“They all work at different ages, too. You can play MOTHER [1] when you’re young, MOTHER 2 is better when you know a bit more about the world, and then MOTHER 3 is best played when you’re older.”
– Shigesato Itoi¹⁾

MOTHER, localized as EarthBound, is a series of role-playing games by Shigesato Itoi that originally spanned from 1989 to 2006. The series would be published by Nintendo, who wasn't able to bring the full series out of Japan due to localization issues and poor release timing.

The series consists of three games: MOTHER (1989), MOTHER 2 (1994), and MOTHER 3 (2003). There's also the unique 2-in-1 remake bundle, MOTHER 1+2 (2003), that was made to accompany MOTHER 3.

MOTHER, also known as MOTHER 1, EarthBound Zero, or EarthBound Beginnings, follows a young boy traveling across 'America' in search for eight melodies to cure Queen Mary's amnesia and reveal what was attacking their world. Upon accomplishing this, the Queen reveals herself as his great-grandmother, Maria, who tells us that the phenomenon was caused by an alien that she raised with her husband, George.

The boy and his friends proceed to travel up a mountain, where they'd find George's tombstone, the missing parents, and an alien named Gyiyg who didn't like that George studied his PSI powers, foiling his plans to conquer Earth. He invites the boy aboard the ship, but the boy retaliates with the full melody, causing the alien to retreat. Peace is restored, but the boy gets a final phone call.

MOTHER 2: Gyiyg Strikes Back, or EarthBound: The War Against Giygas, starts off with a time-traveling insect in a meteorite informing Ness that he was prophesied to stop Gyiyg from plummeting their world into darkness with wisdom, courage, and friendship, then instructs him to gather the eight melodies at his sanctuary locations across 'Eagleland' using the sound stone. On his travels, he is joined by three allies.

MOTHER 3 is a story about a family being torn apart, when a pig-themed organization begins to colonize the seemingly idyllic islands. During this, the villagers rush to keep the 'Egg of Light' (Hummingbird Egg) in safe hands, then we watch a peddler abuse a monkey into doing slave labor until our protagonists free him. We are then thrust into a three-year time skip, where the Pigmask Army had modernized Tazmily Village.

This section does not explain anything new to anybody who is vaguely aware of MOTHER franchise's history, but I thought it'd be worth repeating. The case for MOTHER 1+2 and MOTHER 3 is interesting because the original Nintendo DS had backwards compatibility, like the Game Boy Advance, but there's probably a theory it allegedly would've hurt sales for the Nintendo DS, then competing with the PlayStation Portable.

• MOTHER 1: This was fully translated and localized as 'Earth Bound', but shelved indefinitely due to it being the NES–SNES transitory period. The prototype was eventually leaked.⁴⁾⁵⁾ In 2015, the prototype was formally released on the Virtual Console, where it was dubbed 'EarthBound Beginnings'.⁶⁾⁷⁾⁸⁾
• MOTHER 2: This was fully translated and released in June 1995, as 'EarthBound' to avoid numbering confusion, but didn't sell well because it was 'retro' and there was RPG burnout,⁹⁾¹⁰⁾ so it never found its way to Europe.¹¹⁾ However, it did come to the Virtual Console in June 2013.¹²⁾
• MOTHER 1+2: Too close to the GBA–NDS transitory period. Mostly a forgotten port.
• MOTHER 3: Too close to the GBA–NDS transitory period. Reggie Fils-Aimé, the president of Nintendo of America back then, got grilled for this business decision.^13)14)15)16) We are left with a mention¹⁷⁾ and a joke at E3 2014,¹⁸⁾¹⁹⁾ but nothing came out of it.

• MOTHER 3: There used to be an automated translation program²⁰⁾²¹⁾ before the community had finally got around to assembling a team who would release the fan translation on October 1, 2008.²²⁾
• MOTHER 1+2: The MOTHER side had a fan translation that released on April 29, 2011,²³⁾ but the MOTHER 2 side was too complex.²⁴⁾ At the moment, the MOTHER 2 side does have an ongoing fan translation project²⁵⁾ that is 'good enough' but not 'finished' as the team would like it.

“People who have played Mother 2 are the ones playing Mother.”
– Shigesato Itoi²⁶⁾

It's been repeatedly mentioned that the MOTHER series has an international cult following who believe that MOTHER 2 and MOTHER 3 are masterpieces, but where did they come from? EarthBound flopped, so it's more likely that they discovered it through the Super Smash Bros. series or very early EarthBound ending spoiler memes (e.g. “X Means Business”,²⁷⁾ “You Cannot Grasp the True Form of Giygas' Attack”).

