Mother

[Forte 0]

I bet almost no one here has ever even heard of the Mother series. In America, the second game was called Earthbound and released for the Super Nintendo. So for the majority of you who haven't heard of it, I'll go into a bit of detail.Mother was released in 1989 for the NES and there were plans to bring it out outside of Japan, yet since the Super Nintendo was soon to come out here, it was scrapped. There are roms of it in English referring to it as "Earthbound Zero". It follows the adventures of a boy named Ninten and his friends as they save the world from an evil alien.Later, in 1995, Mother 2 (Earthbound) was brought out for the Super Nintendo. Like Mother, it sold very well in Japan. The advertising here was terrible and very few people knew anything about it. Anyone who did actually notice it also noticed that its graphics weren't up to par with Final Fantasy, and ignored it. The story changed over to follow Ness (who some here may know from Super Smash Bros) and his set of friends as they set out to once again save the world from the same threat that existed in the previous game. This is the only of the Mother trilogy to be sold outside of Japan.Finally, Mother 3 was released in 2006 as the final game in the trilogy set an undetermined amount of years in the future. Its characters change once more, to a small family living on an island, and a few citizens on that island. The main character changes each chapter, but eventually ends up on Lucas (who you may know from Super Smash Bros as well) who can be considered the main character in its story. If you've never played any of the games, I recommend you find a way to play them. I'm lucky enough to own Earthbound on my Super Nintendo, and I have a ROM of Mother 3. A group of people from Starmen.net (a huge Mother series fansite) translated the entire game into English, since the general consensus is that Nintendo of America wanted nothing to do with the game after Earthbound's terrible sales (which was their fault). All three are wonderful games with brilliant stories and characters that, chances are, you'll find a bit of yourself in. In my opinion, Mother, in three games, trumps all of Final Fantasy's many story arcs and characters who often have little to no personality. It breaks away from the typical RPG, switching from swords and magic staffs to using everyday items and psionics, and each game in the series is riddled with symbolism, references to popular culture, and moments that can almost bring you to tears.While some people probably won't like it at first, if you do find a way to play any of them, bear with it past the first few minutes. Immerse yourself in the story and characters more than the graphics. The gameplay is similar to Final Fantasy, though in the final two games, enemies appear in the overworld and you have a chance of avoiding them, or when your level is high enough, killing them instantly. You'll find it to your liking, if not, oh well. Like most things, it's not for everyone.

[kagerioshu 0]

I follow the translation scene pretty closely actually, and have always been a fan of the Mother series myself. When I heard that Mother 3 was translated finally, I was pretty joyous. Of course, like most people, it all started for me on the SNES with my original copy of Earthbound. I even still have the scratch-n-sniff Nintendo-published cards and all!Since the translation of Mother 3 was released recently, I decided to go back and check out the entire series from the start. I got a copy of "Earthbound Zero" as its called and have been playing that for the past month. The random battles don't bother me too much, although I did get a fan-made patch that reduces their encounter rate while upping the experience and money received from battles. Lame I know, but I don't have the patience for dealing with excessive grinding. I'm someone who really appreciates the innovations that the SNES game brought to the table, such as foes being visible on the overworld and having the option to defeat them automatically.Earthbound Zero is unusual compared to the rest of the games in the sense that it seems to carry a stronger sinister undertone that exists beneath the charming surface. It's kind of hard to explain, but things feel creepier and darker than compared to the two sequels. I know the creator behind the series, Shigesato Itoi, based plenty of the imagery and darker ideas in Mother on a traumatic experience he had as a child, which reflects in character designs like Gygas and the crazier elements of the end-game. Maybe it's just the harsh and sober NES palette that makes Earthbound Zero so creepy, but I imagine that if I was a child playing this game on my NES, certain scenes and aspects of it would definitely chill me. Altogether, it's fun, but I can't wait to get to the SNES Earthbound and beat it again so I can move on to Mother 3 finally.I love Earthbound, and I appreciate all the unique qualities that the Mother series contains. The characters of these games are very simple but true, and are delivered beautifully. The worlds that the Mother series contains are surreal, hopeful, dark, dangerous, glorious, irreverent, and peaceful all at once. More importantly and above all else, they're honest, and that's what makes the games so endearing I think.