Mother (video game)

This is a good article. Click here for more information.
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Mother
Single-player

Mother,

Mother 1+2 for the Game Boy Advance in 2003.[1] The game follows a young American boy named Ninten as he uses his great-grandfather's studies on psychic powers to put an end to the paranormal
phenomena spiraling the country into disarray.

Writer and director

robots, possessed objects, and brainwashed animals and humans. Mother uses random encounters to enter a menu-based, first-person perspective
battle system.

Mother sold around 400,000 copies upon its release, where it was praised for its similarities to the Dragon Quest series and its simultaneous parody of the genre's tropes, though its high

video game emulation
and the historical preservation of unreleased games.

In 1994, Mother's sequel,

cult following. EarthBound was followed by the Japan-only sequel Mother 3 for the Game Boy Advance in 2006. To commemorate the 20th anniversary of EarthBound's U.S. release, Mother was released globally as EarthBound Beginnings for the Wii U Virtual Console in June 2015, and was released alongside EarthBound for the Nintendo Classics
service in February 2022.

Gameplay

Screenshots from battle sequences in Mother (left) and Dragon Quest III (right). The battle system of Mother, including its interface and first-person perspective, drew inspiration from the Dragon Quest series.

Mother is a

automated teller machine for banking money (ATM). The members of Ninten's party are all visible on the overworld screen at once, and are analogous to EarthBound's party members in style and function. Differing from the Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest series, Mother's world map does not keep locations separate, instead connecting all areas in one game world.[7][4] The landscape's structures are portrayed with an oblique projection, requested by Itoi at a programmer's suggestion.[8]

Like the Dragon Quest series, Mother uses a

pendants, medallions, and bracelets
, can be equipped to increase a character's strength and defense. Items can be used for a multitude of purposes, such as healing, clearing obstacles, and unlocking doors. Towns also contain useful facilities such as hospitals, where players can be healed for a fee; in one town, it is half of whatever cash the player has on hand at that moment.

Plot

"Ninten" redirects here and is not to be confused with Nintendo.

In the early 1900s, a young married couple mysteriously vanish from their rural American town. Two years later, the husband, George, inexplicably returns and begins an odd study in complete seclusion. His wife, Maria, is never heard from again. In 1988,

Elementary School.[g] The two travel to the town of Snowman to deliver a lost hat to Ana,[h] a young girl with psychic powers. Ana tells Ninten she saw him in a vision, and joins the party in hopes of finding her missing mother.

Ninten and his party exploring Valentine, a town where Teddy and his gang can be found.

Finding the parts of Queen Mary's song, Ninten is harassed at a live house in the town of Valentine[i] by a gang leader named Teddy.[6] Surrendering after a fistfight, Teddy joins Ninten's party to avenge the death of his parents, who were killed by wild animals on Holy Loly Mountain;[j] Teddy forces Lloyd to stay behind. In a cabin at the mountain's base, Ana pulls Ninten aside and asks him to stay with her forever. The two dance and profess their mutual love for each other. A giant robot[k] then attacks the group, with Lloyd arriving in a tank to destroy the robot; the robot is defeated, but it's already too late; Ninten and Ana are burnt, and Teddy is critically wounded; allowing Lloyd to rejoin the party. They take a boat out on a nearby lake, and a whirlpool pulls them into an underwater laboratory. In it, they find a robot named EVE, who claims to have been built by George to protect Ninten. When the laboratory floods and they are sucked back out into the lake, they leave for the mountain's peak. After an even stronger robot shows up and attacks them, EVE self-destructs to destroy it, leaving behind the 7th melody of Queen Mary's song. When the party makes it to the top of the mountain, they are greeted to George's tombstone, his soul providing the 8th melody. The party is then warped to Magicant, where Ninten plays the complete song to Queen Mary on an ocarina. Upon recalling the song, she tells Ninten the story of an alien named Gyiyg[l] that she had raised and had loved as her own child. Revealing that she is George's wife, Maria, Queen Mary vanishes; Magicant, actually a mirage created by her consciousness, vanishes with her.[m]

The party is warped back to Holy Loly Mountain. The large rocks that had blocked the entrance to the mountain's peak were cleared by Maria's consciousness. There, the party encounters the

credits roll behind them.[n]

Development

Producer Shigeru Miyamoto approved the Mother project based on his confidence in Itoi.

Mother was developed by

medieval times (which the Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest series were based on) and found the former setting to be more interesting.[6] Having no prior experience in the gaming industry, Itoi hoped a company would produce his idea for him;[8][12] after he publicly defended video games on a late-night talk show, Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi became interested in his work and ordered project manager Yoshio Sakamoto to invite Itoi to work on advertising for Nakayama Miho no Tokimeki High School for the Famicom Disk System.[13][14][12]

While there, Itoi set up a meeting and pitched his idea, then titled "ESP1",

magic powers and they could not simply give the child characters firearms as weapons. Itoi's project proposal suggested how the natural limitations could be circumvented. While Miyamoto liked Itoi's ideas, he reacted to the proposal with indifference, as opposed to the praise Itoi was expecting.[6][15][12][16] He was not sure whether Itoi "could pull it off",[17] and explained that video game concepts needed people who signed on to "make" the product, rather than in the advertising industry where concept proposals preceded the staffing process.[17] Miyamoto stressed the amount of personal work the project would require,[15] and asked Itoi if he could start over and "make it simpler".[6] Itoi was overcome with "powerlessness",[17] though he kept his composure; he would later cry from helplessness on his bullet train ride home.[17][15][12] Itoi pondered how to make his game something that would impress people;[16] afterwards, he would receive a phone call from Miyamoto, stating that he had found a development team for the project.[13][15][12]

