Mother 2 (released in America as
Earthbound) and Mother 3 (released in America as... uh... well, not released in
America at all) are two critically acclaimed RPGs from the mind of Japanese
mega-star Shigesato Itoi. Seriously, that man is a big deal over there. The
original Mother is a Japanese exclusive game that came VERY close to receiving
an American localization, but for various reasons that didn't happen. The story
of this trilogy's development and the fight for their localization is really
interesting and ultimately pretty sad, I definitely recommend you read about it
or watch a video explaining the situation next time you're bored.
While the original Mother (named
after the John Lennon song of the same name) has its fans, Earthbound and
Mother 3 are seen as masterpieces for different reasons. They were released 12
years apart but still look and play very similarly, which isn't a bad thing at
all if you ask me. Despite that, they tell two very different stories with
radically different themes and goals. Which one is superior? Well, let's put
them to the test! I can't give you an objective answer, but I'll be comparing
them in every category I can think of and giving you my two cents on which game
pulls what off better.
To start with, the gameplay! They're
both very simplistic RPGs with just about identical mechanics. Mother 3's,
however, are almost objectively more refined. In terms of overworld
exploration, Earthbound does nothing really intuitive. You walk around and
eventually get a bicycle... That you can only use in one town. Smh. There are
also a lot of weird areas where you'll get caught on trees or buildings or it
isn't clear where you can or can't walk. It's not a huge hassle but it happens
often enough to at least stick out in my memory. Mother 3's overworld
exploration is much more convenient for a few reasons. First, it offers a
really cool addition in the form of a dash button; you hold it down, release
it, and all of your party members start charging forward at high speed until
they crash into something. Not only does this make travel quicker and more
convenient, but it has some cool gameplay functions too! There are points where
you'll have to charge into a door to break it down or into someone to knock
them over. It's not a huge deal but it's cute and practical. Also, partially
due to the setting being much more open in most places compared to Earthbound's
many towns and cities, there's a lot less awkwardly getting caught on
buildings!
In terms of battle, Mother 3 also
introduces the concept of rhythmic button presses to extend the number of attacks
and by extension amount of damage you can do in one turn, similar to the action
commands in various Mario RPGs, the difference being that you can keep hitting
the button up to 16 times and your button presses must be timed to the
background music. It makes it more difficult to get that extra damage, but more
engaging and fun! You also have the option to practice against any unique enemy
in the game after facing them once to help get down the rhythm you need to
attack against them in, which is much appreciated. But don't worry; even if
your sense of rhythm is practically non-existent, the game is still 100%
playable and beatable without these extra chain attacks. A very fun and
challenging addition but completely optional.
There is one area that Earthbound
does a bit better in though, if only because of one mechanic; leveling
up/grinding. In Earthbound, if you encounter an enemy way below your level, the
fight ends instantly with a satisfying "squish" noise and you're
rewarded with a little bit of experience. Not only does this speed up grinding,
but it also brings a satisfying feeling to the player! It gives you a sense of
progression, it makes you feel like your party has truly grown stronger! In
Mother 3 this mechanic is radically changed, basically removed. The closest
thing is a feature where, if you're dashing and you run into a particularly
weak enemy, you'll knock them aside. It's still kind of neat, but you aren't
rewarded with any experience. It's not as satisfying or useful if you don't get
anything for it, even if it is a minuscule amount. Overall it doesn't feel like
a huge omission while you're playing, but in hindsight it's one of Earthbound's
most clever mechanics and it's pretty lame it didn't come back.
I
think the settings in Earthbound and Mother 3 both accomplish exactly what
they're meant to. Earthbound's Eagleland is meant to parody America and it
feels like it when you're traveling. Even though in reality you explore just a
handful of towns, traveling between them feels like a big deal since you
usually see the highways between them. The other locations like Winters and
Dalaam strike a really different tone, and their own atmospheres make it really
feel like these are different countries with different cultures. The world of
Earthbound feels like a living, breathing place. From when it was released to
this day it's received praise for trying something new; having an RPG in a
modern setting is something that even today is extremely rare and unique, and
Earthbound pulls it off seamlessly.
