✔
The Mother series (or the Earthbound series if you're in America) is like the John Wick movies. All of them are 10/10 and it's valid to think one is better or worse than the other as long as Earthbound is your favorite. I knew going in that I would like it less than Earthbound, and I did, but it's still perfect. Yes, some things are imperfect, but they're wrong. Gosh, I love video games.

In terms of gameplay, not much changes other than a more accessible menu system, a musical combo mechanic in battles, and a chapter-based story structure. Just like in Earthbound, it gets easier as you go along. By the end of the game, my characters were all level 62 (except for Lucas, who was level 63), so I swept up the remaining encounters. The final battle, unlike Earthbound, was not against a big monster or some insurmountable foe. It was just your brother, stuck in his controlled state. Yes, it is similar to Giygas in the way that traditional attacks won't always work, but you have stakes in this because of his significance in the story (which I didn't get spoiled on, funnily enough).

Speaking of which, the story is gold like always. Shigesato Itoi knows how to craft great stories. There are tons of characters you'll like, of course. The bigger achievement on my mind is that Mother 3 manages to introduce not just one, but two people that you're going to hate (Fassad sucks, by the way). I will admit that it doesn't really start until Chapter 4 though. The first three chapters are mostly setting up the story, making you familiar with the world and characters. I admit that I wasn't the biggest fan of the concept, but it's executed masterfully here. If nothing else, the game is worth playing for the story.

Out of every game, Mother 3 definitely deserves the name Mother. Hinawa, your mom, is an important factor for most of the plot. Her death drives the motivation of Flint, Claus and Lucas, her presence is felt throughout the whole game, and it is her who manages to pull Claus back from Porky's clutches (Porky sucks, by the way). Mother 3 is more about family than any of the other games in the series, really emphasizing the familial connections. Even if we're not just talking about the mother, the other members of the family are represented well. Lucas and Claus spoke to me as two siblings who just didn't see eye to eye (yes, one was being controlled, but it can really feel that way sometimes). Of course, I can't forget Flint. He isn't a perfect dad, but we find out why this time instead of just seeing a phone ring. I really appreciate that during the end, he tries to make sure he doesn't lose anyone else like he lost Hinawa.

I know I didn't write nearly as much for this review as I did for Earthbound, but I enjoyed my time with Mother 3 so darn much. I wonder what they did in the timeline where it came to America. Maybe they called it Earthbound: Love or something. Maybe they changed the series name back to Mother. Maybe nothing happened like our current timeline. It's a shame that America has to resort to a fan translation or to just play it in Japanese. The Mother series deserves an audience and I think you ought to go try it out.

Oh, and don't forget. No crying until the end.

"It looks like things will work out here, but what about your world? Will it be alright?

"Hey other world! Be good to Josh"

I have been a massive fan of Earthbound for half of my life. I was first exposed to the game when I first played smash Bros and really liked using the characters Ness and Lucas. I had never heard of them and used my computer to look up who they were. I discovered that they were from a rpg series named Mother, a trilogy that only saw one game release in the west called Earthbound. I searched for ways to play the game and managed to get it on my dad's old laptop. It ran horribly and the games mechanics didn't really click with me and yet I saw it through to the end and fell in love with how the game ended its story. I left Earthbound with a relatively positive feeling about the game but with the opinion that it wasn't anything special. Yet, for a game that was "nothing special" it would constantly call back to me... I would play through it over and over again throughout the years as it released on different hardware and fall more and more in love with it each time. Now, as I sit here on it's 30th anniversary it stands as one of my absolute favourite games of all time, just as special to me as foundational childhood favourites like A Link to the Past, Super Mario World and Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Explorers of sky and taking up the same space I have in my heart for games that are precious to me beyond words like Dragon Quest 5. Earthbound is special to me, it's one of my favourite things ever... but this isn't an Earthbound review... it's a Mother 3 one.

