A supply of the Mother 3 bundles that we received last week suffered a harsh trip and arrived dented and dinged. Since the boxes of the bundle are so fragile, we arranged for individual wrapping of each Deluxe Box and the new shipment of units arrived today in mint condition. We're pleased. The new boxes are smooth, properly shaped, and devoid of dents, dings, and warped cardboard. We will fill preorders from this mint condition inventory.

Since we have a few Mother 3 Deluxe Boxes remaining from last week with the dents and dings, we'll offer them on sale at a discounted price in the next day or so. The damage isn't critical but since this item is a collectible bit of kit that will go into private Mother shrines, any slight damage is understandably unacceptable.

» Attempting to leave the house in pajamas will result in a reprimand from mama. The game automatically sends you upstairs, dresses you, and you're allowed to leave afterwards.

» Once outside, dad, a cow, pigs, and chickens may be spoken to. The cow answers by mooing, the pigs oink, and the chickens cluck...

» To save your progress, walk to the right side of the ranch and greet the little green frog. Two save slots are available.

» Walk further to the right and greet brother PEPE (well, that's what we named him) who is playing with green-colored dinosaurs by running into them and knocking them down. Join the fun by holding down the "B" button and then launch into a dinosaur so that it falls on its side before rising up again.

» After a while, a battle ensues where PEPE and protagonist battles a little invertebrate who runs up to the playful green dinosaur. After a few hits, the creature is dazed and runs off. Mama DIZZY (well, that's what we named her) joins the gang and tells everyone that it's dinner time.

» Mama goes outdoors for a little reverie and releases a blue bird into the air. Afterwards, the shadow of a UFO may be seen descending along with strange sounds that signal mechanical trouble.

» The scene shifts to a forest at night and explosions sound amongst the trees. The forest animals are in a panic and run around. The camera focuses on two masked malcontents who are throwing bombs around and causing fires to erupt...

Pedigree
While fans know the history of Mother all too well, newcomers might be surprised to learn what a dysfunctional life this particular game has. After two highly successful installments on the Famicom and Super Famicom respectively, Nintendo announced the third installment during the early days of the Nintendo 64's lifespan. Time passed and some crude images appeared as well as an actual playable demo; while hardly impressive by any means, they did indicate the proverbial ball was moving. Shortly before the N64 died, Nintendo announced that work on Mother 3 had been scrapped and the company remained silent on the game and franchise for a number of years afterwards. That is, until it was revealed that a GBA port of Mother 1+2 was in the works along with a brand new game: Mother 3. It took another 2 years however before the game finally became available for purchase and, oddly enough, it is a literal conversion/completion of the vaporware N64 installment.

Fan Fervor
It is difficult to say exactly what makes the Mother series so appealing to its small-but-devoted international following. Perhaps it's the unorthodox setting, off-the-wall characters, immature nonsense, and alternative scenarios that elevate it to a far different pedestal than say, the latest Final Fantasy game. Mother is more akin to an RPG version of LucasArt’s Maniac Mansion series than it is any kind of prim-and-proper console videogame. Still, oddity is not without its own charm and hence gamers fell in love. While Mother 3 fails to live up to expectations (or even meet prior achievements, for that matter) anyone who picks up this far-fetched fantasy will no doubt find themselves in for an entertaining romp.

Graphics
Much like the overall package itself, Mother 3’s visuals are hardly impressive, yet paradoxically, quite remarkable. Perhaps they cater to the obsessive demands of series fanatics or are constrained by the hardware limitations of the Gameboy. At first glance, Mother 3 looks like a slightly enhanced build of the Mother 2 engine - bland looking “Maniac Mansion” wannabes, simplistic color schemes, and psychedelic battle screens. After spending just a few minutes with the game it’s clear that looks can be deceiving. Characters have a commendable range of sprite animations, at times offering far more detail than the GBA hardware implied possible. The backgrounds are peppered with detail and refinement. Monsters ooze personality.

