Itoi, who directed the game, wanted it to reach non-gamers with its intentionally goofy personality. Themed around an idiosyncratic portrayal of Americana and Western culture, it subverted popular role-playing game traditions by featuring a real world setting while parodying numerous staples of the genre.

Its staff contained involvement from a number of Japanese luminaries including writer Shigesato Itoi, songwriter Keiichi Suzuki, sound designer Hirokazu Tanaka, and future Nintendo president Satoru Iwata.

The game faced a lengthy development time spanning five years.

EarthBound was released in Japan on August 27, 1994, and in North America on June 5, 1995. It is the second game of the Mother series, and the only one to be released in the English language. As Ness and his party of four, the player travels the world to collect melodies en route to defeating the evil alien force Giygas. EarthBound, known as Mother 2 in Japan, is a 1994 Japanese role-playing video game co-developed by Ape and HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System video game console.

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