Mother 3

Mother 3
Mother 3
Deluxe package.jpg
Japanese box art showing the game logo, whose structure of wood and metal was meant to convey uneasiness and discomfort
Developer(s) Nintendo
Brownie Brown
HAL Laboratory
Publisher(s) Nintendo
Director(s) Nobuyuki Inoue
Producer(s) Shinichi Kameoka
Kensuke Tanabe
Keisuke Terasaki
Writer(s) Shigesato Itoi
Composer(s) Shogo Sakai
Series Mother
Platform(s) Game Boy Advance
Release date(s)
  • JP April 20, 2006
Genre(s) Role-playing game
Mode(s) Single-player
Rating(s)

Mother 3 is a role-playing video game developed by Nintendo, Brownie Brown and HAL Laboratory, and published for the Game Boy Advance handheld game console. It has only been released in Japan, alongside a limited supply bundle. It is the third video game in the Mother series, following EarthBound for the Super Nintendo 12 years earlier. It was written by Shigesato Itoi, the creator of the series, and directed by Nobuyuki Inoue. The music was composed by Shogo Sakai, whom Itoi chose to succeed long-time series composers Keiichi Suzuki and Hirokazu Tanaka; neither were available to work on the project.

Mother 3 is a loose sequel to EarthBound. It takes place on the "Nowhere Islands", a series of islands on Earth, and stars several characters, including Lucas, a young boy; Flint, a farmer and the father of Lucas and his older twin brother, Claus; Duster, a thief; Kumatora, a princess; Salsa, a monkey; and Boney, Flint's dog. The primary antagonist is the mysterious Pigmask Army, an army of people who wear pig-like uniforms, who suddenly invades the islands, subjugating its population. They create a variety of technologies, including Chimeras, creatures that consist of either multiple animals or machine-animal hybrids. The game switches perspectives between the main characters during several chapters.

Mother 3 was originally developed for the Super Famicom in 1994, but was moved to the Nintendo 64DD; the English version was to be titled EarthBound 64. Owing in part to the failure of the Nintendo 64DD, the game was cancelled and moved to the Nintendo 64, but the developers continued creating an expansion of it called Mother 3.5 for the 64DD. They experienced trouble with developing its 3D engine, and as a result, it was delayed several times and ultimately cancelled. It resurfaced in a 2003 television advertisement for Mother 1 + 2, a compilation of its predecessors; a message announced the revival of Mother 3 for the Game Boy Advance. Famitsu subsequently listed the title on its "most wanted games" feature where it stayed for weeks.

Although Nintendo of America have not announced plans to localize Mother 3 into another language, a fan translation group has released a patch to translate the game into English. Electronic Gaming Monthly's rumor section mentioned a compilation of Mother, Mother 2, and Mother 3 titled Mother Compilation would be made for the Nintendo DS, possibly with an international release. However, nothing has come of this. More recently, Brownie Brown, its developer, stated that if asked by Nintendo, they would work on a DS remake. According to Itoi, there are no plans to create a fourth Mother game, but he has not completely dismissed the idea.

Contents

Gameplay

Boney attacking. The player may keep with the beat of the background music to continue comboing the enemy, which displays eighth notes that rotate around the enemy.

A returning feature from the original Mother (though only made available in the leaked "Earth Bound" English version and MOTHER 1+2 compliation on GBA) is the ability to dash; by holding and releasing a button the player can move more quickly, ram into breakable objects, and stun or kill weak enemies. A player may enter a battle multiple ways. Their character may enter it normally, identified by the screen turning blue, by facing the enemy's back, causing the screen to turn green, or by the enemy attacking the player from behind, identified by the screen turning red. Mother 3 allows the player to save using creatures called "Save Frogs", which are abundant and appear at various areas in the game.[1] Currency is not available early in the game, as Nowhere Islands features a communal gift-giving system.[2] Currency is introduced later in the game as "Dragon Power" (DP), which is earned from battle, with different enemies giving different amounts based on difficulty. DP is stored away after battle, requiring the player access it from the Save Frogs.[1]

The game retains the battle system found in Mother and EarthBound, characterized by non-animated enemy sprites and an animated background. The player may have up to four playable characters in their group at a given time, as well as additional non-playable character(s), or NPC, that help in battle or play a role in the game. There are several kinds of statistics, which include Heart Points, the amount of health a character has; PSI Points, the psychic power a character has left; Offense, which determines a character's attack power; Defense, which determines a character's defensive ability; IQ, which determines a character's PSI power and status effect defense; and Speed, which determines which character acts first.[1] The player may also equip various items, which range from weapons, body equipment, headgear, and other kinds of equipment.[citation needed] The game uses a rolling health and PSI points system. Instead of a character's health or PSI being immediately drained, the health of the character will roll down over time, allowing the character to perform actions until it hits zero, including recovering from the damage. If a battle ends while a characters' health is still counting down, it will stop decreasing.

