Argue about Mother

[isfet]

i beat Mother (1) for the first time last night. last week, i’d gotten the inclination that it was time for me to finally beat that game, and so i sat down and did it in a few days. i feel like in life there are films, literature, philosophy, etc…stuff that maybe we all have already absorbed a little of, but maybe haven’t personally experienced. i think the same is true of games - i could read about it, or watch a Youtube playthrough, but this isn’t the same as actually sitting down and engaging with the game myself.

i decided that as someone who really loves Mother 2 & 3, i needed to finally see the whole thing, as a trilogy, for myself. also, Mother 1 has kind of a special significance for me - back when i was about 12 or 13 years old, one of my close friends was frequently in touch with Demi, the guy who originally dumped the fully-translated English ROM. in those days, the emulation scene was pretty small, so my precocious friend would just hang out on IRC and chat with folks who were doing all that work, translations, etc. we got an early hint that they’d made a huge discovery - that there was a fully-translated copy of Mother out there, and the owner was going to let them dump it.

we both played through a little bit, but i never got around to actually giving it a real try.

so, recently, i was playing a “Restored” version of the rom on my NT Noir - i think it mostly just changes some script stuff to be consistent with newer releases of the game in English? it may also have some other features, like more money from fights, but other than that it seemed mostly original (the amount of random encounters sure felt authentic…)

it’s really interesting to see how fully formed the idea of Mother is here in the original game, though obviously not as fleshed out as later titles. but it’s remarkable how touching a number of the scenes are, and how funny the dialogue can be. the game is also pretty breezy - i feel like i probably completed it in under 30 hours?

now that i’ve completed it, i feel like there’s a small void in my life. ah, Mother.

[swarm]

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.

[MintyJuffowup]

I’ve always wanted a Game Boy Micro…

[daphaknee]

I fucking adore my micro
thanks @Sykel

[boojiboy7]

The Micro rules so much, actually, even with my giant hands.

For some reason, Nintendo sold the Famicom cover for it on their parts site for a while, hence how I have one.

[daphaknee]

I keep being like ‘I should get a cover’ then I look at my micro and I’m like ‘nah I don’t need one’

[boojiboy7]

Yeah, I bought a cheapo clear one at one point to replace the Famicom one and nope, don’t need it.