DS Daily: Motherly love
by JC Fletcher 
{ Oct 20th 2008 at 9:00AM }
Has the work of the dedicated grassroots Mother 3 movement made you into a fan? Did they make you aware of the series for the first time? Have you been following the progress of the translation? If so, we imagine this is a time to celebrate. Perhaps most importantly, does all this talk about Mother put that Danzig song in your head?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Aviv @ Oct 20th 2008 9:05AM
Why the heck is everybody waiting for this game so long?
It doesn't look like much..
Tyrran @ Oct 20th 2008 9:11AM
The wait has been built primarily on the love of Earthbound, its predecessor (called Mother 2 in Japan), renown for its humor, unique combat system and amazing replay value. The game fell into unobtainable obscurity due to poor initial sales, and, as a result, most of the success came long after the game was unavailable conventionally. People begged Nintendo to port the game to the US, but the resounding "NO" forced our hand in a different convention.
In a time of gaming having spectacular graphics but little plot, Mother 3 is a fresh, if retro, breath of air that makes me happy. I recommend it.
Aviv @ Oct 20th 2008 9:15AM
Thank you for the elaborated answer.
How am I supposed to activate this translation if I have the real game?
Josh @ Oct 20th 2008 10:33AM
I've never played any Mother games for more than, like, three minutes, so I don't have to love for the series that others have, but I do recognize that Mother fans are *by far* the most dedicated fans of *anything* I've ever seen. The work they put out is simply stunning.
PGrock @ Oct 20th 2008 10:38AM
I became an Earthbound fan about a year ago because of Starmen.net. I still haven't played Earthbound yet, but I have been playing the Mother 3 Translation and it is AWESOME!
Dustin @ Oct 23rd 2008 1:29AM
I havn't played much of Earthbound. But I'm currently playing through the translation and I agree, it's awesome. I'm keeping my eye open for a VC release of Earthbound.
thebackdrifter @ Oct 20th 2008 10:40AM
I love the new translation! I've been waiting ages to finally play this ever since i heard it was coming to japan.
Also in order to play this translation you must have a ROM copy of the game and apply the translation patch to it.
Legally a downloadable ROM is only legal if you own a physical copy of the game. Therefore you must buy a Japanese copy of Mother 3 to legally have it on your computer.
Don't ask for the ROM here because no one will help you in finding it. but a certain search engine might be of help. it rhymes with "doogle".
Dustin @ Oct 23rd 2008 1:31AM
I say trade the rom. Openly distribute it. The more attention Nintendo gives this project the greater chance we have at a legal and easy way to get the game.
aj @ Oct 20th 2008 10:44AM
I really need to finish Earthbound.
Shoyz @ Oct 20th 2008 10:45AM
I played the first one on my DS. I didn't like it.
I was really confused as to where to go most of the time; and even with alot of grinding, I couldn't beat that arcade boss. ):
Quick fact: Did you know that Mother was originally intended to have blood?
Kiro @ Oct 20th 2008 11:21AM
I believe you are talking about EarthBound on the SNES...
The first game (EB 0) is probably the hardest of all EB games. The grinding gets you little exp, and you can probably finish the game at lvl 30ish. The little story it offers is actually a good thing as it challenges the player to think what/how things happened. The main story is explained but it's not briefly explained. However it influenced elements for both Mother 2 (EarthBound) and then from 2 to 3.
Earthbound isn't as hard as EB 0, but you are right, it does get confusing as to where to go. The only tip I can give you for beating Frank is to fight his goons outside, at lvl 6 try fighting them in pairs.
india @ Oct 20th 2008 11:32AM
It was actually the Mother 3 fan translation that first got me interested in the series. Someone had linked to the project from their blog and after reading a little about it I was amazed by the amount of dedication to the series that the fans there and at Starmen.net had.
I started playing Earthbound shortly afterward and was hooked. I spent the next eight months waiting for Mother 3. I haven't been waiting for over a decade like some fans have, but it's still extremely satisfying to finally have the game in my hands (on my computer?).
Zealot @ Oct 20th 2008 1:17PM
I'm way too young to have ever played the original, so if I get around to playing this it'll be my first Mother game. My only problem is that I absolutely hate playing roms on a computer. Using a keyboard configuration for any game gives me hand cramps after five minutes, and, as good as this looks, I just don't want to invest in a PSP or a GBA flash cart right now.
hellhammer @ Oct 20th 2008 1:41PM
A long time friend who was into EarthBound when it was released (I was a Secret of Mana kid) got me into the series shortly there after.
I followed Starmen for a few years and after beating all three games in the series, I'm a bigger fan than he is.
Mother 3 is a breath of nostalgia flavored fresh air for video games, much like Mega Man 9.
Roto13 @ Oct 20th 2008 2:27PM
From what I've played, the translation is really good and the team should be proud of themselves.
The game is still basically Dragon Quest with a new skin, though, so I won't bother to play it more than I already have.
gukid @ Oct 20th 2008 4:11PM
I've been a huge Earthbound fan since the original game came out, so the wait for Mother 3 has been... quite difficult for me.
Which probably makes the experience of playing it now, in English, on my GBMicro for the first time, just so much more satisfying. It's just as good as I expected, and probably the best game that will be released this year (if you can count it.)
josearoldan @ Oct 20th 2008 9:29PM
I bought the game a few months back for the solely purpose of staying legal when it comes to dumping the ROM and using the patch... sadly I haven't found the time to start playing yet. I need to get a flashcart so I can play it on the Micro.