Nintendo does the unexpected – we’re Earthbound baby!

During tonight’s Nintendo Direct, Satoru Iwata dropped quite possibly one of the biggest bombs we’ve ever seen from a Nintendo Direct and announced that Earthbound, the sequel to the cult classic NES game Mother, would be making it’s way to the Wii U Virtual Console in North America and Europe (and hopefully, by extension, us Australians) sometime this year.

While it’s hard to for some to understand why a game from 19 years ago is such a big deal – Earthbound was only released in Japan and America previously, meaning that this is the first time that both Europe and Australia will be able to experience the game (legally, at least).

Being a Wii U Virtual Console title, we can expect Earthbound to support off-screen GamePad playability as well as a dedicated Miiverse community.

Iwata went on to further elaborate how the decision was made due to overwhelming fan feedback from the Miiverse community to bring Earthbound to the Western Virtual Console services – as previously it had been provided as part of the limited trial period for Japan only.

How do you feel about the announcement to bring Earthbound to the Wii U Virtual Console? Do you think it speaks levels about the power of MiiVerse and Nintendo’s ability to taken on fan feedback? Let us know in the comments or over in the forums.

UPDATE: Shigesato Itoi, one of the game designers of Earthbound, has tweeted in recognition of the news:

Translated, it reads

[quote]Please share this news with your friends overseas.  Mother 2 (Earthbound)’s revival is confirmed.  It was announced it is going to be released within the year.[/quote]