MaternalBound Redux 1.1

MaternalBound Redux is a completely revamped and improved version of the original MaternalBound.

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
• Some PSI animations had wrong tiles in them, those have been fixed
• Fixed the Dusty Dunes teleport location not appearing
• 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 to two things:
  • The diamond is 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?)
• A lot more in-game and script bugfixes