The Super NES is known for legendary RPGs, and there are few as beloved as Earthbound, the quirky sci-fi JRPG that's spawned one of Nintendo's most enduring fandoms. A great deal of its success can be attributed to its charming dialog, which went through a thorough localization process to make it fun for English-speaking players. Original director and writer Shigesato Itoi is apparently quite happy with those changes.
In a recently published conversation with Marcus Lindblom, who wrote the game's English script, Itoi explains that he dictated the script for the original Earthbound – or Mother 2, as it was known in Japan – to Masayuki Miura. "We wrote the entire script that way, so he understands the nuance of every line in the original more than anyone else," Itoi explained. "If I said something weird, he wouldn’t just type it as-is. He’d stop and ask me to clarify. And I wanted him to understand, so I’d explain it."
