Mother / Earthbound Thread v1 - Thank you for taking the time to read this thread - Games

[IMG]http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs50/f/2009/336/c/2/Earthbound_Hi_Res_Logo_by_ZShock.png[/IMG] [B]What is Mother / EarthBound?: ------------------------------------ [/B] Mother, or known here in the US as EarthBound, is a Nintendo role-playing video game series created by Shigesato Itoi. The series was initially named after one of John Lennon's songs, "Mother"; Itoi, being a rather big fan of the singer, stuck with it. The given reasons for why it was renamed EarthBound internationally, ever since the first game's scheduled and ultimately scrapped English release, was most likely because of the series' science fantasy setting and other assortment of surreal themes. Mother, as a game series, is pretty difficult to describe, but I'll give you the jist of it: unlike the usual sword-and-sorcery setting craze of many Japanese role-playing games during the time (and still going), the Mother/Earthbound series is unique in that it takes place in more modern, USA-esque settings, although they are told from Japanese perspective. Gameplay wise, the towns, dungeons, etc, are all connected together ala: Pokemon, and instead of swords and magic spells characters instead use bats, frying pans, explosive artillery, laser guns, and even psionic and psychokenetic powers (labeled as PSI and PK respectively) as usable attacks. The series as a whole is notable for it's very bizarre, if out of this world (no pun intended) sense of humor. It's also known for a lot of heartwarming, heartbreaking, tearjerking and terrifying moments that would make even the less emotionally vulnerable break down, it's third installment often described to be the saddest of them all (ironically, it's also infamously known for not being released outside it's own country of origin and as of now still hasn't been re-released in other countries). [B]Installments: ----------------[/B] [B]Earthbound Beginnings (Mother)[/B] [IMG]http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/mnatfriaqg44vwemm6ps.jpg[/IMG] [B]Release Dates[/B]: July 27th, 1989 (JP); June 14, 2015 (Worldwide Virtual Console) The first game of the series, released for the Famicom on July 27th of 1989 in Japan. It was originally considered to be scheduled for the NES in the US, both in 1991 then 1994 but was cancelled twice in these two attempts. Mother has been now released under the title "Earthbound Beginnings" worldwide for the Wii U Virtual Console. Pretty basic as it gets for an RPG, as it's similar in terms with the Dragon Quest series of games. [QUOTE]Set in the year 1988 (or "198X" in the eShop description), the story follows Ninten, a normal American boy. He's got a workaholic dad, a loving mom, twin kid sisters, and a pet dog. Everything is pretty normal and everyone is happy, up until the day his desk lamp suddenly attacks him, another lamp attacks one of his sisters and a doll starts attacking his other sister. Calling his dad after settling this, Ninten learns that psychic powers run in the family, and to learn more about it he has to get his great-grandfather's diary and discover what happened many years ago, including what happened to his great-grandmother Maria. Meanwhile, other strange phenomena are happening across the country, and it soon becomes apparent that an alien force is at work. Just what connection does Ninten's family have with the alien invasion?[/QUOTE] [B]EarthBound (Mother 2)[/B] [IMG]http://lparchive.org/Earthbound-(by-Leavemywife)/1-Earthbound.png[/IMG] [B]Release Dates[/B]: August 27th, 1994 (JP); June 5th, 1995 (US); March 20, 2013 (JP Virtual Console); July 18, 2013 (Worldwide Virtual Console) The second game in the series co-developed by Ape and HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo for the SNES in 1994. Unlike the first installment, it was released in the US a year later. It again retained it's western overtones, this time not only introducing a whole new cast of characters, but also new locations based on other real regions such as Foggyland (Europe), and Chommo (Africa and Asia) other than just the typical fantasized United States (now known as Eagleland). This game also sets the precedent of the gameplay for all future installments of the franchise such as the removal of random encounters, the health meter functioning like an odometer, the way you can ambush or get ambushed by enemies, etc. [QUOTE] Late one night, a meteorite landing outside town awakens Ness. The meteorite brings with it a bee (or not) from the future, who tells Ness of its devastation at the hands of an indestructible being called Giygas — a being Ness is destined to defeat. Ness's journey to stop Giygas will take him through time and space to meet the remainder of the Chosen Four (Paula, Jeff, and Poo) and collect the Eight Melodies for his Sound Stone to unite the power of the Earth as his own[/QUOTE] [B]Mother 3[/B] [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/GwvHRZd.png?1[/IMG] [B]Release Date[/B]: April 20, 2006 (JP) Mother 3 was released in Japan for the Game Boy Advance in April of 2006, this time co-developed by Brownie Brown and HAL Laboratory instead of Ape. Despite yet again being a sequel, the story now again focuses on a new unrelated cast of characters, the location this time being set in the Nowhere Islands. Unlike the first two games, the focus is no longer on just the main party as some chapters put different characters in the limelight. The game still retains almost all of Earthbound's gameplay but also adds in a unique rhythm combo system, and other features such as an enemy gallery and the ability to sprint, a feature that was introduced in the Mother 1+2 port of Earthbound Beginnings. I don't want to talk about Mother 3's story in particular because it's spoiler heavy from beginning to end, so go play it and find out for yourself. [B]Fangames: -------------[/B] [B]"Mother 4" (New Title Pending)[/B] [IMG]https://i.imgur.com/jHK3vIX.png[/IMG] Currently being developed by the independent Azure Studios, who are also fans of the series. More information about the game can be found [URL="http://www.mother4game.com/"]here.[/URL] [B]*NOTE*[/B]: [URL="https://www.reddit.com/r/mother4/comments/5wzfjk/todays_announcement/"]Mother 4 is being rebranded under a currently pending title and is now its own individual property (sadly)[/URL] to avoid suffering the same fate as other Nintendo fangames, such as AM2R or Pokemon Uranium, which were recently taken down by DCMA claims. [B]Where can I get these games? -----------------------------------[/B] You can now buy Earthbound and Earthbound Beginnings through the Wii U Virtual Console. You still need a emulator and (optionally) the fan translation to play Mother 3 though. Oh, and remember... [t]http://31.media.tumblr.com/fb05ca2312d8d4c66742db3bf778656c/tumblr_n144t56bp01rrsa2po1_1280.gif[/t] [URL="http://fuckyeahmother.tumblr.com/image/76898833637"][x][/URL] [B]Special Thanks: -----------------[/B] TV Tropes for story descriptions.