Miyamoto was also hesitant to work with Itoi at a time when companies were pushing major celebrity product endorsements, as Itoi's involvement would be for such a game. When the two met next, Miyamoto brought the documentation from a text adventure game and told Itoi that he would have to write similar documentation himself.[16] Miyamoto said that he knew from his own experience that the game would only be as good as the effort Itoi invested, and that he knew Itoi could not invest the appropriate time with his full-time job. Itoi restated his interest and reduced his workload, so Miyamoto assembled a development team. Upon assessing for compatibility, they began production in Ichikawa, Chiba, a month after the game was green-lit by Nintendo.[6] Itoi had said earlier that he wanted his work environment to feel like an extracurricular club consisting of volunteers and working out of an apartment, which Miyamoto tried to accommodate.[17] Itoi wrote the game's script[3] and commuted from Tokyo,[13] a process he found "exhausting", but at the same time wanted "more and more".[17] Even with asking Itoi to prioritize the development process, Miyamoto received criticism of acquiescing to a celebrity and of hiring a copywriter not up for the task. Miyamoto said that his decision to pursue the project was based on his confidence in Itoi.[17] The game's development team was skeptical of Itoi, as they assumed he would have little participation and that the game would be a vanity project similar to other celebrity-endorsed games;[6] Itoi surprised them by deeply involving himself with the game and forged an intimate relationship with them.[12][16]

Itoi's basis for the project was to create a game he would want to play himself, and imagined what he would do if he made a game.[6] Itoi drew upon various works for inspiration, some of them by Steven Spielberg, as he wanted to create a game as if it were made by Spielberg.[12] Poltergeist inspired the game's opening sequence, and the concept of contacting extraterrestrials with music and the importance of Devils Tower in Close Encounters of the Third Kind influenced the game's final act.[8][5] Itoi felt the game needed an element of mystery, so the world of Magicant was established to make the game a modern-day fantasy;[8] Itoi later noted the similarities of Magicant with concepts in The Talisman, though he stated it was unintentional.[8][18] The game's title, Mother, was settled upon late in development by Itoi[6] and was drawn from various influences, including the word "mothership"[19][6] and the song of the same name by John Lennon, which moved him to tears and inspired him to create a game to move its players in the same manner.[20] It was also inspired by his own life, in which his mother was absent in his childhood due to his parents' divorce; he had forbidden himself from thinking of her, and "finally found the opportunity to shout that word I had forbade myself from saying: 'mother.'"[21] Mother's logo design was inspired by 2001: A Space Odyssey and the Elvis Costello record Blood & Chocolate;[8][22] the design of the planet representing the letter O was drawn to appear as an unrecognizable version of the familiar planet Earth.

Development for Mother took two full years, with the initial concept of the game remaining unchanged from Itoi's initial pitch.[6] The company Ape assisted with the game's latter stages of development.[13] Ape was founded in response to concerns from Yamauchi about the state of the gaming industry as a whole; he believed it would stagnate in its direction unless new talent was brought in to rejuvenate it. He approached Itoi with the idea of a company meant to foster such talent, and Ape was founded in March 1989, with Itoi serving as its director.[13] The name and logo of the company were inspired by 2001: A Space Odyssey.[8] Mother was released in Japan on July 27, 1989, for the Famicom[23] (known as the Nintendo Entertainment System outside Japan).[2]

Music

Main article: Music of the Mother series § Mother/EarthBound Beginnings

The game's

Keiichi Suzuki and Hirokazu Tanaka. Tanaka was a video game composer working for Nintendo who had previously composed for games such as Super Mario Land and Metroid, while Suzuki was a composer and musician for bands of many different genres.[24] Tanaka joined Mother's team under orders from his superiors[13] and originally did not understand what Shigesato Itoi wanted from his score; over the course of the project, he came to comprehend Itoi's vision, and a relationship of trust was built between them.[6] Suzuki was personally hired by Itoi, as he had confidence in him from other projects they had worked on together beforehand; Suzuki had enjoyed playing games on the Famicom beforehand, but had never thought of composing a title himself.[25] While Tanaka programmed Mother's music and sound effects, Suzuki wrote the game's soundtrack;[26][25] Itoi asked Suzuki to base his compositions off pop music and to write the game's songs with real lyrics, something rare in Famicom games at that time.[27] Suzuki considered the game's American atmosphere to be easy to write for, and found it fun to circumvent the Famicom's audio restrictions to produce sounds that had not been attempted before.[27]

Suzuki and Tanaka primarily composed Mother's soundtrack in Suzuki's house, which Tanaka would come to from Nintendo's headquarters in Kyoto; Suzuki would play his track on a piano, which Tanaka converted into data by hand on a computer that he brought from his hotel every day.[25] The team's approach to writing Mother's music was "…to establish the rules that governed the audio for this world. There were considerations in terms of how time and space were related, how characters were associated with one another, and how the concepts of good and evil were represented".[26] Itoi was particularly excited about using music to expand and deepen the game's world.[6] The Famicom was only able to play three notes at a time, which Suzuki and Tanaka noted greatly limited what they were able to produce, as they could not create some of the sounds they wanted.[28][26] Suzuki also worked with French musician Louis Philippe on a song titled "Flying Man", named after bird-like residents in Magicant who can serve as temporary party members, which ultimately went unused; the song would later appear in EarthBound in several forms.[29]

"Eight Melodies"
A 32-second sample of the track, highlighting the album's vocal style and tone.
Problems playing this file? See media help.