There are four main options a character can use - Attack, which varies depending on the primary weapon the fighter uses; Goods, which is used to access the items held by that character; Guard, which lowers the damage taken and slows the speed of the character's HP drop; and Run Away, which gives the player a chance to escape from battle. Another option, called PSI, is an ability only two characters possess. There are three different kinds of PSI powers - Offensive PSI, which contains attack PSI abilities; Defensive PSI, which contains protective PSI abilities; and Assist PSI, which contains abilities such as shields. Each character has a unique ability exclusive to one or two characters. Mother 3 introduces a musical combo system not found in previous titles. To use this system, the player must hit the beat of the background music during battle, with most enemies having their own beat and/or tempo. The player can hear this tempo by putting an enemy to sleep, allowing the player to hear its beat in the form of its "heartbeat".[1] Certain attacks strike only one enemy, while others strike multiple ones. Randomly, the player may inflict a critical hit on an enemy.[3]

Plot

Setting

Mother 3 is set in the Nowhere Islands, in an unknown time period. Chaos ensues after an invasion by the Pigmask Army, named after the uniforms, which resemble pigs, and its leader "King Porky" who came from a different timeline. They slowly construct a police state, while experimenting on the land's flora and fauna, and introducing new technology and infrastructure to the islands. The various chapters culminate in Lucas's quest to rid the Nowhere Islands of the Pigmask Army. 1UP.com's Jeremy Parish noted that Mother 3 had themes such as American culture, psychedelia, and rock music like previous entries in the series.[3]

Itoi describes the world of Mother 3 as being "macho", saying that "the good guys are strong and fight, and so do the bad guys, set up to mean might equals right."[4] Itoi had a difficult time creating another location called the Tanehineri Islands, which included a twisted, nightmarish world caused by the characters' consumption of psilocybin mushrooms. It features a similar vibe to Moonside, a location from EarthBound, and is like a mirror of the player's mind, reflecting the player's worst nightmares. The temporary dialogue Itoi used for Tanehineri Island was so unpleasant that he could not stand to look at it, and tried to tone it down by rewriting it, though commenting that he still found it unpleasant. Itoi stated his worst nightmare would be his friends and family being evil, which is a recurring theme in the hallucinations that Lucas and company suffer. He stated that Tanehineri Island features a similar flavor to shows such as Twin Peaks and Lost. While previous titles in the series required the player to call the protagonist's father to save their game, the player must save through "Save Frogs" scattered throughout the world. He anticipated that people would complain about the change and ask why it was done, explaining that "they are tiny, they seem like they could be anywhere, and they won't get in your way, yet they do stand out. A dog wouldn't really seem like a save point."[4]

The first location observed is Tazmily Village, known as Tatsumairi Village in Japan. It is a rural village with a communal gift-giving system. Its English name was first shown in previews of EarthBound 64, and was later used in the PAL version of Super Smash Bros. Brawl, though the North American version referred to it as "Tatsumari Village".[5] A later location, the kingdom of Osohe, is an uninhabited castle whose princess is the girl Kumatora. It is the location of a mystical item called the Hummingbird Egg. Osohe Castle, a locale in the game, was created by Itoi as a time table of sorts. He commented that no matter how correctly you portray a time period, it's easy for it to appear to be shallow, but when you dig up a fossil, you realize that it inhabited this world at one time, using the Nazca Lines as an example.[4] New Pork City is the final location in the game, and was featured in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.[6]

Characters

There are six main characters in Mother 3, which often switches perspectives between them. The characters include Lucas, a young boy; Flint, a livestock farmer and father of Lucas and his brother Claus; Kumatora, a Princess; Duster, a thief; Boney, Flint's dog; and Salsa, a performing monkey.[7] These characters have abilities unique to them. Flint has "full power attacks", including attack and defense buffs and an attack that strikes multiple enemies; Duster is capable of using several thief tools, including Wall Staples which subdue an enemy; Salsa's technique is Dance, where he does a dance to affect the enemy's disposition; Lucas and Kumatora's special technique is PSI; and Boney's is Sniff, which is used to detect the details of an enemy.[1] Mother 3 features few returning characters, including Dr. Andonuts and Porky Minch, as well as the Mr. Saturns, a race of small creatures who speak in a strange dialect.

Story

The game starts with Hinawa leaving her home in Tazmily Village to visit her father Alec, along with her two children Lucas and Claus. After a few days Hinawa and her children start their walk back home just as a mysterious group of uniformed men wearing pig masks invade the forest nearby. On the trip home, the trees of the forest suddenly set off in a fury of flames. Hinawa is killed by a mecha version of a friendly reptilian creature called a Drago as she boldly protects the lives of her sons. The Pigmasks have cruelly used the once-friendly creature a guinea pig for cybernetic tests, warping it into a mindless killing machine. When Hinawa's husband, Flint, finds out, he becomes consumed with rage and sadness, taking out his anger out by attacking the other villagers. He is knocked unconscious and arrested. The next day Claus goes to Flint in jail, giving him a tool to escape and promising he will avenge his mother's death. Flint finds out from Lucas that Claus plans to keep true to his words and has indeed gone after the Mecha-Drago. Flint, determined to save his son, goes to the peak where the Dragos live. Along the way he encounters a baby Drago, and realizes that killing its parent will orphan it. Flint spares its life but fails to find Claus. Soon after, thief-in-training Duster goes with his father, Wess, to retrieve the Hummingbird's Egg from Osohe Castle. They meet Kumatora, the princess of Osohe Castle, and find the egg. However, it is booby trapped, and the trio are sent into the castle's sewer system. Kumatora and Wess wash up on a sandbank, but Duster goes missing, losing his memory and eventually becoming the bass player for a popular band that performs at the nearby Club Titiboo. He hides the egg in the process, not knowing what it is. Meanwhile, a banana-loving man named Yokuba starts to sell enigmatic "Happy Boxes" to the villagers.

