# MaternalBound Redux - An EarthBound improvement hack



## ShadowOne333 (Jul 1, 2019)

________________________________________________________________________________​
​

________________________________________________________________________________​
*Main release patch:*
_https://github.com/ShadowOne333/MaternalBound-Redux/releases_

*MSU-1 PCM pack:*
_https://www.zeldix.net/t1931-earthbound-msu-1_

*MaternalBound Discord:*
_https://discord.gg/v7kyYrv_​
_____________________________________________________________________________________________

*MaternalBound Redux is a completely revamped and improved version of the original MaternalBound:*
_https://forum.starmen.net/forum/Community/PKHack/WIP-MaternalBound-Uncensoring-Other-junk-hack/_​
*What does this mean?*
That everything you found in the original MaternalBound can also be found here, but with a much more polished detail and also with a ton of Quality of Life improvements made to it.
The whole source code for the project is available as well! Be sure to check out the release page at the bottom of this post to enter the GitHub page for the project, alongside the release page for the patches.

So… What changes can you expect out of MaternalBound Redux in addition to the ones found in the original MaternalBound?

________________________________________________________________________________​
*Changelog*​
Don’t get dizzy while reading the full changelog:

Fully functional title screen with NO glitches (no more “TH” in the middle like before)
MSU-1 integration (alongside the very first PCM pack for EarthBound)
Fully hardware compatible (can be played in reproduction cartridges)
New Controls hack implemented. Full button remapping to something similar to other RPGs of the era, like FFVI.
A/L button: Talk to people or check object (You won’t get the “No problem here” message anymore)
X button: Opens up the main game menu (Goods, Equip, etc)
B button: Open up HP/PP boxes and cash-on-hand window
Y button: Run when held down
Start button: Opens/Closes up the map


Unique overworld enemy sprites for EVERY enemy found in the game, to give it a little bit of a Mother 3 vibe
Sprites have been edited to match their official artwork (clay models) of some characters
All 4 robot sprites are now unique, and each one has a specific object from the character to differentiate them from each other
New custom diagonal sprites for ALL characters that join the party at one point (Porky, Picky, King, Tony, Bubble Monkey, Flying Man, Dungeon Man). This also includes:
All character tiny sprites (Ness, Paula, Jeff, Poo)
All ghost sprites (Normal and tiny)
Animation for each and every ghost sprite as well

Diamondized sprite (Normal and tiny)
Teddy Bear (Normal and tiny)


Redesigned the greek letters used for PSI (alpha, beta, gamma, sigma and omega) so that they better match the form of the actual greek letters they represent
Implemented photosensitive reduction hacks made from subsequent releases of EarthBound (SNES Mini, Virtual Console) into MaternalBound, to make the experience the most seizure-safe possible
Extended Naming Screen Character Table, for both the party and the player’s name prompt
Completely rewritten script based on Tomato’s Legends of Localization book (Thanks TragicManner!)
Poo's "Mirror" command has been renamed to “Transform” to more accurately represent what the move does, and it’s actual Japanese name
Even MORE uncensoring (based on the Legends of Localization book by Clyde Mandelin)
A ton of NPC dialogue bugfixes (examples include no more “Ness ate the pizza together”, Twoson old lady NPC dialogue, etc)
More typo fixes from the original script
Characters known by name now get their name displayed at the title of the text box
Dad no longer calls you after a while. You will no longer be interrupted by him
Every location of the game is now accessible through PSI Teleport
Fixed the Dusty Dunes teleport location not appearing
Some reworked enemy battle sprites
Now using an equipabble item inside the Goods menu will equip said item, instead of giving the “is an item that can be equipped” message (Thanks, Chaz!)
Reworked Gas Station screen, so that all letters now letters use the same type of font, and also words are now evenly spaced out
Full localization/translation and revamp of the Debug menus found in the game:
ATM debug menu (Apple option when pressing the Y button in the “View Map” option of the Kirby debug menu)
Kirby Debug menu and its options


A lot of bugfixes done to all of the Debug menus themselves:
ATM Debug menu had 3 events which caused Ness to be stuck in objects, these have now been fixed (Events 2, 35 and 46)
Fixed the Kirby sprite assembly from the Debug menu (CoilSnake glitches/removes it)
The whole Kirby Y button menu is fully restored and localized
Palette for the text windows in the Kirby debug menu is now fixed to default Plain flavour instead of the pinkish glitched one
Full button remapping for the Debug menu as well:
A/L button talks to NPCs while on debug mode
B button refreshes the screen
X button opens up the game menu (Goods, Equip, etc)
Y button opens up the Debug menu

