Earthbound is a beloved, cult classic RPG from the Super Nintendo days, developed by Shigesato Itoi and brought to North America. It was cha...
Earthbound is a beloved, cult classic RPG from the Super Nintendo days, developed by Shigesato Itoi and brought to North America. It was charming because of is modern, quirky humor and setting, its simple, comic-like design, and its general playfulness. It's also a sequel to a game, Mother, released on the Famicom and never brought to North America until recently as Earthbound Beginnings on the Wii U Virtual Console. It also got a sequel, Mother 3, which was released on the Game Boy Advance and never brought to North America. It's the best trilogy we've only seen a third of. More importantly, Mother 3 is an incredible game full of humor, darkness, and poignancy. It's wonderful.nnThat brings us to Fangamer, originally Starman.net. It's a gray market video game merchandise site that produces excellent clothes, housewares, office supplies, and collectibles inspired by video games. It started as an Earthbound fan site, but has grown into one of most prominent fan design merch companies out there, with loads of shirts inspired by Earthbound and Chrono Trigger (and plenty of other games), jewelry based on The Legend of Zelda, coasters based on Mario and Mega Man, and even an oven mitt inspired by the Power Glove.nnFangamer's crowning achievement, which strikes from the core of what it was and what it is, is the Mother 3 Handbook. It's a fan-made player's guide for Mother 3, which remains not commercially available in North America. There is a very well-done translation patch if you have some means of acquiring a digital version of the game (don't do crime, kids!), but Nintendo has yet to bring it to our shores. You can, however, get this player's guide legitimately, and even if you don't play the game it's a fantastic book.nnThis is a full-color, dust-jacketed, stats-filled, art-drenched labor of love known as (at least, for the softcover version) the Pork Army Survival Manual, and it has every tiny detail you could want about Mother 3. It's loaded with maps, walkthroughs, information about enemies, and sheer charm. If you have a legitimate, legal means of playing Mother 3 wink, you should get this book. If you can't play Mother 3 but loved Earthbound, you should get this book (though it's spoiler-filled, obviously). If you want a glimpse at an incredible game that never game here, you should check out this book. The softcover version is not currently available, but you can get the hardcover version for a very reasonable $32.nnFor more Loot Drop, check out Geek.com! Less
