Mother 3! The sequel to Earthbound!

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http://www.nintendo.co.jp/n08/mother3/index.html

4/20 in Japan, for GBA

Shigesato Itoi's homepage

kingfish kuribo's shoe (kingfish 2.0), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 06:49 (eighteen years ago) link

more info from the obsessive fanboy page/forums here

kingfish kuribo's shoe (kingfish 2.0), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 07:10 (eighteen years ago) link

For english-speakers, Lik-Sang will be releasing a special version which comes with Langenscheidt's yellow vinyl Japanese-English dictionary and a quick-reference Katakana-Hepburn romaaji chart for those tricky loanwords. Fansubbed roms are planned for illegal P2P distribution in Q4 06, and the official professionally localized version will come out as part of a Mother Series 3-pack downloadable only by Golden Fanboy Revolution subscribers. In 2009.

TOMBOT, Tuesday, 24 January 2006 17:56 (eighteen years ago) link

planned for illegal P2P distribution

hee hee. it's like they have gantt charts & everything.

"And on THIS month, we'll be releasing the following:..."

kingfish kuribo's shoe (kingfish 2.0), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 20:01 (eighteen years ago) link

one month passes...
Makes me wanna get a GBA...maybe...

Colin Cassidy (Colin Cassidy), Saturday, 25 February 2006 17:54 (eighteen years ago) link

screenshots are posted here

kingfish has gene rayburn's mic (kingfish 2.0), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 07:32 (eighteen years ago) link

also, the game will have toilets.

kingfish has gene rayburn's mic (kingfish 2.0), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 07:32 (eighteen years ago) link

and some folks have remixed Earthbound's music

kingfish has gene rayburn's mic (kingfish 2.0), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 07:33 (eighteen years ago) link

omg omg omg omg omg

Curt1s St3ph3ns, Wednesday, 1 March 2006 16:59 (eighteen years ago) link

Those remixes are nothing compared to these songs that came with the original Famicom Mother. I'm especially keen on "Pollyanna."

Curt1s St3ph3ns, Wednesday, 1 March 2006 17:02 (eighteen years ago) link

why is this game for GBA and not DS? why do people make GBA games anymore?

s1ocki (slutsky), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 17:27 (eighteen years ago) link

why do people make GBA games anymore?

for the same reason they made GB/GBC games for 12 years, prolly. Established user base?

still, I'll probably be picking up a DS sometime this year(assuming I get this new job), so's I can play it.

kingfish has gene rayburn's mic (kingfish 2.0), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 17:45 (eighteen years ago) link

three weeks pass...
http://1101.com/MOTHER3/monster/m_07.gif

Forksclovetofu (Forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 28 March 2006 07:24 (eighteen years ago) link

http://1101.com/MOTHER3/monster/m_13.gif

Forksclovetofu (Forksclovetofu), Wednesday, 29 March 2006 19:55 (eighteen years ago) link

http://1101.com/MOTHER3/monster/m_12.gif
:D

sleep (sleep), Wednesday, 29 March 2006 20:22 (eighteen years ago) link

the kangaroo/hammerhead shark is teh roxxorz.

Christopher Costello (CGC), Thursday, 30 March 2006 00:14 (eighteen years ago) link

jack-o-turnip rocks.

Curt1s St3ph3ns, Thursday, 30 March 2006 01:46 (eighteen years ago) link

I can't help noticing how much Mother 3 is going to kick ass compared to FFXII.

Curt1s St3ph3ns, Thursday, 30 March 2006 01:48 (eighteen years ago) link

new screenshots posted

kingfish ubermensch dishwasher sundae (kingfish 2.0), Tuesday, 4 April 2006 05:36 (eighteen years ago) link

Please note when this gets an okay for US Release; looks funnables.

