Ninten

Official clay model of Ninten
Ness
Species	Human
Hair color	Black
Eye color	Black
Age	12
Relatives	George (great grandfather) Maria (great grandmother) Father Mother Minnie and Mimmie (sisters)
Debut	Mother

Ninten is the main protagonist who is featured in Mother. He is notable for being looking nearly identical to Ness, the hero of its sequel.

Background

Ninten was a young boy who lived with his family in a house near Podunk. He lived with his mother, his younger twin sisters Minnie and Mimmie and the family dog. His father was usually away on work, but they stayed in touch over the phone, and he put money in Ninten's bank account. Ninten seemed to live an ordinary life at first, with the exception of his developing psychic powers. His true call to action came one day when suddenly two lamps and a doll within the house came to life and started attacking them while the house shook. Ninten was able to defeat the inanimate objects and save his family, at which point the house returned to normal. He also found a music box in the doll and from it learned the first of the melodies that would later come in handy later. Ninten's dad than called and hypothesized that it was the work of a poltergeist, mentioning that the research of Ninten's gread-grandfather about PSI could come in handy. He suggested that Ninten set out on a journey to investigate this and discover the potential of his powers.

Finding his great-grandfather's diary in the basement, Ninten then set off to begin his adventure. He first traveled to Podunk and rescued the girl Pippi from the zombies in the cemetery, successfully escorting her back to Podunk. Afterwards he performed several more good deeds at the mayor's request and learned two more melodies after returning a canary chick to its mother in Canary Village and defeating a Starman Jr. to free the minds of the animals at the zoo. Around this time, Ninten was also able to use his telepathic abilities and the hints in the diary to make his first trip into Magiciant, where he was temporarily accompanied by a Flying Man. There he learned of more mysteries and first met Queen Mary, who tasked him with learning all of the melodies so that she could sing for him and regain her lost memories. Afterwards he set off on his quest and soon met his first friend, Lloyd, in Merrysville. Together they were able to destroy the rocks blocking the railroad using a rocket from the Duncan Factory, allowing them to travel eastward on the train.

In these eastern areas, they found another melody in Spookane and were joined by a young girl named Ana in Snowman. Ana had foretold Ninten's arrival in a dream and joined with him after he returned her missing hat to her. The three then set out towards the desert, where they found another melody as well as a monkey-filled tunnel leading them near Youngtown. At some point, they defeated a dragon to gain a melody. When they traveled to Ellay, they came into conflict with the local gang, the Bla-Blas. Their leader, Teddy, angrily confronted them after they performed at the nightclub. After briefly battling, Teddy called it a draw and joined with Ninten's group, ousting Lloyd at the same time for his weakness.

They made their way up to Mt. Itoi and took cover within a healing house along the mountain. There, Teddy excused himself to make some phonecalls and to give Ninten and Ana some private time together. At this time, Ana offered to dance with Ninten and asked if he loved her. If Ninten answered yes to both, Ana admitted that she loved him too, ever since she first dreamed about him. They were then interrupted when Teddy burst in, as they were being attacked by the R7038 robot, which easily outmatched all of them until Lloyd came and destroyed it in a tank. Teddy was too injured from the battle to accompany them further, so Lloyd rejoined them. They then continued their trek of Mt. Itoi, temporarily aided by Eve, a robot that George had designed to protect him.

Finally, they reached the summit of Mt. Itoi, where they found the last two memories within Eve's remains and at what seemed to be George's essence at a tombstone. He then returned to Magiciant and sang the eight melodies to Queen Mary, who remembered that she was actually Ninten's great grandmother Maria. She also revealed that she and George had been forced to raise Giygas until George betrayed the aliens. With her memory complete, Queen Mary passed on, and all of Magiciant disappeared as it was just the remains of Maria's consciousness. They were returned to Mt. Itoi and made their way through a cave, where they found Giygas's mother ship. Giygas descended from the ship and battled Ninten's group, angry at them for obstructing his schemes.

