It was BOUND to happen eventually.
During today's Nintendo Direct live stream, Satoru Iwata has confirmed that EarthBound will be released on the Wii U Virtual Console later this year.
During this morning's direct, Iwata mentioned that there were many posts in the Japanese Mother 2 Miiverse community from fans in North America and Europe, clamoring for the game's release.
No release date has been set for the game, but Iwata confirmed that it would be out "later this year".