In their latest Nintendo Direct (Mini) presentation, Nintendo announced that the release of Earthbound had narrowed down to a specific date. That date: NOW! Yep, Nintendo has gone and released Earthbound to an unsuspecting public on the Wii U Virtual Console. On top of this, Nintendo has also made the original, larger than normal Player’s Guide available for viewing online. And yes, you can see the whole guide. You can view the guide right here. While it might look strange viewing it on a computer now, it’ll look just fine on a Wii U gamepad.

Earthbound was originally released on the SNES in 1995. Sadly, the game did poorly sales -wise despite a somewhat massive advertising campaign and positive critical reception. This lead to Nintendo not releasing anymore Earthbound material outside Japan, including the much requested Earthbound 2 (Mother 3) on the GBA. Interest grew for the game after Ness’ (and Lucas’) appearance in the Smash Bros. series, alongside the established cult following the game garnered. Due to its rarity and its absence on other platforms outside of the SNES, prices for the original game, both boxed and cart-only, would range from as low as $200 to as high as $1000. There’s even a website dedicated to getting Earthbound at a price you can afford.

Earthbound is now available on the Wii U Virtual Console for $9.99

Nintendo Direct Mini 7.18.13 [Youtube]