EarthBound's Most Hidden Secrets Revealed!

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We were able to forensically recover EarthBound's long-lost development files! Getting an inside look at the game's development process revealed many previously-unknown things about the game, including cut content and more. Read the full story here: gamehistory.org/earthbound-scr...
Video by John Rairdin, based on original research by Clyde Mandelin.

[@etherraichu]

You know why the giant moles in the mine all claim to be the third strongest? Its because each mole fought each other mole one-on-one, and they each won twice and lost twice since they're identical. So they think they're the third most powerful.

[@e-mananimates2274]

Oh! Where'd you learn that?

[@chippedgoat]

@@e-mananimates2274 I am pretty sure thats just a theory, not confirmed

[@e-mananimates2274]

@@chippedgoat Okay, fair enough.

[@FirstnameLastname-sb3hj]

Nice Niko pfp!

[@ammonil1261]

yoo this is genius, i thought it was just a joke/troll thing

[@smergthedargon8974]

20:50 "A shop that serves pencil" seems like a very EarthBound line. Almost strange to me that they changed it to be more "proper".

[@andromaeda24]

Lucy, Donna, Audrey, Jack, Josie... yeah I think someone was a Twin Peaks fan!!

[@VirtuaColin]

Itoi was a Twin Peaks fan, as the sequence in Tanetane Island in Mother 3 was inspired by Twin Peaks.

[@its_uh_bella]

Thats why the bartender has an eyepatch! One-eyed jack

[@davebradshaw3188]

MaH LoG hAS sOmEtHiNg To SaY

[@jonasseorum5471]

Shit, im watching Twin Peaks rn and I have to go back and play the games and see if I missed any more references.

[@pkness1010]

I mean they do have similar vibez

[@dansmith1661]

Little did they know that the gigachad Eggman was there the whole time.

[@Game_Hero]

he's got the master plan!

[@dansmith1661]

@@Game_Hero I had a look at it.

[@thegamefree1]

then Eggman went to Sonic world and became a villain

[@frankbrocker2963]

18:13 lol imagine if you played mother 2 after mother 1 and they kept this scene intact. you go in and the game gives you the option to sing to gyiyg and you think it's just gonna be another fight like the first game, so you do and nothing happens, and then porky calls you a dumbass lmao also the running gag with the signs wouldve been so interesting too im sad these were removed over time, imo these wouldve made the game even better even if you didnt have context from the previous game or anything.

[@Heattokun]

I bet if we give the earthbound community around a month they’ll make a restored content romhack based on this info

[@necrosadotor]

this info is useless, that's why it was removed

[@Heattokun]

@@necrosadotor like okay, 1, who asked, and 2, you see content restoration mods all the time for other games. What you find useless might be considered quirky to others, like for example Orange kid asking for his copy of mother back or finding a way to properly implement the bubble monkey behavior, or fighting the weakest guy in Twoson. Someone else might find it interesting to play a version of the game that could have been, and a lot of this stuff can add quirks to an already quirky game

[@necrosadotor]

@@Heattokun lol chill

[@DaeOh]

@@necrosadotor stop

[@aortaplatinum]

Lol I give it two weeks, there are some seriously dedicated MOTHER fans

[@rivetsquid8887]

I love how friendly the translation team seemed with each other.

[@EluTran]

Absolutely incredible there’s still new stuff being found for Earthbound. All of these new bits of trivia are hella cool! Like that there was going to be a scene that bridged that gap after being jumped in Threed. That bulletin board pun and how it’s partially localized is really neat too. Just love the Mother series so much.

[@Flamsterette]

*Are REALLY cool

[@mommypapa9135]

Undertale music person. Lol.

[@ACEMesa69]

I did not think I would see this comment on here, thank you for uploading the Undertale music and others!

[@radioactivechimp]

Maybe the lizard that left Pokey’s letter was actually a frog in a car

[@megablueman]

Vinny would love that

[@Shishizurui]

hooly shit lol true true true!

[@Stoopid420]

I think it's the arrow lizards

[@SwaggyG_2102]

Really hope that EB64 gets leaked soon... Would love to see the things that would get discovered.