Three years later, Tazmily has been transformed into a fiercely consumerist society, with a monetary system in place for the first time. There is a Happy Box in nearly every house. Wess asks Lucas to find Duster, and he goes with his dog Boney to Club Titiboo. Right after he leaves, he meets Ionia, a member of a group of beings who are thousands of years old, known as the Magypsies, who teaches Lucas how to use PSI, revealing he can use PSI Love, being one of only two people known who could even attempt it. Kumatora is working at the club, disguised as a waitress, and the three of them convince Duster to help them find the egg. They do so, and demolish a lightning generator tower that has been destroying the homes of villagers not willing to conform to the monetary system or buy Happy Boxes. They are chased to the top of the tower by Yokuba, who slips on one of his own banana peels and falls off. They try to escape by hanging from the ladder of a Pigmask ship, but are thrown off. Lucas and Boney awaken in a field of sunflowers, where they see Hinawa's ghost. Lucas runs after her, accidentally running off the side of a cliff and onto a haystack. They meet Ionia again, who tells Lucas about the Seven Needles which seal off the gigantic "Dark Dragon" hidden under the island. Whether the world would be destroyed or created anew upon the Dragon's release depends on whether the one who pulls them is good or evil. They set off to pull as many of the needles as they can before a mysterious Masked Man transfers his evil heart onto the dragon. On the way they reunite with Kumatora and Duster, and encounter Yokuba, who has been fitted with mechanical parts after his fall.

After Lucas and the Masked Man manage to pull three needles each, Lucas, Kumatora, Duster and Boney are invited to the neon superhaven New Pork City by Master Porky, leader of the Pigmasks. The city turns out to be mostly made out of crude, childish theme park attractions and fake cardboard buildings. They find an imprisoned Leder the village's bell-ringer who speaks for the first time. He tells Lucas that there once existed a world much different from Nowhere Islands. The world wound up being destroyed by the humans who inhabited it. Before the end of the world, a white ship came to the Nowhere Islands in order to create a utopia under the Dragon's protection. They replaced the memories of the old world with the new one of Nowhere Islands to prevent them from destroying the islands as well. The Hummingbird Egg was created to store the old memories. Leder watched over the village as the only one who retained his memories, ringing a bell to keep their memories from reverting. He reveals that Porky discovered the islands by traveling through space and time, filling his city with people taken from other eras. He learned of the white ship and the Dragon from Locria, who betrayed the Magypsies. Since Porky could not pull the Needles, he took control of someone who could. Leder urges Lucas and co. to pull the seventh needle before the Masked Man does so that the world can have another chance. On the way, Yokuba later battles them, and is defeated for the last time. They later discover that Yokuba is the final Magypsy, Locria.

On the top floor of the "Empire Porky Building," they meet Master Porky, who turns out to be an old man with the mind of a child. Lucas, Kumatora, Duster, Boney, and Flint go down to the Needle and battle Porky, even though his extensive time traveling has rendered him unable to die. Porky's machine runs out of energy, though, and he decides to encases himself in a completely impenetrable capsule. However, the capsule cannot be reopened, trapping Porky inside for eternity. As Lucas goes to fight the Masked Man, he discovers that the Masked Man is actually Claus. Lucas fights Claus one-on-one, but cannot bring himself to hurt his brother. Hinawa's ghost tries to end the fight, eventually leading Claus to regain his memories and kill himself in order to free his soul. After Lucas says farewell to his brother, he pulls the final Needle. The islands and Pigmask Army are destroyed and the Dragon reawakens. If the player watches the credits and presses buttons at the game's "END?" screen, they learn that the world remained safe and that the inhabitants of the islands survived; at which point the real "END" screen shows.

Development

A comparison between EarthBound 64 and Mother 3, displaying Flint inside of the Yado Inn.

Shigesato Itoi was involved in the development of all versions of Mother 3. It was originally in development for the Super Famicom shortly after the release of EarthBound, and was later transferred to the Nintendo 64DD. After the 64DD proved to be a failure, the developers moved it to the Nintendo 64. Owing to difficulties in the development, it was delayed several times and ultimately cancelled until it was re-released for the Game Boy Advance. Shigesato Itoi announced that he currently had no plans to make a Mother 4 because of how difficult making Mother 3 was.[8] When asked about his thoughts on a Mother 4, Shigesato Itoi responded by stating that he had no plans to make such a game, and that "this time, I'd like to be the player." He also commented that if anyone said that they would like to make Mother 4, he would tell them to "go for it".[8][4]

