I was feeling nostalgic the other day. While I was writing this post, I was listening to some of the series' OST.
Source
That's right, it was Earthbound, otherwise known as Mother 2 in Japan. This is one of those JRPGs that left a deep impression in my mind. In fact, it was one of the first RPG games I went from start to finish.
One thing led to another and I went around trying to find the player's guide in English. Of course, the first place I visited was Amazon. To my surprise, it was very expensive.
They say that Nintendo only ever printed around 150K copies in North America. That would make this item somewhat of a collectible. I remember my parents owned a tattered, shredded, and almost destroyed, physical copy of that book.
Lucky for us, Nintendo did release the free PDF for anyone who's interested. Let me link that for you all.
When I get around to it, I'll take it to a print shop and bound it into a book. It's not an original, but it beats paying $180-$400 for an authentic copy.
What was charming about the guide was not only the useful information. I always enjoyed the satirical news and brochures throughout the book. Reading gems like the Deep Darkness travel guide makes me chuckle.
How about local newspaper about actual in-game events? You won't find too many games these days that go above and beyond in publishing fiction...for fiction. This is world building on another level.
For me, the rabbit hole didn't stop there.
I'm sure some of you are already aware of the Hobonichi Mother Project. I'll talk more about the image above in the near future. But for now, I will return to listening to the soundtracks of my youth.