Mother 3 (Game Boy Advance) review "The overall plot was a mix of the simple, and subtle, the story was poignant, yet lighthearted."

Introduction:

Mother 3 is one of the few major Nintendo games that has never seen an official Western release. Despite high demand from Western audiences, it has never been officially localized into English from the original Japanese version. The Mother games are a series of three JRPGs with the first one, Mother 1, dating back to the NES. It is however, best known for the second game in the series, aptly named Mother 2, but better known as Earthbound in the West, and was originally released on the SNES in 1994. Although sales of Earthbound were not high, it has since developed a cult following.

After Earthbound, work on the sequel began immediately but was later shifted to the new, more powerful, and 3D game focused N64 console. An “Earthbound 64” was scheduled for release on the Nintendo 64DD add-on. Unlike Earthbound it was planned to utilize the full extent of the new N64 hardware and have full 3D graphics. A demo of it was even shown sometime during development. However, difficulty with development and making 3D graphics for the game eventually led to delays, and ultimately to cancellation.

In 2006 apparently much of what was planned for Earthbound 64 story-wise, was trimmed into a shortened 2D version, as a loose sequel to Earthbound. This was released for the Gameboy Advance and pushed the system to its limits. Luckily for Western audiences since then, there exists an excellent fan made translation, as a patched rom of the game, done by poster “Tomato”, which can run on emulators, or on original hardware if one has a copy of the unofficial translated game cart.

Plot:

You find yourself in the pastoral village of Tazmily, with a close family: the father, Flint, who is manly, and dependable and wears stereotypical cowboy clothing, the caring mother, Hinawa, and the children, twin brothers Lucas, and Claus (their names are anagrams of each other).



A sudden forest fire strikes near the village and Flint volunteers in the rescue efforts. Soon, however, he cannot find his family. He searches for them and in the process is devastated by the news that Hinawa has been tragically killed, by the normally docile creatures called Dragos (which resemble Tyrannosaurus). Claus also goes missing after trying to hunt down the Drago to exact his revenge. Soon a mysterious pig mask army invades the town, and gradually transforms it into a technologically advanced police state. As the story progresses in the first three chapters, which serve as the prologue, you play as various characters, whose stories are interwoven into the plot from Flint, the father, to Duster – an inept thief, to Kumatora – a tomboyish heroine, and finally Salsa - an abused Monkey. Slowly, the connection between these events, and characters begins to untangle.



In chapter 4, where the main game starts, the story progresses a few years, when the pig mask army sets up the police state in Tazmily, and you end up playing as Lucas, with characters previously introduced, joining and leaving your party now and then for the remaining chapters of the game. As a typical JRPG trope they go on a quest to ultimately try to save the world from a menacing evil, though Mother 3 from its cartoonish graphics to simple gameplay, to poignancy, thoughtful themes and quirky music has many charming idiosyncrasies.

Gameplay and Controls:

The game plays much like Earthbound, a more or less traditional JRPG. Most of the gameplay involves wandering around various areas, talking and interacting with NPCs, as well as progressing through and exploring new areas having encounters with various whacky and conspicuous enemies (thus no “random” encounters) using a turn-based combat system similar to the classic one in Dragon Quest. As in Earthbound, you see your enemies during the combat, but now can also see a small animation of your character next to your character’s stat box on the bottom of the screen when it is their turn in combat. Similarly, there is a HP rundown timer, so even if you get hit with a knockout hit, that does mortal damage you can still revive yourself or someone else if you are quick enough. Alternatively, if you defeat the enemy before the HP runs out, the HP rundown timer stops. The chief innovation in terms of combat to this game is a new rhythm mechanic. If you press attack to the beat of the background music you can do long combos for extra damage, up to 16 hits, although using it is not required to beat the game. You can put the enemies to sleep to better hear the background music and execute these combos.


An example of combat

As Lucas you have your normal attacks, and psychic abilities; the other characters also have their own special abilities, for example, the dog, Boney, has a sniff ability which allows him to find the weakness of a particular enemy. Duster has a set of tools he can use in combat and while exploring. As you progress through the game, and level up, you also learn new abilities.

