Mother

Mother
Developer	Ape, Inc. & Nintendo TRD
Publisher	Nintendo
System	NES, Wii U Virtual Console
Release Date	NES JP July 27, 1989 Wii U Virtual Console June 14, 2015
Rating	CERO: A

Mother is a quirky RPG that was originally released for the NES in 1989. It was originally released only in Japan. Alhough Nintendo had plans to release in America and even completed a translation with other changes, the game was delayed due to marketing issues and eventually was canceled as it reached the end of the NES's lifespan. A group known as Demiforce were able to obtain a pre-sell copy of the translated game and distributed to the emulation community while adding a Zero to the name, thus giving it the name Earthbound Zero to differentiate it from the sequel, Earthbound. In the year 2015, an official translation was finally released via the Wii U Virtual Console, this time known as Earthbound Beginnings.

Mother was unique among the RPGs of the time by doing away with the medieval setting in favor of a contemporary setting.

Story

When strange things start to happen in his home, a young boy (Ninten), investigates and sets off on a journey. Along the way he learns more about his psychic powers and his family's strange past, eventually being set on a quest to collect eight melodies and foil an invasion spearheaded by an alien being known as Giygas (or Giegue in the original translation). As he journeys, he is joined by loyal friends in the form of Lloyd, Ana and Teddy.

Gameplay

The game is quite different from other RPGs. The game has no overworld where the player moves in a map to reach towns, instead, everything is connected; the player can talk to people, search for items, and buy stuff in the same map where he fights enemies. In battle, the game used a turn based system. The player has the option to fight, use goods, attack with PSI (the game's equivalent of magic), and to run. There was also the interesting option of Auto, which lets the computer control your characters.

Legacy

The Mother series is high praised for its soundtrack, which exploited the very cartridge of the NES, to have a big selection of music. The characters from the sequels, as music from all three games, also appear in the Smash Bros. games.

Sequels

Mother was followed by Earthbound (Mother 2 in Japan) for the Super Nintendo.

Ports and Remakes

• In Japan, Mother was ported to the Game Boy Advance as part of the compilation game Mother 1 + 2.
• In June 2015, it was released for the Wii U Virtual Console as Earthbound Beginnings. This was the first time an official English translation was made available.