On April 20th, a full ten years after a sequel was first announced, Mother 3 was released in Japan. The first game in the Mother series never saw these shores, while its second installement is better known as EarthBound in North America. As is the case with many games that have a rough time crossing the Pacific, this series is pretty unique in the realm of RPGs. They usually consist of strange journeys with psychic children foiling evil alien plots, all wrapped around a creamy and traditional Dragon Quest center.

Mother 3 begins with a boy named Claus waking up on his grandfather's farm, then his brother Lucas calling him out to play. After a brief and well-integrated tutorial of the game's basic systems, the children and their--wait for it--mother go off to eat their favorite player-named food item. Meanwhile, back at their home in Tatsumari Village, their father is occupied with a forest fire that appears to have been intentionally set by strange men in pig masks. (If there should be an English tanslation of this game, the crime will hopefully be credited to Manbearpig.) After the smoke has cleared, he must find out what has happened to his family.

This beginning has already set a somewhat different tone from the other Mother games. One of the criticisms of the series in the past has been the tendency to lack a very solid plot, with little strong driving force behind the action. Mother 3 is very different in that respect, with the framework of a detailed plot already appearing.

The series uses a traditional Dragon Quest-styled battle system with turn-based combat displaying inanimate sprites. The swirling, mathematically generated patterns for battle backgrounds return from Mother 2 (Earthbound), as does the ability to see enemies on the screen before engaging them. There are no random battles to be found here. However, Mother 3 mixes things up even more by introducing a type of "timed hits" system. This system is unique in that the extra hits are performed by tapping the A button to the tune of the battle music. Up to sixteen hits can be scored in this manner, and it can take much practice to get used to. Once mastered, however, it is very addicting.

The graphics are very much in line with the series style, being simple in design with bright colors. Animation is very fluid and facial expressions are quite well done, conveying the emotions of the characters effectively. The music has been a bit of a mixed bag. Most songs, and escpecially the battle music, tend to be short and catchy with varied styles. This fits right in line with the timed hits system, and there are a huge number of battle tracks in the game.

Mother 3 will probably please the hardcore Mother fans with its classical stylings, and might even garner a few new ones with its more structured plot. No English translation announcement has been officially made at this time.

SCREENS

• Keeping it real on the street
• Keeping it real in the park
• Keeping it real in the museum
• Keeping it real outside of NAMBLA
• Watching ghosts get high

VARIOUS PIECES OF SEX

• Deluxe Badge
• Deluxe GBA Micro

LINKS

• Forum Discussion
• Official Japanese Website