An eleven-track album of songs based on the game's soundtrack was recorded in Tokyo, London, and

children's television shows. He found the lyrics "cheesy and trite" but appreciated the "simple statements" in "Eight Melodies" and the "quirky and wonderful" "Magicant". Only the last song on the album is in chiptune. Gann ultimately recommended the 2003 remastered release over this version.[31] The game's soundtrack contains several tracks later used in subsequent series games.[4]

English localization

Screenshots from Mother (left) and Earth Bound (right). The cross present in the church is absent in the localization, with the church now being referred to as a château.[32]

An English

nipples, cigarettes,[o] and references to violence and alcohol were removed.[32] Additionally, NPCs similar to Peanuts characters were altered to avoid potential legal prosecution.[35] Several features and enhancements were added to the original, including a run button, several in-game options, and an expanded ending.[36] Holiday-based town names were renamed to appeal more to mature audiences, while some maps and graphics were redesigned for difficulty or aesthetic purposes.[35] These changes were implemented by Sandhop, who rewrote the game's script himself, and it was then sent to Nintendo Co., Ltd., where it was approved by Shigesato Itoi, Shigeru Miyamoto, and Mother's development team before being programmed and sent back to Nintendo of America for further testing.[33][37] Phil Sandhop also coined Mother's English title as Earth Bound for the game to appeal to American audiences;[25][38] Nintendo of America trademarked a separate title, Space Bound, as a potential title for the game's sequel.[25][39]

Plans finalized for Earth Bound included an English release of the

Super NES.[33][41][42] In 1994, efforts were renewed to release Earth Bound in the United States and in Canada, but were shuttered due to the endeavor's perceived costs.[33] According to Phil Sandhop in an interview with LostLevels.org, "the Mother project and localizing it really opened up a few eyes at Nintendo. They began working closer with Nintendo of America and the other subsidiaries to produce artwork for games that would be appropriately received anywhere in the world and not need localization".[33] The name Earth Bound would later be carried over as the English title of Mother 2, EarthBound, with minor changes.[42]

Prototype

Nintendo of Canada in 1994 to be evaluated for a Canadian release.[33] It is notable for being the first game made by Nintendo to be made publicly available through dumping.[43]

In 1998, a completed prototype cartridge of Earth Bound was found by a fan translation group named Neo Demiforce (or just Demiforce), who had been working on a preliminary English translation of Mother before the prototype was discovered.

EarthBound fan community would donate $400 for Demiforce to temporarily obtain the cartridge from Brooks in order to dump its ROM. To distinguish the prototype from EarthBound, Mother's translated sequel, the prototype's title screen was altered to display the name "EarthBound Zero",[3][45][43] a tribute by Demeter to Street Fighter Alpha (Street Fighter Zero in Japan).[25]

On April 27, 1998, EarthBound Zero was released to the public, along with an original back-up of Earth Bound's code.[43][45][46] In order for Earth Bound to work on one of the most proficient NES emulators at the time, NESticle, a single byte of code in the ROM was modified; however, this led to a checksum being triggered at various points in the game, which would indefinitely lock the game on an anti-piracy screen.[43][44][46] Another byte was modified to disable the screens entirely, and it was publicly distributed once again.[43][46] Skepticism about the cartridge's authenticity soon arose from dubious members of the EarthBound fan community, initially positing alternative theories as to how the cartridge surfaced; they later came to regard the prototype as real, mainly due to Phil Sandhop confirming the cartridge's likely authenticity and the changes in Earth Bound being present in Mother 1+2.[43][4] The prototype was later sold by Brooks for $1000 to a collector named Andrew DeRouin, who gave it to a friend that kept it for fourteen years; DeRouin would reacquire the cartridge from the friend for free.[33][25] The cartridge, dubbed the "TK-69" prototype, was dumped once again in 2020, as Demiforce's original back-up had gone missing since its initial release.[47] Since the discovery of the "TK-69" cartridge, multiple prototype cartridges have surfaced outside of Nintendo, with one confirmed prototype residing within the headquarters of Nintendo of America.[46][48][49]

Release

Sales and Promotion

Mother was the sixth best-selling game of 1989 in Japan,

child actors portraying Ninten, Ana, and Lloyd destroy a giant robot with psychic attacks before setting off for Mt. Itoi.[5] Additionally, the advertisement featured two taglines: "No crying until the end" and "Guaranteed masterpiece",[54] which were invented by copywriter Hiroshi Ichikura.[55][5] Merchandise based on the game and its commercial was produced, along with the Mother Encyclopedia, a guidebook which contained expanded information about the game's world and characters. In addition, multiple guidebooks for Mother were released by different companies, as well as a novelization for the game penned by Saori Kumi.[56] The game itself was packaged with a fold-out manual that included paper clay models of the game's characters and enemies,[5] as well as a full-color map of the game's overworld, inspired by flyers from the Dragon Quest series.[55]

