Mother (series)
From EarthBound Wiki
Mother (マザー Mazā) is a role-playing game series created by Shigesato Itoi for Nintendo. The series started in 1989 with Mother for the Famicom, and was then followed up by a sequel, EarthBound for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, and followed up again much later in 2006 with the Japan-only Mother 3 for the Game Boy Advance.
Like the Final Fantasy series, the Mother games are not a sequential series, but rather three "stand alone" games that feature common characters, themes, and settings. All three games are tied together with their respective final bosses.
Although most RPGs depict knights and wizards in pseudo-medieval settings, the Mother series takes place in more modern present-day Western settings told from a Japanese perspective. The first installment is set in rural America in 1988, while EarthBound is set in "199X" in Eagleland (an allusion to the United States) and Mother 3 is set an unspecified number of years following the events of EarthBound, on the Nowhere Islands (with some Western overtones). Enemies consist of everything from aliens, to possessed guitars, to evil hippies. Instead of swords and shields, weapons consist of household items, from yo-yos to frying pans. The series became extremely popular in Japan, and merchandise for the game was produced, including shirts, handbooks, and even a fully-orchestrated and performed soundtrack.
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[edit] Games
[edit] Mother
- Main article: Mother (video game)
Mother tells the story of a young boy who has to journey around the world to save the planet from an evil race of mind-controlling aliens. Along the way he is joined by several friends, and meets many unusual characters and visits strange settings before ultimately confronting the leader of the aliens. The game was a smash hit in Japan, and gamers appreciated its unorthodox and refreshing take on the often formulaic RPG genre.
Nintendo of America planned to translate and release the first Mother game in the United States under the title Earth Bound. Although the game's localization and translation was finished a year earlier, the game was ultimately deemed unprofitable for a Fall 1991 North American release, and the planned release was canceled after the game had already been translated and all packaging and advertising was ready.
It was confirmed by former Nintendo employee Phil Sandhop, that Nintendo refused to release Earth Bound in North America because the Super Nintendo had already been released in the country and it thought that very few customers would notice a new NES game because a large number of gamers had already shelved their NES consoles for their new Super NES consoles. Furthermore, the cost of releasing the game with the thick manual and hint book planned would have not been economical.
Some of Sandhop's changes in Mother appear in the SNES EarthBound, such as the matrix of the command box, the "Help!" command, and Loid's "Spy" command. All of these features were original ideas of improvement in Mother by Sandhop. The reason for these changes appearing in EarthBound and Mother 1 + 2, according to Sandhop, is that "with games produced by NCL, the development teams continue to work and tweak their projects that they know will be localized and produced in other territories. Often they will address their own desires that were not completed due to time constraints or not completed to their satisfaction and they will also address issues raised by Japanese consumers as that release hits the street."
In 1998, a copy of the unreleased NES Earth Bound cartridge was auctioned and the game code was extracted from it and circulated for download on the Internet. To avoid confusion, the game was dubbed EarthBound Zero by fan translation group Neo Demiforce, as Nintendo had since released the SNES sequel to Mother in North America under the title EarthBound. This copy was shipped over to a relative of one of the members in Neo Demiforce. Soon after, fans of the series and other video game enthusiasts, at first, debated as to the origin of the original development cartridge.
Today, it is generally agreed that the cartridge is legitimate, as Mother 1 + 2 contains most of the changes found in the NES cartridge. Though there are those who believe that it is still a fake.
[edit] EarthBound
- Main article: EarthBound
EarthBound (known as Mother 2 in Japan) is a distant sequel to the original Mother, with many characters, themes, and tunes borrowed from its predecessor. Many of the characters and settings are very similar, but the only explicitly returning character is Giygas, who swears revenge at the end of the first game (evidenced by EarthBound's Japanese subtitle: Gyiyg Strikes Back!).
Though Mother never saw the American marketplace, its sequel for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, EarthBound, did, and stars a young psychic boy by the name of Ness. It sold well in Japan, but did not in North America, as RPGs were generally unpopular with the American market at the time, and this game was released just as strong RPG titles such as Final Fantasy VI and Chrono Trigger appeared, whose graphics and sound made EarthBound's look dated. However, the game has since developed one of the strongest cult followings for video games in history, with a community which is still thriving even today.