I have thought about playing Mother 3 many times throughout the years but relatively early on I clung to a stubborn belief that if I was patient enough it would be localized and I could play it for the first time in some legit capacity. This year and what has happened with Mother 3 on switch was finally the straw that broke the camel's back. I would deny myself this experience no longer, if Nintendo didn't want me to experience the game in my native language than I would finally take up the work of fans much more pationate than I and experience it that way. I bought a cheap copy of the game I found online, threw it into my gba sp and got playing.

As I crushed through each chapter I could tell I was enjoying the game but something was off. It had the same charm and heart of Earthbound but the story seemed so much more strange for lack of a better word. The whiplash between heart wrenching scenes of sadness and despair were juxtaposed with scenes of baffling humor and downright otherworldly absurdity. Earthbound had these moments of craziness that often resulted in the games best moments but the darker moments of Earthbound were so much less personal than Mother 3. Sure there are cults and alien abductions and ither zany happenings but those things were happening to the world around you. It impacts you as a member of the world rather than as a character directly, the stakes are personal to you as a resident who is destined to die unless they take up a call to action and fight. Mother 3 on the other hand is nothing but personal. The Pig army had taken over your town, corrupted your friends, ruined nature, destroyed utopia, killed your mother, taken your brother and broken your unbreakable father. You are left with nothing (well, you still got Boney so not NOTHING nothing) and it is in that moment where you set out to make things right. You've seen what's happening and even though Lucas is a cry baby they have decided enough is enough. Sure, you discover later that you are one of two beings capable of waking a sleeping dragon that has the power to re-write the world itself, but that is not what drives you initially or emotionally. Your call to action is much more personal, your reasons for saving the world are much more personal and the final climax is much more personal.

The ending is what changed my opinion of the game as a whole. Up until that point I had decided that I loved the look of the game, the rhythm based battle system coupled with Earthbound's scrolling health bar was way to much fun and that the characters were endearing and charming... but the game lacked the wow factor Earthbound did. After experiencing the ending however my opinion has completly shifted. The way in which the ending tied the whole game together for me was an absolute master class. Never before has the ending of a game altered my perception of the entire experience so much since the very first time I played Earthbound.

I included the text at the begining of this review because that moment really stuck out to me. The game's story at the end (in my interpretation anyway) was one about grief. When the worst of the worst happenes how do you respond? Do you hide yourself away, never allowing anyone to come close to you or hurt you again? Do you find the emotions to harmful to the point where you escape them through erasing everything that made you you? Do you use those emotions to spur yourself on, allowing yourself to feel it all and grow from it? I have been in a place where my heart was empty... I have tried to run to a place where no one could ever hurt me again. That attempt failed and when it did I was forced to face the feelings that drove me to emptiness. It was a turning point- would I grow and evolve or would I stay empty and die. I chose to live, I chose to grow... I chose to feel. Mother 3 presents you with these differing viewpoints and methods of dealing with grief, presents a senario where a character manages to use grief in order to grow and then in the end asks you, the player, "hey are you good?" "You've taken the time to see our story through to the end and now it's time to continue living yours... we hope you are okay!" The story of Lucas and Mother 3 is one of tragedy and loss and how one weak, timid boy was forced to grow up. From that grief he came out with strength unrivaled. It wasn't the end for him but a new begining. Armed with that knowledge the game then asks you the player "what say you?" "The world will throw everything its got at you and in those moments when you are faced with grief how will you respond?" "Please take care and grow just like Lucas!"

So yea, the ending of Mother 3 really spoke to me. I was expecting for the sad story and endearing characters to be the thing that sold me on it but was blown away when it instead offered me insight into life as a whole. It was a conclusion I had reached without ever playing the game but having it reinforced at a time in my life where I could feel myself slipping into old habits resulted in a reaffirmation of my resolve. I don't need years to know that this game is special to me... it just is already. I need more time to think it over in my brain, more time to experience it again from start to finish once more but I can say with certainty that Mother 3, like Earthbound before it, is more than just a game to me. It too takes a special place in my heart now as a game that speaks to me unlike anything that has come before it.

A truly beautiful experience that I will carry forever. The most no brainer 5/5 for me of all time.