The logo for Mother 3 is its title composed of both wood and metal.[4] Itoi states that when things that do not match at all are attached to one another, it is unsettling.[4] In the only novel Itoi has written, Family Fall Out, he wrote about a hearse, which contains a "casket of both metal and wood," a contrast between organic and inorganic that "makes you feel a little weird."[4] He calls these feelings of uneasiness and discomfort "modern feelings", describing the logo as a symbol of that, and explains his desire "to incorporate these horribly unpleasant things from the beginning."[4] The logo has remained the same since it was revealed.[4] While the Nintendo 64 version featured several different subtitles attached to the title, Itoi chose not to use subtitles in the Game Boy Advance version, saying that he felt providing a subtitle was too strong a message that says "I want you to look at it this way."[4] The official tagline for Mother 3 is "WELCOME TO MOTHER3 WORLD" [sic].[4]

Game Boy Advance version

When Shigesato Itoi decided to convert Mother and EarthBound to the Game Boy Advance (GBA), he realized there would be pressure to revive Mother 3, which he was initially opposed to.[9] Due to encouragement from fans, however, he decided to begin the development of it on the Game Boy Advance.[9] At the end of several television advertisements for Mother 1 + 2, a compilation cartridge containing the predecessors of Mother 3, a creature called Mr. Saturn announces that "We're making Mother 3 for the GBA too! Dakota!"[10] It was later announced on a release list by Nintendo.[citation needed] The GBA version was developed by Nintendo, HAL Laboratory and Brownie Brown, the latter a wholly owned Nintendo subsidiary formed by ex Square members. Itoi wrote the scenario and supervised the development.[11] It was initially proposed to Itoi to adapt the cancelled Mother 3 to a book or film, but Itoi found them both implausible, saying that the scale did not feel right.[12] Development of the GBA version began when someone came to Itoi, asking whether it can be made into a Game Boy Advance game. Itoi had not thought about it, so he merely told him "I don't know."[12] Itoi thought it over, and realized that he was trapped in a mindset that everything he made had to be epic and grandiose.[12] He commented that at the time, his attitude when approaching his work is "I want to shock the world!" and "I'm going to squeeze everything I can imagine, all of my creativity into this one project." as if he were working on his magnum opus.[12] He came to the realization that there's a different niche he can fill, which was one of the contributing factors to choosing the Game Boy Advance.[12] Itoi chose to use pixelated visuals over CG, saying that "flashy CG is just not an option for me", commenting that CG looks too ordinary.[4] Itoi chose to use hiragana over kanji after playing Dragon Quest while sick in bed.[13]

Mother 3 was created with a different feel from its predecessors.[4] When the character of Bronson is about to reveal Hinawa's death to Flint, he states "I have good news and I have bad news." Itoi stated that this uneasy line was necessary, as if the characters continued with this mood, he would not be able to introduce things such as the Oxygen Tanks, a light-hearted device.[4] One of the themes incorporated into Mother 3 is representing the physiology of the human body, such as the Asthma Spray utilized to treat asthma attacks in Mother.[4] He compares the learning of PSI to menstruation, and says that when Lucas or Kumatora, the two characters who can learn PSI, get feverish, they learn a new PSI power, which Itoi says is similar to real life, explaining that whenever he feels sluggish or exhausted, he is certain that good things will follow.[4] A scene where Lucas learns how to use PSI from the Magypsy Ionia while in a hot springs features the character telling Lucas to "just deal with it", commenting that he approached it with an older man's perspective as opposed to a "child's heart".[4] He also comments that children are good at picking up the general idea behind things, and that if he lives to be 90, he hopes one of those kids as a grownup comes to him and says "A long time ago, in third grade, I played MOTHER 3. I was really nervous and confused about what was going on in the hot spring in that tunnel... And that's what led me to the place I am today."[4]

Before the release of Mother 3, Shigesato Itoi launched a section on his web site that would reveal content week-by-week, such as wallpaper, ringtones, and images of enemies featured in the game.[14] Mother 3 was eventually released on April 20, 2006.[14] A limited edition version of Mother 3 was sold in Japan in addition to the basic title. The "Deluxe Box" included a special edition Game Boy Micro and a Franklin Badge.[15]

Final battle

The scenario between Lucas and Claus was written for the Nintendo 64 version while Itoi was in Saipan.[4] While the N64 version was "much, much darker", the Game Boy Advance version is more light-hearted, which Itoi attributes to becoming a good person and because he was not presented with as many confrontations back during the N64 version's development as he was during the GBA version's.[4] Since the scenario for the final battle had been written, it had always been a confrontation between two brothers.[4] Itoi had several choices for each line in the final battle, and had to digest each of them. He set choosing the dialogue aside until later, separating himself from his other jobs and isolating himself, concentrating on writing it. During the final battle, Hinawa's ghost appears, scolding the two boys and telling them to stop fighting, though she is harder on Lucas, because he is still alive. Itoi stated that the player feels very sorry for Claus, and that even more so than the good, the bad need to be rescued. He further states that "there's a deep meaning behind it, but they had to keep it simple because the game was written in Hiragana". He had to beg the developer Brownie Brown to "add in the program the operations in the game perfectly enough to add the super subtle timing between lines."[4]

