Ninten
ニンテン Ninten
Sprites
Also known as	Boku (Early Japanese name) Ken (Mother novel)
Age	12 years old
Origin	Podunk
Relatives	Unnamed Mother Unnamed Father Mimmie Minnie Maria George
Appears in	Mother Mother 1 + 2

Ninten (ニンテン) is a character in Mother. Please note that he looks a lot like and was probably the inspiration for Ness. He is a boy from the suburbs of Podunk, and is the older brother of Mimmie and Minnie. He usually uses common-place items such as baseball bats as his primary weapon. Ninten is the only character in the Mother series to suffer from asthma during battle. Unlike his counterparts Ness and Lucas, Ninten has yet to appear as a character in the Super Smash Bros. series, perhaps due to Mother being unreleased in the west. However, both Ness and Lucas appeared in the series, despite EarthBound being unreleased in Europe and Mother 3 only being released in Japan.

Contents 1 Biography 2 PSI Abilities 3 Etymology 4 In Super Smash Bros. Brawl

BiographyEdit

Ninten lives in a small house with his mother and father (although the latter is rarely at home, and does not appear in the house in-game), and his two twin sisters in northern Podunk at the beginning of his adventure. In the first events of Mother, Ninten must control the influences of a mischievous poltergeist on the ornaments within his house. Examples of such items under the control of the poltergeist include a lamp and a doll, both of which Ninten must battle. After that, he is sent to investigate the origin of these strange phenomena, which are also occuring in the rest of the world, that are later revealed to be caused by Giygas.

Like most protagonists of early Nintendo games, Ninten is generally a silent character, having no speaking roles beyond "yes" or "no" responses, with the exception of a speech he gives at the end of the game. In-battle, he can deal damage using his primary weapon, usually a bat, and learn to use various PSI abilities. As the game progresses, Ninten and Ana develop feelings for each other, which culminates in a scene where the two waltz in a hotel room to a music box, where Ana confesses her feelings for Ninten. It is unclear whether their relationship continues after the game.

Ninten seems to be more stubborn than the other main characters, and may even have a bad temper. This can be proven by Ninten fighting the bigger and stronger Teddy in Ellay, and getting angry at hippies for trying to trick him into thinking his mother was calling him. Ninten is asthmatic, the only character in the series who is. When his asthma is out of control, he is not able to fight at all. He also has a very weak immune system, tending to fall sick very easily. Ninten's exclusive ability is 4th-D Slip, which lets himself and his party escape almost any battle. Ninten's favourite food is Prime Ribs, and his favourite animal is the penguin.

PSI AbilitiesEdit

Throughout Mother, Ninten can learn a variety of different PSI ablities. Among the Assist abilities are 4th-D Slip, DefenseDown, DefenseUp, Hypnosis, OffenseUp, PowerShield, PSI Shield and QuickUp. Among the Other abilities are Telepathy and Teleport. Finally, among the Recover abilities are Healing andLifeUp. Ninten is the only Mother protagonist that doesn't know any offensive PSI. However, it is interesting to note that in the commercial for EarthBound Zero, Ninten and Ana are seen casting the offensive PSI PK Beam to destroy R7037. It is possible that he could cast it because Ana was casting it with him.

EtymologyEdit

Ninten's name is derived from Nintendo, the company that published the Mother series. The name 'Ninten' was used by Nintendo as a placeholder name in guides and suchlike for many games in the 1990s. Ninten himself was referred to as 'Boku', Japanese for "Me", to show the player was meant to name him. It is not known when or why Ninten was adopted as the official name, but he is now called as such in both America and Japan. It is interesting to note that in the Mother novel, he was called Ken.

In Super Smash Bros. BrawlEdit

Ninten appears in Super Smash Bros. Brawl as a sticker. Attaching this sticker to the bottom of Ness or Lucas's trophies in The Subspace Emissary increases their PK attack by 24.