Mother
3's Nowhere Islands on the other hand aren't meant to be set in the present or
satirical of the real world, they're a unique fantasy setting like many RPGs.
That's not to say they're generic by any means, but they feel smaller in scale
and less like a large, connected world than Earthbound's setting. The peaceful
and simple Tazmily Village's contrast against the UFOs and strange mechanical
animal hybrids is hilarious and very unique (almost disturbing), but I think my
problem is that I just don't look forward to what I'll see next the way I did
with Earthbound. Travel is mostly done underground in one of the flying pig
ships or the Saturn table, which is definitely fun and unique in its own right,
but I had a lot more fun exploring different cities and traveling between them
with Ness than I did with Lucas. Mother 3's atmosphere is pretty consistent
with "here's a once peaceful and thriving land being changed and corrupted
by the influence of technology", which I definitely dug, but nothing
really surprised me or excited me until pretty late into the game. Earthbound's
atmosphere of American culture still feels smarter and more unique to me
despite being relatively simple in comparison. Each new location had something
new and hilarious or otherwise interesting. And frankly, the weird or
outlandish stuff is just more powerful in Earthbound I think; seeing the zombie
trope being poked fun at and arriving in Saturn Valley were unexpected and
memorable (probably since it was generally more unexpected since it’s got a
more realistic setting), whereas in Mother 3 the impact of these same moments
was weaker and they felt more like cute little throwaway moments.
I
also think the unique visual style of the series just happens to compliment
Earthbound more. With a lot of the game being a spoof of American culture,
having the whole game look like a goofy Sunday morning comic is fitting and
makes sense. That same style looks even better and more polished in Mother 3,
but since the theme of Lucas's journey is so radically different from Ness's,
it simply
doesn't make the same impression on
me. There's no real connection between Lucas's story of seeing his hometown
being corrupted by aliens and the artstyle. It looks great, but Earthbound
simply gets more out of it. I could say the same for the soundtrack; both games
have some absolutely phenomenal compositions, but Earthbound is full of all
kinds of subtle but recognizable nods to American music that make the game feel
like the parallel to American culture that it’s trying to be.
As far as characters go, it’s tough
comparing them I think. Earthbound emphasizes your playable party (Paula, Jeff,
Poo) about as far as it can. It does an outstanding job making you care about
everyone and gives you a really good understanding of their background. You get
to rescue Paula, explore her hometown, meet her family, and eventually see her
become something of a love interest to Ness. You get to see Poo’s life as
prince of Dalaam and experience his rigorous training duty firsthand. And in
particular I really, really loved the time I spent meeting Jeff. Playing as him
by himself in his home country really gives you a good insight into his life.
He lives by himself at a boarding school with his friend Tony and generally
seems to live a really lonely and unremarkable life until he’s summoned by
Paula. In the very brief time you play as Jeff you actually get to meet his
father, brilliant inventor Dr. Andonuts, and get to experience the two of them
meeting for the first time Jeff can remember. Through the rest of the game you
get to see their strained relationship firsthand and eventually see it resolve
itself at the game’s ending. Jeff is probably the character whose journey I
enjoyed the most. Your party’s unique combat mechanics also helps make them
that much more characterized. Paula’s prayer ability, Jeff’s various
inventions, and Poo’s crazy ability to transform into opponents and eventually
unleash the hellfire of PK Starstorm are all really cool and memorable
abilities.
The lead protagonist Ness is perhaps
a little bit less characterized than his friends, but mostly serves as an
avatar to the player. You’re experiencing this boy leaving home, making
friends, seeing all kinds of insane and often horrifying events, and eventually
conquering his fears and saving everyone. Specific moments like the coffee
sequence in Saturn Valley really drill it into your head that Ness has come a
very long way. You’re experiencing a boy maturing into a young man, and by the
end of the game I found myself really attached to him.
