A rumour popped up today on Starmen.net claiming that Earthbound would never, ever be released on Nintendo's Virtual Console. Made vague mention of potential lawsuits. But lawsuits from whom? Let's take a look.

Earthbound Central last week threw up a post outlining how many of the game's tunes are catchy little homages to actual, real-world tracks by artists like The Who, Chuck Berry & The Beatles. Not exactly news, since Mother fans will already know of the existence of most, if not all of the midi tributes, but in light of Starmen's rumours it's worth pointing them out.

And remember, those are just the tip of the iceberg; there are renditions of TV show theme songs and even the US national anthem hidden in the game. But it gives you a good idea of why Nintendo may be hesitant over the whole thing. From their point of view, satiating a few thousand Mother fans with a re-release isn't worth the potential broadside of lawsuits from overbearing law firms such a release would invite.

EarthBound Music Similarities [Earthbound Central, via Offworld]