Reception

Mother received a "Silver Hall of Fame" score of 31/40 from Japanese magazine Famitsu.[23] Reviewers noted the game's similarities with the Dragon Quest series and its simultaneous "parody" of the genre's tropes.

balance issues.[3][4][64][65]

Jeremy Parish of USgamer described the game as a mild-mannered parody ("between satire and pastiche") of the role-playing game genre, specifically the Dragon Quest series.[3] He noted that Mother, like many Japanese role-playing games, emulated the Dragon Quest style: the windowed interface, first-person perspective in combat, and graphics, but differed in its contemporary setting and non-fantasy story. Parish commented that Atlus's 1987 Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei was similarly set in the modern day, though it devolved into science fiction and fantasy in ways Mother did not. He added that the game has "a sense of wonder and magic realism ... in the context of childhood imagination", as Ninten can feel more like someone "pretending" to be a Dragon Quest-style hero than a hero in his own right.[3][q] Parish said this makes the player wonder which game events are real and which are Ninten's imagination. Parish cited Itoi's interest in entering the games industry to make a "satirical" role-playing game as proof of the genre's swift five-year rise to widespread popularity in Japan.[3] Satoshi Tajiri wrote in Famicom Hisshoubon  [ja] that Mother as a very cinematic game in terms of scenario and presentation and had a variety of new ideas never before seen in a RPG.[63] Three reviews in Famitsu commented that initially they were uncertain of the quality the game, but felt they were rewarded after they had completed it.[57]

Cassandra Ramos of RPGamer praised the game's graphics and music, and considered it among the console's best, with "rich, ... nicely detailed" visuals, Peanuts-style characters, and "simple but effective" audio.[4] In contrast, she found the battle sequences aesthetically "pretty bland" and, otherwise, the game's "least interesting" aspect.[4] Overall, she found Mother "surprisingly complex ... for its time", and considered its story superior to (but less "wacky" than) its sequel.[4] She especially recommended the game for EarthBound fans.[4] Two reviewers in Famitsu complimented the music, while one said the monsters in the game were particularly cute.[57]

In Famicom Hisshoubon, Akihito Tomisawa wrote that the game would have been superior if Itoi was the only one in control of the project.

non-player characters would "contemplate the profound and trivial" instead of reciting the active plot.[3] He added that the game's lack of an official North American release has bolstered the reputation and revere of its immediate sequel.[3]

While Parish said Mother's script was "as sharp as EarthBound's", he felt that the original's game mechanics did not meet the same level of quality. Mother lacked the "rolling

1UP.com that in comparison to EarthBound, Mother is "worse in just about every way", a clone where its sequel was "a satirical deconstruction of RPGs".[64] He wrote that the game's historical significance is not for its actual game but for the interest it generated in video game emulation and the preservation of unreleased games.[64]

Legacy

Fandom

ROM hack that updated the game's graphics, script, and gameplay balance.[67]

A fan-made documentary titled Mother to Earth, developed by film group 54&O Productions, was funded by Kickstarter in 2016[34] and was released on October 19, 2019.[68] The documentary originated as a single interview with Mother's localization producer, Phil Sandhop, as part of a scrapped retrospective project; director Joshua Bone-Christian approached producer Christian Deitering about producing a documentary off the interview, as Sandhop was answering numerous questions asked by the EarthBound fanbase at the time.[34] The documentary focuses on the road to Mother's localization and eventual release as EarthBound Beginnings in North America, and includes interviews with key people behind the process, as well as notable figures within the gaming community.[69][68] The team behind Mother to Earth were encouraged by other filmmakers during the documentary's production to heighten the drama in certain areas; the team resisted, as they felt that it the project's content would make it worth watching.[34] Mother to Earth was released on Vimeo on August 31, 2020,[70][68] and was released theatrically on January 22, 2021.[68] The documentary was also released on DVD and Blu-ray;[71] additionally, merchandise and psychical media centered around the documentary is available on the project's website.

Sequels and rereleases

See also: Mother (video game series)

In 1994, a sequel entitled

cult classic.[41] Development for the third game in the series, Mother 3, began in 1994 for the Super Famicom[17] before shifting to the 64DD (the Nintendo 64's magneto-optical drive-based add-on) in 1996,[41] where it was advertised as a sequel to EarthBound (titled EarthBound 64) in North America.[73] Mother 3 struggled to find a firm release date due to difficulties with its development[74] and was switched to the Nintendo 64's standard cartridge format in 1998 due to the 64DD's commercial failure[75] before being cancelled in 2000,[41] due to further development siphoning resources from the GameCube.[17] In 2001, development for Mother 3 was restarted for the Game Boy Advance and was officially announced in 2003;[76] a compilation cartridge titled Mother 1+2, presented only in Japanese,[4] was released that year[76] and retained many of the changes present in the unreleased English localization of Mother.[33] While Mother 3 was converted to 2D graphics, its premise and scenario remained intact from its Nintendo 64 incarnation; it released to critical and commercial acclaim in Japan in 2006.[41] It did not receive a North American release by Nintendo,[77] despite much demand;[41] in 2008, a fan translation spearheaded by Clyde Mandelin was released and was met with praise by fans and critics alike.[78] Shigesato Itoi since stated that he had no plans to create a fourth series entry, effectively ending the franchise.[79]

