Long Underworld’s Name
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In EarthBound, the place beneath Lumine Hall is known as the “Lost Underworld”.
In MOTHER 2, it’s actually called something like the “Continent in the Depths of the Earth” or the “Continent in the Bowels of the Earth”. It’s tough to translate well, so it makes sense that they changed it slightly in the translation.
Ay-Go Stikke’s Name
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This business-minded Tenda in the Lost Underworld calls himself “Ay-go Stikke” in EarthBound.
In MOTHER 2, it’s more like “E-go Sutekki”. When pronounced out loud, this sounds like a phrase which means “English is lovely”. Referring to the language, of course.
I’m not sure why they didn’t play around with his name in the localization – it was prime real estate for doing whatever fun joke they wanted. Maybe the editors just didn’t know what it was and left it as-is. I do get the feeling from this part of EarthBound that the translated text didn’t get as much editor attention as earlier parts, what with this and the “Lumine Hole” mixup.
ATM Mistake
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There’s a small translation error in what the ATM-acting Tenda says here. In MOTHER 2, after a transaction goes awry or you cancel a transaction, he says something roughly along the lines of, “I would never do anything to displease you.”
In EarthBound, this got translated to, “I don’t think you’ve ever really gotten into bad trouble.”
I think this was a simple case of the translator rushing through and accidentally skipping over a few characters, thereby changing the meaning.
Overlapping the Universe
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The talking rock here tells you a lot about your journey. He explains what the journey is for, too. Here’s a look at some of the more important stuff, in both games:
| Japanese Version (basic translation) | English Translation |
| At last, you speak to me. | You finally came, Ness. Finally, you talk to me. |
| Listen well, Ness. I am about to tell you something so important that you should probably write this down. | Listen Ness. I’m going to tell you something very important. You may want to take notes. |
| Ready? You are a chosen one. Your destiny is not yours alone… It is part of a universal “system”. | Ready? You’re the chosen one. Your destiny is not only yours… It’s the destiny of the whole universe. |
| The time will come when every part of you will become one (note: or overlap) with every part of the universe. | There will be a time in which all of you in the universe will overlap each other. |
| You need not understand right now. | …It’s not necessary to understand now. |
| Do you remember “Giant Step” back in Onett? That was one of “Your Places”. | Do you remember “Giant Step” in Onett? That is one of “Your Sanctuary.” |
| These are spots that give you power and draw out “every part” of you. | It is a spot which gives you power and allows you to realize all your skills. |
| They are protected by monsters affected by that power. | There was a monster that protected it. The monster was influenced by the power of the place. |
| However, you obviously must have defeated them. | You must have beaten those monsters. |
| Once you’ve stood at all eight of these power spots in the world… | You must reach all of the eight power spots in the world… |
| Once the Sound Stone has recorded the melodies of all the power spots, you will see “Your World” for the very first time. | When the Sound Stone records the melodies of all eight power spots, you can finally see “Your World.” |
| Allow me to list them all: | I’ll tell you all of the power spots. |
| 1. Giant Step, in Onett | 1. “Giant Step” in Onett. |
| 2. Lilliput Steps, in the Grateful Dead Valley, near Twoson | 2. “Lilliput Steps” in Peaceful Rest Valley near Twoson. |
| 3. Milky Well, in Saturn Valley, near Grapefruit Falls | 3. “Milky Well” in Grapefruit Falls in Saturn Valley. |
| 4. Rainy Circle, discovered by Jeff in Winters | 4. “Rainy Circle” found by Jeff in Winters. |
| 5. Magnet Hill, on the outskirts of Fourside | 5. “Magnet Hill” at the edge of the city of Fourside. |
| 6. Pink Cloud, in Ranma. Poo knows where this is. | 6. “Pink Cloud” which Poo knows. |
| 7. …and Lumine Hall, that cave of luminescent moss | 7. and… “Lumine Hole” where the shining lichen lives in the cave. |
| 8. Last is the Fire Spring power spot which shall open its doors southwest of here. | 8. A new place is now going to be opened up to you. “Fire Spring,” located southwest of here. |
| You must listen to the sounds of all eight power spots. | Listen to the melodies of all eight power spots. |
| Defeating Gyiyg without doing so will be impossible. | If you do not fail, you may upset Giygas’ plans… |
| Do you understand, Ness? | Understand, Ness? The time will come. |
| The moment when your destiny becomes one with the destiny of the universe… is close at hand. | The time when the destiny of you and the whole universe will overlap… It is fast approaching. |
I list both versions because this is another thing I sometimes get asked about. They’re almost the same, minus a few things.
It’s clear in the literal translation, but it’s basically saying that there’s some sort of “system” to the universe’s design, and Ness needs to draw out his “all” to become one with the universe’s system and thus gain great power. The only way he can draw this out is to visit each of the power spots, which have the unique ability to accomplish this.
The translation sort of glosses this over by saying “realize all your skills” and mucks up the talk about the universe and destiny.
I think it’s also made a tiny bit clearer in MOTHER 2 that by visiting all these “Your Places” (as they’re called in Japanese) you unlock “Your World”, which is Magicant.
The EarthBound line, “There will be a time in which all of you in the universe will overlap each other.” is just wrong, too, likely due to editing oversight; I think the editors saw “all of you” and took it to mean “all of you adventurers/people” when it actually meant “every part of you”.
Another odd point is that the translation says “Your destiny is not only yours… It’s the destiny of the whole universe.” then later on says “The time when the destiny of you and the whole universe will overlap… It is fast approaching.” I dunno, that seems slightly contradictory to me at least, but that’s beside the point since the translation isn’t fully accurate to begin with.
In the end, though, this text is mostly just mumbo jumbo that doesn’t make much of a difference to the player, but maybe die-hard fans can use this for their theories and whatnot.
- More on the Japanese name for the Lost Underworld, and a look at the inspiration behind the Japanese name and the English name
- A tiny bit more on Ay-go Stikke
![Passport to MOTHER 2 [Learn Japanese!]](https://legendsoflocalization.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/pp-m2.jpg "Passport to MOTHER 2 [Learn Japanese!]")