Soundtrack

The music for the game was composed exclusively by Shogo Sakai; he had previously composed music for several games such as Virtua Fighter 2 and Super Smash Bros. Melee. Shigesato Itoi stated that Sakai was given the position because he understood Mother 3 the most, given that he could not use Keiichi Suzuki or Hirokazu Tanaka, the composers for the first two games, as they were both busy with other projects. Itoi also said that given the massive amount of songs in the game, over 250, he needed someone who had a lot of time to dedicate to the project and who could focus exclusively on it.[4] "Love Theme", the main theme of Mother 3, was composed late in the game's development; earlier in development Itoi intended to use the "Pigmask Army" theme as the main theme of the game. Itoi requested that "Love Theme" be playable on a piano with only one finger, as the "Eight Melodies" theme from Mother had gained popularity and been played in elementary schools due to its simplicity.[4]

The MOTHER3+ soundtrack album was first released by Tokyo Itoi Shigesato Office on November 2, 2006, and then distributed through the iTunes Music Store on February 2, 2007, featuring an additional bonus track, "MOTHER3 – theme of LOVE".[16][17] Another album of music from the game, MOTHER3i, was released on February 6, 2007 by Tokyo Itoi Shigesato Office in the iTunes store and other online music services. Each track of Mother3i is a combination of several tracks from the game itself, though it still does not cover all of the tracks from the game.[18]

Reception

Pre-release and release

It appeared on the top five most-wanted list in Famitsu after it was announced.[19] Writer Tim Rogers wrote that Mother 3 may "be the most important game of this year".[20] It had great response from pre-orderers[21] and was one of the top 20 best-selling games of the first half of 2006.[22]

Critical response

 Reception
Aggregate scores
Aggregator Score
GameRankings 94% [23]
Review scores
Publication Score
Famitsu 35 / 40[13]
GamesTM 8 / 10[24]
Play Magazine 10 / 10[24]
RPGamer 4/5 stars[25]

Four editors for Famitsu gave it a 10, 9, 8, and 8 out of 10.[13] 1UP.com's Jeremy Parish compared Mother 3 to the notoriously delayed Duke Nukem Forever, but wrote that the delays were since Mother 3 became less technologically advanced was "deeply impressed" by its "involving, rhythm-based battle system, its charming visuals, and its moving storyline".[26] Eurogamer's Simon Parkin praised the storytelling; he wrote that while it "initially appears to be a straightforward tale told in primary colours", it "soon demonstrates a breadth and depth of quality that few titles many times its budget achieve". He added that its character designs, which he called "unusually Western in appearance", "communicate comedy and tragedy with unexpected impact". He compared the method of splitting chapters up between different main characters to Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen, which also used this method. He felt that the gameplay was simple, but was "elegant in its simplicity" and was a "journey palatable even to genre detractors".[21] GamerTell's Jenni Lada named it the "Second Runner-Up" for their list of must-import Game Boy Advance games. She explained that its low ranking on the list was due to it being hard to understand for those who cannot read hiragana.[27] GamePro's Kat Bailey attributed her continued use of her Game Boy Advance in part to Mother 3. She wrote that it "may be the GBA's best RPG".[28] GameSpy's Andrew Alfonso praised its "interesting and entertaining gameplay", "nice visuals", and "fast-paced gameplay", but felt that it did not "appear to be an incredibly deep game".[29] GameSpot's Greg Kasavin called it amusing, and wrote that it had a chance to be released in English considering Nintendo's English localizations of Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day! and Electroplankton.[30]

Fan translation

On October 17, 2008, Starmen.net released a fan translation patch that, when applied on a copy of the ROM image, translates the game into English.[31][32] In an interview with UGO.com, Reid Young, alias Reidman, co-founder of Starmen.net, stated that when they realized Nintendo was not going to localize Mother 3, they decided to undertake the task, for themselves and for fans of the game.[33] The project took two years to complete, which included translating, writing, and revising the game text, as well as extensive hacking and testing to ensure that the game properly and correctly displays the translated text.[31] The translation included minor deviations from the original, such as localization of place-names and puns. Few dramatic changes were made, but at least three characters were renamed: "Yokuba," loosely derived from the word "欲" (yoku), which is Japanese for "greed", was replaced with "Fassad", loosely derived from the French word "façade" and, incidentally, the word "فساد" (fasād), which is Arabic for "corruption".[31][34] Also, "Yoshi-Koshi" and "Tamekichi," Kumatora and Duster's aliases at Club Titiboo, were replaced with "Violet" and "Lucky," respectively. In Mother 3, if one names Kumatora and Duster "Yoshi-Koshi" and "Tamekichi," their aliases in Club Titiboo are different. At least two locations were renamed as well; the Telly Forest, renamed the Sunshine Forest, and Tanehineri Island, renamed Tanetane Island. The translation patch received over 100,000 downloads from the web site in the first week of its release.[35] The lead translator, Clyde Mandelin, alias "Tomato", expected that the patch would be downloaded a few thousand times, and called its reception a "pleasant surprise."[35] He commented that one of the biggest hurdles in hacking the game was the "sprite text"-heavy naming screen.[5] Owing to CPU problems, a split-second graphical glitch occurs after the player confirms his or her name choices and before the main gameplay begins. Mandelin worried about the impression this glitch would make on players, speculating that people playing for the first time would think that the glitch reflected on a poor overall hacking job for the game as a whole.[5]