Since its release, Mother, alongside its sequels, EarthBound and Mother 3, have been consistently lobbied for official commercial re-releases by fans, critics, and journalists of the gaming industry alike. In 1999, a fan petition was hosted by Starmen.net to release Mother for the Game Boy Color, which went largely unacknowledged by Nintendo.[80][41] An English release of Mother 1+2 was also petitioned by Starmen.net, though it did not occur, possibly as a result of the site ending their campaign too early.[41] Despite Nintendo Power readers ranking Mother the fourth-highest most desired game for the Wii Virtual Console (with EarthBound as the most desired) in 2008,[81] a release ultimately did not materialize. Inspired by the success of EarthBound's Virtual Console release[82] and to commemorate the 20th anniversary of EarthBound's release in the US, Nintendo would rerelease Mother on the Wii U's Virtual Console service in Japan on June 14, 2015, and internationally the same day as EarthBound Beginnings.[83][84][85] While the Japanese Virtual Console release of Mother retained many of the changes enacted from the Mother port in Mother 1+2,[86] the international Virtual Console release utilized the same ROM as the unreleased NES localization of Mother, Earth Bound, with no inherent modifications. Like its successor, EarthBound, EarthBound Beginnings became one of the best selling titles for the service, particularly in North America and Europe; it ranked slightly less in Japan, behind the digital version of Splatoon.[87] EarthBound Beginnings and EarthBound were both released for the Nintendo Classics service in North America on February 9, 2022, and internationally the following day.[88]

The Mother series has featured several recurring elements from the first game, including Giygas, the main antagonist of Mother,[11] and music tracks, such as "Snowman", "Pollyanna (I Believe in You)", and "Humoresque of a Little Dog". Elements from Mother have also been featured in the Super Smash Bros. series; remixed music from Mother appeared in the Onett and New Pork City stages in Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Smash Bros. Brawl,[89] and the Franklin Badge (an item that lets you deflect lightning attacks) appears as an item[90] and as a trophy[91] in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Ninten also appears as a collectible sticker in the same game.[92] In the Magicant stage in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, clips from Mother play in the background.[93] In addition, the company Hobonichi, founded by Mother creator Shigesato Itoi, has been producing merchandise based on the Mother series since 2020, with plushes,[94] badges, and other merchandise having made available based on the first Mother game.[95][96] In 2022, Nintendo released a Mother notebook based on the Eight Melodies from the game for the My Nintendo service, along with a luggage tag based on the Phase Distorter from EarthBound;[97] after the Japan-only release of Mother 3 for the Nintendo Classics service, icons for the service based on Mother were released by Nintendo on February 21, 2024, for a limited time.[98]

Notes and references

Notes

  1. ^ Additional work by Pax Softnica.
  2. ^ Japanese: マザー, Hepburn: Mazā
  3. ^ Changed to an ambiguous point in the 1980s in later releases.
  4. ^ Ninten originally went unnamed, being referenced to with standard pronouns such as "Boku" (ぼく), the Japanese form of "Me", but was officially designated as Ninten later on.[9][10]
  5. ^ Podunk in later translations.
  6. ^ Also called Roid or Loid in other translations.
  7. ^ Twinkle Elementary School in later versions.
  8. ^ Alternately Anna.
  9. ^ Ellay in later translations.
  10. ^ Mt. Itoi in later versions.
  11. ^ An upgraded version of a robot the group faced earlier in the game.
  12. ^ Giegue or Giygas in other translations.
  13. ^ In later translations, Ninten first visits a grave at the top of Holy Loly Mountain, where George's spirit conjures a black crystal and speaks to Ninten through it, teaching him the final melody.
  14. MOTHER 1+2
    .
  15. ^ As stipulated by a Californian law regarding content policies in video games at the time.[32][34]
  16. ^ Each of the four reviewers in Famitsu scored the game on a ten point scale
  17. ^ Parish added that later games such as Costume Quest and South Park: The Stick of Truth picked up on this theme.[3]

