It was revealed during the February 2022 Nintendo Direct that EarthBound and EarthBound Beginnings will be coming to Nintendo Switch Online today, though Mother 3 is still absent on Nintendo Switch. EarthBound is the English name given to the series known as Mother in Japan, which is a franchise composed of off-beat RPGs that use a setting that was considered contemporary when the game was first released back in the 1990s.
EarthBound was an RPG released for the Super Nintendo in '94. The game followed a psychic boy, named Ness, who is tasked with stopping an alien invasion. EarthBound is considered a cult classic and it mostly lives on through representation in the Super Smash Bros. series. EarthBound Beginnings is the name given to the localized version of Mother. It was originally meant to receive an international release on the NES, but it was canceled late in development. This version was later ported to the Nintendo Wii U Virtual Console in 2015.
It was revealed during the February 2022 Nintendo Direct on the Nintendo YouTube channel that EarthBound Beginnings and EarthBound will be arriving on Nintendo Switch Online today. This will presumably happen after Nintendo Switch Online has finished its scheduled maintenance. EarthBound Beginnings will be available on the NES app and EarthBound will be on the SNES app. It seemed as if the NES and SNES offerings on Nintendo Switch Online were starting to dry up, but Nintendo still has a few tricks up its sleeve.
EarthBound and EarthBound Beginnings will have the same quality-of-life features as the other NES and SNES games on Nintendo Switch Online. EarthBound and EarthBound Beginnings both have save states and the ability to rewind the game. This is an especially useful feature for EarthBound Beginnings, as the game is notorious for being punishingly difficult.
It's odd that the February 2022 Nintendo Direct didn't feature any other announcements regarding Nintendo Switch Online, especially as fans were expecting to learn more about upcoming N64 and Sega Genesis games. The addition of EarthBound and EarthBound Beginnings to Nintendo Switch Online is still a big deal, especially with EarthBound Beginnings being locked to the Wii U for so long. EarthBound is known for inspiring a number of different video game creators, even with its niche status. The game has now been exposed to its biggest audience yet and they can finally experience Ness' adventure for themselves. If Game Boy Advance games ever come to Nintendo Switch Online, then the day may come when Mother 3 finally leaves Japan.
EarthBound and EarthBound Beginnings are coming to Nintendo Switch Online today.
Source: Nintendo/YouTube