Tomato stated in an interview with Simon Parkin of Gamasutra that he knew that this translation was not completely legal[35] and that if Nintendo objected, he would have stopped the translation immediately.[35] The team has also stated the same in their project FAQ.[36] The industry response has been quite positive; Tomato has received e-mails from video game industry professionals expressing their gratitude for his efforts, sometimes even offering to buy him drinks.[35] While Nintendo has not provided an official comment on the translation, employees of Nintendo and Square Enix have expressed excitement for the project.[33] Other localizations are currently in development by the translation team, including Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, Dutch, German, and Malay.[37]

Eurogamer's Simon Parkin wrote that the translation was full of "wit and vim".[21] GamerTell's Jenni Lada called it "undoubtedly one of the best known fan translations in existance[sic]" She added that "it's one of the few translation projects where even people in the game industry were happy and didn’t object".[38]

Demand for an international release

1UP.com's Jeremy Parish wrote that the lack of an international release was due to the poor timing of its release at the end of the Game Boy Advance's life and that Rhythm Tengoku was also affected by this.[26] GamesRadar's David Houghton jokingly included Mother 3 in its list of the most "hideous mums" due to its lack of an English release.[39] GamePro's Jeremy Signor inluded it in his list of the 14 best Japanese role-playing games. He praised Brownie Brown for being "able to pack a lot of emotion and characterization into these simple-yet-detailed sprites".[40] GameSpy's Jonti Davies included it in his list of video games that are "stuck in Japan".[41]

In other media

Several elements from Mother 3 were featured in Super Smash Bros. Brawl for the Wii. Players could control Lucas,[42] who was originally going to be featured in Brawl's predecessor Super Smash Bros. Melee.[43] It also featured a location from Mother 3, New Pork City, and its primary antagonist, Porky, as a boss.[44] In the DSiWare game, A Kappa's Trail (developed by Brownie Brown), a Pigmask is playable, and there are many Mother 3 references.