References

  1. ^ ""Game Boy Advance March 2001 – January 2005 Releases Section"". www.nintendo.co.jp. Archived from the original on April 7, 2023. Retrieved July 4, 2023.
  2. ^
    Nintendo Life. Archived
    from the original on October 7, 2014. Retrieved October 11, 2014.
  3. ^
    USgamer. Gamer Network. Archived
    from the original on October 20, 2014. Retrieved October 11, 2014.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Ramos, Cassandra. "Mother 1+2 (Mother 1)". RPGamer. Archived from the original on October 19, 2014. Retrieved October 11, 2014.
  5. ^
    ISBN 4-09-104114-0
    .
  6. ^
    Enterbrain, Inc.
    : 165. March 31, 1989.
  7. ^ a b "Mother". Hardcore Gaming 101. January 8, 2011. Archived from the original on March 3, 2021. Retrieved March 15, 2021.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g ファミコン必勝本 (in Japanese). Takarajimasha. May 19, 1989. {{cite journal}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  9. Sora Ltd., Game Arts (January 31, 2008). Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii). Nintendo
    .
  10. ^ Mandelin, Clyde (March 16, 2011). "Ninten isn't Exactly Ninten". EarthBound Central. Archived from the original on April 16, 2023. Retrieved June 30, 2024.
  11. ^
    1UP.com. Ziff Davis. Archived
    from the original on January 19, 2015. Retrieved November 16, 2014.
  12. ^ a b c d e f g h Tanaka, Keiichi (January 9, 2018). "Keiichi Tanaka explores the history behind Nintendo's now-legendary "MOTHER"—a tapestry woven from the words of Shigesato Itoi and the ingenuity of Satoru Iwata". 電ファミニコゲーマー. Archived from the original on February 26, 2018. Retrieved January 4, 2025.
  13. ^ a b c d e f Mandelin, Clyde (March 11, 2009). "Quick History of the MOTHER Series". EarthBound Central. Archived from the original on March 12, 2016. Retrieved December 17, 2024.
  14. ^ a b "Miitomoのポテンシャル！坂本賀勇×糸井重里" [The Potential of Miitomo! Kayo Sakamoto & Shigesato Itoi]. 1101.com. June 30, 2016. Archived from the original on July 16, 2016. Retrieved January 4, 2025.Translation Archived May 19, 2023, at the Wayback Machine.
  15. ^ a b c d Reynolds, Ollie (January 8, 2024). "Random: Miyamoto Made Shigesato Itoi Cry After 'Mother' Pitch". Nintendo Life. Archived from the original on January 27, 2024. Retrieved January 4, 2025.
  16. ^ a b c d Miyamoto, Shigeru; Itoi, Shigesato (December 1997). "BIG2の友椅対談!" [A Friendly Discussion Between the "Big 2"]. The 64Dream (Interview) (in Japanese). No. 15. Mainichi Communications. p. 91.
  17. ^ a b c d e f g h i Itoi, Shigesato (August 22, 2000). "『ＭＯＴＨＥＲ ３』の開発が中止になったことについての" [About the development of "MOTHER 3" has been canceled]. 1101.com. Archived from the original on October 18, 2014. Retrieved August 30, 2014. Translation Archived November 4, 2017, at the Wayback Machine, translated introduction Archived November 11, 2017, at the Wayback Machine.
  18. ^ Yarwood, Jack (February 27, 2023). "Shigesato Itoi Talks About Stephen King's Influence On 'Mother'". Time Extension. Archived from the original on March 5, 2023. Retrieved January 3, 2025.
  19. ^ @johntv – "I always assumed 'MOTHER' (Japanese title for the Earthbound series) came from 'Mother Earth', but according to Shigesato Itoi in a 1989 interview with Famitsu, the primary influence was the word 'mothership'". Archived April 25, 2022, at the Wayback Machine – via Twitter
  20. ^ M1+2 Event (subtitled), June 7, 2007, retrieved August 25, 2023
  21. ^ Bevan, Rhiannon (February 23, 2024). "Mother Director Finally Reveals Where The Name Came From". TheGamer. Archived from the original on February 29, 2024. Retrieved January 4, 2025.
  22. ^ "Hobonichi Interview with Masaharu Takada". July 25, 2024. Archived from the original on December 11, 2023. Retrieved July 24, 2024.
  23. ^ a b c "MOTHER". Famitsu (in Japanese). Kadokawa Corporation. Archived from the original on October 16, 2014. Retrieved October 11, 2014.
  24. ^ Suzuki, Keichi. "Keiichi Suzuki – Profile". keiichisuzuki.com. Archived from the original on November 13, 2013. Retrieved October 2, 2009.
  25. ^ a b c d e f g h i Jurkovich, Tristan (May 30, 2022). "Mother To Earth: 6 Things We Learned About EarthBound From The Documentary". gamerant.com. Archived from the original on August 16, 2022. Retrieved June 18, 2024.
  26. ^ a b c "Musicians & Artists of MOTHER". Mother Forever. February 2, 2020. Archived from the original on March 12, 2024. Retrieved December 17, 2024.
  27. ^ a b "Keiichi Suzuki - 1997 Composer Interview". Shmuplations. Archived from the original on April 20, 2024. Retrieved December 17, 2024.
  28. Enterbrain, Inc.
    : 12. October 28, 1994.
  29. ^ a b Guidry, Chas (July 2, 2010). "Video Games are Beautiful: Flying Man (MOTHER OST)". Boldstate. Archived from the original on July 16, 2010. Retrieved December 17, 2024.
  30. Nintendo Life. Archived