Forksclovetofu (Forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 4 April 2006 17:28 (eighteen years ago) link

two weeks pass...
Game's out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QA4aJnYOChE

kingfish doesn't live here anymore (kingfish 2.0), Thursday, 20 April 2006 05:25 (eighteen years ago) link

robo-dinos take on cowboys

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJFlOLTp2aM&search=Mother

kingfish doesn't live here anymore (kingfish 2.0), Thursday, 20 April 2006 05:29 (eighteen years ago) link

LOCALIZE IT. I'LL ADVERTISE IT.

TOMBOT (TOMBOT), Thursday, 20 April 2006 11:31 (eighteen years ago) link

What happened to the sweet sub-Aphex Twin soundtrack?! :(((

I'LL STILL BUY IT THO.

Curt1s St3ph3ns, Saturday, 22 April 2006 01:53 (eighteen years ago) link

three weeks pass...
http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/5794/eb24na.th.jpg

the untranslated r0m is out there, tho, if you know where to look.

kingfish doesn't live here anymore (kingfish 2.0), Saturday, 13 May 2006 07:14 (eighteen years ago) link

December :(

Curt1s St3ph3ns, Saturday, 13 May 2006 15:22 (eighteen years ago) link

better late than never, imo! i hope i'm not too busy playing with my wii to grab this one.

yeah, i said it. also, if they call it "NWii" for short, do you pronounce it like ennui? It might open a whole new avenue for puns if the big names start calling it the NWii (a la NGC, PSX, etc)

Will M. (Will M.), Sunday, 14 May 2006 19:53 (eighteen years ago) link

Yeah, I got it the day after it came out. I didn't
have any time to play it during Golden Week because my
mom came here, so I'm still working through it. It's
awesome. It's Mother 2 leveled up. They kept
everything that was awesome about Mother 2, and they
added a lot of new stuff. The story is much more
engrossing this time around.

JW (ex machina), Monday, 15 May 2006 17:08 (eighteen years ago) link

one year passes...

When the hell is this happening?

Abbott, Tuesday, 24 July 2007 00:53 (seventeen years ago) link

12th of never

marmotwolof, Tuesday, 24 July 2007 02:32 (seventeen years ago) link

the two groups working independently decided to join forces, so it's continuing. Nintendo still won't port the thing.

kingfish, Tuesday, 24 July 2007 04:36 (seventeen years ago) link

http://www.joystiq.com/media/2006/01/DSPrintsMoney.jpg

funny farm, Tuesday, 24 July 2007 06:30 (seventeen years ago) link

there's an animated gif of that

marmotwolof, Tuesday, 24 July 2007 06:46 (seventeen years ago) link

Sadly, a huge number of fan translations never see the light of day, and I still don't actually think I've seen one for the Nintendo DS... I really, really want to see this happen. See also: Mother 1+2 NA release. Seriously, Nintendo is silly for not doing this. If I were Nintendo, I'd watch the fan translation closely and when it's done send Shigeru Miyamoto himself to their houses and offer to buy the translation for a pittance. Their fanboyism will take over, they'll sell it for maybe a 4- or 5-figure sum, and they can release it over here for virtually nothing.

Will M., Tuesday, 24 July 2007 14:48 (seventeen years ago) link

Err, by NDS I meant GBA.

Will M., Tuesday, 24 July 2007 14:48 (seventeen years ago) link

more importantly when is earthbound going to show up on virtual console

El Tomboto, Tuesday, 24 July 2007 14:52 (seventeen years ago) link

Seriously! The kicker is that it will cost them like negative-zero dollars to release, and they'll see how many people are willing to pay for Earthbound. Urrrgh.

