Nintendo – Contemporary Japanese Literature

Title: EarthBound Handbook: Travel Eagleland the EarthBound Way
Art Direction: Audrey Waner
Editor-in-Chief: Dan Moore
Publication Year: 2016
Publisher: Fangamer
Pages: 260

This guest review is written by Lance Mulcahey.

To call EarthBound Handbook: Travel Eagleland the EarthBound Way merely a charming guide to EarthBound (Mother 2 in Japan) would be an injustice to Fangamer, whose staff clearly put their creative heart and soul into this book. Much more than a simple illustrated walkthrough, the Handbook assumes the guise of a travel guide akin to something like Lonely Planet, with a chapter-by-chapter introduction to all the unique locales of the EarthBound world, complete with maps, shop info, enemy stats, and game tips.

However useful, substantive information is not the main goal here, as each chapter seeks not to lead a player through each in-game task and battle but rather to deepen the established EarthBound world and immerse the reader within it through humorous articles and beautiful models and artistic renditions of characters and places. What brilliantly separates the Handbook from other fan materials is that it does not parade itself solely as an artifact from its respective game universe but an actual travel guide for the “real” Eagleland to help fans of the “real” EarthBound game experience the “real” inspiration for the game… except the reality of Eagleland seems closer to the fictional events of EarthBound more than you’d think!

The Handbook is divided into fourteen chapters, each of which is roughly equivalent to one of EarthBound‘s levels. True to the book’s travel guide billing, each chapter begins with an excerpt from a news bulletin, highlighting each region’s local news as if the reader were a tourist picking up a newspaper. The chapters proceed with day-to-day itineraries that closely follow Ness’s adventure. These sections have a wide variety of content but usually contain various ads for local shops (complete with items and pricing) and activities that give a subtle nod to in-game events or locations, like Scaraba Tours or an ad for the Egg Deboiler. There are also a number of “Get to Know!” NPC profiles scattered about, highlighting “local personalities” with true-to-life pictures and interviews. Of course, no itinerary would be complete without an artistically rendered map and depictions of numerous enemies in the form of trading cards. Each chapter ends with a “Talk Man 9X” fictional cassette-based self-guided tour segment that offers a short retelling of the in-game events of EarthBound and adds a surprising but welcome emotional flair. The last two pages of each chapter contain a scenic photographic spread of models of the area’s Sanctuary location, whose meticulous details jump off the page.

The Handbook is clearly the product of a Kickstarter campaign – in a good way! – in that it’s clear that a group of extremely dedicated and passionate people came together not only to write a love letter to a beloved game but also to deliver a romantic treatise that miraculously captures that unique style and wit so characteristic of the Mother franchise. It makes a fine addition to the already extremely rich body of fan media inspired by the games, but, more than that, the book’s creation served as a rallying cry for Western EarthBound fans, eventually funding the Mother-centric Camp Fangamer convention and bolstering the #ThisIsEarthBound campaign during the Nintendo Virtual Console releases. Clyde Mandelin of the website Legends of Localization also joined the Kickstarter campaign as a stretch goal for a Legends of Localization 2: EarthBound edition. All of this activity underscores how integral fan support and the fan experience is for an aging property like the Mother franchise, as it allows for active participation and engagement with the source material over decades.

While the EarthBound Handbook isn’t as helpful as the detailed walkthrough on Starman.net, it doesn’t need to be. This is a loving homage that feels more impressive each time I pick it up. Reading through it, I experienced the magical spark and sheer joy of EarthBound right on the page, which is no mean feat. The Handbook doesn’t feel like a throwaway coffee table book, with its sturdy hardcover and tasteful silver etching – even the dust jacket is an artistic showcase. The appeal of this book extends beyond the purview of the hardcore EarthBound-ophile, as its artistry begs to be enjoyed by anyone with an interest in gaming. I definitely wouldn’t recommend this guide for anyone seriously looking for a walkthrough, but EarthBound is best experienced with as little handholding and as much fan participation as possible.

. . .