[@rainechoo]

Hey, if the SW demo for Pokemon Gold/Silver was found anything is possible!

[@Cinko420]

@@rainechoo Don’t forget the Tokyo Show Sonic 1 Prototype with the wrecking balls, as well as the pre-released Sonic 3 prototype.

[@donkeycheese8098]

@@Cinko420 Tokyo Toy Show? Idk, i feel like that's gone forever

[@Cinko420]

@@donkeycheese8098 I think I was mistaken actually. Might’ve actually been the Kids Choice Prototype.

[@OrobaSpyro]

@@Cinko420 And Dinosaur Planet! That one was a really cool find.

[@bluelblock]

Oh my goodness I always imagined that Itoi was the voice of coffee/tea break. Absolute wisdom from that man!

[@hyakugame]

itoi spelled out the entire script wym

[@marsybarz]

@@hyakugame besides Threed iirc

[@aortaplatinum]

MAD respect to fan translators like Aeon Genesis and of course Clive Mandelin with MOTHER 3. I'm an Evangelion fan, so I know it's hard as shit to translate Japanese to English especially in the context of a game, movie, or series since they're constantly moving and have space limits like lip flaps or dialogue boxes, so guys going out of their way to translate ENTIRE RPGS solely out of love and passion is absolutely insane and they deserve all the recognition in the world.

[@Zeverinsen]

You know, I wish they'd make two versions when it comes to Japanese games. One that is translated but with additional context given (Like most fansubs do for anime), and one that is localised.

[@MapleMoriko]

Huh, it's interesting to see even one of the most nostalgia games to still get more discovery about it today. Perhaps maybe....a little remastered unused cutscenes may be animated~

[@hyakugame]

cringe never dies

[@QweRinatrtY]

@@hyakugame kinda rude

[@gabbls_]

@@hyakugame for... making animations about something you like?

[@THEGREATMAX]

That cop saying "Let's Go, go og" .... that.... that could be alluding to the fact that he's possessed by Giegue/Giygas

[@Ryu_Naru]

Ah that will very interesting

[@ChristopherMoom]

20:44 Guess you could say that fortunately, one of the translators _sharpened_ their mind before the final release Really intriguing discoveries, by the way, it's cool whenever old games have brand new info about them revealed out of nowhere, and it's especially sick when it's with a classic like EarthBound

[@atwistedb]

stop

[@mouthwasher]

I always thought the Zombie-sympathizer sprite was a nod to Pig-Pen from Peanuts. They look the same. Now that I know his name is loosely "Stinky" I feel closer to being right.

[@NellyHartnell]

20:06 "Ohhh east? I thought you said "weast!".

[@King_Luigi]

"..."Weast"?! What kinda compass are you readin' lad?"

[@MarioYoshi4723]

“You’re fired again!”

[@MahDryBread]

Man, I'm surprised they even bothered coming up with names for so many characters!

[@wi11ow8]

Surprised to see you here!

[@LugborG]

Even if it’s just for internal reference, it makes sense. It’s way easier than saying “That guy in the store in the starting town” when you’re hunting through code to fix a bug.

[@_Koyomi_]

Your comment was good for the KZbin algorithm

[@friedchickenUSA]

The Weakest Man in Twoson vs The Strongest Man in Onett (sounds like a virgin/chad meme)

[@emanueleromano2633]

STRONGEST KID IN ONETT

[@hyakugame]

Why are humans able of so little of imagination nowadays

[@jess648]

Sounds more like one of those balkan memes haha

[@joshshrum2764]

The Chad Bec Noir, vs The Chad Aradia.

[@Cinko420]

Vs the 3rd Strongest Guardian Digger

[@ThaneGaming]

I guess those blank “update patch” pages in the back of the EarthBound localization book can finally be filled in...I can’t believe Mato said that there might even be enough new discoveries here to fill out an entire new book!

[@aymanaboufarise4346]

Sup thane

[@megablueman]

I always thought that the guy talking during the coffee trips was Itoi, glad to see that officially confirmed.

