EarthBound / MOTHER 2 Translation Comparison: Threed

Threed’s Name

Threek, as it is known in MOTHER 2, is called Threed in EarthBound. The English localizers realized that “Threek” = “Three K” = “KKK”. So the name was modified into “Threed”.

Graffiti Slogans

In MOTHER 2, this sign says, “Grownups, kids, and even your sister.” This was the advertising slogan for MOTHER 2 in Japan.

In EarthBound, the sign says, “…Just play it!” This was never a Nintendo slogan, but it’s most likely a play on the Nike “Just do it!” slogan famous back in the day.

Threed’s Map

The town map for Threek/Threed also has changes found in the previous town maps. “DRUG” was changed to “SHOP”, the Os in “FOOD” were made bigger, and the red cross symbol was changed to “HOSPITAL”. Note that the hospital sprite is obscured by the food sprite in EarthBound. This didn’t happen in MOTHER 2. The game likely uses the same set of graphic sprites for these town map things, so the localizers probably just altered them once to fix ALL the town maps. But they didn’t realize that the hospital sprite gets covered up in this particularly case. Or they didn’t care.

Also, of course, the MOTHER 2 map says THREEK in big letters, while the EarthBound map says THREED.

Threed’s Hospital

Here’s more of the hospital goodness again. This time, they simply removed the red cross — no creative repositioning or editing here. This turns out to be one of the more important hospitals in the game too, thanks to the li’l ghosts and the Insignificant Item. Oh well.

On the back of the EarthBound game box is a screenshot with this hospital’s red cross intact:

It’s ironic that they spent so much time trying to remove the red cross from the game, but forgot about the physical game box, which is possibly the most visible place to put it and the easiest way to get in trouble with the Red Cross organization.

The P.O.O.P. Sign

In MOTHER 2, this sign is posted by a fictional parents organization telling young players it’s not a good idea to play the game over 2 hours straight.

In EarthBound, the sign says the same thing, except the group name is different. In EB, it’s “Parents Opposing Obsession Plan”. For those who never noticed, that name abbreviated is “P.O.O.P.”

The MOTHER 2 name doesn’t seem to be anything goofy like that. Though I’ve always been kind of bad at picking up more clever Japanese wordplay. But it appears to be wordplay-less, anyway.

Threed’s Newspaper

In MOTHER 2, the Threed city newspaper is replaced by the “Zombie World” newspaper. In EarthBound, the zombie newspaper is called the “Zombie Herald”.

This change could be due to copyright stuff, or possibly due to a rushed translation, as “world” and “herald” are somewhat similar-looking in katakana. A translator rushing to meet a deadline might’ve seen it written one way when it was really the other.

Horse Sign Wordplay

As you can tell from the English version, this sign involves some word play. The only reason I’m putting this here, though, is because I’m awed by how well it works in both language, and how close the localized version managed to stay to the original. It’s VERY rare that jokes can stay that similar during localization. Good job, writers/editors/translators!

Sign Haiku

This sign in MOTHER 2 is written as a haiku. What’s cool is that the English version is a haiku, too!

Well, almost. The middle line only has six syllables instead of seven, it seems. Though, according to certain rules and other things, you’re still allowed to have an extra syllable or one syllable too less. It’s at least cool how they tried to make it into haiku, just as the original was.

Hint Shop Sign

In MOTHER 2, this sign says, “Giving Hints for 40 years — Hint Shop ‘Naruhodo'” Naruhodo is something you say in Japanese when you learn something or when you realize something or if someone gives you information about something. (And yes, hello Phoenix Wright fans)

In EarthBound, the sign doesn’t even have the “Giving Hints for 40 Years” part. And the “Realization” part of this sign is the shop’s name. As a kid, I always thought it was some sort of fancy term businessy grownups used for certain stuff. Never realized it was the shop’s name itself. Had they put “Realization” in quotes, it would’ve been more clear. Oh well, no big deal.

Staring Zombies

In EarthBound, the two zombies that block the way to the underground path “stare into your soul” and “look you over”.

In MOTHER 2, they simply stare. Or, to be more precise, the game uses the onomatopiea for staring. In other words, a more literal version would be, “*stare*”. No mention of souls or anything at all in the original version.

Zombie Chick

This guy who’s sneaking a look at a strange lady says one thing in MOTHER 2 and some slightly made-up, different stuff in EarthBound:

The Japanese line makes it more clear that something’s wrong with her physically. The English line just makes it sound like she hangs out with scummy people.