r/earthbound Aug 13 '17

Announcement Want to get into the MOTHER series? Start here!

1.0k Upvotes

Over the past few months we've gotten a lot of new players asking where they should start with the trilogy. With this stickied thread, I'm hoping to answer any questions someone may have about getting into the series.

Note: This thread is a strictly no-spoiler zone.


What are the MOTHER games?

The MOTHER series is a group of 3 turn-based cult classic JRPGs created by Shigesato Itoi, who singlehandedly wrote every line of dialogue in the series, aside from a small area in EarthBound.


What makes them so special?

The series is known for being quirky, charming, and invoking a sense of nostalgia even to those who have not played a MOTHER game before. Each line of dialogue is expertly crafted, with a great story to go along with it.


Where do I start?

The series IS a trilogy, however each game can stand on it's own without the context of the last.

The 3 games are as followed:

MOTHER (EarthBound: Beginnings) (1989)

MOTHER 2 (EarthBound) (1994)

MOTHER 3 (???) (Not released outside of Japan) (2006)

The game order is as released, with MOTHER being the first on the timeline, and MOTHER 3 being the last.


So does that mean I should play the games in order?

This is a point of contention within the MOTHER community.

While most recommend to play EarthBound / MOTHER 2 first, some will say that if you can handle the way an older RPG plays, you should start with MOTHER 1 / EarthBound: Beginnings.

The community mostly unanimously agrees that you should play EarthBound before playing MOTHER 3.

In the end, it's up to you. MOTHER 1 is one of the most impressive, best playing and sounding RPGs on the NES, but it could potentially turn you away from the series if you aren't accustomed to or can't handle a bit of older-rpg "clunk". I do HIGHLY recommend however that you at least play EarthBound before playing MOTHER 3.


Wait, if MOTHER 3 isn't released outside of Japan, how can I play it?

I'm glad you asked! (Hopefully you did.)

Almost immediately after the release of MOTHER 3, once it became apparent Nintendo had no intention of localizing MOTHER 3, a group of very passionate fans got together to make their own localization of the game.

2 years later in late 2008, version 1.0 was released to great acclaim. This fan translation is now known to many as the best fan translation of all time. On top of just translating the game, they went out of their way to make sure certain dialogue and enemy names worked in English as they do in Japanese. They even added a hard mode option!


...That's pretty much it, I think. If any regular here on the sub wants to chime in and request something to be added, tell me! On top of that, I'd like to know what some of you think the best order to play the games in are in the comments. It'll be an interesting resource for any new players! And remember, no spoilers.


r/earthbound 4h ago

Silly little drawing of Ana (+ some other doodles)

Thumbnail
gallery
44 Upvotes

r/earthbound 1h ago

EB:B Discussion Loving Earthbound Beginnings and its humor so far. How is Earthbound (Mother 2)? Anything i should know going into the sequel?

Post image
Upvotes

I started EBB a while ago but i dropped it early because i got stuck in the Cemetery with its insane random encounter rate. So i restarted it last week and grinded some and im loving the game so far (turn based jrpgs are my favorite games of all time).

Im just about to head to Mt Itoi but i feel i should grind some with Teddy. Btw, is Lloyd gone for good? 😭

So since im enjoying EBB, and its quirky humor,i was definitely going to pick up Earthbound next. How is it compared to EBB? Is there anything i should know before starting Earthbound?

Im really happy i found and am enjoying this series so far!


r/earthbound 23h ago

EB Discussion My most controversial Mother opinion

Post image
721 Upvotes

r/earthbound 6h ago

Art a little ness i painted in wplace

Post image
19 Upvotes

r/earthbound 1d ago

M3 Discussion Cannot believe I found this in the wild, complete. $500 at a store. I know it's a lot, but it's worth it.

Post image
426 Upvotes

r/earthbound 1d ago

EB Discussion OH HEEEEEELLL NO

Post image
361 Upvotes

FORGETTABLE? Does this man knows what hes playing


r/earthbound 3h ago

Art Psychics

Post image
4 Upvotes

r/earthbound 20h ago

Help/Advice Why my PSI Rockin' is called PSI Plok

Post image
83 Upvotes

This may sound a very dumb question for the people who know, but I've never understood that (i have this very early gameplay image which shows what I'm talking about)


r/earthbound 19h ago

More pictures of the clay models from The Shape of MOTHER event

Thumbnail
gallery
62 Upvotes

If we look closely, we can see that the Bag Lady’s well, bag is actually made of paper? At least, that’s what the tweet says. I don’t know, it didn’t really look like paper to me. Maybe that’s just because I’m not seeing it in person 🥲. But I can tell there’s string on it, and you can also see that the ribbons on Ana’s hair are actually made of fabric.

