EarthBound And EarthBound Beginnings Are Coming To Nintendo Switch Today

EarthBound and EarthBound Beginnings–first released as Mother in Japan–are coming to Nintendo Switch. Revealed during today’s Nintendo Direct, both games appear to be faithful ports of the critically-acclaimed titles, and will be available for for Switch Online + Expansion Pack subscribers later today.

This news follows years of fans longing for the EarthBound series to make its way on to modern consoles–as well as some cryptic tweets from Earthbound creator Shigesato Itoi. Earlier today, Itoi took to Twitter to tease the upcoming announcement, writing “7am, huh? Amazing. Maybe it’ll be snowing” in response to Nintendo’s tweet about the Direct showcase.

In EarthBound, you play as Ness, a young boy who–alongside his pals Paula, Jeff and Poo–must fulfill “an age-old prophecy to stop the wicked Giygas.” In EarthBound Beginnings (which should be noted is technically the first title in the series), you play as Ninten, as 12-year-old boy who must traverse around America and collect eight melodies in order to ward off an evil race of mind-controlling aliens. Throughout their adventures, both boys must utilize their psychic powers and friendships to help save the day.