C.M.

Monday, May 10, 1999

 

To Whom It May Concern:

 

Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is C.M. and I am 19 years old. I am currently a senior at Arizona State University, where I am majoring in computer science and minoring in Japanese. I currently maintain the largest EarthBoundä fan site on the World Wide Web at http://www.earthbound.net.

I represent well over 1500 EarthBoundä fans as I write this letter, and most likely many more by the time this letter is received.

Recent announcements that older Nintendo Entertainment Systemä games are being converted into GameBoy Colorä games has sparked the interest of millions of game players worldwide, EarthBound fans included. Approximately in July of 1998, rumors began to spread that another EarthBoundä game would be released for the then upcoming GameBoy Colorä . This excited every EarthBound fan that I know, but since that time, the rumor died down and it appeared to be nothing more than wishful thinking on our part.

When it was announced that Ness, the main character of EarthBoundä , would appear in Nintendo’s latest venture, "Super Smash Bros..ä ", EarthBoundä once again came into the spotlight. At about the same time as this announcement, Nintendo also announced that the original "Super Mario Bros.ä " would be converted to Nintendo’s GameBoy Colorä , along with several other NESä games. This gave some people an idea: Why not have the NESä "Earth Bound" that was never released outside Japan converted to GameBoy Colorä as well?

That is the purpose of this letter, and the documents that accompany it. It is not our intent to demand or even persuade Nintendo to recreate the NESä "Earth Bound" on its GameBoy Colorä . We only wish to show that doing so would be a worthwhile endeavor that will most likely meet with a great deal of success for all parties involved.

I personally feel that releasing a GameBoy Colorä version of "Earth Bound", especially in the near future, would prove to be beneficial. This month marks the 10-year annivesary of the release of "Motherä " in Japan. Given the tremendous popularity of this series in Japan, a remake of this classic game would generate massive sales and create new fans at the same time.

In addition, a remake of the original game would surely create a lot of enthusiasm for the upcoming Nintendo 64ä game, which is currently known as "Mother 3". Here in the United States, a GameBoy Colorä role-playing game would also create new fans of the highly underrated EarthBoundä series. Not only would this create more hype for "EarthBound 64", but it would also bring many players back to the Super Nintendo Entertainment Systemä game.

It might not be immediately evident, but Ness’ appearance in "Super Smash Bros. ä " has already helped create more awareness of the EarthBoundä series. A much-needed GameBoy Colorä RPG that is entirely based upon this character would do even more.

The reason why the SNESä game "EarthBound" was a disappointment in terms of sales was due to the fact that its graphics looked "childish" and "like an 8-bit game". A GameBoy Colorä game does not have nearly as high of graphical standards as a SNESä game. Therefore, people would probably not dismiss a GameBoy Colorä version of "Earth Bound" as easily.

I know this is all conjecture. I admit I don’t have all the numbers to back up my arguments, but I do have the experiences and thoughts of thousands of EarthBoundä fans, which isn’t something easily found from sales figures.

The feasibilty of converting this game to GameBoy Colorä is another question. I have had some experience with 6502 assembly programming, as well as Z80 programming. Converting code from one to another is not the easiest thing, but it is more time consuming than anything else. I assume that since NESä games are currently being ported to GameBoy Colorä , this is not too much of a problem for development teams.

Another problem is in the GameBoy Color’s hardware. The screen of the GameBoy Colorä is not large enough to make viewing a lot of text comfortable. Sacrifices will have to be made, of course, just as was done with the "Super Mario Bros." conversion.

One plus is that the GameBoy Colorä has the same number of buttons as does a NESä controller. No special modifications will have to be made in terms of user input, which is commonly found in other game conversions. What’s more, the NESä "Earth Bound" has already been translated into English. I think it is unfair to the programmers, designers, writers, producers, and others that worked on this game only to have it cancelled at the last minute. Showing their work at long last would be a sign of respect and gratitude to these people.

I am aware that Nintendo does not solicit game ideas from the general public. Whether or not this document convinces Nintendo that this is a worthwhile project is not of utmost importance. Instead we are proud to say that we did not idly sit by as a great opportunity passed us by. We took the initiative to organize ourselves and present our idea in a professional manner, rather than send hate mail or incoherent messages as similar groups do. We do not present this in the context of hostility, but merely as a suggestion, which I feel shows just how dedicated EarthBoundä fans are. In fact, EarthBoundä has a cult following unlike any other video game in existence. This I am very sure of.

I am also sure that Nintendo knows about the illegal ROM of the NESä "Earth Bound" that is circulating the Internet. Many fans refuse to play this version because of the legality issue. Others are incapable of playing it if they wanted to. I, along with many other people, would like to see a legal version of this game.

Accompanying this letter is another letter written by Reid Young, who is not only a great friend of mine, but also owns the second largest EarthBoundä fan site on the World Wide Web entitled "You Are Now EarthBound". Together, we pay for, maintain, and improve the largest EarthBoundä fan site ever, EarthBound.Net. He is more in touch with all of the EarthBoundä fans than I am, so please do not ignore what he has to say.

The rest of this document is a petition, which contains over 1800 signatures from EarthBoundä fans from all over the world. We have signatures from Japan, China, Great Britain, Mexico, Canada, the United States, Australia, France, and more. Each and every signature was meticulously added by hand, in order to ensure no fake signatures made their way on the petition. Checking almost 2000 signatures by hand and looking for duplicate names is very time-consuming, but our dedication shows because of it.

The original goal of the petition was 1000 signatures, but that was passed in less than three weeks. So we left the petition up until we felt it was ready to be submitted. It was first created on February 13, 1999. The copy attached to this letter was taken from May 9, 1999. In less than 3 months, we received nearly 2000 signatures from a game that supposedly was a failure. As this letter is being read, more signatures are being added to the petition, which can be found at http://www.earthbound.net/petition. This is done to show that we are very serious in our quest to see a GameBoy Colorä version of "Earth Bound".

Without a doubt, there are thousands of other people who would like to see this game on GameBoy Colorä , but for various reasons are not aware of our petition. Although the names of these people do not physically appear on the petition, they should not be ignored.

I hope this letter and its accompanying documents are taken seriously and not ignored. That would be a slap in the face for thousands of people, and a waste of 3 months of hard work and dedication.

Thank you for your time, and if you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please feel free to contact me.

Sincerely,

 

 

C.M.

E-Mail: tomato@earthbound.net