Mother 3 came probably a bit too late. By the time Mother 3 was released on the GBA in Japan, Nintendo had started marketing the DS pretty darn hard. Not only that, but Mother 3 had an assload of text, and it just wouldn't be worth it to translate and localize a game for a console that was slowly getting phazed out late into the DS' lifespan. Nintendo's quite aware of the Earthbound fanbase, but localizing a cult game like that while the DS was just starting to pick up steam was a good business move.
God the Mother franchise in the West was just a crazy series of unfortunate circumstances. Mother 1 was even fully translated and everything, and was probably where the name "Earthbound" came from. Mother 2, while it has a lot of alien imagery, really didn't have the plot focus on aliens like the original did. It was just really difficult to release Mother 1, as by the time it was ready-the SNES had been out for years. Mother 2 did come out in 1994, but it was unfortunately overshadowed by much more visually impressive games like Final Fantasy 3. Earthbound 64 was in development for the N64 Disk Drive, and I mean /that/ thing was a complete disaster.
Ness being included as a playable character in Smash was probably Iwata's doing, as he had worked on Mother 2 and had attachment to the franchise. It's probably the single best thing to happen to the franchise.
F-Zero, on the other hand, was a SNES Launch Title. It was pretty much a tech demo for how to make Mode 7 racing games. It's no surprise that Super Mario Kart was more popular, it took the groundwork laid out for F-Zero and expanded on it (plus it's a Mario game you put him on anything he'll sell). F-Zero eventually went on to become it's own beast with F-Zero X, and it only made sense to add Falcon as a playable character.
I don't know what point I'm trying to make here okay.
Basically, I don't think it's fair to say that characters are nobodies. They all represent a point in Nintendo history. Even Roy, dude Sword of Seals was the first Fire Emblem game released on a handheld. Who knew Turn Based Strategy fit so well on a handheld? I think the only reason it DIDN'T get translated is because, well, it was /too hard/. We got Fire Emblem Blazing Sword instead, which was tailor made for our small North American brains.
I also am one of the few people who didn't know much about Zelda until Smash 64's preview in Nintendo Power. I mean, I knew the Green Guy in the Sword but I mostly played cartoony games as a child- Star Fox was probably the only exception but even then they are talking animals. Smash did inspire me to rent Ocarina of Time, though. As well as Earthbound, F-Zero X, and even later on Metroid Prime. I'm sure there are people out there who weren't hooked on the Pokemon Bandwagon and had no idea what a Pikachu was. That doesn't mean that Link and Pikachu are nobodies, it just means that people didn't really play those games.
EDIT: fuck we switched topics in between my massive rambling. Hey I would totally be down for some FF love in Smash too!!!!
God the Mother franchise in the West was just a crazy series of unfortunate circumstances. Mother 1 was even fully translated and everything, and was probably where the name "Earthbound" came from. Mother 2, while it has a lot of alien imagery, really didn't have the plot focus on aliens like the original did. It was just really difficult to release Mother 1, as by the time it was ready-the SNES had been out for years. Mother 2 did come out in 1994, but it was unfortunately overshadowed by much more visually impressive games like Final Fantasy 3. Earthbound 64 was in development for the N64 Disk Drive, and I mean /that/ thing was a complete disaster.
Ness being included as a playable character in Smash was probably Iwata's doing, as he had worked on Mother 2 and had attachment to the franchise. It's probably the single best thing to happen to the franchise.
F-Zero, on the other hand, was a SNES Launch Title. It was pretty much a tech demo for how to make Mode 7 racing games. It's no surprise that Super Mario Kart was more popular, it took the groundwork laid out for F-Zero and expanded on it (plus it's a Mario game you put him on anything he'll sell). F-Zero eventually went on to become it's own beast with F-Zero X, and it only made sense to add Falcon as a playable character.
I don't know what point I'm trying to make here okay.
Basically, I don't think it's fair to say that characters are nobodies. They all represent a point in Nintendo history. Even Roy, dude Sword of Seals was the first Fire Emblem game released on a handheld. Who knew Turn Based Strategy fit so well on a handheld? I think the only reason it DIDN'T get translated is because, well, it was /too hard/. We got Fire Emblem Blazing Sword instead, which was tailor made for our small North American brains.
I also am one of the few people who didn't know much about Zelda until Smash 64's preview in Nintendo Power. I mean, I knew the Green Guy in the Sword but I mostly played cartoony games as a child- Star Fox was probably the only exception but even then they are talking animals. Smash did inspire me to rent Ocarina of Time, though. As well as Earthbound, F-Zero X, and even later on Metroid Prime. I'm sure there are people out there who weren't hooked on the Pokemon Bandwagon and had no idea what a Pikachu was. That doesn't mean that Link and Pikachu are nobodies, it just means that people didn't really play those games.
EDIT: fuck we switched topics in between my massive rambling. Hey I would totally be down for some FF love in Smash too!!!!