Well, to get this thread started: [IMG]http://37.media.tumblr.com/2147afcbed4da8e57fc13fb691d97d6c/tumblr_n9cpcspvI91tp1b7ro5_500.gif[/IMG]

I've just recently started playing Earthbound on the Wii U VC. Pretty fun game.

Ok, just to keep this thread alive: what would you like to see the most in [URL="http://www.mother4game.com/"]Mother 4[/URL]?

Edited the thread since it was catching dust, and it wasn't really superb quality wise. Later on today, I'll be making a new header.

I still need to play those games.

[t]https://40.media.tumblr.com/1a939f32a72c3d1f4dbfc8037ba47840/tumblr_ntctfwttuA1uyhfnho1_1280.png[/t][t]https://36.media.tumblr.com/af9efcb0fddde0fb6afcfb20c90e833b/tumblr_ntctfwttuA1uyhfnho2_1280.png[/t] [t]https://40.media.tumblr.com/a622460dd08e06169d43917b4bcbab82/tumblr_ntctfwttuA1uyhfnho3_1280.png[/t][t]https://41.media.tumblr.com/815ca86352e575e7a9cdbaddec97a26b/tumblr_ntctfwttuA1uyhfnho4_1280.png[/t] [URL="http://dare-these-children.tumblr.com/post/127119542818/and-orange-kid-since-it-was-too-perfect-not-to"]source[/URL] and bonus: [t]https://36.media.tumblr.com/7ae24650b56d4d9e9efd88839848e38f/tumblr_inline_ntct2aNrw61roi9d3_1280.png[/t]

Happy birthday, Mother 3.

