Mother 3 - A game about life on the farm

[NLTM]

Mother 3? What the dick is that?

Mother 3, released in 2006, is the sequel to Mother 2, which all you in the Western World might know as Earthbound. Unfortunately, Mother 3 was never officially translated and released in the West, due both to Earthbound's relatively poor sales and some other stuff about copyright laws because Japan and America have very different rules regarding that sort of thing. Mother 3 could have been translated and released, but probably not without some heavy editwork. Instead, Mother 3 has gotten most of its exposure to Westerners by way of the Smash Bros. series, specifically Brawl, which has Lucas, our intrepid main character, available to play. The story mode of Brawl also harbored MAJOR SPOILERS for the game. But we don't talk about that.

Much like Earthbound, Mother 3 maintains the quirky and endearing characters, witty and snappy humor, as well as its both lighthearted and heavy hitting plot.

Hmm, I've never played the first two games...

That's fine! The game does not have a massive connection to the first 2, except for a few things down the line, and I'll explain it all when we get there. In the meantime, I urge you to at least play Earthbound. It's a great game, and Mother 3 builds upon its story and mechanics oh so well.

Haha! I lied! I have played the first two! What's so different about this one?

Compared to the other games gameplay-wise, it's not too different. Your dude walks around, talking to people and such, sometimes you get into fights with ultra-trippy backgrounds, but there are a few things added in, not unlike a beautifully red cherry topping off a wonderfully iced piece of nut bread.

First, overworld navigation just got a whole lot lazier with the addition of dashing! Hold B and charge for a bit, then you can run off any which way. It beats Skip Sandwiches at least.

The battle system also got a bit of an overhaul. Combos are now things that can happen. Specifically, YOU are the thing that MAKE combos happen. When you attack, hit A in time to the music. If you're feeling the groove enough, you'll get a combo. Keep feeling the beat and you can rack up combos of up to 16 which can do wonders in a pinch.

So do you know Japanese or what? The game wasn't translated or anything...

Ahh, but I said the game was never OFFICIALLY translated. A fan translation, which was released in 2008, handily translates all the text in the game, and retains that unique sense of humor. You can get it at mother3.fobby.net

There's also a few other goodies on the site, such as a translated interview with Mother creator Shigesato Itoi and a little guide of all the bits and bobs hidden inside Mother 3 that didn't make it into the finished game.

Consider me sold! Get started already!

Hold your ass, images take a while to upload, plus I'm tired.

[NLTM]

NOTE: The images are initially dark because I'm dumb and didn't put the emulator on Truecolor. This is fixed next update!

Mother 3: Episode 1 - Defining a Family



Why hello.

Once you start up the game it thrusts you right into the naming sequence. Here we meet our family. The {last name redacted} family.




Yeah, that seems to be a good name for our eldritch child.




Oh, and his brother, of course!




Kind of a hard to pronounce name, but I'm not one to argue. I'm sure his parents had a reason for it!




Nice name, lady. I can tell birds of a feather flock together.




Rounding out the family is our surely lovecraftian dog creature.

But we're not done yet! We must now think up our family's favorite thing to absorb the essence of. The answer is obvious.




And now our favorite thing! Another simple answer!




Ahh... the scent of nostalgia fills my schnoz I tell you what



Let's begin!




Here's your world. Well, island. An island both lost in time and location. Rolling hills, calm plains, and intense mountains. It's nothing less than paradise.







And with this saccharine landscape, we find our hero.

As with all classic RPGs, the story opens with our lazy ass asleep. This time, we're woken up by our brother. The kids are happy on vacation to their grandfather's farm. Unfortunately, the father could not come as well, because he had to tend their own farm back home.






Lookin' sexy. Let's head downstairs and hang out with Sualc. Before we walk out though, we're stopped none other than our mother. Apparenly we look like a bum in nothing but pajamas, who knew?





Sorry mom, looks like I'm in my rebellious phase.



