EarthBound, released in Japan as Mother 2: Gīgu no Gyakushū, is a role-playing video game developed by Ape Inc. and HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. The second entry in the Mother series, it was first released in Japan in August 1994, and in North America in June 1995. A port for the Game Boy Advance developed by Pax Softnica, bundled with Mother (1989) as Mother 1+2, was released only in Japan in 2003. As Ness and his party of Paula, Jeff and Poo, the player travels the world to collect melodies from eight Sanctuaries in order to defeat the universal cosmic destroyer Giygas.
North American box art, depicting a Final Starman with Ness's reflection in its visor
The Beach Boys were one of many Western artists Suzuki and Tanaka drew inspiration from while developing the game's soundtrack.
In the original Mother 2, Ness walks naked through his dream town Magicant. In the U.S. release this was changed to his pajamas without his cap.
EarthBound's child protagonists and ordinary American setting influenced South Park co-creator Trey Parker.
Creatures Inc. is a Japanese video game company affiliated with Game Freak and Nintendo, and is one of the owners of the Pokémon franchise. It was founded by Tsunekazu Ishihara in November 1995, with the assistance of then-president of HAL Laboratory, Satoru Iwata, as a successor to Shigesato Itoi's company Ape Inc.
Headquarters in the Iidabashi Grand Bloom building in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan
