Mother 3? What's that?
Mother 3, released in 2006, is the sequel to Mother 2, which all you in the Western World might know as Earthbound. Unfortunately, Mother 3 was never officially translated and released in the West, due both to Earthbound's relatively poor sales and some other stuff about copyright laws because Japan and America have very different rules regarding that sort of thing. Mother 3 could have been translated and released, but probably not without some heavy editwork. Instead, Mother 3 has gotten most of its exposure to Westerners by way of the Smash Bros. series, specifically Brawl, which has Lucas, our intrepid main character, available to play. The story mode of Brawl also harbored MAJOR SPOILERS for the game. But we don't talk about that.
Much like Earthbound, Mother 3 maintains the quirky and endearing characters, witty and snappy humor, as well as its both lighthearted and heavy hitting plot.
Hmm, I've never played the first two games...
That's fine! The game does not have a massive connection to the first 2, except for a few things down the line, and I'll explain it all when we get there. In the meantime, I urge you to at least play Earthbound. It's a great game, and Mother 3 builds upon its story and mechanics oh so well.
Haha! I lied! I have played the first two! What's so different about this one?
Compared to the other games gameplay-wise, it's not too different. Your dude walks around, talking to people and such, sometimes you get into fights with ultra-trippy backgrounds, but there are a few things added in, not unlike a beautifully red cherry topping off a wonderfully iced piece of nut bread.
First, overworld navigation just got a whole lot lazier with the addition of dashing! Hold B and charge for a bit, then you can run off any which way. It beats Skip Sandwiches at least.
The battle system also got a bit of an overhaul. Combos are now things that can happen. Specifically, YOU are the thing that MAKE combos happen. When you attack, hit A in time to the music. If you're feeling the groove enough, you'll get a combo. Keep feeling the beat and you can rack up combos of up to 16 which can do wonders in a pinch.
So do you know Japanese or what? The game wasn't translated or anything...
Ahh, but I said the game was never OFFICIALLY translated. A fan translation, which was released in 2008, handily translates all the text in the game, and retains that unique sense of humor. You can get it at mother3.fobby.net
There's also a few other goodies on the site, such as a translated interview with Mother creator Shigesato Itoi and a little guide of all the bits and bobs hidden inside Mother 3 that didn't make it into the finished game.
Consider me sold! Get started already!
Hold your ass, images take a while to upload, plus I'm tired.