Screenshots
Changes were made to a few character graphics for more ambiguous reasons.
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Ninten's sprite was touched up to add a stripe to his shirt.
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Ninten's mother had her hairstyle changed. The only real reason I can think of for this change is that someone might have thought the original hair looked too much like devil horns.
Phil Sandhop: "I remember nothing specific about her hair. I do know there was a desire to make sure
that characters had a more modern and/or American look and she was probably part of that. I don't think we
changed the telephones, but those big ugly green things were the common Japanese payphone at the time and the
dev team questioned if Americans would easily enough recognize them."
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These two modified NPCs are more interesting than the others because of the reason they were probably changed. The first one bears a striking resemblance to the Peanuts character Marcy, the second Pigpen. It looks as if NoA Legal was nervous about incurring the wrath of Charles Schulz' lawyers. Another look at the different graphics for Ninten's mother suggests she might have looked too close to the character Sally for comfort. Ironically, the prototype's touchup of Ninten ends up making him look even more like Charlie Brown.
Sandhop: "When I got the project, it had been reviewed by my director and a few others. I'm sure that
they had talked to legal and the project was under way with a rough translation that got you to Podunk. They
could have discussed ways to make the game Peanut-less. I don't believe that the game was meant to directly
copy Peanuts, but that's what the designers knew the typical Japanese game player would perceive to be a typical
American boy growing up outside a small town. The game was designed as a Japanese telling of an American boy's tale."
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These two characters were edited for unknown reasons. The body type on the first character is actually used together with several different head graphics throughout both versions of the game.
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| Mother's Day | Podunk |
| Thanksgiving | Merrysville |
| Santa Claus Station | Union Station |
| Halloween | Spookane |
| Easter | Youngtown |
| Valentine | Ellay |
| Holy Rolly Mountain | Mount Itoi |
These locations were renamed in an attempt to appeal more to the American audience.
Sandhop: "Itoi originally wrote them to sound friendly. I don't believe that towns named after holidays
was friendly. Matter of fact I thought it sounded stupid and thought older players would really be turned off. I
wanted it to be enjoyable for all ages."
| Mother | EarthBound |
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A new rock graphic was created for the block in front of Giegue's lair.
| Mother | EarthBound |
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The graphic of Teddy wounded was moved down a few pixels to realign him with the bed.
Sandhop: "I remember that, but don't remember origination."