January 16, 2000
Nintendo of America
ATTN: Ruffini the Dog
P.O. Box 957
Redmond, WA 98073
:
You should be aware by now that a letter-writing campaign was recently organized under the heading of ‘Project: Ruffini’. I was heading this campaign, being the webmaster at EarthBound.Net (
http://www.earthbound.net). This project was named ‘Ruffini’ after a character in the SNES RPG ‘EarthBound’ who asked the players to write in to Nintendo with comments. The purpose of this campaign was to let you, the people of Nintendo, that EarthBound fans are very much alive, and still appreciating your game(s).Someone in your corporation surely remembers the petition that was snail-mailed to you a few months ago. This was the Mother on Game Boy Color petition, also organized by EarthBound.Net webmasters. The petition consisted of around 1,800 signatures from fans all over the world. Since mailing the petition, we have continued to get signatures; the number tops 500 now, and we are still getting a steady flow.
This makes well over 2,300 people who would jump at a chance to play Mother on Game Boy. This number may seem insignificant at first, but consider how many hundreds or thousands of EarthBound fans were never informed of the petition, and how many thousands more would buy the game completely out of curiosity or after reading a review. At least half of the people that I talked to about Mother informed me that they would gladly buy a Game Boy just to get the game. If you would not consider a re-release of the game to please the fans, then perhaps your company would consider re-releasing it for the revenue it would generate. One of the reasons for this letter writing campaign was similar to that of the petition. The release of Mother on Game Boy Color would be not only pleasing to your fans, but a boost for your Game Boy sales. Many people complain that the Game Boy lacks good RPGs; considering its age, Mother is an excellent RPG. With a few improvements and a port to Game Boy, it would be ready to present to an eager RPG gaming audience.
Another reason for this letter was the uncertainty of a US release of Mother 3, or EarthBound 64. The game has been in development for many years, encountering problems like the switch from 64DD to cartridge. Reports from your Space World show in Japan told of the game being only 50% complete, and a planned May release in Japan. News of Mother 3 was exciting (and covered extensively on EarthBound.Net), but the prospects seem grim for a release in the states any time soon. We write these letters to let you know that we, as well as tens of thousands of N64 owners, want at least one decent RPG for Nintendo 64 before it breathes its last.
Thank you for your time. I hope you take into consideration what I and all the other fans have written. We don’t write in simply because we have time on our hands.
Reid Young
Webmaster -- EarthBound.Net