    from the original on February 7, 2024. Retrieved February 7, 2024.
  31. ^ Gann, Patrick. "Mother". RPGFan. Archived from the original on October 17, 2014. Retrieved October 11, 2014.
  32. ^ a b c Wirth, Jonathan. "Spotlight: EarthBound". lostlevels.org. Archived from the original on January 3, 2014. Retrieved June 17, 2024.
  33. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wirth, Jonathan. "Spotlight: EarthBound". lostlevels.org. Archived from the original on January 3, 2014. Retrieved June 17, 2024.
  34. ^ a b c d Olsen, Mathew (May 15, 2020). "How Documentaries Are Helping Preserve Gaming Culture We're at Risk of Losing". VG247. Gamer Network. Archived from the original on July 6, 2024. Retrieved January 12, 2025.
  35. ^ a b Wirth, Jonathan. "Spotlight: EarthBound". lostlevels.org. Archived from the original on January 3, 2014. Retrieved June 17, 2024.
  36. ^ Wirth, Jonathan. "Spotlight: EarthBound". lostlevels.org. Archived from the original on January 3, 2014. Retrieved June 17, 2024.
  37. ^ "EarthBound Beginnings Development". Mother Forever. February 2, 2020. Archived from the original on March 16, 2024. Retrieved July 22, 2024.
  38. ^ "Trademark Status & Document Retrieval (TSDR)". tsdr.uspto.gov. Archived from the original on June 17, 2024. Retrieved June 18, 2024.
  39. ^ "Trademark Status & Document Retrieval (TSDR)". tsdr.uspto.gov. Archived from the original on June 16, 2024. Retrieved June 17, 2024.
  40. ^ "Nintendo Has Fun in 1991: Earth Bound". Nintendo Power. Vol. 18. December 1990. p. 89.
  41. ^ a b c d e f g h i Linde, Aaron (May 6, 2008). "EarthBotched: A History of Nintendo vs. Starmen". Shacknews. Archived from the original on March 5, 2014. Retrieved June 17, 2024.
  42. ^ a b c Schreier, Jason (March 24, 2016). "The Man Who Wrote Earthbound". Kotaku. Archived from the original on April 16, 2023. Retrieved July 10, 2024.
  43. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wirth, Jonathan. "Spotlight: EarthBound". lostlevels.org. Archived from the original on January 3, 2014. Retrieved July 6, 2024.
  44. ^ a b c "Origin of EarthBound Zero: The Interview". starmen.net. Archived from the original on November 5, 2021. Retrieved July 6, 2024.
  45. ^ a b c d "The Legacy Behind The Game". starmen.net. Archived from the original on January 18, 2020. Retrieved July 6, 2024.
  46. ^ a b c d e Mandelin, Clyde (September 7, 2009). "EarthBound Zero Prototype Info". EarthBound Central. Archived from the original on March 28, 2023. Retrieved July 6, 2024.
  47. ^ Gangrich, Stephen (July 25, 2023). "earthboundtk69". Retrieved July 6, 2024 – via archive.org.
  48. ^ NOKOLO, Kody (April 25, 2020). "EarthBound Beginnings Prototypes". Mother Forever. Archived from the original on March 30, 2024. Retrieved July 17, 2024.
  49. ^ Kunimune, Robin (March 3, 2021). "EP. 21: MOTHER TO EARTH DOCUMENTARY WITH BONES". Video Game History Foundation. Archived from the original on May 28, 2023. Retrieved July 17, 2024.
  50. ^ "グーム売上ベスト10" [Best 10 Game Sales]. Family Computer Magazine (in Japanese). February 23, 1990. p. 133.
  51. ISBN 978-1-940535-00-5
    .
  52. ISBN 978-0-262-03439-5
    .
  53. ^ MOTHER Preview / Itoi Presentation, June 7, 2007, retrieved December 17, 2024
  54. ^ MOTHER Commercial (subtitled), June 7, 2007, retrieved December 17, 2024
  55. ^ a b Mandelin, Clyde (February 19, 2009). "1989 MOTHER 1 Flier". EarthBound Central. Archived from the original on November 16, 2011. Retrieved January 8, 2025.
  56. ^ Doolan, Liam (March 7, 2022). "You Can Now Read The Official Mother Novels In English". Nintendo Life. Archived from the original on June 11, 2022. Retrieved January 7, 2025.
  57. ^ a b c Famibo, Tofuya; Mizuno; Morishita, Moriko; TACO•X (August 4, 1989). "新作ゲームクロスレビュー" [New Games Cross Review]. Weekly Famitsu (in Japanese). No. 80. ASCII Corporation. p. 14.
  58. ^ Petty, Jared (July 24, 2015). "EarthBound Beginnings Review". IGN. Archived from the original on August 18, 2023. Retrieved June 30, 2024.
  59. ^ "Classic Reviews: EarthBound Zero". Game Informer. Archived from the original on May 19, 2024.
  60. ^ Latshaw, Tim (February 13, 2022). "EarthBound Beginnings Review". Nintendo Life. Archived from the original on May 28, 2024. Retrieved June 30, 2024.
  61. ^ "EarthBound Beginnings (Wii U) Review". Nintendo World Report. Archived from the original on October 6, 2015. Retrieved June 30, 2024.
  62. ^ Hagues, Alana (February 13, 2022). "EarthBound Beginnings". RPGFan. Archived from the original on October 20, 2021. Retrieved June 30, 2024.
  63. ^ a b c Tomisawa, Akihito; Tajiri, Satoshi (August 4, 1989). "Fami-Com. Soft Scramble". Famicom Hisshoubon [ja] (in Japanese). No. 76. JICC Publishing Bureau. p. 7.
  64. ^
    1UP.com. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original
    on October 6, 2012. Retrieved October 11, 2014.
