Why is Mother called EarthBound in America?

The English name was coined during the 1990 localization of the first game. Phil Sandhop, who headed that localization for Nintendo of America, titled the game Earth Bound, two words, judging that the single word Mother carried little shelf pull for an American audience, and the name has been documented to him ever since.

That release was shelved, so the name debuted publicly on the sequel instead. When Mother 2 crossed the Pacific on June 5, 1995, it arrived as EarthBound, one word, and the fused spelling became the series' Western identity: EarthBound for the second game, and eventually EarthBound Beginnings for the first.

Japan never adopted it. The series remains Mother at home, its merchandise, Hobonichi's project and its books all carry the original name, which is why a collector's shelf quietly files the same objects under two different words depending on which ocean they came from.

The naming split also explains a small documentary trap: period American material about the cancelled game says Earth Bound, spaced, while everything from 1995 on says EarthBound. Both spellings are correct, five years apart.