EarthBound

This page details one or more prototype versions of EarthBound.

This prototype is documented on Hidden Palace.

This page is rather stubbly and could use some expansion. Are you a bad enough dude to rescue this article?

On May 30, 2020, an American prototype of EarthBound was found and dumped by Stephan "Archon1981" Reese. This build is dated March 27, 1995, about three months before the game's American release.

For whatever reason, various things are glitchy. This is known to be an issue with the original cart, rather than being the result of a bad dump (the ROM was dumped with a SuperNT and has been verified multiple times).

To do: There's more. Cover all other corrupted anomalies, and maybe provide a patch fix for them later.

Graphical Differences#

Intro/Title Screen#

US Proto	US Final

The "EARTH BOUND" text is higher, and the film frame of Giygas' forces attacking lower, in the prototype.

US Proto	US Final

The font for the copyright info is the same one used on Mother 2's title screen, while the final US release opted for a smaller, anti-aliased font. The background color in the prototype is a slightly different shade of indigo, which was changed so it matched with the main title graphics. The positioning of the logo is slightly lower than the final version.

Overworld Sprites#

US Proto	Japan/US Final

One sprite with Ness in his pajamas instead pulls from his bike spriteset. You can also notice that in the US Prototype, Ness does not have that green tint in his eyes like in the final version.

The red cross on the nurse's hat is still present.

US Proto	Japan/US Final

One of the sailors has different sprites. This was likely because the character has a resemblance to the Monopoly man, though this design was later reverted anyway.

US Proto	US Final

The pencil and eraser statues are slightly different.

Japan/US Proto	US Final

The Saturn Valley ATM still has "CD" written on the top.

Japan	US Proto	US Final

Ness still appears nude in Magicant, though he's now smiling. This was replaced with a copy-pasted version of Ness' pajamas sprites in the final US release.

Ending#

Japan/US Proto	US Final

The "TO BE CONTINUED" screen from Mother 2 is still present.

Misc.#

Japan/US Proto	US Final

Scaraba is still called "Scarabi".

The original status icons for crying and cold are still used.

Text Differences#

King's character limit was reduced from 6 to 5, which was reverted in the retail US release. As a result, an extra letter was added to King's third "Don't Care" name.

Captain Strong has a different title.

Talah Rama is named "Tarah Rama" here. Neither spelling matches his Japanese name, Tarai Jabu (タライ・ジャブ); it was likely changed to sound more like "Dalai Lama."

The Brain Food Lunch has a slightly different name.