Did you know? Mother 3 turns 20 this year. I used the occasion to finally buy a Game Boy Micro to replay it. I always wanted one of these things. Even when they could be had for $50 I could never justify buying one since I already owned a DS. Well now that DS is long gone, probably in a landfill somewhere, and this fresh as hell design has stood the test of time.
Games look so good on this thing! I think it’s the smallest you can make a handheld without it being uncomfortable. It’s like an iPod Nano, or a Sony CyberShot. They’re maybe not that versatile but they’re tiny gadgets that do this one thing really well. The kids these days have the right idea of adopting all this old stuff.
Anyway, the game. The last time I played it was when the fan translation patch first came out in 2008. Apart from the Magypsies, which are now incredibly dated and stupid, I still really like this game. It’s probably my favourite in the series. It just feels more like its own thing. Mother 2 was really just a remix of Mother 1, which was itself a remix of Stand By Me. Now that I’ve forgotten all the contemporary fan discourse for this game I can enjoy the story on its own merits, even if it’s sort of compromised by Itoi having worked in marketing and owning a merchandise company. It at least has something to say, even if it’s just about love and “money… is bad?” He should have made more! Why not? I think he considered himself an outsider to video games, but how many successful indie devs even go on to make a second game, let alone 5 (yes, we’re counting the fishing games). All these people making fangames called Mother 4 will never make a good game, because they think the series is about being an American kid and eating hamburgers out of a trash can.