Merchandise

Since the announcement of EarthBound 64, Nintendo and other organizations have produced pieces of Mother 3 merchandise. A strategy guide was created by Enterbrain called "Mother 3 Perfect Guide" on June 8, 2006.[45] An unofficial Mother 3 strategy guide was created by the fan translation team that localized Mother 3 into English, illustrated using clay models and hand-drawn designs of characters, enemies, items, and other things found in Mother 3.[46] It also included a fan-made Courage Badge key chain as a preorder bonus.[47] The clay models were created by Camille Young, the wife of Fangamer head Reid Young.[48] The book was well-received; UGO Networks' Russ Frushtick and Chris Plante listed it on their list of "things every gamer should own", and praised the creators for their devotion.[49]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "Mother 3: Official Gameplay Tutorial". Nintendo. http://www.nintendo.co.jp/n08/a3uj/now_walk/index.html. Retrieved 2009-02-11. 
  2. ^ Brownie Brown, HAL Laboratory. Mother 3. "The strong would help the weak, and those who had would share with those who had not."
  3. ^ a b Parish, Jeremy (2006-04-24). "Mother 3 (GBA)". 1UP.com. http://www.1up.com/previews/mother-3. 
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x "糸井重里 MOTHER3について大いに語る。 [Shigesato Itoi TELLS ALL about MOTHER 3]" (in Japanese). Nintendo Dream. http://www.nindori.com/interview/m3/index.html. Retrieved 2009-01-19. 
  5. ^ a b c "Mother 3 notes". Tomato. http://mother3.fobby.net/notes/. Retrieved 2009-02-03. 
  6. ^ "New Pork City". Smash Bros. Dojo!!. http://www.smashbros.com/en_us/stages/stage14.html. Retrieved 2007-10-15. 
  7. ^ "MOTHER 3 Characters". Nintendo. http://www.nintendo.co.jp/n08/a3uj/chara/index.html. Retrieved 2009-02-11. 
  8. ^ a b Gantayat, Anoop (2006-05-03). "No More Mother". IGN. http://gameboy.ign.com/articles/704/704589p1.html. Retrieved 2006-05-04. 
  9. ^ a b "Further News of Mother 3". RPGamer. http://www.rpgamer.com/news/Q2-2003/041603a.html. Retrieved 2009-01-22. 
  10. ^ "MOTHER 1+2 CM 1". Starmen.net. http://starmen.net/mother12/videos/m12com1_subbed.avi. Retrieved 2011-08-12. 
  11. ^ "Mother 3 / EarthBound 2 Fan Translation". http://mother3.fobby.net/. Retrieved 2009-01-10. 
  12. ^ a b c d e "Introduction: In Regards to Mother 3". Shigesato Itoi. 2003-04-13. http://www.1101.com/MOTHER/00.html. Retrieved 2009-01-19. 
  13. ^ a b c "The Week in Japan: Sweet Mother 3 - Edge Magazine". Next-gen.biz. 2006-04-19. http://www.next-gen.biz/features/week-japan-sweet-mother-3. Retrieved 2011-07-04. 
  14. ^ a b "(Almost-daily paper) Itoi's Newspaper - Welcome to the world of Mother 3". Shigesato Itoi. http://www.1101.com/MOTHER3/index.html. Retrieved 2009-01-22. 
  15. ^ "Mother 3 Gets a Little More Special". RPGamer. 2006-02-22. http://www.rpgamer.com/news/Q1-2006/022206b.html. Retrieved 2009-01-22. 
  16. ^ Miller, Kyle (2008-11-24). "Mother 3+". RPGFan. http://rpgfan.com/soundtracks/mother3+/index.html. Retrieved 2009-09-30. 
  17. ^ "Mother 3+". Square Enix Music Online. http://www.squareenixmusic.com/albums/m/mother3+.shtml. Retrieved 2009-09-30. 
  18. ^ "Mother 3i". Square Enix Music Online. http://www.squareenixmusic.com/albums/m/mother3i.shtml. Retrieved 2009-09-30. 
  19. ^ "Inside Famitsu: Rogue Galaxy and More - Edge Magazine". Next-gen.biz. 2004-11-29. http://www.next-gen.biz/features/inside-famitsu-rogue-galaxy-and-more. Retrieved 2011-07-04. 
  20. ^ "The Week in Japan - Edge Magazine". Next-gen.biz. 2006-02-24. http://www.next-gen.biz/features/week-japan-8. Retrieved 2011-07-04. 
  21. ^ a b c "Mother 3 Import Review". Eurogamer. 2008-10-29. http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/mother-3-review. Retrieved 2009-01-19. 
  22. ^ "Vapor Trails: The Games that Never Were". 1UP.com. 2007-02-07. http://www.1up.com/do/feature?pager.offset=1&cId=3154276. Retrieved 2009-01-22. 
  23. ^ "Mother 3". GameRankings. http://www.gamerankings.com/gba/914622-mother-3/index.html. Retrieved 2011-05-27. 
  24. ^ a b "Mother 3 (gba: 2006) reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 2010-12-23. http://apps.metacritic.com/games/platforms/gba/mother3. Retrieved 2009-01-19. 
  25. ^ Jackson, Jordan. "Mother 3 Staff Review". RPGamer. http://www.rpgamer.com/games/mother/mother3/reviews/mother3strev1.html. Retrieved 2011-05-27. 
  26. ^ a b Parish, Jeremy (2009-03-26). "High Time to Play Mother 3". 1UP.com. http://www.1up.com/do/blogEntry?bId=8984514. 
  27. ^ Lada, Jenni (2008-01-11). "Important Importables: The Must-Import GBA game". GamerTell. http://www.gamertell.com/gaming/comment/important-importables-the-must-import-gba-game/. 
  28. ^ Bailey, Kat (2011-03-30). "Editorial: Why I'm Still Playing the Game Boy Advance". GamePro. http://www.gamepro.com/article/features/218682/editorial-why-im-still-playing-the-game-boy-advance/. 
  29. ^ Alfonso, Andrew (2006-04-26). "Mother 3 Preview". GameSpy. http://gba.gamespy.com/gameboy-advance/mother-3/702986p1.html. 
  30. ^ Kasavin, Greg (2006-04-26). "Mother 3 Import Hands-On". GameSpot. http://www.gamespot.com/gba/rpg/mother3/news.html?sid=6148258&mode=previews. 
  31. ^ a b c "Mother 3 Fan Translation ReadMe". Starmen.net. http://mother3.fobby.net/or/. Retrieved 2009-01-23. 
  32. ^ "Mother 3 fan translation complete, ready for download". 2008. http://www.joystiq.com/2008/10/17/mother-3-fan-translation-complete-ready-for-download/. Retrieved 2009-02-11. 
  33. ^ a b "Mother 3 in English! an Interview with Reid Young, co-founder of Starmen.Net!". UGO.com. 2008-10-17. http://www.ugo.com/games/mother-3-in-english-an-interview-with-reid-young-co-founder-of-starmennet. Retrieved 2009-01-21. 
  34. ^ "Mama's boys: the epic story of the Mother 3 fan translation". Ars Technica. 2008-10-28. http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2008/10/no-edits-junk-test.ars. Retrieved 2009-01-25. 
  35. ^ a b c d e "You Say Tomato: A Pro on Fan-Translating Nintendo's Mother 3". Gamasutra. 2008-12-26. http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3891/you_say_tomato_a_pro_on_.php. Retrieved 2009-01-19. 
  36. ^ "Mother 3 Fan Translation FAQ". Tomato. Archived from the original on 2008-08-22. http://web.archive.org/web/20080822110712/http://mother3.fobby.net/faqs/. Retrieved 2009-02-11. 
  37. ^ "Translations Into Other Languages". Clyde Mandelin. 2008-07-09. http://mother3.fobby.net/blog/2008/07/09/translations-into-other-languages/. Retrieved 2009-02-06. 
  38. ^ Lada, Jenni (2010-03-05). "Important Importables: Notable fan translation projects". GamerTell. http://www.gamertell.com/gaming/comment/important-importables-notable-fan-translation-projects/. 
  39. ^ Houghton, David. "Gaming's most hideous mums". GamesRadar. http://www.gamesradar.com/xbox360/f/gamings-most-hideous-mums/a-2010031212507737074/g-20081215143930220013. Retrieved 2011-05-27. 
  40. ^ Signor, Jeremy (2011-02-22). "The 14 Best Unreleased JRPGs". GamePro. http://www.gamepro.com/article/features/218274/the-14-best-unreleased-jrpgs/. 
  41. ^ Davies, Jonti (2006-12-16). "Stuck in Japan". GameSpy. http://www.gamespy.com/articles/750/750930p1.html. 
  42. ^ Sakurai, Masahiro (2007-10-01). "Lucas". Smash Bros. DOJO!!. http://www.smashbros.com/en_us/characters/lucas.html. Retrieved 2009-03-22. 
  43. ^ "速報スマブラ拳!!: ネス" (in Japanese). Nintendo. 2001-07-17. http://www.nintendo.co.jp/n01/n64/software/nus_p_nalj/smash/flash/0717/index.html. Retrieved 2007-10-21. 
  44. ^ Sakurai, Masahiro (2008-03-17). "Boss Strategies". Smash Bros. DOJO!!. http://www.smashbros.com/en_us/gamemode/modea/modea15.html. Retrieved 2009-03-22. 
  45. ^ "Mother 3 Perfect Guide". Play Asia. http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-lz-49-en-70-2f5j.html. Retrieved 2009-01-19. 
  46. ^ "Mother 3 Handbook Will Blow Your Baby Blue Socks Off". Kotaku.com. 2008-10-28. http://kotaku.com/5065743/mother-3-handbook-will-blow-your-baby-blue-socks-off. Retrieved 2009-01-19. 
  47. ^ "Mother 3 Handbook". Fangamer. http://handbook.fangamer.com/. Retrieved 2009-02-27. 
  48. ^ Caoili, Eric (2009-04-17). "Camille Young's Marvelous Mother 3 Sculptures". Game Set Watch. http://www.gamesetwatch.com/2009/04/camille_youngs_marvelous_mothe.php. 
  49. ^ Frushtick, Russ; Plante, Chris (2009-04-13). "Things Every Gamer Should Own". UGO Networks. http://www.ugo.com/games/things-every-gamer-should-own-mother-3-handbook. 

