Earthbound translator's book blocked by Nintendo

Earthbound translator Marcus Lindblom will not be going ahead with a proposed book about his efforts bringing the 1994 SNES classic to western audiences.

Lindbolm has planned to Kickstart the book, but told Polygon that when he broached the matter with Nintendo he was reminded that he signed an NDA.

"I owe a lot to Nintendo. They gave me my start in the game business. I don't want to do anything that makes them seem bad. I wanted to just write about the fun bits in the game that I think the fans would enjoy. But I have no desire to rock the boat with Nintendo at all," he said.

Earthbound is the second in a series of RPGs known in Japan as Mother. The first and third games have never been officially translated into English, although fan translations exist. Earthbound was recently re-released for the Wii U virtual console, making it much easier to experience Shigesato Itoi's seminal JRPG. Fans swear by the surreal, unusually gentle title, and its many mysteries are still not entirely resolved.

Thanks, Joystiq.