With Mother 3 on the other hand,
your party (Kumatora, Duster, Boney) isn’t up played quite as much. Given that
they’re all from the same place, you don’t get the same feeling of exploring
the world and meeting these really unique characters for the first time.
Kumatora is a pretty generic tomboy character without much of a backstory, and
as adorable as Boney is, it’s not like he offers much to the plot. I’d say the
exception is Duster, his life is pretty interesting and you get a good look
into it. You get to see his journey to become a better thief and make his
father proud pretty deeply in Chapter 2. His distinct limp and rough appearance
also make him really endearing. To quote Mr. Itoi himself, "I figure
that because there are handicapped people in our world, it would also be part
of the world of Mother 3. After all, there's no way that any two people
have the same physique or even the same personality. Just like with the
Magypsies, I included Duster so we could have someone with bad breath, a
disabled leg, and living as a thief. The Mother 3 world is all about having
friends like them. Perhaps you could call them symbols of not rejecting such people."
And like Earthbound, these characters’ unique mechanics contribute to making
them more characterized and generally more useful. You definitely get some good
use out of Duster’s thief tools and Boney’s sniff technique.
Instead of emphasizing the party
members, Mother 3 very clearly emphasizes lead protagonist Lucas and his family
(brother Claus, father Flint and mother Hinawa). Hinawa is killed early in the
game which takes a deep toll on everyone in Lucas’s village. Flint lashes out
in anger, Lucas is left traumatized and deeply hurt, and Claus runs away to
seek vengeance. Lucas watches the invading Pigmasks transform and modernize his
hometown, once a place full of harmony and love (they didn’t even have any
money), into a greedy and generally disgusting place that everyone eventually leaves. There’s also a much bigger
emphasis on the evil in this game; you get to directly see and experience the
damage they’re causing on Lucas and his friends and family. Seeing Fassad take
away Salsa the monkey’s girlfriend and constantly punish him is really
difficult to watch and makes him a really disgusting character and great
villain. You get to watch Ness grow and mature in his own way, but with Lucas
you actually experience personal tragedy through the loss of his mother and the
transformation of the place he was born and raised into something he doesn’t
even recognize anymore, and things certainly don’t get any easier on him. It’s
less about the characters’ individual stories and more about the protagonist
and his family’s lives changing as a result of the actions of the antagonist.
Ultimately, Earthbound tells a story
about a boy growing up and experiencing the world for what it really is, the
good and bad. From the joys of exploring new cultures and making new friends
to… well, facing insane cultists and watching his next-door neighbor Pokey
transform into a despicable human being. You don’t just come to care for Ness,
but his friends and the world around him! With Mother 3, you’re getting a more
personal story about Lucas and his family facing loss and tragedy. In some ways
it’s more simple and in some ways it’s much darker and more complicated, but
I’ll be talking more about that in the spoiler section toward the end. It’s a
matter of preference I guess, I like them both about equally, but I can see
someone really enjoying one and not enjoying the other as much.
HEAVY SPOILERS AHEAD!!
At the end of Earthbound, Ness and
his party face Pokey, who’s transformed from Ness’s obnoxious nextdoor neighbor
into a destructive and disgusting person. As a result of some time travel
shenanigans he unleashes Giygas, evil in its purest form, and Ness and his
friends overcome them with the power of prayer in a slightly cheesy but
emotionally intense final boss sequence. You see everyone return home, with Poo
going back to his duties as Prince, Jeff going to help his father, and Ness
escorting Paula home. At the end of the game you’re shown a series of
photographs from your journey that, again, reinforce how far Ness and the
player have come together. It’s a very sweet and satisfying ending without any
loose ends! …until Pokey’s little brother comes to tell Ness that Pokey is
still alive in some time period. Gulp.
