtrack, in addition to that warm fuzzy feeling I got from beating up Skate Punks in colorful Onett. When I finally bought the game, it was for twenty bucks at a local store. As soon as I was able to play my adventure further than Twoson, I really started digging the soundtrack. That's when I started playing with EarthBound's music. I wasn't much good with music at the time, so my experiements were never that great, but even so, there was a certain feeling of accomplishment I got from being able to play along to the Twoson theme on the guitar. Skip ahead a few years to that fateful day in April 2001 when I registered at the forums. I was really getting into the music thing at that time, and made three rare EarthBound BTP Remixes. I thought to myself, "How cool would it be to play this for other people." Unfortunately, none of the remixes were good enough to play for any real people, just hardcore EarthBound fans. I vowed to make good EarthBound music, and over the summer, finished and recorded Trancebound. "Still not good enough," I thought to myself. "The sound quality would make real people shiver." My friend and I got on the venue for this big show at a local nightclub. At that time, I was just getting finished with a little known song called "Smiles and Tears (BTP Deep Trance Remix)". This song had commercial potential, but the only way to prove that was to play it for some of the most unforgiving people on the planet: Buffalo ravers. Halfway through our set, after playing hits like Global Sunset (ask SLing about that one), we put on Smiles and Tears. Imagine bajillions of ravers going bonkers over the Sound Stone melody. I stood there with my mouth wide open. "These people are jamming out to EarthBound!" I thought, and it was true. From that moment, I was able to meld EarthBound and commercially viable music. People I know always ask me about my Sephy and the Sharks recordings, and a few have listened to Trancebound and have said it was good. My goal is to someday be a successful musician. One of my mini-goals is to someday get in front of a crowd of 50,000, and totally jam out the Pollyanna song, or something like that. Then, 50,000 people oblivious to EarthBound will start flipping out and saying "Rocktastic!" and stuff. Then I'll post a message on the forums and say "Hey guys guess what I did..." --Sephy |
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What was your favorite enemy of all time? My favorite enemy would probably have to be well lets all be honest, the foppys, they give huge amounts of experience and no damage, you can take on six without being hurt, and get tons of experience ( for the place ) when playing the game I always take a little "break" at Master Belch's hidout to level up on the foppys. It's not a bad strategy and can give you an easier time with some of the tougher enemies. Thanks for your time. -NessTheHero |
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Should a Game Boy Advance EB have new features? I think EarthBound should definitely be released on the Gameboy Advance. I'm going to college this summer and I packed all of my games away. There are just too many of my brother's friends coming in and stealing old school games that mean so much to me. They have no respect, whatsoever, and games such as my EarthBound, in all its Big-boxed, 2 players guide, mint condition glory will be a devastating blow to me if it were ever to be stolen. I bought this second copy of EarthBound on EBay unopened, since I made the stupid mistake of selling it all those years ago (It's a long story) for about $80. I'm not about to get it stolen. But since I won't be taking my SNES, I would most certainly buy a Gameboy Advance just for EarthBound. It's like I always say: "If EarthBound, Uniracers, or Killer Instinct don't show up on Nintendo's new systems, then I don't want it." EarthBound is definitely that killer app I need to buy a GBA. As far as new features go, I think it should have a "Save Anywhere" feature where you can turn the game on exactly where you left off. Also I'd like to see a 4-player battle mode. You know. Maybe we can see who can effectively use their items and weapons the most. Strategy would be key. Lastly, I would add a 4-player co-op mode. I used to play EarthBound with someone else on the other controller. My friend got two characters and I got two. It was fun. Nintendo would certainly please us hardcore fans of the game and financially, it would be in their best interest. When all is said and done, it's just a port. They've done it with Mario, why not Ness. Oh, and a copy of EarthBound Zero to play through after you beat the game wouldn't hurt either. --Shiggs the 3RD MiX |
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Are we really about to get Mother 3? What do you WANT it to be like, and what do you actually BELIEVE it will be like? "Are we about to get Mother 3?" But of course! Even Nintendo wouldn't pull our legs for this long! Also, Super Smash Brothers (the first one) reminded everyone of Kirby, Capt. Falcon, and all the other seemingly forgotten heros. Now that Melee has topped the charts, everyone should know about Ness now. And with the addition of the Earthbound trophies, more Earthbound fans are being made. The petition has gotten Nintendo's attention, so it's definently obvious that another Earthbound is on the way. "What do you WANT it to be like?" I want it to have a great storyline, just as Earthbound did. I won't care much for the graphics, as long as they aren't absolutly, insanely, horrible. It would be nice to see Ness as a ten-year-old boy, not an overweight toddler like in Melee, if he's in the game at all. "...what do you actually BELIEVE it will be like?" I believe it will give everyone the same fuzzy, Earthboundy feeling that Earthbound gave before. It will have the ATMs, the frying pans, the Mr. Saturns, the baseball bats, the coffee cups, the kooky space creatures, the exploding Sky Runners, and all the other things that Earthbound had, and more! Last but not least, a little message at the end of the end credits that says something like "Thank-you, Earthbound fans." --Goldstarking |
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This page was last modified on Fri 29-Jul-2005 19:55:03.
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