Despite being a recent trend, the idea of having a fandom for shows, games, movies and books has taken the Internet by storm. Nearly everyone who knows about fandoms in general is familiar with the Supernatural and Doctor Who fandoms, but unfortunately, some fandoms seem to be overlooked. One of these “minor” fandoms revolves around the 1994 cult classic video game Earthbound.

Earthbound was originally released in Japan, where it was known as Mother 2. Due to bizarre marketing strategies, by the time Earthbound reached the States, almost no one actually bought a copy. In fact, had Super Smash Brothers, a fighting game that featured many Nintendo characters, not included the main character, Ness, most of the west would still not know about the wacky role playing game.

This game was the first of its type: a roleplaying game that used magical elements in a modern setting. While this does not sound peculiar today, during the time the game came out everything was either set far in the past or far in the future; a game taking place in the modern setting was unheard of.

Another aspect that separated Earthbound from other games at the time was its sense of humor. Nearly every line of dialogue in the game has a strange or funny spin to it that was also unlike the brand of comedy gamers expected in the mid ‘90s. Not only was the game humorous, but it would also go off in directions of tragedy and even horror at times.

A sequel was made years later in 2006 but was only released in Japan. Following the announcement that Mother 3 would not be released in the USA, fans and members quickly translated the whole game, an impressive feat considering that there are over 4000 lines of dialogue, most of which were in a specific dialect. Whether due to the dedication of the fans or not, Nintendo went on to insert the main character into Super Smash Brothers Brawl, the third installment in the company’s famous fighting game.

One should keep in mind that this was done nearly 10 years ago when the Internet was not as nearly as powerful as it is today. The dedication shown by Earthbound fans was absolutely insane at the time, and starmen.net, the website responsible for the translation as well as other fan projects, is still around today.

In fact, the influence of Earthbound went on to provide inspiration for other stories and games, notably Homestuck and Undertale, which spawned large followings of their own.

This just goes to prove that despite not being popular to the common eye, fans of the more obscure fandoms can be just as dedicated, if not more, than those belonging to larger fandoms.