EarthBound, the venerated sci-fi role-playing game from Shigesato Itoi, is now available on the Wii U Virtual Console for $9.99 along with a digital Player's Guide, Nintendo announced during a Nintendo Direct presentation today.

Nintendo said in April that it would release EarthBound on Virtual Console this year; it launched in Japan in March.

The company is also digitizing the EarthBound Player's Guide, which shipped with copies of the original 1994 SNES title. The extensive resource will be available on the game's website, and according to Nintendo's Bill Trinen, the company has optimized it for viewing on the GamePad so it can be used as a handy resource while playing the game.

Update: The Nintendo Direct session included a trailer to mark the Virtual Console launch of EarthBound. You can watch the trailer below. The Player's Guide is also now available on the newly launched EarthBound website.