[@borby4584]

20:09 reminds me of that one spongebob quote where Patrick said Weast

[@larryinc64]

I can't help but wonder if Martha was also a reference to The Beatles' "Martha My Dear" Since there are so many other references around.

[@runnersdialzero1244]

there are other people named martha

[@larryinc64]

@@runnersdialzero1244 And the yellow color of that submarine is purely coincidental.

[@runnersdialzero1244]

i'unno, not every single aspect of the game has to be beatles-inspired.

[@larryinc64]

@@runnersdialzero1244 It's almost like I was just wondering out loud instead of trying to say definitively.

[@olivehuntington4807]

I can't believe the Run-of-the-Mill-Mole has a name! Easily my favorite new discovery.

[@ness4858]

YESSS MORE EARTHBOUND CONTENT!! Outstanding work guys! Please keep making more and more discoveries about this game! Earthbound will truly never stop being the best game ever with endless heaps of new content waiting to be revealed :)

[@therealseanw.stewart2071]

It truly is amazing that there are still new behind-the-scenes details being discovered about this wonderful game! EarthBound is a classic that made a substantial impact on me as a kid, and I'd love to see more discoveries like these.

[@jess648]

Even the unused dialogue is fun and charming haha

[@BusterBeachside]

Are we just gonna gloss over the fact they gave Paula's father a full name in Paul Jones? This means Paula's full name is Paula Jones, and she's named after her father. That's wild to learn after all these years.

[@MatthewHyatt]

I would love to see a remake of this for the Switch.

[@antoniojoserunez4165]

Yeah. Or on Switch Online.

[@lilifel]

Mother1+2+3 on the switch

[@drcidd8153]

12:58 I actually think it might have just intended to be hurry. A bus driver named hurry. It makes sense, given the game's style of comedy.

[@GoldenHeartNecklace]

18:34 you had me at the edge of my seat and then you showed that damn title screen and almost made me fall off my chair LMAO

[@brandy7725]

I always thought the weakest man in Twoson was Everdead. He jumps off the roof and hurts himself, after all.

[@Lucas-db2jq]

Huh. So we have the cafe/bar owner named "Jackie" and a hostess named "Betty". And in MOTHER 3, the sequel, there are characters called "Jackie" and "Betsy". Curious.

[@runnersdialzero1244]

Not curious.

[@randomguyontheinternet7940]

7:12 I'm guessing the massage woman was what they had planned before the magic cake. It mentions dreams, and Poo's little adventure could have been seen as a dream. (Edit: Yeah he says this, didn't go that far in the video before writing this.)

[@mustacheboyo]

The weakest man in Twoson sounds like he could be some kind of Anti Piracy but im not sure

[@dansmith1661]

He could be an actual monster, which would technically make him a very weak human.

[@lucianothewindowsfan]

That could be an early concept for the undocumented layer of anti-piracy in the game.

[@kurthurt5068]

What do you mean every anti-piracy measure is spoopy! (This is sarcasm)

[@michellejones9800]

Those dev files probably would've been helpful for porting to the GBA. I read somewhere that the text was a ton of code spaghetti, and this confirms that.

[@tomytom3]

In the beginning of the video, it was said it was about 15% of what was found, will the rest be available to see somewhere?

[@ModernCraftEN]

It's available here: archive.org/details/earthbound-source

[@emanueleromano2633]

@@ModernCraftEN THX

[@seid3366]

Alright Chuggaa. You got new info to talk about for your 50th anniversary LP of Earthbound

[@MissingNumber]

Great behind-the-scenes look into the game. Amazing that all of this is coming out even after all these years.