Spoilers for Mother 3 are a fair bit
more abundant. Mother 3’s invading Pigmask aliens are revealed to be a product
of none other than Pokey from Earthbound! Now going by the name Porky (or maybe
he was meant to be Porky all along, beats me), his army is responsible for
bringing greed and evil to Lucas’s hometown and turning their animals into
hostile and silly-looking chimera hybrids. All his time travel has had some
disgusting effects on his body, turning him from a chubby 13 year old into a
disgusting old man said to be several thousand years old.
There’s a mysterious and ultra
powerful dragon sealed beneath the Nowhere Islands, being kept in sleep by 7
magical needles. If the needles are removed, the dragon awakens! If the needles
were pulled by one with a pure heart, the dragon will wash away evil and life
will shine brightly. If these needles are pulled by someone evil, however, he
would destroy Earth as we know it. The catch is, these needles can only be
pulled by someone with the “PK Love” ability, only belonging to two known
people; Lucas and the mysterious general of the Pigmask Army known simply as
the Masked Man. Of course, Porky’s plan is to use the Masked Man to pull the
needles and have the dragon destroy the Earth.
At the end of the game, the powerful
and secretive Masked Man is revealed to be Lucas’s brother Claus, who ran away
after their mother was killed, kidnapped and brainwashed by Porky and the
pigmasks. They race to the final needle and have a heartwrenching one-on-one
fight that’s legitimately really hard to watch.
At the end, Claus removes his mask, remembers his real identity, and kills
himself. Lucas pulls the final needle and the world is implied to be restored.
Comparing them, again, is really
hard. Earthbound’s ending is very fulfilling and whole, whereas Mother 3’s is
more emotionally and more open to the player’s interpretation. I think I
actually kind of prefer Earthbound’s for a few reasons, mostly in the fact that
the same fulfillment and relief you get at the end of that game was totally
possible in Mother 3, but you don’t really get any of it… you’re shown the
dragon’s silhouette, you see a black screen with some dialogue that says you
saved everyone, and that’s about it. You don’t get to see Lucas and Flint
return to their everyday lives, you don’t get to see what comes of Duster or
Kumatora, you’re just told “hey, everything worked out, you saved them!” and
that’s about it. I mean, don’t get me wrong, it’s satisfying and all, but after
going through the emotional turmoil that is the final encounter between Lucas
and Claus I guess I was kind of hoping things would work themselves out a
little bit more cleanly.
END OF SPOILERS
At the end of the day the games both
have a lot of pros and cons over each other. They’re two very different stories
told with similar visual styles and gameplay mechanics. Mother 3’s mechanics
are a bit more convenient and open-ended whereas Earthbound’s are more
satisfying to the player. Their characters and stories are both really well
done, with Mother 3’s being more intricate and emotional but Earthbound’s being
more personal and involving of the player. I prefer Earthbound’s ending but
they’re both really, really good.
Ultimately,
I think Earthbound’s atmosphere and setting give it the edge. It’s not a marvel
in story telling or anything the way you could say its sequel is, but as with
several other aspects of the game, I think it’s generally more satisfying to
the player. I have an easier time relating to Ness’s journey of leaving
home and growing up than I do with Lucas’s story of overcoming tragedy and
watching the world around him be transformed. I made a point earlier about
Earthbound’s setting being a satirized America and the game’s visuals and music
contributing a lot to the success of that, and I think that’s what pushes it
over the edge to me. The fact that this 1990s American satire can feel so
complete and manage to coexist with other countries and cultures makes the
journey feel so rich and interesting. I probably prefer the story of Lucas and
his family to the story of Ness and his friends, but personally, I had a
much more satisfying and exciting time exploring the world of Earthbound than
the islands of Mother 3. It does a better job bringing together all the
elements that make a game memorable and turning them into something fantastic.
I love both games dearly, but I think where Mother 3 feels like a deeper and
more emotional story, Earthbound simply feels like a more complete and
satisfying adventure. And in a video game, that’s what I prefer.