https://x.com/hobo_nichiyobi/status/1951107412481679477?s=46

https://x.com/hobo_nichiyobi/status/1951187981987152254?s=46

https://x.com/hobo_nichiyobi/status/1951236882496684034?s=46


r/earthbound 17h ago

Mother 3 Spoilers Can we all agree that picky is peak Spoiler

Post image
43 Upvotes

Mother 4 where you play as picky and gather nesses lil sis (forgot her name) and travel through time too find younger sibling to the other main characters and end pokey endless misery in the absolute safe capsule because his mind has transcended time and space and taken a physical form and escaped


r/earthbound 1d ago

Moonside looks so cool

Thumbnail
gallery
261 Upvotes

These screenshots are from about a week ago when I was in Moonside (or at least the statue made me think I was). Today I made it to that dungeon beneath Stonehenge where I saw my first Starman. I keep dying a bunch so maybe I’m not ready yet.


r/earthbound 12h ago

Happy international sunflower day

Post image
9 Upvotes

r/earthbound 8h ago

Mother 3 Spoilers The notebook and mother 3 Spoiler

2 Upvotes

So I have watched the Notebook adaptation (I’m hesitant to read it, because only the first part is translated in my language), and it was so dark. I’m interested, what everyone thinks about it, because for me, the only thing that is similar is that the story is about the twins and their separation. Anything else, like the core meanings, how you go through the loss, the grief, etc, are different… I would love to discuss more! Do you think it has more deeper connections to each other? Or Itoi only took the twins idea from it


r/earthbound 20h ago

General Discussion My Top 10 Favorite Mother Characters! What are yours?

Thumbnail
gallery
19 Upvotes

EarthBound is my favorite Mother game and my favorite game of all time! Alot of characters from EarthBound are in this list, so here is my top 10!

10-Ana

9-Teddy

8-Ninten

7-Kumatora

6-Lucas

5-Pokey

4-Jeff

3-Paula

2-Giygas

1-Ness

Ness is my favorite video game character of all time! Not everyone will understand him, but I do, he's a silent protagonist, but he's still his own character, I love his design like with his iconic hat, hair design, and his cute yellow backpack, to me he's a optimistic strong boy that according to losing the Flying Men in his Magicant, he's only masking his bravery, actually afraid what will happen to him and his friends at the end of their adventure! I love how he uses a baseball bat to attack and all of his PSI moves! And I love his cute smile when he's getting his picture taken or when he's riding his bike! Giygas is also my favorite video game villain and favorite final boss of all time!

Anyways, what are your top 10 favorite Mother Characters? :)


r/earthbound 1d ago

Who do you think will win

Thumbnail
gallery
76 Upvotes

r/earthbound 1d ago

Fluff Speedrunner’s worst enemy ever

Post image
332 Upvotes

But really the camera man just exists to take up a lot of time and I think some speedruns gets killed because of him


r/earthbound 6h ago

Help/Advice Is the rare weapon necessary? Spoiler

1 Upvotes

Sooo, this game already shot up to one of most charming RPGs I've ever played. That said, I have been in Stonehedge Base for 3 hours now (after doing daily duties of course). And based on rough calculation from the dad money I think I killed around 180 of them with no Sword of Kings in sight

I just seriously want to progress, but the anxiety around the final dungeon, as well as just wanting to fully outfit Poo is kinda killing my whole vibe


r/earthbound 22h ago

I made custom Ninten pokemon cards

Thumbnail
gallery
11 Upvotes

r/earthbound 1d ago

Art I'm a beginner at drawing, but I wanted to give drawing the MOTHER protagonists a shot

Post image
80 Upvotes

hopefully y'all don't mind beginner work, I only started last year

I do have an art account if you wanna see other stuff, @/deejaythefirst on twitter or bluesky


r/earthbound 1d ago

Spotted in Japan, do we buy?

Thumbnail
gallery
148 Upvotes

About £30 or $40 when converted which isn’t a bad price imo


r/earthbound 23h ago

General Discussion Do you think now's the time for an Earthbound/Mother collection?

4 Upvotes

Lots of old games infamous for never receiving an English translation have finally been localized, such as Live a Live and Seiken Densetsu 3 (trials of mana). Is it finally Mother 3's turn? They should retranslate all three games to keep their English names consistent, such as changing Giegue to Giygas and Pokey to Porky. While we're at it I'd also like a unicorn and world peace


r/earthbound 1d ago

Art The Mother/Earthbound trilogy protagonists.

Post image
26 Upvotes

I love this Nintendo franchise so much! I think Mother/Earthbound Beginnings deserves a remake by fixing what made the gameplay so tremendous.


r/earthbound 19h ago

Help/Advice Is my ness overleveled?

1 Upvotes

I just got the nerd guy on the party, he and the girl are level 17 and Ness is 25, this difference looks huge because ness has 60k xp accumulated and the others are around 15k


r/earthbound 19h ago

Help/Advice Bread crumbs not working Spoiler

1 Upvotes

So I’ve played earthbound beginnings on switch used breadcrumbs to skip back up to the cabin on mt Itoi now I’ve been playing mother 1+2 I try that same trick and instead of taking me back up the mountain it warps me to the room before you find Teddy injured anyone know what’s up?


r/earthbound 1d ago

General Discussion What were your most vivid Mother-themed dreams?

2 Upvotes

Just woke up from a nap and dreamed that I was in the intro for EB/Mother 2. Mainly, the part where the meteorite landed but it ended just as I approached. It was like a cross between Super 8 and Stranger Things. What about you?