[@UnUsuarioRandom948]

When we talk about Earthbound we always refer to its mechanics, gameplay and its characteristics, from the smallest to the largest, however when we talk about these moments no one can forget that strange moment of the Monotoli tower when we reached the 48th floor, In the long corridor that connected the elevator and some doors, 2 of the rest could be distinguished, one with a red glass, and the other with a blue glass (you could say that they were the bathrooms), and when you approached these doors you could not pass , only a dialogue appeared that said "*groan" when you tried to enter one of the doors, as a child one could think that it was someone hurt, but now as an adult one can say that that was not the meaning of that message, maybe if and we are all misguided but for me it is something extremely strange. Honestly it is a particular detail of this game, as something that could seem like something for children 12 and up hid this little detail in the Monotoli tower, which is in Fourside.

[@jeikun]

Great discovery and great video! A minor nitpick, at 23:12, in the section with messages from japanese devs to american translators we can read a mention to Paul Mouria, but I'm mostly sure it actually refers to Paul Mauriat. Curiously enough, the first movie adapation of Urasawa's 20th Century Boys opens with a track by Mauriat, I guess he was pretty popular in the latest half of the last century in Japan.

[@ZipplyZane]

If it wasn't for your username, I would have thought that title would just be some sort of listicle article that was just telling me all the same stuff I already know about Earthbound. I think a title like "New information discovered about Earthbound in 2021" might be a belter title. Or "Never before seen notes about Earthbound."

[@rolandoftheeld]

I agree. I came here hoping to see things that were actually, you know, in the game. Cut content is cool, but it's not what the title implies the video is.

[@universalperson]

Lol at the narrator being Itoi. It feels both anticlimactic and perfectly expected.

[@lenderzconstable]

The Runaway Five! Best video game musical act!

[@spudsbuchlaw]

EarthBound is the gift that keeps giving Then giving some more!

[@thedrewdog]

Earthbound is my favorite game, and this is the Holy Grail for me, especially seeing the scene of Ness and Paula being DRUG to the graveyard. Hell, when I replayed it last year, it blew my mind that Porky actually reminds you to equip the Cracked Bat if you try to leave without doing it, and that you can use the Pencil and Eraser Eraser's on the Mani Mani Statue for a special message.

[@PkmariO64]

My theory regarding the weakest man in Twoson is that he’s supposed to be an early incarnation of Everdred.

[@JohnnyFromVirginia]

I’m replaying this classic right now and was looking up info on the game and this right here was such a fascinating listen! Thanks for sharing and digging!

[@TheKupoQueen]

The staff note bit made me smile. It was very wholesome

[@staticrodent]

I am not a fan of Earthbound, but I really love learning about video game history, especially with such a famous game like this. I briefly checked your channel, I would love to see more 15-30 minute discussion of a game's development history. The format for this video was spectacular.

[@MB-gl2bl]

Friggin’ awesome!! I love this game so damn much having played it as a kid when it first released. Finding out new info and content is just so damn awesome. Great video! Thank you for sharing it!

[@psychic_digit]

Earthbound is my favorite game of all time, so it’s extremely fascinating how much content went unused! You’ve earned a subscriber =)

[@jamesduncan6729]

Same here. It will always be my #1 favorite game of all time. It's just so damn good ❤️

[@ChicagoRetroGamer]

Love this game, even though I kind of disliked it at first. Didn't realize how awesome it would be until I got all of the different characters, and realized how much it trolled other RPG's. Cheers to Earthbound!

[@AluminumFusion22]

I can see they scrapped the oil massage tidbit for obvious reasons.

[@AluminumFusion22]

@A guy with no content It was most likely scrapped due to oil massages being associated with nuru massages in Japan, an erotic oil massage and they probably thought that seemed weird even in the original Japanese version.

[@DisplayThisOkay]

A grown woman giving a preteen child an oil massage that causes weird visions. Yeah can see why that wasn't left that in.

[@marsybarz]

this man totally needs to make an entire page going over EVERYTHING in this prototype.

[@absentcorner5715]

I always enjoy finding out new things about my favorite game! Thanks for all the hard work on this video :)

[@kaykay8694]

I just stumbled across this video and the Magic Cake thing blew my mind. I had cake set as the favorite food, so all this time I assumed the game was programmed to offer Magic (favorite food).

[@cellophanezebra4663]

Even when developing there was a bunch of humor thrown in and I am still glad new things are still being found for this game, amazing.