  65. ^ a b Corriea, Alexa Ray (July 1, 2013). "Earthbound Zero localized and housed in this pretty fan-made NES cart". Polygon. Vox Media. Archived from the original on October 16, 2014. Retrieved October 11, 2014.
  66. ^ Latshaw, Tim (July 1, 2014). "Mother 25th Anniversary Fanfest Teleports in this 5th July". NintendoLife. Archived from the original on October 16, 2014. Retrieved October 11, 2014.
  67. Mandelin, Clyde (November 6, 2014). "ROM Hack: MOTHER 25th Anniversary Addition". EarthBound Central. Archived
    from the original on November 9, 2014. Retrieved November 8, 2014.
  68. ^
    Condé Nast Digital. Archived
    from the original on March 15, 2021. Retrieved January 12, 2025.
  69. Nintendo Life. Archived
    from the original on October 20, 2016. Retrieved October 20, 2016.
  70. ^ "Mother To Earth: The Untold Story Of Earth Bound". Vimeo. August 31, 2024. Archived from the original on July 17, 2024. Retrieved January 12, 2025.
  71. ^ Mandelin, Clyde (November 25, 2020). "Mother to Earth & Mother Forever". EarthBound Central. Archived from the original on March 28, 2023. Retrieved January 12, 2025.
  72. ^ George, Richard. "EarthBound - #13 Top 100 SNES Games". IGN. Archived from the original on January 1, 2014. Retrieved January 24, 2014.
  73. ^ Haywald, Justin (October 30, 2016). "6 Games That Came Back From the Dead". GameSpot. Archived from the original on November 11, 2021. Retrieved July 26, 2017.
  74. ^ IGN Staff (March 22, 2000). "MOTHER 3 PUSHED BACK". IGN. Archived from the original on June 26, 2014. Retrieved June 15, 2014.
  75. ^ "Earthbound 64 (Mother 3)". IGN. Ziff Davis. August 22, 2000. Archived from the original on November 29, 2014. Retrieved August 31, 2014.
  76. ^ a b GameSpot Staff (April 14, 2003). "Original Earthbound and sequels in development for the GBA". GameSpot. Archived from the original on September 19, 2018. Retrieved July 5, 2014.
  77. 1UP.com. p. 2. Archived from the original
    on April 26, 2015. Retrieved June 15, 2014.
  78. 1UP.com. Ziff Davis. p. 2. Archived from the original
    on July 17, 2014. Retrieved June 28, 2014.
  79. ^ Schreier, Jason (August 19, 2013). "Oh Jeez, The Fan-Made Mother 4 Looks Amazing, And It's Out Next Year". Kotaku. Archived from the original on August 22, 2013. Retrieved June 28, 2014.
  80. Condé Nast Digital. Archived
    from the original on March 5, 2014. Retrieved June 28, 2014.
  81. Nintendo Life. Archived
    from the original on May 28, 2022. Retrieved July 21, 2024.
  82. ^ Totilo, Stephen (June 23, 2015). "Nintendo's Reggie Talks Metroid, Amiibo, And (Of Course) Mother 3". Kotaku. Archived from the original on June 23, 2015. Retrieved July 23, 2024.
  83. ^ Osborn, Alex (June 14, 2015). "EarthBound Beginnings Brings Mother to Wii U". IGN. Archived from the original on March 8, 2022. Retrieved January 11, 2025.
  84. ^ McFerran, Damien (June 14, 2015). "The First Mother Game Is Finally Coming To The West As EarthBound Beginnings". Nintendo Life. Retrieved January 11, 2024.
  85. ^ Nintendo eShop - Earthbound Beginnings: A Message from Mr. Itoi, June 14, 2015, retrieved July 21, 2024
  86. ^ Mandelin, Clyde (June 17, 2015). "Japanese Wii U MOTHER Has Changes". EarthBound Central. Archived from the original on January 17, 2022. Retrieved January 12, 2025.
  87. ^ Mandelin, Clyde (June 23, 2015). "EarthBound Beginnings Rules Multiple Wii U Sales Charts". EarthBound Central. Archived from the original on December 25, 2022. Retrieved July 21, 2024.
  88. NintendoLife. Archived
    from the original on February 10, 2022. Retrieved July 21, 2024.
  89. ^ "Official Site - Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U". Archived from the original on October 1, 2011.
  90. ^ "Official Site - Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U". Archived from the original on October 1, 2011.
  91. ^ "Official Site - Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U". Archived from the original on November 29, 2011.
  92. ^ "Official Site - Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U". Archived from the original on November 1, 2012.
  93. ^ Schreier, Jason (October 3, 2014). "Super Smash Bros. 3DS: The Kotaku Review". Kotaku. Gawker Media. Archived from the original on November 4, 2014. Retrieved November 15, 2014.
  94. TheGamer. Archived
    from the original on July 31, 2024. Retrieved January 12, 2025.
  95. Nintendo Life. Archived
    from the original on March 24, 2023. Retrieved January 12, 2025.
  96. ^ "Hobonichi MOTHER Project Merchandise". Mother Forever. October 30, 2020. Archived from the original on March 16, 2024. Retrieved January 12, 2025.
  97. Nintendo Life. Archived
    from the original on December 29, 2022. Retrieved January 12, 2025.
  98. Nintendo Life. Archived
    from the original on February 22, 2024. Retrieved January 12, 2024.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mother_(video_game)&oldid=1297702939"