Will M., Tuesday, 24 July 2007 14:53 (seventeen years ago) link

I really really reeeeeeally want to play this :( It's like the only video game I'm interested in buying now

Curt1s Stephens, Wednesday, 25 July 2007 22:28 (seventeen years ago) link

hey at least you'll be able to get a glorified bathroom scale for your Wii. good going Nintendo, you know what we really want.

marmotwolof, Wednesday, 25 July 2007 22:48 (seventeen years ago) link

who is this we?
prediction : wii bathroom scale would outsell mother 3 by a huge margin

zappi, Wednesday, 25 July 2007 23:48 (seventeen years ago) link

no shit, sherlock

marmotwolof, Thursday, 26 July 2007 00:32 (seventeen years ago) link

who is this we?

zappi, Thursday, 26 July 2007 00:49 (seventeen years ago) link

whose is this wii?

zappi, Thursday, 26 July 2007 00:52 (seventeen years ago) link

wtf, you are loopy

everyone on this thread except you wants Mother 3, probably even more than Wii Fit, believe it or not.

marmotwolof, Thursday, 26 July 2007 01:27 (seventeen years ago) link

i want fft

webber, Thursday, 26 July 2007 06:37 (seventeen years ago) link

everyone on this thread is not a clear litmus test of nintendo's target audience. I want mother 3 too but we all know that what they're doing now will make them more money. Still, I think it'd make them a BIT of money to get translators to do Mother 3, surely? Is more money NOT more good or something?

Will M., Thursday, 26 July 2007 15:45 (seventeen years ago) link

I don't even care about mother 3, I barely touch the DS anymore as is, I just want Earthbound on the VC.

El Tomboto, Thursday, 26 July 2007 15:52 (seventeen years ago) link

Huh, I googled about cartridges and apparently there are quite a few bootleg English cartridges of the game on Etsy! I think I might go with one of those and just try to find a GBA somewhere. Thank you!!

josh az (2011nostalgia), Sunday, 3 May 2020 20:27 (four years ago) link

Apparently they still make r4 cards!

Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Monday, 4 May 2020 07:02 (four years ago) link

three weeks pass...

did you ever play this? it's like... better than earthbound

vision joanna newsom (Stevie D(eux)), Friday, 29 May 2020 17:23 (four years ago) link

omg i wanna play this

mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Friday, 29 May 2020 17:47 (four years ago) link

me too. don't have any real way to do it though, unless ps4 is now an option? or SNES mini

doorstep jetski (dog latin), Friday, 29 May 2020 17:50 (four years ago) link

literally it's so fucking good, it has all the charm of EarthBound but where EB was incredibly formulaic in terms of gameplay and narrative and linearity, Mother 3 shakes things up a lot more.

I think you p much have to play it with a GBA emulator on a computer, they still haven't released any official English translation

vision joanna newsom (Stevie D(eux)), Friday, 29 May 2020 18:00 (four years ago) link

this is far from optimal but it works
https://www.playemulator.com/gba-online/mother-3/

Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Friday, 29 May 2020 18:38 (four years ago) link

heard it got cancelled

||||||||, Friday, 29 May 2020 18:47 (four years ago) link

RIP mother 3, too problematic for our modern times ;_;

vision joanna newsom (Stevie D(eux)), Friday, 29 May 2020 19:07 (four years ago) link

one thing you have to watch out for with emulation is that it's really hard to get the audio properly synced. the battle system is rhythm based so you're not going to have a very good time.

you can buy reproduction carts with the translated version on 3t5y and 3b4y then pop it into your beautiful DS Lite

diamonddave85​​ (diamonddave85), Friday, 29 May 2020 20:10 (four years ago) link

oh yeah i forgot about that, my brain eventually got the hang of it but it was undoubtedly trickier than the real thing. certain emulators are much better than others (I think mGBA is supposed to be good?) and I think there are settings you can tweak to adjust the latency

vision joanna newsom (Stevie D(eux)), Friday, 29 May 2020 20:18 (four years ago) link

I wound up ordering a GBA cartridge of the translated version from Etsy. It works extremely well!! They’re only $15 USD plus shipping too. If anyone wants to play it I’d say that’s probably the best way to go if emulators aren’t your thing. I haven’t had any issues with the rhythm battles either

I actually just finished chapter six and, like, holy shit, this thing is incredible. I don’t know how this ends but I’m guessing I’m gonna get emotionally wrecked.

