Game Title - Mother 3
Developer - HAL Laboratory/ No. 3/ Brownie Brown
Genre - JRPG
Rating - E (CERO: A)
Release Date - April 20, 2006
Platforms - Gameboy Advance
Strange, Funny, Heartrending. The tagline to Mother 3, Written and Directed by Shigesato Itoi and Composed by Shogo Sakai, is the third game in the popular Japanese Mother series. The only game in the series that was ported stateside was dubbed Earthbound, a quirky, fun and childish, but surprisingly deep and even scary JRPG for the Super Nintendo. It didn't sell well, due to poor marketing which prompted Nintendo Of America to keep Mother 3 in Japan, where is was very successful. In response for these, a translating team spent 2 years translating every line of dialogue from Japanese to English for the die hard fans of the Mother series to be able to enjoy the final, and best, entry in the series. Once the translation was done, what came out was one of the most original pieces of gaming anyone could, and should, experience. Mother 3, while appearing childish and "retro" should not be passed up by anyone who enjoys solid and simple game play, and an incredible story of love and redemption.
Mother 3 starts just as all the other Mother games have, naming the the main characters you initially meet. Shigesato Itoi stated in an interview that he felt sad when people would name their characters AAAA instead of naming them after someone they love. He wanted the player to really feel for the characters, and grow a bond, love them and be hurt by them. So while the character naming process may seem pointless, if invested in to, it really is integral to the story and for the player, could even heighten the experience.
Once the naming is finished (along with your favourite food and thing) the game starts upon you waking up, tired and with a wicked bed head, you're mom is calling you downstairs to go play outside with your brother. You learn how to move, run and have a short fight to teach you combat with a mole cricket. After this sequence is over, a cut scene involving Hinawa (or the the name you gave her) plays showing her writing a note to her husband Flint (or name you gave him) and attaching it to a bird and letting it fly off. Over head, a strange object flies by with a strange tune, almost like a military tune.
What follows I can't say, because it would give away TOO much of the story, and it really is a story that you should play for yourself. But for the most of it, it's about Lucas and his brother Claus, and the people Lucas meets. And how his world and everyone he knew in it began to change after one event. I know that probably doesn't sound very interesting, but I can't say much because it would ruin most of it. The game has scripted moments that are truly touching, and often even able to bring out a tear. The ending in particular, still strikes me very hard. Mother 3 is presented with very well done sprite work, and it's ability to tell an amazing story of love and loss, with characters that feel as if they could be people you truly know, is done without the need of incredible 3D graphics. Shigesato Itoi wrote each line of dialogue, just as he did with Mother 1+2. Itoi's story telling and ability to strike emotion is most present in the ending. Even though it was spoiled for me by Trevor, it still was able to bring me to tears. The story has that much of an impact and really could be reason to play the game.
The controls and gameplay are very simple, and if you're using an Emulator, even easier. (FOLLOWING IS FOR GBA CONTROLLER AND THEN MY LAYOUT ON THE KEYBOARD) You control the character you are playing as with the D-pad. B to run and A to interact. A is almost the god key, since everything is done with it, selecting actions and scrolling through menu's, you name it. Start pauses. Left key opens up a drop down menu from the top screen to select inventory, stats PSI or to put the game in to Sleep mode. R is your map. What my layout was the arrow keys to move, with Z being A, X being B, A being L and S being R. Pause was enter and frameskip was +. It was simple and since this is an RPG, I never had to be frustrated with my keyboard.
Gameplay usually involves getting from point A to point B, or doing something for someone. However, there are no tedious side quests to do, or level grinding that is standard with JRPG's. (If you don't skip EVERY enemy and know how to handle a tough boss, you should be okay) In this sense, it's a very linear role playing game. The game is split in to chapters, but you can always explore to areas you've been to before, but there are a few points of no return. Since the game is a cartridge, the whole world is basically one big map for you to travel around, but is sectioned off to it can streamline set pieces. What the Mother games tend to have instead of boring NPC's that repeat the same sentence, are NPC's that have very well written dialogue. You can almost sense that these characters have their own personalities and traits. The side characters always have something new to say, and to be honest, aren't side characters. Just like Lucas and the world around him, the characters in Mother 3 are adjusting to this new world. Often times you'll spend half an hour just running around talking to people to see what the next character will say. The scenes where there is large amount of characters talking are so interesting due to the care and consideration of each word by Shigesato Itoi. In the same interview mentioned above, he spent a week in a hotel room by himself digesting each line of dialogue to find just the right words for the final battle. He really does care.
The combat system is where the game is very fun. the screen is presented with the HP and PP of your team with the enemy sprite model in front of a "trippy" moving and colourful pattern. The order of attack can be varied but it's based all on agility. You can attack, use PP, an item or defend and the combat is pretty straight forward, but there are a few kickers to it.
1) The game uses a counter for health and mana, instead of just draining it, it counts down. Meaning you could have taken mortal damage but still have enough time to use your killing blow and come out victorious.
2)The box on top of the screen displays what is going on, Who's attacking, how much damage they did and usually some very funny stuff. Earthbound for example had an enemy called New Age Retro Hippy, where he had an attack that where he would brush his teeth and blind you with the whiteness of them.
3) This is the big one. The game uses a combo system that is all based on the beat of the music in the background. Each enemy and boss has their own theme, so learning them is a NECESSITY if you want to survive the later battles. Simply tap the A button along with the beat and you'll rack up hits. But as the game progressing and enemies get more stronger, the beat becomes less audible. Especially with the final fight against the mastermind behind the baddies.
The sprite work in the game is some of the best you'll ever see. All the sprite models have numerous and countless positions for very smooth and very good looking movement. The game is very colourful..at first. Just like Earthbound. For the first bit, it's a colourful, childs game with very, very heartrending moments of true loss and sadness. But as the game progressing, the childish themes start to diminish until it becomes all out insanity at the end. The ending to Mother 3 is different, opting to make you cry instead of cover your eyes with fright. Giygas still is..one creepy mother fucker.
WARNING: This game can be mercilessly tough. And you'll often stop playing for weeks on end because you're stuck on a boss because you're too weak, or you haven't learned their weakness. Luckily for us, there are save points in front of each boss and usually numerous enemies related to the weakness of the boss. There are also hints as to what the weakness COULD be leading up to it. ( Thunder Tower has a robot boss) and a hot spring to heal yourself nearby. So if you have to level grind because you skipped out on a lot of battles before the boss, it's there for you to catch up.
Strange, Funny, Heartrending. Mother 3 is an incredible game, that will be passed up by a lot of people. Simply because it's an older game. So I'm begging you, PLEADING with you. That you try this game, even if just for thirty minutes, to the second chapter, to the end of the game. 2 years of translating might not seem that much, but two years of translating for not even for a dollar of thanks is dedication. Mother 3 is free, and simple to get. And I promise that the few minutes spent tracking it down and finding it, will be well worth the tear stained napkin for the ending.
EDIT: Forgot to mention that game's credits do not feature the developers, but instead features the cast inside the game. Awesome.