A completely removed debug menu (found originally in Mother 2, but removed in EarthBound) is now restored in the “Banana” option of the debug menu
Fixed the “Show battle” option crashing from a fresh boot


Diamond bullet from Mother 2 is back… Although not implemented in the main text.
But… it can be found somewhere in the game.
D-Man made an amazing work on re-enabling the coloured diamond from Mother 2 which was replaced for a white dot/bullet in EarthBound. The way to enable it in game can be done by replacing all of the “@” from the ccscript files with the command {diam}.
His work was just too good to not mention it.
The reason why it was not implemented into MaternalBound Redux was due the diamond being 8 pixels wide. 
Leaving it as such would move some phrases which barely fit in three lines. Ways to fix this:
This would require verifying the ENTIRE script once again (which is something I’m not fond with)
Modify the diamond code to just print out 6 pixels wide instead of 8.
Change the automatic linebreak code to make a space of 8 pixels instead of 6 from the window perimeter.
Change every manual linebreak to have 3 spaces instead of 2 in all the ccscript files.


The diamond does not show up in battle. This is unknown, as Mother 2 also didn’t have the diamond for battles. (Why though?)


Other in-game bugfixes… ?

________________________________________________________________________________​
*Instructions*​
Grab the .zip file and patch it to a 4MB expanded ROM of EarthBound (.ips), or use the EarthBound Patcher to patch the hack into a clean 3MB EarthBound ROM (.ebp).

If you want to use the hack with *MSU-1*, grab the *PCM pack* released alongside this hack from the Zeldix page at the beginning of this page, or from the following link:
_https://app.box.com/s/fkmjx61w4m7xom1kmir5zk7xv6jx9u8f_

Simply rename your ROM to _*"eb_msu1.smc"*_ and place it in the same folder as all the .pcm/.msu files.
You need to use Snes9x v1.54 or above in order for the MSU-1 hack to work.

_*NOTE:*_ The *"DeathFix.ips"* is only added for archival purposes. It is *NOT needed* if you simply want to patch a clean EarthBound ROM.
This patch is provided in the case of someone wanting to compile the hack from source using CoilSnake. In this case, it is *required *that you apply the "DeathFix.ips" patch over your already patched ROM to fix the Death Screen for Jeff, as currently CoilSnake breaks this Death screen in its 3.0/3.33 release.

________________________________________________________________________________​
*Credits*​
*TragicManner:* For the Legends of Localization: EarthBound book, from which the entirety of the script rewrite was done
*D-Man:* A lot of the ASM work was thanks to him and his amazing skills at 65816 knowledge
*H.S:* Bunch of troubleshooting and ASM help as well
*PhoenixBound:* Beta testing the hack, feedback and also bringing up details which eventually ended up being more features (and ASM help too)
*Karmageddon:* For being such a detailed beta tester, and all his feedback which helped polish MaternalBound Redux to where it is right now!
*DarkSamus993:* His debugging and ASM skills are amazing, he helped a lot to figure out the Kirby sprite assembly and its fix, as well as the palette issue in the Debug menu.
*Herringway:* For his New Controls hack, which was taken as a base, but then heavily reworked to be fully customizable using CoilSnake
*Howisthisaname: *For the EarthBound Enhanced hack, which is where some of the reworked battle sprites come from, while some were made entirely by me
*Conn:* For the creation of the MSU hack for EarthBound. I transcribed the patch to CCS format and also helped with the loop table
Special thanks to all the beta-testers and people on the MaternalBound Discord for their feedback and suggestions. Many thanks as well all of those that helped with other ASM code, and providing the overworld/battle sprites for this project as well!


----------



## VGA (Jul 4, 2019)

Is this going to be uploaded to romhacking.net?


----------



## ShadowOne333 (Jul 4, 2019)

VGA said:


> Is this going to be uploaded to romhacking.net?


Once I redo some of the sprites and fix a couple bugs, yes it will!


----------



## ital (Jun 28, 2022)

How do you access the debug menu on real hardware please?


----------

