Punchy's Gaming Journal

[Punchy]

Oh lord. I should probably update this more.

 

Hey guys! This is about video games, as the title suggests. I'll be talking about games I'm currently playing, and write reviews for games I HAVE played. There will also be reviews with narratives / made up stories about the games.
 

EarthBound / MOTHER Series

You know those kids in Super Smash Bros. Brawl? Ness and Lucas?

Well they're both from the Earthbound franchise, or MOTHER as it's known as Japan. Ness is from the game Earthbound, the only game in the series to make it to the US, and Lucas is from MOTHER 3, the third installment and sequel to Earthbound. Now you know.

The MOTHER franchise is the brainchild of Shigesato Itoi, a famous man in the country of Japan. He's not only a game creator, but is one of those people who can do multiple things. He's even been featured on Iron Chef. ANYWAYS, this story isn't about him, it's about the awesome MOTHER series.

Exposition time! This will be divided into three parts: MOTHER 1, Earthbound, and MOTHER 3.
 

MOTHER 1 / EARTHBOUND 0

The first game in the series was created for the NES and it was called MOTHER. It wasn't the same as other RPGs in that era, as it took place in an American, modern setting. Yes, a Japanese-made RPG took place in the stereotypical, 1980's America. This made it much more different than the typical Dragon Quest-type RPG. Without getting too deep into the plot, you play as a boy named Ninten (yep) who has to set out to stop an invasion of aliens by collecting eight pieces / melodies around the Earth. The game was critically acclaimed in Japan, and was set to be released in the US under the name of Earth Bound (two words). As soon as it was translated to English, however, the game was canceled, and never released. The suggested reason is that since the SNES would be released within a short amount of time, Nintendo thought they would be losing money by pushing this out at the end of the NES's life-cycle.

However, four prototype copies of this game were released on actual cartridges. One cartridge was advertised online, and the ROM hacking and translating team Demiforce (forgive me if I'm incorrect on that) contacted the owner. At this point in time, which was a few years after Earthbound's release, MOTHER 1 had essentially been unheard of. So Demiforce worked out an agreement with the owner, and they dumped the ROM online, making only a few small changes, such as removing the anti-piracy screen and adding the word ZERO underneath Earth Bound at the title screen. Thus, Earthbound Zero surfaced on the web.
 

MOTHER 2 / EARTHBOUND

Skip ahead a few years after Earth Bound's cancellation. Back in Japan, Itoi and his crew decide to make a sequel to their beautiful creation. Thus, the bittersweet tale of Earthbound begins.

MOTHER 2 was the highly anticipated sequel of MOTHER, slated for release on the Super Famicom / SNES, as I previously stated. However, development was so surprisingly slow, that at one point, the entire team was ready to quit. However, Iwata stepped in and helped the game get finished. And thus, MOTHER 2 was released in Japan. The plot was somewhat the same as the first game. You controlled a hero named Ness, and had to use the Sound Stone to collect melodies to stop the Universal Cosmic Destroyer, Giygas (who is essentially a giant bloody looking fetus) from destroying the Earth. The game's environment is set in Eagleland, which looks like a stereotypical America. Seem familiar? That's because it is, although this game is much more diverse than it's predecessor, and contains more characters to meet, more environments to explore, and more bosses to take care of.

Seeing the success of MOTHER 2 in Japan, the big guys over at Nintendo of America decided that they could make a decent profit off of this game. They branded it with the first game's name, but this time called it Earthbound (one word). Nintendo then decided to take a leap of faith and package EVERY SINGLE GAME with a full length strategy guide, significantly boosting the price. However, for some reason, they also wanted to brand the game with trash and general nastiness. So the slogans "This game stinks." and "It's like living in your gym shoes." came to fruition. And that, my friends is why this game sold terribly.

The game however DID create a cult following that still exists today. More on that later.

That's all for today. Stay tuned though, and next I'll be talking about the final game in the trilogy, MOTHER 3.

[Gestalt]

You, punchy, bare a striking resemblance to this guy i met on the internet once.

[The Shaper]

Homestuck Bronies tend to look similar to each other I find.