Late last summer, Shigesato Itoi traveled to
Los Angeles to watch Shohei Otani play at
Dodger Stadium at the invitation of a friend.
But he had one more plan on that trip.
That was to meet with the EarthBound
localizer Marcus Lindblom, who helped bring MOTHER 2 to
English-speaking audiences 30 years ago.
Shigesato Itoi and Marcus Lindblom met for
the first time and talked about all kinds of things.
There were some things we hadn’t even realized!
Marcus Lindblom
Marcus began his 30+ year career in the video game industry at Nintendo, where his localization work on EarthBound is most well-known. He worked as a producer at a mix of publishers and developers. He co-owned a game consulting company named Partly Cloudy Games for 10 years, and is now considering his next gaming adventure.
This article is available in Japanese, English.
- Itoi
- MOTHER 2 fans in Japan have a favorite line in the game
where you answer yes or no to fill in the blanks for “Girl of the Alps: XXXdi.”
When you answer yes, or “hai,” you complete the puzzle to answer “Heidi.”
In EarthBound, you’d answer yes or no to “A Beatles song, XXXterday.”
- Marcus
- That’s right. (Laughs)
- Itoi
- That English localization is actually pretty famous among Japanese fans
as a really great example of a translation.
- Marcus
- I love that translation too. But it’s not actually mine.
- Itoi
- Really?!
- Marcus
- When I took over the project,
there was a small part of the game that had been translated.
It might have been a sample to provide
a reference for the rest of the localization,
but I’m not sure who actually did it.
The Yesterday song reference was part of that initial batch,
which was a bit of Onett.
- Itoi
- Wow, I wouldn’t have thought that.
- Marcus
- The other one I didn’t do that’s relatively famous is the “Fuzzy pickles!”
line the photographer says when he appears.
That also shows up then.
- Itoi
- Wow, that’s so interesting.
And you don’t know who translated that either?
- Marcus
- I don’t think I do. (Laughs)
I thought I did, but it sounded like that wasn’t the case.
- Itoi
- I wonder who it could be. (Laughs)
- Marcus
- But the nice thing was, that set the tone for me.
That gave me an idea of what I could do.
It was important for me to see those and think,
“If those are okay, I can do lots of crazy stuff.”
Also, we joked around a lot at our office,
and that humor came in through so many parts in the game.
There are things in EarthBound that came directly from that group.
Even the “Spankity” line came directly from one of the guys.
I’ve always wanted to ask you, though,
if it was okay that I changed as much as I did.
- Itoi
- I didn’t check the English script, of course,
because I wouldn't have understood it.
But I’m glad to hear that the localization had those changes.
I just want people to be able to enjoy the game.
- Marcus
- That’s good.
That was what Miura-san had told me.
His instructions weren’t long: “The localization needs to be
something that the English-speaking audience will enjoy.”
- Itoi
- That was my aim when writing it in Japanese.
It felt dull with only enough lines to get you to the next step,
like “The dungeon is this way,” or “This weapon has this effect.”
So even after the script would be set,
I’d say “Well, hang on, I want to rethink this one,” and edit it a bit more.
- Marcus
- That’s awesome.
- Itoi
- Fans are pretty aware of that,
but I think it’s a big part of what makes MOTHER the game it is.
- Marcus
- Yeah.
- Itoi
- What was one of your favorite things to translate in the game?
- Marcus
- Dosei-san! Mr. Saturn’s speech was the most fun to localize.
- Itoi
- I’m glad. (Laughs) I had fun making it, too.
It seemed like they were saying one thing but thinking another,
but in actuality they were actually telling the truth the first time.
You don’t see much of that nuance in games for kids.
- Marcus
- I felt that too when I was working on the game.
And their font was so interesting.
Apple Kid and Orange Kid are my second favorites.
They made me laugh every time.
- Itoi
- They’re great, aren’t they? (Laughs) And the third strongest moles.
- Marcus
- I love that one too! Your writing was just so fantastic.
- Itoi
- I mentioned earlier how I’d dictate the script and
Miura-kun would be listening next to me,
but I think that was a big part of it.
If I said something and he didn’t find it funny at all,
I’d have to try again and think of something better. (Laughs)
It’s all thanks to the way we’d work through it together,
rather than my just sitting by myself writing it out.
- Marcus
- Yeah, we worked so closely together every day in our little cubicle,
and that’s a big part of it.
We had a big stack of papers printed out of the script,
which we had received a quick and rough translation of.
We would reference that as Miura-san made requests for me
to add various nuances.
That’s how the final translation came together.
- Itoi
- Ah, so the script of EarthBound is the product of four people in all.
I wrote it, Miura-san helped, there was the initial translator,
and Marcus localized it.
- Marcus
- Yeah. It’s a product of all the hard work of many people.
（To be continued）
2025-04-01-TUE
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©SHIGESATO ITOI / Nintendo