When you are exploring a town, it is a nice quality of life improvement that you can charge and run, instead of slowly plodding your way through like in Earthbound. Sometimes you use this ability to solve puzzles. The menu and inventory system are also much improved from the clunky one in Earthbound. Unlike its predecessor where you had to go to a hotel, or somewhere with a phone to call your dad and save the game, Mother 3 features plentiful frogs that act as checkpoints and help you save. From the 4th chapter onwards, the frogs also allow you to withdraw, and deposit currency, called Dragon Points.

The game is not particularly difficult to beat if you level up adequately by engaging in combat frequently. However, there are boss battles which you’ll probably need to grind for, and this can be tedious. Some of the boss fights are rather difficult and can leave you stumped and frustrated; you must know the strategy to use. You can look this up now online, but as the game’s design intended though, you can use the dog’s sniff ability to identify the enemy weaknesses, i.e., which attacks they are most susceptible to. One underwater level could occasionally be frustrating if you aren’t sure where to go, or where the save frog is, since it can be easy to run out of breath and have to go back to the beginning. Overall, the gameplay system with the control scheme, is one of relative simplicity. This frees it from the clunkiness of having tons of rarely used options, and gives it a certain elegance, that helps to make it a smoother and more enjoyable experience.

Graphics:



For a game on the GBA the 2D pixel-based cartoonish graphics look great, and are colourful, vibrant, crisp, and detailed; they are quite an improvement to those seen in Earthbound. The settings are varied, ranging from small towns, to forests, to deserts, a factory, a nightclub, a haunted mansion, and much more. The variety of settings, with the accompanying music, and whacky enemies keep it from getting stale.

Music:

The sound quality of this game is obviously limited by the hardware that it was put on; the GBA has an inferior sound chip to the SNES that Earthbound was released on. That aside, the music and sound is probably some of the best on the GBA. With its synthesizer-based music Mother 3 does sad music best. However, being a game that mixes seriousness and lightheartedness, it also has some catchy, relaxing jazz music that it uses appropriately. The synthetic rock music that plays through some of the battles, and when the rock band DCMC plays, helps to keep an upbeat atmosphere on and off. Although there seems to be quite a bit of reused sound snippets and themes from Earthbound, unlike its predecessor it doesn’t delve into the psychedelic based music, and on the whole the music is not quite as good.

Fun factor - the story, characters, and themes:

As a JRPG, some of the most important aspects that it relies on are the story, the characters, and themes it deals with, which helps to motivate the player to go from point A and point B. Whereas many people characterize Earthbound as a light, and humourous game, with some touching moments, Mother 3 is usually described as a tragic game, with some light, and humourous moments. According to an interview for Nintendo Dream, series creator, Shigesato Itoi, stated that the tragic beginning to the game was to help show the duality of seriousness and lightheartedness in games. The poignant tone is exemplified throughout the course of the game: the tragic death at the beginning, and disappearance of Claus, the cruelty of the villain Fassad, giving electric shocks to Salsa, a monkey protagonist. Moments like these arouse sadness and pity in the player. However, these are balanced with lighthearted moments, with silliness and quirky humour that along with the cartoonish graphics evoke memories and feelings of childhood. For example, having the characters do silly dances to open doors or having to kiss mermen to refill oxygen while underwater.

The more structured story and themes of Mother 3 compared to Earthbound had some of its influence from a work by prize-winning Hungarian writer Ágota Kristóf “The Notebook”. It is about a bond between two twins. Lucas, and Claus are named after the narrators in the book. Indeed, familial ties, and friendships seems to be an important theme in the game, and one of its most appealing aspects.

Although the character development is richer than in Earthbound, it still adheres to the overall minimalist nature of Mother 3. Similar to the gameplay it is simple, but elegant. According to the interview with Itoi, using the varied and interesting cast of characters he wanted to show the value of having friends with different qualities, another one of the heartwarming themes of the game.