External links

Official websites

Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужна курсовая?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Mother 3 — Desarrolladora(s) Nintendo SPD Production Group No.3, HAL Laboratory, Brownie Brown Distribuidora(s) Nintendo Diseñador(es) Shigesato Itoi …   Wikipedia Español

  • Mother — Moth er, a. Received by birth or from ancestors; native, natural; as, mother language; also acting the part, or having the place of a mother; producing others; originating. [1913 Webster] It is the mother falsehood from which all idolatry is… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • mother — mother1 [muth′ər] n. [ME moder < OE modor, akin to Ger mutter < IE * matér, mother (> L mater, Gr mētēr, OIr māthir) < * ma , echoic of baby talk] 1. a woman who has borne a child; esp., a woman as she is related to her child or… …   English World dictionary

  • Mother 3 — Éditeur Nintendo Développeur Nintendo SPD Production Group No.3, HAL Laboratory, Brownie Brown Concepteur Shigesato Itoi Date de sortie 20 avril 2006 (Japon) Genre …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Mother Z — Saltar a navegación, búsqueda Mother Z (マサーゼータ) es un Fangame Para PC que sera la sequela de Mother 3 a diferencia de muchos otros es que no lleva el titulo Mother 4 y que al parecer esta mas basado en Earthbound que en Mother 3 , en cuanto a… …   Wikipedia Español

  • Mother — Moth er (m[u^][th] [ e]r), n. [OE. moder, AS. m[=o]dor; akin to D. moeder, OS. m[=o]dar, G. mutter, OHG. muotar, Icel. m[=o][eth]ir, Dan. & Sw. moder, OSlav. mati, Russ. mate, Ir. & Gael. mathair, L. mater, Gr. mh thr, Skr. m[=a]t[.r]; cf. Skr.… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Mother — (englisch für Mutter) bezeichnet: Mother (Computerspiel), eine Computerspielreihe Mother (1996), einen Film von Albert Brooks Mother (2009), einen Film von Bong Joon ho Mother (Lied), ein Lied von John Lennon …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • mother-to-be — mother to beˈ noun (pl mothers to beˈ) A woman who is pregnant, esp with her first child • • • Main Entry: ↑mother * * * ˌmother to ˈbe [mother to be mothers to be] noun ( …   Useful english dictionary

  • Mother Lü — (呂母) was a Chinese woman who lived during the reign of Wang Mang. When her son, Lü Yu, was executed for not collecting taxes from the peasants, she began a peasant rebellion against Wang Mang. Source Lu Mu mother of a revolution , URL accessed… …   Wikipedia

  • Mother 1+2 — est une compilation sortie sur Game Boy Advance au Japon en 2003 regroupant Mother sorti sur Famicom en 1989 et EarthBound (Mother 2) sorti sur Super Nintendo en 1994. Portail du jeu vidéo …   Wikipédia en Français

  • mother — ► NOUN 1) a female parent. 2) (Mother) (especially as a title or form of address) the head of a female religious community. 3) informal an extreme or very large example of: the mother of all traffic jams. ► VERB ▪ look after kindly and… …   English terms dictionary

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”