Mother 3 has a lot of history behind it. What began as a sequel originally scheduled for the Nintendo 64, Mother 3 was finally released on the Gameboy Advance System years later in Japan on April 20, 2006. The rare and cult RPG Earthbound (Mother 2 in Japan) for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System was what necessarily started it all (if you don’t count the never released Mother, more popularly known as Earthbound Zero, which eventually surfaced as a downloadable rom for the NES). Earthbound features a simple RPG storyline of a boy named Ness, who lives in a suburban town that is suddenly rocked by meteor that leads him to some other strange occurrences (such as conversing to a magical fly with super strength), which force the boy to in turn save the entire world. Sounds silly right? Well it is and it’s the same reason why the game is so unique and fun in an industry that was dry with new ideas at the time.
Hearing all about Mother 3 over the past several years has been quite a tease (with promises met with disappointments) and when the gaming community finally got word of Mother 3′s official release for the GBA, the fans rejoiced. Unfortunately, we soon discovered that it would only be released in Japan, at least for the time being. For a game that is so story driven and text based, the sorrow set in. The creator, Shigesato Itoi seems to only be really appreciated in Japan and even Earthbound was met with a lot of criticism in the US when it was first released on the SNES. But, true gamers either know or remember the beauty of Earthbound. Itoi has a distinctive meaning of what a video game should be, it’s more of a medium for his storytelling and quaint humor. He even at one time co-wrote a book of short stories with legendary Japanese writer Haruki Murakami. I knew I had to eventually play this game.
Luckily, after a couple years of waiting and with a team of translators and programmers, an excellent fan translation was finally created. I could have been playing this game a while ago when the Mother 3 Fan Translation came out, but I got disinterested in it because I was playing it on my computer and I was busy with school work at the time. Thankfully, my friend recently sold me his old PSP and I figured what better way to play the game then on an GBA emulator on the PSP. All I have to say is that I’m loving it so far, every RPG should be made with such care and humor that Mother 3 has. The large screen on the PSP makes the experience lively and playing it on the train or wherever I can is perfect. The game is so colorful and beautiful despite is minimal art style, I think the PSP brings this out. I will eventually write an in-depth review of the game when I finish, it will probably be the hardest review I’ll ever have to write.
-Eric Egavian
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