Do you have any speculation on when will Mother 4 be released? I kind of lost track of how long has I been hyping and waiting for this game, maybe since 2014 already.

My replica of the Earthbound Player's guide finally came in the mail today and I never realized how much fun the people at Nintendo had making it. The entire thing is gold

Mother 4 blog update: [URL="http://blog.mother4game.com/post/143360812049/update-16-springing-into-battle"]"Springing Into Battle".[/URL] [QUOTE]Happy belated Earth Day! Spring is in the air if you’re in the northern hemisphere, so we have some nature enemies to show you. These are enemies that have all been created and drafted today for the same general area. While you might see things as ordinary as pollen with a people allergy or kamikaze honey bees (it might not be a bee), malevolent dandelion puffs and ex-deer are bound to appear as well. This update is a bit minor thanks to finals but we’ll have more hands on deck coming up to bring you more next Sunday! [/QUOTE] [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/wCqqTFX.png[/IMG] Like how the bee enemy takes some cues from the Antoids and the rest looking like they came straight from 3.

I wish I knew this thread existed earlier! content: I think Lucas' congratulations screen in SSB4 is really sweet [IMG_thumb]http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/ssb/images/3/3f/SSB4-Wii_U_Congratulations_Lucas_Classic.png/revision/latest?cb=20150904051803[/IMG_thumb]

[URL="http://blog.mother4game.com/post/144545522144/update-17-working-on-the-railroad"]Update 17: Working on the Railroad[/URL] [QUOTE]Hey everyone! Tonight is a bit of a polish update, with some work from a few of the guys. The word ‘editing’ comes up a lot when thinking of this week’s theme. [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/ObwxGCB.png[/IMG] This kind of thing! The edited versions are on the left. Our maps, especially our town maps, tend to be pretty big. Proportionately, they’re only a bit larger than EarthBound’s equivilents. But since our graphical style is larger as a whole, this carries over to our town design, too. Our humble starting town of Belring is 5000 by 3120 pixels! What winds up happening in the initial transit from sketch to Tiled map is we have a lot of negative space. Balancing this out between having clearly defined borders and paths while also keeping space for enemies is tough, but that’s what Pik has been up to. These kind of improvements happen over time, where we notice ways pre-existing routes can be made more interesting or efficent. [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/pdVoWmB.png[/IMG] It looks good here, too! Paths are useful for this work, so they’re included in sketches. Also included are train tracks, which play an obvious role. They add another layer of making us ensure there’s interesting scenery to watch while you ride the rails. In response to what some of you may be asking, yes! You can ride the rails. Here’s a full transit from one city to another: [URL="https://gfycat.com/FalseVigilantDalmatian"]https://gfycat.com/FalseVigilantDalmatian[/URL] You gotta earn the right, though. Deluxe passes are expensive and good for ten one-way trips. Of course, if you’re strong enough, you can just walk along the rails no problem. Three more train stations remain until the whole country of Pleiades is connected by rail, and with that we’re pulling into the end of this week’s update. Thanks for stopping by, and we’ll see you again on the 29th![/QUOTE]

Mother 4's got such polish!

[QUOTE=Xubs;50427357]Ring ring, it's time for a Mother 4 blog update. This one is about [URL="http://blog.mother4game.com/post/145155407804/update-18-thinking-about-emotions"]emote bubbles[/URL]. [QUOTE][media]https://soundcloud.com/nelward/battle-against-a-gorgeous-foe[/media][/QUOTE] [/QUOTE] I remember listening to some of this guy's stuff a while back. It's cool that he's doing music for the game now. Here's some of his Mother-related stuff: [media]https://soundcloud.com/nelward/nelward-battle-against-a-handsome-opponent[/media] [media]https://soundcloud.com/nelward/all-that-i-needed-was-you-mother-series-nelward-ultra-smaaaashmix[/media] [editline]1st June 2016[/editline] [URL="https://soundcloud.com/user-501659502/sets/earthbound-remashes"]And this whole set.[/URL]

