The Super NES is known for legendary RPGs, and there are few as beloved as Earthbound, the quirky sci-fi JRPG that’s spawned one of Nintendo’s most enduring fandoms. A great deal of its success can be attributed to its charming dialog, which went through a thorough localization process to make it fun for English-speaking players. Original director and writer Shigesato Itoi is apparently quite happy with those changes.
In a recently published conversation with Marcus Lindblom, who wrote the game’s English script, Itoi explains that he dictated the script for the original Earthbound – or Mother 2, as it was known in Japan – to Masayuki Miura. “We wrote the entire script that way, so he understands the nuance of every line in the original more than anyone else,” Itoi explained. “If I said something weird, he wouldn’t just type it as-is. He’d stop and ask me to clarify. And I wanted him to understand, so I’d explain it.”
That understanding helped Miura communicate the nuances of the script – and its numerous jokes and pop culture references – to Lindblom, as they went through a similar process. “He actually did the same thing, typing for me as I dictated! I asked about something I didn’t understand, and he explained that some lines were even hard for Japanese people to get.”
“We joked around a lot at our office, and that humor came in through so many parts in the game,” Lindblom told Itoi. “There are things in EarthBound that came directly from that group. Even the ‘Spankity’ line came directly from one of the guys. I’ve always wanted to ask you, though, if it was okay that I changed as much as I did.”
“I didn’t check the English script, of course, because I wouldn’t have understood it,” Itoi responded. “But I’m glad to hear that the localization had those changes. I just want people to be able to enjoy the game.”
Video game localization has become a bizarrely thorny topic in recent years, with a certain subset of absolute purists loudly complaining about any change in dialog make a game more engaging to English-speaking audiences. But Itoi said that one part of the Earthbound localization in particular is “pretty famous among Japanese fans as a really great example of a translation.”
“MOTHER 2 fans in Japan have a favorite line in the game where you answer yes or no to fill in the blanks for ‘Girl of the Alps: XXXdi,'” Itoi said. “When you answer yes, or ‘hai,’ you complete the puzzle to answer ‘Heidi.’ In EarthBound, you’d answer yes or no to ‘A Beatles song, XXXterday.'”
Ironically, Lindblom didn’t write that line himself, but the early translations done before he joined the game did “set the tone” for his work through the rest of the script. Given the passionate fandom the game’s developed around the world, I think it’s fair to say all the changes worked out in the end.
Earthbound remains one of the best JRPGs ever made.
