Monolith Soft, known for the Xeno series, had approached Nintendo in 2003 with a pitch for an EarthBound sequel, intended for the GameCube. The game was designed as if it were made of arts and crafts, similar to Kirby's Epic Yarn and Yoshi's Woolly World, and was supposed to be set in America during the 80's.

The meeting for this new EarthBound game was arranged by Nintendo's then-CEO Satoru Iwata without Shigesato Itoi (EarthBound's creator) knowing about it. Despite Itoi not knowing about this project, it's unclear what led to the cancellation of the game.