Mother 3: A Late-Night Review
Nov. 3
A few weeks ago, a complete English-language translation patch was released for Mother 3, a previously Japanese-only sequel to the Super NES RPG EarthBound. Given the large amount of text to translate and the difficult hacking work involved in its creation, the patch is a triumph for the dedicated fan translation community. Its release provides long-awaited closure for series fans outside of Japan, who endured more than a decade of uncertainty, a canceled release for the Nintendo 64, and Nintendo of America's stubborn refusal to produce an official translation in their wait for an English version of Mother 3.
The patch's release has met with praise from eager players worldwide. The translation is both respectful to its source material and well-written throughout. But what about the game itself? Recently, I played Mother 3 through to completion, and I thought I'd talk a little bit about the experience.
(Warning: Minor spoilers ahead. I'll avoid specifics, though.)
Gameplay-wise, Mother 3 plays as well as it needs to play. The rhythm-based battle system is fun and involving. I like the music, I like the graphics, and functionally, the only problem I have with the game is that the "run away" option in combat seems to never work when you want it to. Otherwise, I have no major complaints.
Mother 3 accomplishes far more in terms of narrative than it does in gameplay, though. Mother 3's dialog flows naturally and conversationally. It tackles difficult themes -- the death of loved ones, disability, loss of culture, and captivity and helplessness, to name a few. Its characters are likable and genuine, and the storyline is...
Well, let's talk about the story.
Chapter 1 leaves a lasting impression. It's subtle in some moments and urgent in others. It's written with an intimate closeness throughout. And right smack in the middle of it just happens to be the most emotionally gripping scene I've ever seen in a video game. It's an achievement that's made all the more amazing when considering that the actors involved are sparsely detailed, cartoony sprites on a screen no more than a few inches wide.
Chapter 2 places you in control of a new main character, and plays out like an extended dungeon from EarthBound. Combat and dialog come in near-equal parts, and both are equally compelling. It's strange and confusing at points, but the hooks established here prove intriguing enough to make you want to keep playing.
Chapter 3 is brilliant. You're again given control of a new main character, who in this case is all but helpless in combat and relies on a non-controllable and unreliable party member for basic survival. The twist is that you are a slave, and the party member is your master. Your master is relentlessly cruel, but thanks to his helpfulness in combat, you may start to develop a Stockholm syndrome-like bond with him. This is new, scary territory for video games, and I love it.
Chapter 4 changes a majority of game world factors that had previously appeared stable and permanent, and chapter 5 continues a quest that now feels intensely personal and important. Chapter 6 might be the best chapter in the game.
Chapter 7 is where Mother 3 turns into an RPG.
In chapter 7, character development is frozen as a string of dungeons are explored and bosses are battled. One painful sequence explains away all of the mystery of the game world in one huge chunk of dialog, and carries almost no impact despite the weight of its revelations. Progress begins to feel less like an achievement and more like a tiring grind, and the kind of heart and vitality that characterized previous chapters isn't seen again until the last few minutes of gameplay.
This makes for an unfortunately disappointing ending, but the overall experience suffers only slightly for it. The final chapters of Mother 3 are still exceptional by RPG standards, and its first six chapters absolutely must be experienced by anyone who has ever enjoyed a video game. It's genuinely funny in places, heartbreaking in others, and it tells an excellent story.
Play this game. It may be disappointing when it suddenly changes from "best game of all time" to "merely great RPG," but the narrative and emotional territory explored along the way makes the journey well worth the effort.
Comments
Does all this praise still apply if you haven't (and don't intend) to play the original Earthbound? Or will many of these apparently incredible moments be lost on those unfamiliar with the series? And is the combat still slow, clunky, and grindey like Earthbound?
You've made a powerful recommendation there, but these are important questions to people like me who enjoy video games, just not Earthbound.
For the most part, Mother 3 is muuuuuch better paced than EarthBound. It's fully playable without prior knowledge of the series (only some late-game references will be lost on you), and I never had to grind for levels even once.
The combat's pretty similar to EarthBound, but it gives you the option of either pressing buttons to a rhythm for extra damage or just holding a button to speed through the battle, so it at least gives you some options this time around. It still gets annoying sometimes, but I thought it was much less annoying than it was in EarthBound.
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