Giygas made an offer to Ninten to join him, but Ninten refused, which caused Giygas to attack more viciously. They then defeated Giygas, not with their individual powers, but by repeatedly singing the melodies which Maria had tried to sing to Giygas as a lullaby. These songs strained Giygas's sanity, and he begged them to stop, which ultimately caused him to drop the battle and retreat. With Giygas defeated and all the captured humans freed, Ninten and the others returned to their homes. Ana was confident that she would see Ninten again and began to miss him after he sent her a letter, although the future of their relationship is unknown. After returning home, Ninten simply settled for a good night's sleep. However, the last scene also showed that someone who seemed to be Ninten's father was trying to call him about some startling new developments.

Abilities

Ninten primarily battles with baseball bats and yo-yos as his weapons, and he can also fight with the slingshot or boomerang (which can be used by any character). The most powerful weapon he can gain is Hank's Bat. He also learns a variety of PSI powers in the game, but none of them are offensive. The following are his PSI abilities:

• Telepathy - His default ability that can only be used outside of battle. He can use it to read certain beings' minds, usually to get hints or progress in the plot.
• LifeUp - A health restoration ability that Ninten learns four different levels of. LifeUp a (learned at Level 3) restores from 25-35 HP of one ally, LifeUp B (learned at Level 29) restores 70-85 HP of one ally, LifeUp y (learned at Level 33) restores all HP of a single ally, and LifeUp p (learned at Level 38) restores 55-65 HP of all allies but can only be used in battle.
• Hypnosis - Learned at Level 4. Ninten can use this ability to put an enemy to sleep.
• Healing - A status restoration ability that Ninten learns all four forms of. Healing a (learned at Level 5) cures poison, Healing B (learned at Level 16) heals paralysis, Healing y (learned at Level 19) cures stonification, and Healing p (learned at Level 22) cures sleep.
• Defense Up - An assist PSI that Ninten learns two forms up. Defense Up a (learned at Level 7) raises one ally's Defense for a battle, and Defense Up B (learned at Level 24) raises all allies' defense for the battle.
• Defense Down - An assist PSI that Ninten learns two forms of. Defense Down a (learned at Level 9) lowers a single enemy's Defense for a battle, and Defense Down B (learned at Level 26) lowers all enemies' Defense for a battle.
• 4th-D Slip - This move is learned at Level 11 and simply will allow Ninten to immediately escape from battle, apparently warping space to do so.
• PSI Shield - A defensive ability which Ninten learns both levels of. PSI Shield a (learned at Level 13) shields one ally to reduce their damage by half, and PSI Shield B (learned at Level 30) shields all allies to reduce their damage by half.
• Quick Up - A technique that Ninten learns at Level 14 which raises one ally's Speed for the duration of the battle.
• Offense Up - A technique that Ninten learns at Level 18 which raises an ally's Offense for the duration of the battle.
• Power Shield - A technique that Ninten learns Level 34 which protects one ally with a reflective shield.
• Super Healing - A technique that Ninten learns at Level 35 which can be used to revive one fallen ally at full health (at the cost of a whopping 36 PP).
• Teleport- This move is taught to Ninten by a PSI-using baby within Youngtown. He can use this to teleport to any town he has visited (except for Magiciant, which can only be teleported to with the Onyx Hook). The player needs only running space to pull off this move, as Ninten and company must break out into a run and pick up enough speed to make the teleport.

Other Appearances

Video Games

• In the Super Smash Bros. series, Ninten has been represented by a sticker in Super Smash Bros. Brawl and a Legend-rank Primary Spirit in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. His Spirit comes with the bonus effect of boosting PSI Attack power. When fought in a Spirit battle, Ninten's Spirit would possess a group of four Ness clones with strengthened PSI abilities in a stamina battle.

Trivia

• His name is derived from "Nintendo", much as Ness would be named after the abbreviation "NES".
• As noted above, Ninten is nearly identical to Ness, despite being clearly being different characters and living in different time eras (Ninten in the 80's and Ness in the 90's). Creator Shigesato Itoi oddly has commented that it is ultimately up to the players to choose whether or not the two characters are the same person.
• Ninten also suffers from asthma, which will temporarily prevent him from attacking when activated (similar to Ness's homesickness in the following game). It can only be cured at a hospital or by buying and using an asthma pump.