I know sometimes that it seems as if there are a handful of topics that just spin around and around, forever, without any change in outcome.  Nintendo of America's continued mistreatment of the Earthbound / Mother franchise is one of those topics, and while I think I've said all there is for me to say regarding the series unless something new happens, I can't let this recap of the "will they / won't they / no, they won't / maybe they will" saga regarding the Mother trilogy go without a mention.

Given that the Virtual Console amounts to little more than straight emulation of classic titles on the Wii, the process involved in bringing the game to the platform is virtually effortless--but the game never showed, and true to form, Nintendo remained silent. [Earthbound fan group] Starmen later learned that despite overwhelming support for the game, EarthBound was likely not coming to the Virtual Console for a number of reasons, including some undisclosed legal hang-ups.

The webmaster also revealed that Starmen made official attempts to license Mother 3 for release in North America, in a partnership with a small development and publishing studio. They later sent out exploratory emails to Nintendo of America, which were swiftly and decisively answered by the company.

"A few days later we got a decidedly curt response from Nintendo," Young said. "To paraphrase, a representative said 'the Mother series is our IP, and we're not letting anybody touch it. Even if we wanted to do something with the series, we would do it ourselves.'"

Keep beating that drum, 'bounders!    Ness and Lucas may not be marketable, but they certainly are beloved.