I’m surprised at how different it is from EarthBound actually! The gameplay in EarthBound was dense and the world it created was very strange in the best way, but there wasn’t much of a story. This one, however, has a beautiful story and the world in it is lots of fun to explore. You’ll want to talk to everyone and inspect everything just to read the humourous script. And the music is top notch

Maybe my one complaint about it is that I wish the battles were harder? I didn’t die a lot in Earthbound but the battles in it were so tense and thrilling, whereas I seem to be just coasting through this thing. There is some interesting stuff going on it though — and katherine’s comment up thread about how stats up/down spells are actually important in this game is very true.

josh az (2011nostalgia), Sunday, 31 May 2020 08:22 (four years ago) link

all of that is incredibly OTM. It retains the quirk and joy of EB but it has many heavy themes that make the overall vibe a little less breezy and lighthearted

vision joanna newsom (Stevie D(eux)), Sunday, 31 May 2020 17:02 (four years ago) link

I take back my previous comment about difficulty - these last two chapters are tough!!!

josh az (2011nostalgia), Wednesday, 3 June 2020 19:24 (four years ago) link

too problematic for our modern times ;_;

― vision joanna newsom (Stevie D(eux)), Friday, May 29, 2020 12:07 PM (one week ago) bookmarkflaglink

hoo boy um yeah

but yes this is somehow better than earthbound

mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Monday, 8 June 2020 21:48 (four years ago) link

i enjoy that when you're playing as duster your attack combos express themselves as a wicked slap bass solo

mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Monday, 8 June 2020 21:49 (four years ago) link

If you have a mac and want to use an emulator OpenEmu is the best program.

Evan, Monday, 8 June 2020 22:26 (four years ago) link

I finished this last night at like 1 a.m. and uh yeah that ending is just devastating

josh az (2011nostalgia), Monday, 8 June 2020 23:26 (four years ago) link

I wound up ordering a GBA cartridge of the translated version from Etsy. It works extremely well!! They’re only $15 USD plus shipping too. If anyone wants to play it I’d say that’s probably the best way to go if emulators aren’t your thing.

I only have a gameboy color. By any chance could this work for me?

Deflatormouse, Tuesday, 9 June 2020 01:10 (four years ago) link

it's a gba game so no, you're 1 generation behind

ciderpress, Tuesday, 9 June 2020 01:37 (four years ago) link

well that was an incredible game

mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Monday, 15 June 2020 01:24 (four years ago) link

i think i prefer earthbound slightly bc nothing in mother 3 really rivals finding the inverted world in that one cafe or your soul traveling through time in a robot body but it sure was emotionally devastating on a level i've never felt from a video game before

mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Monday, 15 June 2020 01:25 (four years ago) link

Earthbound mechanically is just slow and brutal... I don't think I'd have ever gotten through it without emulator speed-up cheating.
Mother 3 is superior in virtually every aspect, though it owes so much to the previous two entries.
I grinded through it on emulator with the bad sound sync which made it a lot harder than it should've been, many years back. I don't know if emulators are better now with that. Or, can a Pi do it now with the sound timing intact?

I wonder, the English translation of Mother 1 worth going through? Love the music, but I doubt I'd make it through the game.

Nhex, Monday, 15 June 2020 01:37 (four years ago) link

oh i mean in terms of gameplay no contest mother 3 is the better game, i'm talking more in terms of the ideas in each

though i've played earthbound twice with an emulator and never thought it slow or brutal

mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Monday, 15 June 2020 01:41 (four years ago) link

I wonder, the English translation of Mother 1 worth going through? Love the music, but I doubt I'd make it through the game.

