10 Phenomenal Video Games NOBODY Bought

Known as Mother 2 in Japan, EarthBound was the second entry in the Mother trilogy and is commonly held as being one of the best Nintendo games of all time.

Set in the modern day, this fantastically bizarre RPG saw protagonist Ness fight back against a cosmic force of evil known as Giygas alongside his friends. With quirky dialogue that frequently broke the fourth wall and insane sections of gameplay that tasked us with catching zombies with fly paper and fighting a demonic tent, it was impossible to tell what bonkers thing this game would throw at us next.

It's unbelievable, then, that EarthBound was a cataclysmic failure in the US, selling a measly 140,000 copies. The reason for this was down to horrific marketing.

For some unfathomable reason, advertising executives decided to promote the game in Nintendo Power, not on its ingenious qualities, but on the idea that it, quite literally, reeked.

For readers of the popular magazine, their first introduction to EarthBound was giant text boldly declaring "this game stinks". Alongside this discouraging statement were an assortment of scratch and sniff pictures that smelled of farts and rotten food.

Why anyone thought this was a clever idea is a mystery.