Retro Gaming 00s- Mother 3: (2006)

When it comes down to underrated yet overlooked JRPG’s from the 00’s decade that appeared on the Game Boy Advance; Mother 3 was a game that would definitely fit into that particular category. Mother 3 was considered to be the direct sequel to Mother 2 aka Earthbound from ‘94 which came out for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Mother 3 is considered to be one of the most popular Japanese games to have never been localized in America due to its controversial storyline which involved violence against animals. Also, the ending of Mother 3 was considered be very tragic considering the death of Claus who eventually ends up taking his own life. The main character of Mother 3 Lucas was not quite as popular as Ness from Mother 2; but he was still considered a somewhat compelling character with PSI powers. Mother 3 was divided into eight different chapters with the storyline revolving around the corruption of the Tazmily Village. The main antagonists of the game involves a malevolent creature named Porky along with his pig mask army. Porky and his crew overall disdain for life ends up turning normal creatures into abominations; which players have to combat throughout the game.

As far gameplay is concerned Mother 3 utilizes a similar first person turn based battle system that Mother 2 had. The graphics for Mother 3 also looked practically the same as that of Earthbound aka Mother 2. There were a variety of things about Mother 3 that people really enjoyed including the balance between great humor and a memorable soundtrack with that of a somber storyline. Despite, Mother 2 not being a huge commercial success back in the mid 90s for the SNES; Mother 3 could have definitely been huge on the Game Boy Advance especially since it was more successful than the SNES in relation to sales. As a JRPG many would argue that not only Mother 3 stands the test of time but it also deserves an official direct sequel. While the unreleased Oddity fan game was the closest thing to a sequel that Mother 3 has received; its still nothing related to Nintendo and is mainly considered non-canon. An official Mother 4 announcement and release would be something that would definitely set the gaming world on fire. As far as Mother 3 is concerned it’s a shame that it was never localized and released in America during the mid 00’s.