GAC #3:Mother Series part 3:Mother 3 and conclusion

In 1995, Nintendo unveiled the Nintendo 64, and one of the titles that was to come with it was a follow up to Earthbound.

However, this title, known as Earthbound 64, kept seeing delay, after delay, after delay, well into the years of the Gamecube...it almost seemed like it would never be released.

Then,a slight hope came in the form of Mother 1+2, a compilation of both Mother and Earthbound for Game Boy Advance. During the commercials, it stated that the third Mother game would finally be released for GBA.

And then, in April of 2006, it happened. Mother 3 was released...was it worth it?

The short answer...yes,if you like this sort of thing.

The long answer....it really all depends on your tastes as a player. At this point, games had evolved beyond a niche into a full social norm, a part of life that people took part in. This game's story, while exciting, fun and adventurous, also felt like a relic of an era gone by. The graphics were simple, nothing fancy or groundbreaking. The sound, however...

The music and sound pushed the GBA's sound chip to its limits, creating one of the most vibrant and wonderful soundtracks ever to come off a chiptune speaker. From the cheerful naming screen, to the military-minded PigMask anthem, to the flamboyant Magypsy theme, all of it was beautiful. And they even incorporated this beauty into the gameplay itself.

Taking another leaflet out of Dragon Quest's book (namely,DQIV), Mother 3 did not follow the same format as the last two did (gather heroes, collect melodies).Rather, it put you in control of different heroes at different times, all trying to accomplish different means that led to the same end. Each of these characters had a different skill set, that varied even more than Earthbound. For instance, Flint is the first character whose skills you have access to. He gets access to a broad-hitting attack that hits all enemies, a powerful attack with a low hit rate, and 2 buff abilities. PSI is still around, though it comes into play much later.

A new element to the Mother series (and RPGs for the most part) were "Sound Battles". By using a standard attack, and tapping the button in time with the music, you could perform combo attacks.

The story plays out by chapter, but goes like this;An island community is invaded by "PigMasks", strange invaders dressed like pigs. The Pigmasks take over the island and brainwash most of the villagers into adopting a capitalist society. As the story goes on, you find that the brainwashing is part of a more sinister plot,and that the world isn't as it seems.

Mother 3 was a game people thought would never come out, and in essence, it never did. Not in its intended format anyway. The creator of Mother,Shigesato Itoi, was so exhausted and aggrivated by Mother 3's development process, that he changed the ending and decided not to make another Mother game.

In a way, the Mother series left us hanging with a lot of "what-ifs" and "how-comes". Not a lot was explained,and very little ended up resolved. If Itoi ever does make another game,it'll probably spend half of its time cleaning up after Mother 3.

But at least we got a decent game after the wait.