[edit] Mother 3
- Main article: Mother 3
Mother 3 is the third long-awaited, and allegedly final game in the Mother series. Beforehand the game was in development for Nintendo 64 as a direct sequel to EarthBound, but the project was canceled due to the release date being near the end of the system's lifespan (and possibly with issues with the 3D engine and other production problems) The project picked up again for the Game Boy Advance (which was announced on a commercial for Mother 1 + 2). The game was finally released on April 20, 2006, and retained the traditional EarthBound art style and the general story and characters that were introduced in the canceled N64 version. Unlike the first two games, the story focuses on a boy named Lucas and his family on Nowhere Islands. Their home is invaded and the peace is disrupted by the mysterious "Pigmask Army" who dramatically changes Nowhere Islands by introducing technology and infrastructure and performing bizarre experiments on the flora and fauna in their takeover. The game chronicles the trials and tribulations of Lucas and his family and friends as they fight against the Pigmask Army threat.
Currently, the game is only available in Japan, although many Mother fans are hoping for a North American release. There were rumors from the United Kingdom's Official Nintendo Magazine of a possible European release, although nothing has been confirmed yet.
[edit] Other games
An expansion set for EarthBound 64 was being developed under the title Mother 3.5 (as it was an expansion to the original Mother 3 project, known in North America as EarthBound 64), for the Nintendo 64DD. Few details regarding Mother 3.5 were explicitly made available, but IGN estimated during its development that it may contain an entirely new quest and additional characters, but utilize the same engine as EarthBound 64. With the cancellation of EarthBound 64, it too was forced out of development.
A compilation for the Game Boy Advance, called Mother 1 + 2, was released in Japan on June 20, 2003. The game was meant to promote the upcoming Mother 3 (also for Game Boy Advance) as the rebirth of the franchise. Mother 3 had been in development for the Nintendo 64, but it was canceled due to production problems. The game's story had already been developed, along with the main characters, but at one point, the game's creator reported in a series of interviews that he had written a new script. However, it seems that the original EarthBound 64 storyline in Mother 3 has remained intact.
Mother 1 + 2 and perhaps Mother 3 are not expected to be released outside of Japan, though there are rumors, according to Electronic Gaming Monthly magazine, of a compilation of the three Mother games for the Nintendo DS. These rumors are unconfirmed by the series' developers, however.
Ness, the main character from EarthBound is a playable character in all three installments of the Super Smash Bros. series. In both Super Smash Bros. and Super Smash Bros. Brawl, he is an unlockable character. Super Smash Bros. Melee features the EarthBound locations Onett and Fourside arenas to battle in, as well as a Mr. Saturn item from EarthBound. In Brawl, Ness is joined by the Mother 3 character Lucas (readily available at from the beginning), and the Mother item representation has been expanded to include the new Franklin Badge. With the introduction of Assist Trophies in Brawl, Jeff from EarthBound is one of the many characters that briefly appear on the battlegrounds in the game. A stage set in New Pork City, from Mother 3, and the return of Melee's Onett stage feature in Brawl as well.
Ness and Lucas appear in Super Smash Bros. Brawl's Adventure Mode, The Subspace Emissary, as well. During the events of the story, Lucas is attacked by Pokey Minch until Ness eventually comes to the aid of Lucas. The two battle and defeat Pokey, but Wario confronts them both and attempts to turn them into trophies. Eventually, seeing that Ness is too hard of a target, Wario ends up after the weaker Lucas, who Ness saves at the sacrifice of being "trophified." Lucas runs, but after meeting the Pokémon Trainer and remembering Ness' sacrifice, he works up the courage to fight the Subspace Army.
In May 2008, EarthBound was added to the ESRB database, listed with an E rating for the Wii platform, making it clear that plans to release the game on Virtual Console are in the works.However it may not be released in America due to legal issues.
[edit] Trivia
- The only other game that had the idea of an RPG in modern times before Mother was a game called StarTropics.
- The name "Ninten" is most likely a reference to Nintendo.
- Also, the name "Ness" is an anagram of the acronym for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, SNES. It is also another way to pronounce "NES", the acronym for the original Nintendo Entertainment System.
- There is a fan effort to create a "Mother 4", it supposedly is trying to set itself apart from the other fangames on the market by simply following the spirit and concept of the original games, it has been confirmed that if the game is finished, there will be Mr. Saturns in spades.
[edit] External links
- Official Mother website
- Official Japanese EarthBound website
- Official Mother 1 + 2 website
- Official Mother 3 page
- Unofficial series fansite