[URL="http://blog.mother4game.com/post/147524876754/further-postage-required"]New update for 4![/URL] [QUOTE][B]Further Postage Required[/B] [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/JC7x6bs.gif[/IMG] Work continues on animating and piecing scenes together. Max and Pik are doing a real bang up job on pushing these efforts forward! The team’s even been keeping in touch during connection blackouts so feedback and work can happen simultaneously no matter what. [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/296Ajpv.png[/IMG] [I]Even if it means resorting to critique aimed at cellphone pics.[/I] The last post made us realize something a little later than we should have… People (at least in the USA) don’t usually put post card in envelopes, do they? [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/GlioOpt.gif[/IMG] [I]They don’t in Pleiades anymore, either.[/I] You might notice the postcard itself looks different, too. WAHOL took the feedback we got with regards to style and detail and ran with it. Compare the sprite to the source material, we think we translated it better this time, too! [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/wCN8B6n.png[/IMG] [I]Belring’s hilltop chapel is still a landmark, of course.[/I] [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/McEONLm.png[/IMG] With these changes, it’s never been more fun to write home, so don’t forget to do it![/QUOTE] [URL="http://blog.mother4game.com/post/146739694339/keeping-posted"]Prior update that introduced the postcard aesthetic for save files.[/URL]

A [I]huge [/I] update in the form of a Q&A: [URL="http://blog.mother4game.com/post/150562807699/answers-for-questions"]Answers for Questions.[/URL]

I don't think there's anything I'm hoping for right now as much as I hope that the project doesn't get DMCA'd by Nintendo. Perhaps Itoi's personal blessing is keeping Mother 4 alive. Who knows.

[QUOTE=MartinPL;51068530]I don't think there's anything I'm hoping for right now as much as I hope that the project doesn't get DMCA'd by Nintendo. Perhaps Itoi's personal blessing is keeping Mother 4 alive. Who knows.[/QUOTE] It's only a matter of time, sadly, that they will find out if it has indeed slipped completely under their radar.

I got pretty far in Mother 3 but never beat it, just beat Master Belch in Earthbound and I hope to replay 3 with the intention of beating it. Is Mother 1 worth playing at all?

It's got a great story in its own right though. I don't think you should approach it in how much it relates to the rest of the series, it's worth playing just to experience that in my opinion.

Incredibly sad to hear the recent news about the rebranding; along with how it won't be a true sequel anymore, I'm a bit worried this game along with a few others (i.e: Undertale, LISA, etc) are going to create a trend of Mother / Earthbound spiritual successors which will oversaturate the market a little. That's just me being paranoid, though. Still a rather smart move to do in order to avoid what happened recently with other Nintendo fangames plus how they have even more creative freedom now, I still can't wait for the finished product. It's amazing to see how the project has grown over nearly a decade.

I hope this means it'll have enough differences to skirt Nintendo's draconian C&D laws and they can throw it up on Steam. While having it for free is nice I'd love for them to get a bit of money off of it.

Began playing Beginnings again because I'm really in the mood for some reason. My run so far: skipped Merrysville and Reindeer through the train tunnels to get Ana immediately instead of Lloyd because I found her to be more useful than him early on, and getting both ultimately made Duncan's Factory less of a hassle.

Cross-post from the Sonic thread: [QUOTE=Dr. Kyuros;52080286][img]https://68.media.tumblr.com/6adce30d4320e3d2b830c86e52fda741/tumblr_nc9i4ciK2U1sefgigo2_500.png[/img] [URL="http://cityescapee.tumblr.com/post/98445964276/fumomoblog"]the only crossover that matters [del]and actually makes some sense[/del][/URL][/QUOTE]