.......................



Fine.



Yeah yeah.



Ahh, the great outdoors. One thing I should mention is the fanfare you get when you step outside. The screen fades in from white and the music swells, it feels like you're entering something really big.

Our grandfather calls us a wimp, as he is wont to do. He's a nice man, and he means well. He knows his youngest grandson will be strong one day (maybe)

Let's head south.




...Oh. Right. Of course.

Now I mentioned holding B makes you charge. What better way to test that out than on our own mother? You know, just sorta ram into her.



Get into position here...... And.....

CHARGE!!!




SUCCESS!



In the east, a frog stops us from going further. This is no ordinary frog, but a memory frog! Frogs in this world chronicle memories. With memories spawn their own memories, and new memories are born from those.

Frogs save games, in case you didn't know.

Oh yeah frogs can talk too.

But no other animal can.

Frogs are cool.

[NLTM]

Let's head to the East, like we said we would. (Notice the difference in color? Hell of a lot better)



When we get there, we see the Dragos that Sualc was talking about. Turns out they're actual ****ing dinosaurs. They're friendly though, so Sualc participates in a bit of play fighting.



Our brother is just playing, but it's still impressive looking to see a large dinosaur fall down like that.




He encourages us to play as well. This is when the game gives you a proper tutorial for charging, so you knock over the Drago a few times like so:





After some fun, our grandfather interjects with his own brand of motivation. He's a unique guy.



Just then, a shout is heard from the East. A little cricket approaches the comparatively skyscraper-like Drago, and challenges it to a fight. The Drago looks down incredulously, so the small creature picks a fight with something a little smaller.



Most notably, us.



This is the battle tutorial. It doesn't tell you about stuff like combos, but you can still perform them by pressing A in time to the music when you fight. The only problem is that an emulator - which is the only way to play this game in a translated form - has inherent lag. It's hard to time the hits perfectly, and combos above 3 or 4 hits are difficult to pull off. It's a shame, because it's pretty much the coolest mechanic ever, but oh well. They're not impossible, just a bit more complicated.

The fight isn't hard, at any rate.



After the fight, our mother calls us and comes in from the south. A small crunch is heard as she walks towards us.



Truly the most devastating loss in video game history.

But, our mother bears good news!




We all hurry off back to the kitchen. At dinner, Awanih also announces that tomorrow, we'll head back home to Tazmily Village. Our grandfather calls us a wimp again, saying that even we could make the trip back alone, and that it's no big deal.

The next morning, Awanih writes a letter to her husband.



Dear Tnilf,

Just like you said they would, the children have been running around the mountains and fields tirelessly since the moment we arrived.

Sualc is as daring and full of energy as ever, while Sacul is still a bit coddled. But neither one seems tired of playing at all.

My father seems sad to say goodbye to his grandchildren after seeing them for the first time in so long, but we should be home by this evening.

I had forgotten how nice and refreshing the mountain air is. You're always covered in the smell of sheep back in Tazmily Village, so I really wish you could have been here to take in this air.

The next time we visit, let's ask one of our neighbors to tend to the sheep so we can all come up here as a family.

Sualc, Sacul, and I were always thinking about you. When we get home this evening, I'll start cooking some of your favorite flesh right away!

With love, your dearest Awanih.



The screen fades to black.










Mother 3: Episode 2 - Serenity Interrupted



A serene forest dominates the landscape; a powerful plateau hangs in the distance. Suddenly, a deafening sound.



Explosion after explosion rings through the calm trees. A man is disturbed from his sleep.



He tells his son to stay in the house, while he ventures out to find the source of the uproar.




The wildlife of the forest is noticeably roused from its sleep, as 2 strange, masked men step out from the trees.



A bomb is planted




And then detonated.



A nearby village scrambles for both safety and understanding.

[NLTM]

Man I know I haven't updated in a few days.

Terraria updated, man.

there was nothing I could do to stop it.