[@downrightdreaming_5630]

This was awesome to watch. I’ve learned so much for sure gonna keep my eye out for more information.

[@chovymasters7577]

Earthbound is by far my favorite game I've never played

[@demiraichan]

Just found your channel, any chance you might want to cover Monster Party for the nes? It has a fairly interesting backstory of how it was a huge parody game that had to have major changes to be released in the US and was still never released in Japan and for years we all thought the original version was lost only to have someone find a rom of the original a few years ago

[@MarioYoshi4723]

American Localization: “Noooo the line “Hot Babe” is too offensive!” Also American Localization: *N O O S E M A N*

[@ColossalM]

13:07 The bartender being named Jack is a reference to Twin Peaks, which has a bar in the show called "One Eyed Jack's", or less likely- the 1961 Western that Twin Peaks was referencing with the same name

[@danfortuna1984]

This was such a great/cool video. Is there any chance you guys would do something like this with other jrpgs from the snes era?

[@lenderzconstable]

Such a polished game! I love all the quirky items you can get, and the ATM system of currency

[@FabioGnecco]

Thanks for all the work you guys put into this ! I highly appreciate

[@MrTubaman93]

Listen...I used to be a guard for a museum myself and my name is Omar as well....seeing a character in this game with my name and one of my previous jobs is such a trip.

[@frydemwingz]

There is an entire book about this that looks like a massive engineering type of book. wtf man.

[@fukngroovnkc3700]

Way informative video bro! I bet this was the funnest game to create, game producers told the development team to bring all their wackiest out of the box ideas to the table! That really shows in the form of "odd comedy" throughout the entire playthrough... Now, I'm off to get me one of those sweet dream inducing massages

[@kirimanagi1013]

Marcus Lindblom and Clyde Mandelin are goddamn legends

[@salamahadielturco69]

I just finished Earthbound yesterday, and this video it´s really interesting.

[@inthefade]

Let's just appreciate how few NPC sprites are reused in this game from the 90s. It's pretty great.

[@gokugoalie1817]

12:22 DAMN THAT HEDGEHOG

[@jessebelle6596]

This was INCREDIBLE! Thank you for taking the time to do this! :)

[@Shishizurui]

I'm 34 and played EB when i was 8, was my first rpg and has been influential to me and it amazes me how i still find content i came across an electronic song from 1988 that sounds like it was the idea for the Kraken of the sea ost?~~~ " Zsa Zsa Laboum - Something Scary"

[@joevaghn457]

lord, this game just keeps on getting better.

[@EarlFaulk]

I wonder if the "just play it" graffiti was meant to reference the Play It Loud slogan Nintendo was using during the SNES lifespan?

[@realpersonishere]

Shows you how ideas can change a lot when development starts compared to when it's finished. What I learned from this.

[@mikec1222]

So in addition to all of Itoi's other accomplishments, he's also an accomplished Action Joker

[@rnorningstarswings24]

I'm crying about the vagueness describing scenes despite showing actual sprites and scenes playing on screen

[@Ryu_Naru]

It's interesting to know more about the game you like

[@shwiftykicks4648]

I would bet the bad pun guy in the bar being named "Jimmy" is actually a reference to a famous comedian in Japan named Jimmy. There's even a docu-drama about him on netflix titled "Jimmy: The True Story of a True Idiot"

[@abramsinsights7562]

Man the soundtrack sends nostalgic childhood vibes throughout my soul

[@torquemada2]

Great video. I appreciate the little jokes you scattered throughout.

[@blackstoneriverworkshop7167]

The printed US version of the game guide calls the Mani Mani statue guy "Mr Mizu" Strange random fact I remember clearly from being a kid in the 90s lol

[@blankadams3120]

I forget whose name you said it was, but Prettz caught my attention, there's this two episode OVA based roughly on Final Fantasy 5 where the main character is given the name Prettz, and, if you know your FF5, the main character was incorrectly translated to Bartz... but his name is actually Buttz. So, that's a weird name to just drop in out of nowhere.