As opposed to being set in a parody of the United States like Earthbound, Mother 3 happens on the Nowhere Islands, first in a picturesque village, then in a technologically advanced police state. It spite of the difference in atmosphere it still manages to include pop culture references as Earthbound did. At one point of the game, for example, you must go to a club where a Rock band called DCMC (obviously being a parody of ACDC) plays, to rescue one of your friends who lost his memory and became a member of the band.

The relative brevity of this game, which clocks in anywhere from about 25 to 30 hours on average, is one of its strong points. The length, along with the chapter system not only makes it easier to remember where you were in the game if you put it down for a while, but it once again shows that a great story, and fun gameplay in a JRPG can be had in less than 30 hours. It does not commit the sin of putting in lots of filler and boring side quest content just to extend the game. To help with direction and pacing, much of the time you have maps which tell you where to go.

The ending is epic, but I think misunderstood by quite a few as being something rushed, or open to interpretation. According to the interview with Itoi, the renewal theme was part of his belief that we should appreciate our time on Earth in light of its inevitable end. That, however, is not necessarily clear to the average player so it could be disappointing. For me at least, knowing its purpose, puts a positive, and wholesome spin on the game as a whole.


Controversy:


There are several speculations as to why Nintendo decided not to release it to a Western market. Mother 3 is notorious for a having a few controversial characters, and events. One of the biggest controversial aspects is the Magypsies, which are human-like beings with no gender but that have male facial traits, and female behavioural traits. They guard the needles that keep the great dragon underneath the island asleep, which is a big plot line of the game. When the needles get pulled, they die, since that is what they were supposed to do. Apparently, they are reminiscent of crossdressers, or transgender people in Japanese society. Also, there is an implied suicide near the train track when Lucas comes on to it, and a Mr. T-like character tries to save him. Although, I didn't think anything negative was implied and the content was well-intentioned, I can appreciate that Nintendo wanted to keep away from the controversy.



Verdict:

After the cult success of Earthbound, but its relatively poor sales performance, and with the long delay of the sequel, Mother 3 had high expectations to fulfill. In many ways it improved on several areas of Earthbound, becoming more story-driven with better character development, a less clunky menu system, better graphics, more fun combat, and many other quality of life improvements. As all games, it is not a one size fits all, even for dedicated fans of Earthbound who may have wanted a direct sequel more similar to it. Although there is far less grinding necessary in the beginning of Mother 3 than in Earthbound, it is still probably necessary when you encounter one of the bosses, and as all grinding can be tedious. Unless you know which types of special attacks work best on a particular boss, by knowing to use the dog ability, several of the boss fights may be frustrating. Some may feel like there is too much negativity in the game, and it may be easy not to see some of the themes, and messages that the developer intended, this is especially true of the ending which I’ve heard called rushed or open to interpretation.

For all the drawbacks that the game has, or that some may see, this is one of the best, games for the GBA. The overall plot was a mix of the simple, and subtle, the story was poignant, yet lighthearted. The ending was somewhat difficult to interpret, but it seemed to wrap up the plot well, and help to make sense to what initially was hard to connect. Once one learns some of the intentions of the developer, some of what is expressed in the game shows its deeper meaning. The cartoonish 2D sprite-based graphics are charming, and masterfully done. The music while not as good as that of Earthbound coalesces well with the game content and is only limited by the GBA hardware itself. Along with its other positive aspects, the relative brevity of what is typically a very time-consuming genre makes this an easy one to recommend. The simplicity the game has in terms of gameplay also gives it an elegance that makes for an enjoyable experience, especially on the go on the GBA.

Score: 8.5/10 (great)

Honest Gamers score 4.5/5 (I round 8.5/10 to 9/10 which is 4.5/5)

Community review by Tailz (March 11, 2022) A bio for this contributor is currently unavailable, but check back soon to see if that changes. If you are the author of this review, you can update your bio from the Settings page.