Mother's Copyright Mustache

I haven't been much of a video game player since returning home from Tulsa, and haven't really paid attention to modern consoles and their wares since the middling days of the GameCube. I've played the suddenly-huge Guitar Hero once (and determined it's a far cry from the real thing; I'm terrible) and my folks got a Wii for Christmas, the latter being forged somewhat covetously in my mind as genuinely cool. I suppose for me, my current economic and educational status (let's call both "searching") has hindered me from delving into this once-beloved world.

And now I've come across Mother 3. And I'm excited.

Mother 3 is a Japanese-only release, a sequel to what is certainly my second favorite game of all time. (Tetris Attack is no. 1) Earthbound was released on the SNES in 1995; it's a weird adventure/RPG that is not set in medieval times: battles take place between you and possessed trees, a crazed cult, and old hippies. And vomit. You erase corporeal pencil-shaped statues with a pencil eraser. You meet friends from around the world, including men that have heads, no bodies, and feet. Your next-door neighbor is your worst enemy. Your ATM card provides you with cash, and if you need to check your balance (and save the game), you just call your dear old dad. Your sister works for a pizza place and delivers when you need strength. At random times, a cameraman comes to take your picture, with no real reason. You shop at malls, go to concerts, and meet the Loch Ness monster. All while saving the modern world.

Earthbound sounds great, eh? (I've imeem'ed some tunes to the right for your listening pleasure.) So what is Mother 3? In Japan, Earthbound was called Mother 2 (1 was never released stateside, though manufactured). In the summer of 2006, the long-awaited sequel was released. In Japan. In Japanese. I don't know any Japanese other than ohayo gozaimasu and do-not-touch-my-mustache, or something.

Fans petitioned Nintendo for a US release to no avail. So what's a fan to do? DIY, of course.

These guys are working up a patch that will flip my Japanese Mother 3 ROM into English. And reading how they're doing it is simply amazing. It's more than just a translation, though I'm sure that was easy enough. Basically, the whole game has to be hacked and reprogrammed. This is dedication.

And potentially lawsuit inducing. Though these guys won't be distributing a ROM (the actual file that hold the game) they will be distributing the patch to update my (technically illegal) ROM. I sure hope nothing terrible befalls this crew (partly for their sake, partly for mine), yet I can see Nintendo's lawyers strong-arm this project. Without getting too much into copyright law: what they are doing falls into the four fair use caveats, especially the effect upon the original work's value (Mother 3 in Japanese). The so-called copyright clause in the Constitution allows a copyrightist to exploit their work for a limited time. Exploit means "to garner profit from". Unless Nintendo decides to market Mother 3 as Earthbound 2 in the U.S., these hackers are not theivering the earnings from Nintendo as Nintendo's current return on the game in the U.S. is nil.

Creativity like this gets me excited. Without the computer or the internet, none of this innovation would be possible or feasible. The internet breaks fetters on worldwide distribution methods, literally creating a world-wide web. It makes me consider what I can create and distribute, instead of just consuming others' works.