[Mother 3] Adventures in the Nowhere Islands

In what other game is a coffee table a mode of transportation?

I’ve been playing a lot of Mother 3 lately so this is a post about the game, some of it’s features, and why I really consider this to be a wonderful experience. Spoilers will be kept to a minimum.

Welcome to the World of Mother 3!

Our Heroes - Source

Mother 3 is the sequel to EarthBound, which is a cult classic SNES RPG. It was released on the GBA in Japan only, but you can find a fan translation. In EarthBound, rather than a story about knights, wizards, and dragons, Ness and four friends save the world in a place that is more like modern America than some medieval fantasy-land. Mother 3 is a little different from EarthBound. It takes place in Tazmily Village on the Nowhere Islands, a peaceful, rural village that knows nothing really of money, technology, or even sadness.

Pigmasks!

Then, one evening, the Pigmasks arrive and begin to subtly change their world. Their reasons at first aren’t known. They give the people of Tazmily technology like cars, and the concept of money in the form of a currency called Dragon Power is used for the first time. There are Happy Boxes which are devices that look like TVs and are said to bring happiness to their owners. There’s technology run amok: a giant Thunder Tower drops lightning on those who refuse to conform to the new world and chimera creatures that are a bizarre mix of different animals. Our heroes set off to try and change the world for the better, setting off on a grand adventure.

As the game goes on, people begin to move away to bigger places.

Mother 3 has a lot of endearing characters. We’re first introduced to the family of brothers Lucas and Claus and their parents Hinawa and Flint. When the Pigmasks arrive, tragedy strikes and the family is driven apart. Lucas starts off as a crybaby but grows up to be a competent fighter and leader. Duster is a thief who never has the respect of his father. Kumatora is a tomboyish princess who can use psychic powers. Boney is Lucas’s trusty dog companion. It’s hard to pick a favorite character, but I think I like either Kumatora or Duster the most. A lot of the NPCs are also very unique. Talking to the people in Tazmily village, it seems like everyone has their own story, and their outlook on life develops over the course of the game.

Fun times in Tazmily

The EarthBound series is known for being funny. Mother 3 takes a lot more serious tone than EarthBound and actually can be quite the tearjerker, but it has plenty of moments of light hearted humor. There’s a moment where in order to open a door, the password is to an embarassing dance (Video above). The present boxes that serve as the game’s treasure chests that you find might include surprises like fireworks that fly out when you open them. It definitely keeps EB’s crazy enemies. The chimera that combines a Rhinoceros and a missile is my favorite.

Lots of funny enemies are present in Mother 3

I can’t touch on this game without speaking to the unique battle system. It’s turn based, very much like EarthBound. The game has a rhythm system where when you attack if you push A in time with the beats of the music, you can score combo hits. I’m not very good at this, but I really like the way they designed it to be more interactive. The scrolling health meter is another feature that carries over from EarthBound. In this game, if you suffer mortal damage, you have until the time when your health meter scrolls down 0 before your character is knocked out. This makes for some frantic gameplay when you get hit by a powerful attack and have to scramble to recover your characters.

The Mother 3 Fanfest

Starmen.net‘s community is currently running a “Fanfest.” This is an event where we play through a small portion of the game each day. Livestreams are hosted by the community where we can get together and talk about it. Sometimes there are fun challenges like not using a certain skill or item that makes a part of the game much easier if you use it. They’ve produced an amazingly well done guide which you can find here: Mother 3 Handbook. I have really enjoyed playing along with the Mother 3 fanfest.