HAPPY MOM 3 DAY!!

TODAY'S MOTHER 3'S 9TH ANNIVERSARY!!

AND, WELL, I WANTED TO MAKE A POST ABOUT IT!! NOT ONLY BC I'TS A GREAT GAME BUT ALSO BECAUSE I'VE STARTED IT BACK UP AGAIN AND YEAH!!! YEAH!!!!

Everyone should really play it, not just because Earthbound is a good series, but because this game really stands out when it comes to its story-telling and?? Everything. Okay. It has some of the best story-telling I've seen in a video game in AGES, and while being extremely heartbreaking at points is also a really nice balance of humor and positive themes!!

Also the person who translated it into english also worked on KH2 if that's any incentive?

((I'll link to stuff to get you set up to play the game below))

Have this rly awesome flash video someone made!!! (It's spoilers are all minor, if they can really be counted as "spoilers".)




So!! Yeah!! I don't have a huge testimony to give for Mother 3 outside of endless gushing about how much I loved it but you can probably find some other people's testimonies around if you search around today (just be wary of spoilers....!)

I also made a "reasons to play mother 3" tag on my tumblr, if you'd like that.

And a link to my latest playthrough tag (be wary of spoilers as it progresses!)

Link to my first experience of Mother 3, and then the bit where immediately after watching a walkthrough I downloaded the rom to play it myself and then played it AGAIN

And I guess if I want to list some reasons why to play Mother 3 then, uh

• It's got some of the most positive messages I've seen about overcoming hardship in a long time!
• Lucas is the literal definition of "protagonist who continues to see the best in everything" and the game literally shows him going from "kid who cries all the time" to "strongest, bravest, most positive boy on the planet"
  ((this was harder to put into words than I wanted it to be, but see this post, and this post, also this post, OH AND THIS ONE for how I wanted to describe Lucas's character and failed. Also while I'm at it this song has always reminded me of him.))
• The whole Earthbound series has this cool trope subversion thing where the main boy party members are the designated medic of the group while the girls are always the psi powerhouses that get strong offensive spells and I think that's REALLY NEAT
• I'm not sure if I'd go so far as to say "if you're a FtPverse fan you'll like this" but if you are a fan of Nintendo and a fan of FtPverse, then, yeah, probably, you'll like Mother 3? Also the ending of Dead Inside was directly inspired by it, so there's that as well.

YEAH AND THAT'S ALL I CAN THINK OF AT THE MOMENT HAVE SOME COOL FANART AND THEN WE'LL GET TO THE BIT WHERE I TELL YOU HOW YOU CAN PLAY THE GAME

art by setzeri @ tumblr

Well, as everyone knows, Mother 3 never got an American/English/Outside-of-Japan release! So, if you want to play it for yourself, you have to emulate it and use the English Translation Patch. Not as hard as it sounds!!

If you are uncomfortable with emulation, you can watch a walkthrough, though (this is the one I watched) and you'll get the same experience, and can skip through boring parts if you so wish, AND NEVER GET STUCK!!! 

I put all of this in a tumblr post already, but here it is again:

1. You need an emulator for the Gameboy Advance. The fan translation site recs a few, and I personally used VBA. I downloaded it from this site, but it also apparently has it's own site, so, there's that.
2. Then you need a Mother 3 ROM! Amateur google searching lead me to this one. It's not the one I used (that's been taken down), but this site has a good rep, and this is where I got my ROM for Earthbound Zero, so, it's safe.
3. After that, all that's left to do is download the english translation patch and go from there! Head to mother3.fobby.net and they will walk you through the process.

That's it!!

If you have trouble setting it up, uh, make sure you unzip the files you download. (Right-click and "extract all" if you're on Windows.)

General tips for the game

• VBA's button commands will most likely be set with the Z key as your A button, and the X key as your B button. You can change these (or clarify other buttons) by going into Options / Joypad / Configure / 1
• Most people will tell you not to use save states. I understand the sentiment but this game throws bosses at you with no preparation like savepoints/restoration options beforehand, and the penalty for restarting after a game over is losing half your inventory! 
• Take time to level up. But that's probably advice for any video game.
• Be sure to use each character's skills, especially Duster's theif tools. Personally, I'm not so sure the battle against Mr. Passion is possible without using them, unless your at some ridiculously high level.
• The game will tell you about a battle combo system that works by pressing A in time with the music. Every song has a strange rhythm, though, so it's not easy, also emulators sometimes mess up this mechanic because they don't always give you perfect playback. The combo system isn't necessary to beat the game, though, so don't worry! It only marginally increases your attack damage if you manage to perform it correctly. (Though it is damn satisfying if you manage to get it.)

Troubleshooting/further tips/general info about the translation patch can be found here!!

AND THAT'S IT!! ENJOY!!!!