Yet, things are seriously lacking nonetheless. Given that the GBA hardware is purportedly superior to that of the Super Famicom/SNES, why aren’t enemy attacks animated as in say, Dragon Quest 6 (or the SFC DQ3 remake)? Why is the entire game washed out in such drab colors when the GBA is capable or doing much more? Why aren’t the character sprites MORE detailed? While it’s not always fair to compare GBA games, Mother 3’s visuals pale in comparison to Capcom’s recent Rockman EXE games. One might even claim that Nintendo’s own Wario Land 4 (released years ago) looks far better. It’s one thing to keep things simple for simplicity’s sake, but its another to simply do a lax job with design, especially with respect to Brownie Brown. How is it that the same company responsible for the vibrant Magical Vacation and resplendent Shinyaku Sword of Mana can churn out this under-realized effort?

Perhaps the bottom line with respect to the visual department is simply why the game is on the outdated Gameboy Advance platform in the first place? With all the benefits of a DS Game Cart, it seems quite apparent that Nintendo, Shigesato Itoi (the “father” of Mother), and all parties involved took the easy way out of game design and opted to do less instead of more. As it is, Mother 3's visuals are good, but they could have been far greater.

Familiar Family
Mother 3 offers absolutely nothing new when it comes to gameplay; truth be told, anyone familiar with either of the prior installments (or any other RPG ever made) will have no problems understanding what to do. This time around, the game scenario takes place over a series of chapters, each centering around a different character/problem (but all interconnected). It’s just like Enix’s Dragon Quest 4 really, except said game did it much better. The overall plot involves a group of interstellar pig-people who land in the “Wild West” and the mayhem that ensues.

Controlling the “hero” of each chapter, you wander around towns conversing with denizens, looking for items, gathering information, and discovering problems. You then enter dungeons to essentially solve the problems. Unfortunately, the random nature of this episodic-based narrative prevents any kind of “grand adventure” the likes of which Ness and company enjoyed in Mother 2. However, it does reward gamers with short attention spans since each Chapter lasts only a few hours, and then only because of high difficulty with respect to battles (translating to lots of time spent leveling up). Is this really what “fun” is? And why must players control an old cowboy or a carpenter or a blasted monkey? Are these truly likable characters?

If there is anything surprising about this game, it may very well be the far more mature tone; few Nintendo games (if any) can boast a scenario as gritty and devoid of magic as Mother 3’s. Without spoiling anything (too much), consider that by the end of Chapter 1, you will have met an “estranged” family, experienced a tragic death, and witnessed a character going berserk with their emotions physically injuring others in the process. You may actually stare at the GBA in disbelief during this particular scene given the level of depicted violence. It’s great that Nintendo wants to grow up, but the sentiment is totally lost on this particular game.

Combat Criterion
While wandering around the game’s various map screens, you will encounter on-screen enemies. Depending on how the player character (PC) touches these creatures, the battle may begin in their favor-or the enemy’s. Once combat begins, a small offering of options are at your disposal:

Attack - The game uses a “Musical Battle System” where you are encouraged to tap the “A” button with specific timing in order to score multiple hits. In truth, this is little more than a gimmick, as for the most part, “combo” attacks do little more damage than a single blow. It is also worth pointing out that the timing issue can be quite tricky ensuring that most blows are, of course, one-hit only.

Item - This option allows you to use an item from your inventory.

Special Ability/PSI – Unlike Mother 1 and 2 where PSI (Psychic Powers, aka “Magic”) were a cornerstone of battle, Mother 3 regulates the ability to a “side thought”; you don’t even get to use PSI until the end of Chapter 2. As a replacement, more or less, characters have a set number of special abilities that are mostly useless but still available.

Guard – Defend for the turn (reduce damage incurred).

Flee – Attempt to flee the battle.

Gamers who are familiar with Mother 2 will recall the “rolling number” system with respect to HP in combat - when an opponent attacks, the recipient will receive damage but instead of an instant calculation, the PC’s HP numbers will gradually “roll back”. The advantage of this system was that by strategic gaming and fast fingers, players could get themselves out of a dicey situation (for example, healing a character dealt a mortal blow before they actually died). While Mother 3 retains this system, it is scaled back in comparison and hence much harder to take advantage of, primarily because of the lack of an auto attack function.