Lance Mulcahey is a not-so recent graduate from UCLA with an MA in Japanese Studies. His time there included research on Japanese folklore, the formation of Kamishibai theater, contemporary homosexual identity in Japan, and neo-colonialist practices in postwar Japan and the U.S. He currently lives in Chicago and works at small Japanese plastics company. His love of Japan and gaming keep him engaged as an amateur translator, and he has a deep passion for all things Nintendo. You can find more information on his LinkedIn profile.

Title: The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia
Japanese Title: ハイラル・ヒストリア：ゼルダの伝説大全
(Hairaru hisutoria: Zeruda no densetsu taizen)
Japanese Editors: Aonuma Eiji (青沼英二), Shioya Masahiko (塩谷雅彦)
English Editors: Mike Richardson, Patrick Thorpe, et al.
Translators: Michael Gombos, et al.
Publication Year: 2013 (America); 2011 (Japan)
Publisher: Dark Horse
Pages: 280

Hyrule Historia is divided into four parts. The first part, titled “The Legend Begins: The World of Skyward Sword,” is a collection of artwork and design sketches from the 2011 Wii game Skyward Sword. The second part, “The History of Hyrule: A Chronology,” runs through the plot of every game in the Legend of Zelda series and demonstrates how they are all connected. The third part, “Creative Footprints: Documenting 25 Years of Artwork,” is a collection of art and design sketches from the entire series with a strong emphasis on Twilight Princess. The fourth part is a 34-page manga (of which ten pages are in gorgeous color) about the mythology of Skyward Sword by Akira Himekawa, a two-person team that has drawn the official manga adaptations of many games in the Legend of Zelda series.

The “History of Hyrule” section, which is about seventy pages long, gives the book its name. When the series timeline from this section was released and translated into English, there was a bit of a kerfluffle in certain circles of video game fandom that had gradually been building their own theories and didn’t appreciate the retroactive continuity implied by the official version. That being said, the timeline laid out by Hyrule Historia makes sense (inasmuch as anything involving time travel makes sense) and should be interesting to a fan of the series. The main bulk of the section, however, consists of condensed versions of the plot of each Legend of Zelda game. These plots are more or less what appears in the game manuals with very little extra or “never before revealed” information thrown in for flavor. Unfortunately, the basic “Link must collect items in order to earn the right to wield a special sword so that he can save Zelda after she is imprisoned by an evil entity” story begins to grow stale as it’s continually repeated across two dozen three-to-four-page increments.

The main draw of Hyrule Historia is its artwork. In the first part of the book, which is filled with artistic development materials for Skyward Sword, the reader can witness the incredible attention to detail and world building that went into the game. These images are accompanied by myriad creator notes, which are often surprisingly humorous. Thankfully, unlike the Japanese original, in which many of these notes were handwritten in tiny characters, the typeface used to convey the creator notes in translation is large enough to read easily.

The artwork on display for the other games in the Legend of Zelda series in the “Creative Footprints” section is also quite interesting. There are all sorts of designs for the main characters, secondary characters, enemies, weapons, and items. There are also rough drafts of dungeon maps, enemy treasure drop charts, and other developmental materials, such as different drafts of promotional concept art. Some of this artwork shows exactly how enemy wings, tails, and teeth work, with suggestions for how different designs accommodate different movements. There are fewer written notes in this section than in the first section on Skyward Sword, but there is still enough text to draw the reader into the image details. I particularly enjoyed the architecture and island sketches from The Wind Waker, as well as the full designs of the stained glass patterns that appear in the game’s building interiors. I also enjoyed getting a sense of the evolution of the Link character in each Legend of Zelda game, as different designs show him as younger or older, or more or less serious, or wearing entirely different sets of clothing and equipment.

You can’t really see this in the scans I made, but the image quality in Hyrule Historia is impeccable; the book is something that you need to hold in your hands in order to fully appreciate. The emphasis of Hyrule Historia is obviously on Skyward Sword, but all of the Legend of Zelda games get multiple pages of attention. A great deal of the book’s text feels like it’s selling the series, especially in the “History of Hyrule” section, and it can sometimes be a chore to read. Still, artists and art appreciators will love the incredible array of sharp and colorful images, and the physical book itself is sturdy enough to handle all manner of wear and tear that may occur over the course of reference use. Dark Horse did an excellent job with this gorgeous book. If you’ve been on the fence about buying a copy, Hyrule Historia is absolutely worth your time and money.