Boy, this brings back memories for some of us. Now when Nintendo were in their golden age of gaming, we had a lot of games from big name franchises like Zelda, Mario and Kirby. Among them was EarthBound (MOTHER in Japan), an RPG series that has since gone on to become one of the greatest RPGs ever made. So let's see what they are all about:
Please note that apart from the second game, all these games were exclusive to Japan so most of the reviews here will be footage ones rather than actual gameplay ones:
Mother (footage review)
The story begins with a couple vanishing after a dark shadow covers their town, with the husband returning later on in a mysterious way with the wife never being heard from again (presumably dead). We then cut to somewhere in the 1980s where a boy called Ninten has his town get invade by an alien force and is tasked with finding the Eight Melodies with presumably no explanation as to why he has to find them. The gameplay is very much a straight forward RPG with the items, battles and equiping stuff. The battle system is at a first person perspective. Like I said, its a very straight forward RPG with possibly a very confusing and strange storyline and is one of Nintendo's most dark and mature games to have ever been made. 6/10
EarthBound/Mother 2
In the most iconic of the 3 games in this series, we focus on Ness (the most better known of the protagonists in the series) who investigates a meteorite which hit the town he lives in, but this results in him returning home and then going out again to help his neighbour Porky to find his little brother. They meet a bee looking creature called Buzz Buzz who tells Ness to help him complete his mission of defeating an alien called Giygas (the main antagonist of the series) with the help of the chosen ones (who Ness is one of). Buzz Buzz, being accused of being an annoying insect is killed by someone, but nevertheless, has Ness go to find the other chosen ones to complete his mission and kill this alien. The gameplay is the same as before with a few notable differences. These include enemies not coming at random and currency being put into Ness's bank account by his father after every successful battle. This is actually a good game that while not being your typical RPG, manages to better establish the franchise and has since gone on to become an iconic game that I'm sure anybody will enjoy, if you like these sort of RPGs of course. 8/10
Mother 3 (footage review)
The third and presumably final instalment in the series, was in development forever, constantly switching between platforms before getting its release on the GBA. This time around, we focus on a brand new character called Lucas who loses her mother to a robotic alienish army that call themselves the Pigmask Army. Lucas along with his father and brother, venture out to get revenge on his mother's death while coming across other characters along the way. The gameplay is the same as before with a new combo system in place for the enemy battles in which you have to tap the buttons to the beat of the music being played. I can't really do a through analysis of this game as its only available in Japan, but from what I have heard and seen about it, its another good game that while doesn't feature any new stuff, is still as charming as ever and has a great storyline too. 7/10
So while the series is just your average RPG, it has been considered to be one of the most charming, straight forward and iconic RPG game series that ever lived and I hope that Nintendo make more games in the future. 8/10
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