Fractional Fun
Unfortunately Mother 3’s gameplay is not without its share of faults as well, a rather puzzling matter given that the prior installment offered better judgment and planning with respect to these “broken” elements of play:

1. Item Management - horrendous to say the least. While Mother 2 allowed you to hold a limited number of items in storage, the game also had permanent party members, meaning that not only did the item carrying capacity increase as new friends joined the adventure, but you retained this fixture throughout the game (with a brief exception when character “Poo” temporarily leaves). In Mother 3, you are frequently adventuring solo which means only one character’s worth of holding capacity. For the most part, when a character does join, she/he is often a NPC which means no player-control whatsoever. The rare times another player character (PC) joins, you can dole out excess items and overstock to them. However, said PC will inevitably leave at some abrupt moment ensuring that the rearranging of items is moot. It is also worth noting that at least with respect to the first two chapters, you may neither buy NOR sell items, meaning that strict inventory management is a necessity.

2. Scope, Scale, and Security - “Nowhere Island” is just too small, truly a pathetic notion given how Nintendo ported both Mother 1 and Mother 2 onto one GBA cart and still had room for more; why must a brand new game with THIS much development time be so confined as if space was severely limited? How can Itoh claim this installment is so much larger when even the world map contradicts such a notion? Additionally, it is high time that Nintendo stops with its immature “babying” of players with respect to literally pointing out the next destination on a map. Both GBA Metroid games as well as Zelda Minish Cap (to name but a few recent examples) were ruined by this hand-holding gameplay mistake and so too does Mother 3 follow suit; it’s bad enough that RPGs are linear as they are, but physically circling the next destination on a map?

3. Missing Magic - If one thinks back to Mother 2, there are just so many fond moments to recall - a color-crazed cult, sinister statues, alternate reality towns, fruit-themed inventors, time travel, dinosaurs, Magicant, tripping on food (and winding up in Dalaaham), wading through sludge with pig masks looking for truffles, a Dungeon Man (complete with a Yellow Submarine)… there is SO much namely because each and every area in the game was timeless. Mother 3, alternatively, feels terribly contrived and utterly unremarkable. It’s as if Itoh wanted to make a generic RPG and did so - wacky enemies and sinister spacepigs only go so far when the actual game lacks “magic”.

Music
Mother 3 offers a truly sizable number of musical compositions, all crammed into one “low-tech” game cart. The tunes are both familiar sounding enough to series fans and yet at the same time, brand new creations. While not necessarily as memorable as some of the music heard in the prior installments, suffice to say that everything sounds like it should, with respect to the sound effect department as well. Enhanced clips of some bytes from the earlier two games make their way back such as the “Sleep Chime”, PSI casting, even after entering character’s names. The game actually offers a Sound Mode features that allows players to listen to all the music and sounds at their leisure; they're available from the sound player on the title screen.

Mother 3 Malaise
It is remarkable that nearly 12 years after Mother 2 was released, Nintendo could still put forth a product that feels like a true sequel. It is appalling, however, that while the latest installment feels like Mother, it is an artificial sentiment more than a genuine one. Maybe this series is really a flash-in-the-pan: this is the third installment yet in truth the second original game; Mother 2, for all its fleshing-out and expanding, was at its core a remake of Mother 1. In seeking to create an entirely new story and scenario, Shigesato Itoi let whatever nonsense that floated into his head to accumulate on paper and, even worse, morph into a full fledged game. It is a bit disappointing to realize that the only real difference between the N64 “concept” and the GBA “realization” seems to be the visual aspect; surely there could have been a major reconsideration in terms of storytelling after all these years.

The problem with Mother 3 is not in what it does offer, but what it does not - namely an experience that rivals that of the prior series' installments. While it is safe to say that fans may have had unrealistic expectations of this game, Nintendo truly dropped the ball when push came to shove. Over a decade’s worth of time should have translated into something far more epic and far less episodic, or at the very least something that reflected all the hard work and effort that inevitably went into making this endlessly delayed, terribly troubled title. With hope, there may be a Mother 4 forthcoming that brings back the Mother magic and the scope of a grand adventure. However, if Mother 3 is any indication, perhaps the best lies in the past.

The NCS Mother 3 review reflects the thoughts and impressions of one of our reviewers. Follow-up reviews and/or rebuttals may be posted by other contributors from within our company in the following days.

Jan Code: 4902370513622

This document is ©NCSX 2006. All rights reserved. No reproduction in whole or in part of this document may be made without express written consent of National Console Support, Inc.