• MOTHER was 'innovative' for its time since it was a unique role-playing game which went with a fresh modern setting, rather than being yet another forgettable 1980s medieval fantasy retread.²⁸⁾
  • While the urban fantasy genre is becoming more known, it has led to an unfortunate trend of video game journalists labeling such games as “inspired by EarthBound” despite having no confirmation from the author. In response to this, some fans have coined the term 'Motherlike' which often comes up in fan-organized events like the Mother Direct.
• The two major criticisms about MOTHER is the insane encounter rate and how it tends to be a bit too cryptic at times, partially due to a design philosophy where it was meant to challenge the player.
  • For instance, leaving Magicant for the first time requires you to find the 39 wells, find the correct holes, (→,←,←,→), traverse the dungeon, solve the Forgotten Man's riddle (no, yes), and try not to use the Onyx Hook before exiting, though I imagine that one may be forced to.
    • This is worse with the original Famicom version in Japanese since the dungeon is twice as big, and answering the Forgotten Man incorrectly will send you all the way back to Magicant.
  • I do not recommend the MOTHER: 25th Anniversary Edition hack since the lowered encounter rate ironically doubles the time you spend grinding levels, meaning you will be underleveled.
• 'Gyiyg' (ギーグ, Gīgu) is the official romanization seen in the MOTHER 2 intro,²⁹⁾ though it ended up being changed to 'Giegue' in MOTHER's localization and 'Giygas' in MOTHER 2's localization.
  • Personally, I'm partial to 'Giegue' since it's a very accurate respelling, unlike 'Giygas' which made everyone misread it as 'guy gas' (ガイギャス)³⁰⁾ and not 'geegus' (ギーグス).³¹⁾
  • While this is common knowledge now, Gyiyg's form in MOTHER 2 is said to be inspired by Itoi's childhood trauma of accidentally watching a lovemaking scene in Kenpei to Barabara Shibijin,³²⁾ which he misinterpreted as a rape³³⁾ but does add it to the themes of fear and innocence.³⁴⁾
    • The film is a dramatization of Keisuke Kosaka's novel, Notautsu Kempei,³⁵⁾ featuring him recalling an incident during his time as a Kempei within Occupied Manchuria in 1937, where they discovered that a dismembered, five-month pregnant woman had been dumped in the 4th Infantry Regiment's well, which they attempt to solve the mystery of.
• The etymology of 'Ranboob' (ランブーブ, Ranbūbu) is unclear. Some believe that it could stem from either orchid (蘭, ran), ranunculus (ラナンキュラス), or rambutan (ランブータン).
• “My Secret Life” (我が秘密の生涯, Wagahimitsu no Shōgai) is an old magazine that can be discovered in the $7500 Beak Point vacation home in MOTHER 2 and the Chimera Laboratory in MOTHER 3.
  • By the way, it has no relation to a certain anonymous pornographic memoir of the same name.
  • The magazine is nearly identical in Japanese and the English localization, even mentioning the 'demon child' (オニの子, oni no ko), though the Kōshū Kaidō at '80km/h' (≈50mph) was localized as a Jersey Turnpike at '80mph' (≈130km/h), slightly speeding now.
• During the development of MOTHER 3 on the Nintendo 64, it had three working subtitles: “Chimera Forest” (キマイラの森, Kimaira no Mori), “Forest of Strange Creatures” (奇怪生物の森, Kikai Seibutsu no Mori), and “Fall of the Pig King” (豚王の最期, Buta-ō no Saigo) before its formal cancellation.
• Regarding the MOTHER 1+2 remake, there are a number of changes to comment on:
  • There's a small oversight in MOTHER where you can now go south from the damaged bridge near Santa Claus Station (Union Station), but doing so will lead you to a very long dead end.
  • For some reason, the MOTHER 2 soundtrack became mono sound, despite stereo sound being available with headphones. The exception to this is “Belch's Base” (ゲップーの秘密基地).
  • The 'Bracelet of Kings' (おうじゃのうでわ, Ōja no Udewa) item, localized as the 'Bracer of Kings', got pushed from the sixth 'Pink Cloud' dungeon to the seventh 'Lumine Hall' dungeon.
  • Personally, I think MOTHER 1+2 is a perfectly fine way to experience MOTHER and MOTHER 2, though I do have a high tolerance and can appreciate the work that goes into a port. If you complain about this version's music or people who choose to play this version first: I don't like you!
• Itoi has no plans for a MOTHER 4 entry^36)37)38)39) since video games weren't his main profession and that the series would lose its charm if it had more installments.⁴⁰⁾⁴¹⁾

• Pokémon - From the developers of MOTHER 2.⁴²⁾

• MOTHER on Itoi's website - The official website, sorta.