[@mcj88]

20:44 - mmm, pencil

[@PhrozenFox]

Jill huh? A massage? You know, if you hold out your right hand with fingers separated, nails towards you, it spells Jill. Interesting.

[@Yuzuki1337]

What the fuck, you just blew my mind. :D If that was intentional, it's the funniest fucking thing in an already hilarious game.

[@Syranovara]

Good video. I have to say I died a little inside hearing "Onett" pronounced as "Awnett".. Granted as a kid I called it ""Oh-net" for months until my dad pointed out the one, two, three, four scheme for cities so I started calling it "Wunnet".. 1-ett?

[@jamesduncan6729]

I really don't think it matters how it's pronounced.

[@C_a_r_l_]

I also used to say oh net

[@yeolemillinial8295]

i feel like once porkey got cut off from giygas, he wasn't able to time travel with his body intact, and eventually figured out to to do it like you do in the robots, which is how he gets the letter to you. i havn't played mother 3 to know if it ties to him being old like that or it really felt like that is what they were going for on that scene with letter at the time

[@dansamolewicz3462]

23:07 Japan localization team has good music taste, I see.

[@RyneMcKinney]

The only one I could notice on my first playthrough were the Xevious sounds in the arcade in Onett

[@lenderzconstable]

Been waiting since ‘94 for the sequel….. still waiting. That’s got to be the saddest story of video game history. Empty promises

[@lenderzconstable]

@@Josizzle55555 no no. I’m aware of the release. I’ve been around. But that wasn’t a sequel in all sincerity, since it continued the story of no Earthbound characters if I remember correctly. And it wasn’t a release in the United States. You can only get a fan translation from the Japanese language as you’re probably aware. Happy New Year!

[@lenderzconstable]

@@Josizzle55555 it definitely wasn’t official. I used to be a member of the community who put it out, at least the version I played. I give them an A for appearance though! Based on the definition of sequel I don’t feel like it was a sequel, unless Lucas and all those characters were just other characters in Earthbound’s universe. Did you play it through?

[@lenderzconstable]

@@Josizzle55555 👀 I don’t remember all that. It was a long time ago. I should try to find it and play it again. Same with EB. Somewhere I have the jumbo 8 1/2” X 11” Nintendo power players guide walkthrough with the perforated scratch and sniff character npc cards that all came with the cart

[@lenderzconstable]

@@Josizzle55555 I let an old friend borrow and he moved about two hours from me and still don’t know if he would have them anymore, and my whole library of >40 games (doh!) They we’re all in great condition with the plastic detachable lip on all of them and I regret doing that like I do with all the valuable things I’ve pawned during hard times. I just try to look forward and not dwell on it.

[@lenderzconstable]

@@Josizzle55555 yeah little by little thanks!

[@SegaCDUniverse]

I am still salty about Earthbound 64, I bought a 64 for it, and then it never came! lol

[@Tsenibanig]

I am a big Earthbound fan i played and finished earthbound 11 times

[@sptmbrborn]

Thank you Jared Petty for posting about this gem of a channel.

[@axeldeeker5644]

13:08 the music file is called Boris' cocktail though

[@BaccarWozat]

The bartender's name was Jack? He has an eyepatch, so is he a reference to One Eyed Jack's from Twin Peaks?

[@ThaneGaming]

That’s what I was thinking too! We do know that Itoi has at least seen Twin Peaks-he compared its “flavor” to the Tanetane Island sequence in MOTHER 3.

[@SeanStrife]

@@ThaneGaming And as another comment pointed out just above: it wouldn't even be the only Twin Peaks reference in Earthbound, either.

[@wi11ow8]

Amazing game! Amazing music! Amazing experience!!

[@TBoneTony]

That Massage Lady at the Beach must have been the Succubus from Konosuba who gives you really interesting dreams.

[@saxeladude]

4:49 I think it would make sense for the reason they got rid of that whole interaction is because A the guy is fighting you for no reason he would be the only character you fight with no relation to giygus and B it overall wastes the players time with nothing to get out of it but maybe some humor