I ordered a translated copy of Mother 1+2 a few days ago so I’m about to find out. will report back with my results. I know there are hacked versions with an “easy ring” item that double your xp and cash, but I’m curious about its difficulty..

josh az (2011nostalgia), Monday, 15 June 2020 02:55 (four years ago) link

I played Mother 3 on a Pi and fucked w the settings enough to get the audio to a point where I could pull off combos reliably (tho it still required a shift in my head of hitting the button just slightly before the beat I think)

The impression I get of Mother gameplay-wise is that it is VERY much a product of its time in a way that ages very poorly, like difficult and monotonous and a bit of a slog, to the point where the vibe I get is that a lot of players prefer the Easy Ring bcz it just makes it more tolerable

vision joanna newsom (Stevie D(eux)), Monday, 15 June 2020 13:06 (four years ago) link

I will say that although M3 is the superior game in every way, EB is still my fav bcz it was the one i played first and also the overall tone is a little more lighthearted, also it has a gay child who's in love w his best friend which helloooo queer visibility way ahead of its time

vision joanna newsom (Stevie D(eux)), Monday, 15 June 2020 13:08 (four years ago) link

speaking of queer visibility, my understanding from the way people talk about it whenever i google it is that the magyspies are the reason nintendo won't ever put out mother 3 internationally. i am personally fine with an immortal race of genderqueer drag queens who keep the world whole through their presence. it was fassad that rankled (but then *SPOILER* he is also a magypsy, which makes me feel better about it)

mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Monday, 15 June 2020 14:55 (four years ago) link

also i'm just now picking up on "fassad" = "facade." i bet the fans who translated the game think they're hilarious for this

mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Monday, 15 June 2020 15:00 (four years ago) link

Mother 3 is more sophisticated than Earthbound, but comparing the two feels like apples and oranges. I feel similarly about, idk, SMB & SMB3.

trapped out the barndo (crüt), Monday, 15 June 2020 15:13 (four years ago) link

you can't make me watch that

vision joanna newsom (Stevie D(eux)), Monday, 15 June 2020 20:19 (four years ago) link

three weeks pass...

I ordered a translated copy of Mother 1+2 a few days ago so I’m about to find out. will report back with my results. I know there are hacked versions with an “easy ring” item that double your xp and cash, but I’m curious about its difficulty..

― josh az (2011nostalgia), Sunday, June 14, 2020 7:55 PM (three weeks ago) bookmarkflaglink

I finished the first Mother game last night (w/o the easy ring) and PHEW it is tough. You've got to do hours of grinding and it's hard to know where to go next without a walkthrough. Sometimes you'll defeat an enemy, take two steps you'll get attacked by another enemy right away. there's lots to enjoy though... the music's great, the charm's still there and the battles are often quite fun (especially the last boss fight which has wonderfully creepy 8-bit sound effects). It's obvs inferior to its two successors but it's neat for what it is

josh az (2011nostalgia), Sunday, 12 July 2020 03:48 (four years ago) link

aw man now i'm done all the mother games and I feel sad :( i don't know what to play now.. is this what's finally gonna make me pick up Undertale

josh az (2011nostalgia), Sunday, 12 July 2020 03:49 (four years ago) link

play undertaaaaaale

methinks dababy doth bop shit too much (m bison), Sunday, 12 July 2020 14:50 (four years ago) link

Undertale disappointed me, it has some truly funny moments but the overall vibe for me felt try-hard and too impressed w itself

vision joanna newsom (Stevie D(eux)), Sunday, 12 July 2020 20:13 (four years ago) link

I GUESS

methinks dababy doth bop shit too much (m bison), Sunday, 12 July 2020 20:42 (four years ago) link

three weeks pass...

We don't have an Undertale thread?

I've picked it back up after feeling similar to Stevie D(eux) upthread: Fun, but a little tedious and gratingly try-hard in places.
But I was filled with determination and managed to complete it. Once I was in the swing of it, it really came into its own.
It did start off like a lol pastiche of Earthbound-style RPGs, which felt a bit futile considering Earthbound is a pastiche in its own right.
But there's a LOT more to Undertale than mere wacky laffs. Toby Fox has thought it through and put in a lot more love and care into the lore, the plot and the playability than first meets the eye.
And yes, it can be frustratingly slow-going at first, but *SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS* once I played it through, I was hooked enough to go right through and play it again (TWICE!). In fact successive playthroughs are much more fun: I found faster workarounds, tons of Easter Eggs (anyone else discovered 'Hard Mode' yet?) and the plot makes a lot more sense and is actually very touching.

doorstep jetski (dog latin), Wednesday, 5 August 2020 11:15 (four years ago) link

It’s a pretty quick game that you’re supposed to play through a few times, right?

vision joanna newsom (Stevie D(eux)), Wednesday, 5 August 2020 11:35 (four years ago) link

yes, relatively quick. I did stumble a couple of times and gave up the first play through. I guess it's no big secret that it can be played in different ways and that the story alters not just according to the decisions you make, but how many times you've played it. For example *minor spoiler*, the third time through, one of the characters launches into his usual spiel before stopping and saying 'Wait, you're looking at me as though you've heard this all before...'. It's done in quite a knowing way, but it's genuinely amusing and unsettling at times. I even heard that it is smart enough to know when a player is trying to 'game' the system by doing crafty resets. There are loads of guides online on how to get past some of the more tricky puzzles and enemies if it does get too tedious

doorstep jetski (dog latin), Wednesday, 5 August 2020 11:57 (four years ago) link

And as I say, the different styles of play-through depend on different playing styles. So, one style depends very much on logical decisions whereas another depends almost entirely on arcade-style reflexes.

doorstep jetski (dog latin), Wednesday, 5 August 2020 11:59 (four years ago) link

i have only ever played/finished the game on pacfist mode, i cannot bring myself to hurt the monsters out of solidarity

methinks dababy doth bop shit too much (m bison), Wednesday, 5 August 2020 16:49 (four years ago) link

seven months pass...

I've finally gotten around to playing Undertale and I just finished my first playthrough (neutral mode)... everything about it is incredible except for the combat? Like yeah, it's cool that you can spare monsters and talk to them, but it would be so much more interesting if it was more complex in the way that most 90s JRPGs are!!! it also just felt too easy, but maybe it'll be harder if i try pacifist mode

the characters, music, setting, story, writing, retro graphics, commentary on violence in video games, etc, are all 10/10 amazing though. the dialogue with burgerpants might be the hardest I've ever laughed in a game

josh az (2011nostalgia), Sunday, 7 March 2021 06:13 (three years ago) link

Completing it on neutral is just half the game. Pacifist and genocide (and there are a few secret modes too) is where it gets proper full on. I agree, it's a shame it's really quite a linear playthrough but I guess it's more of a parody of JRPGs than an actual one. I love the music score

Party With A Jagger Ban (dog latin), Sunday, 7 March 2021 09:47 (three years ago) link

there was a time where my son would exclusively request undertale OST in the car

and

i have only ever played/finished the game on pacfist mode, i cannot bring myself to hurt the monsters out of solidarity

― methinks dababy doth bop shit too much (m bison), Wednesday, August 5, 2020 11:49 AM (seven months ago) bookmarkflaglink

still true

class project pat (m bison), Sunday, 7 March 2021 14:30 (three years ago) link

flowey is taunting me into trying the game on pacifist mode so i guess i'm gonna do that next

and lol i can't imagine having the Undertale soundtrack playing all the time in the car, i'd feel like i'm trapped in a cartoon

josh az (2011nostalgia), Sunday, 7 March 2021 22:27 (three years ago) link

i listen to stuff like that when i'm working. big fan of "Shop"

Party With A Jagger Ban (dog latin), Monday, 8 March 2021 00:37 (three years ago) link

who could hate on a bit of this https://open.spotify.com/track/2w1FN8hCcAPs10rQw8g20L?si=VYJYQwNHTnydHarM0okrEA

Party With A Jagger Ban (dog latin), Monday, 8 March 2021 00:38 (three years ago) link

I really should replay Undertale, I think I got most of the way through but never finished it and it was great but not excellent.

Warmed Regards, (Stevie D(eux)), Monday, 8 March 2021 13:47 (three years ago) link

Are the routes discussed or explained anywhere within the game? Like is there any suggestion that a player should do things a certain way?

Warmed Regards, (Stevie D(eux)), Monday, 8 March 2021 13:54 (three years ago) link


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