Game Series: Mother (Earthbound)

Hey all and welcome back to the blog that jerks wrote, in today's posting I am going to write a small briefing about a video game series I feel deserves some attention. Usually the aim of the blog will be to raise the awareness of games which have been somewhat missed and in today's blog i will not strain far from that idea.


Today's game series is Mother or known as Earthbound in the U.S. The reason i have chosen this game series is because i personally own Japanese copies of Mother 1+2 and Mother 3 and I think I may be one of the few Brits that actually knows about this game from a hands on experience (I would also like to note that i can't read Japanese, sorry) i also managed to find fan made English patches for the these games which made playing them through a lot easier the second time. the main reason i am shining light on these games is because Neither Mother 1, 2 or 3 ever made it to the E.U. in fact the only coverage and knowledge of this game would be the appearance of Ness in the Super Smash Brothers Series and later Lucas would be introduced to that very same game. So without further ado lets get this show on the road.

Mother
The first game of the series which was released on July the 27th 1989 in Japan on the Nintendo Famicom or NES as we know it as locally, the game series was directed by Shigesato Itoi and was produced by Shigeru Miyamoto. The game is set in the U.S. around the year 1988 and follows the story of a boy called Ninten. Ninten is a 12 year old boy who discovers that he has psionic powers who is charged with a mission of finding the 8 melodies and using them in order to save the earth from the threat of an evil invasion.

During the game you will come across many allies and foes, your allies and friends are also youngsters such as yourself, the first of which you meet is Lloyd a nerd who is often bullied for his interests. Later you encounter a young girl named Ana who like Ninten also shares the gift of psionic powers and uses them to help Ninten in his plight against the alien invasion, these are just a few allies that you meet during your time in Mother, now for the enemies. Mother has an array of enemies that you can relate to in the modern world and these enemies you encounter will become more abundant the further you play on, these monsters range from U.F.O's and Aliens to well known animals such as elephants and crows.

The games Graphics now days are nothing more than 8-bit history, but at the time of this game's release the graphics were considered ahead of its time and was praised rightfully so. The game was also very successful in Japan selling over 400,000 copies, the sound track was filled with catch little jingles which suited well for its time and again was one of the many aspects that the game was praised for, the music ranged from having happy melodies which followed you as you walked from town to town but all that would change should you become the victim of a stray dog attack. Another thing that gain this game popularity was the fact that most RPGs at this time was best in a medieval setting and Mothers risking leap to set the stage in the modern was a bold one which evidently reaped rewards. The games combat system had a typical RPG turn based approach which is all to common now days, but to keep with the feel of an RPG the game had to develop a more modern feel to the battles, critical hits would be indicated by a big SMAAAAASH! effect which grew quite popular on it's own throughout the RPG community and also brought its own set of status ailments to the table from classic effects such as poisoned to more time related problems such as asthma attacks.

Personally i think that this game for its era was fantastic though i did not actually play the game at that moment in time, the game was set for a U.S. release under the title Earthbound but by the time translation and localisation was finished the SNES would soon be on the scene which unfortunately sealed the non-existent release of the game outside of Japan. As for how this game ends? well now that would be telling.


Mother 2
After the success more Mother in Japan, Itoi and Miyamoto set out on the sequel to the game with Mother 2. The game would be released 5 years after the first installment of the series on the 27th of August 1994 in Japan and would later receive a U.S. release under the title of the Earthbound on the 1st of June 1995. Like its predecessor Mother 2 is based in a modern setting in the U.S. the game is follows the events that happened several years after Mother. in this game you play as Ness, in appearance Ness looks similar to that of Ninten and like him he to also has the gift of psi.

The games plot is reminiscent of that in Mother. The game follows Ness an average boy from the town of Onett who lives peacefully with his mother and sister, life is good and simple until that faithful night when a meteorite would crash into the hillside of Onett. Being a curious soul Ness seeks to see what the commotion was about but before he arrives at the scene of the meteor he police have already barricaded it of from the public. whilst trying to sleuth more about the situation you encounter Porky the kid from next door who is harassing the police and being a general pest on the scene, after some investigation you would later return home and retire for the night however during your sleep you would be woken by a loud knocking at the door, upon opening the door you are greeted by Porky. Porky hysterically explains that his younger bother Picky has gone missing and he fears that he has gone to the meteorite, in the fear of being grounded Porky has asked Ness for help in finding his Brother.

The games plot though similar to that of Mother is very unique in it's own right with a bizarre cast of villains and locations the game has a funny feeling to it which pulls you in from the start, however the game does have a more sinister side and more than its fair share of twists and turns as the game's plot unravels. The combat system doesn't change more from the original other than it is a lot more attractive in appearance and graphically, like its prequel the game was praised for its fitting sound track and today is still regarded quite highly by Mother fans and video game enthusiasts alike. The game's mechanics also varied to that of Mother, a notable example would be the removal of all random fights, you would see what was attacking you before hand and you could physically try and avoid getting into a fight should you want to save time, or just simply not want to fight. A unique thing that Mother 2 has is that if you are much stronger than your opponent you can defeat them before the fight even begins which can sometimes be useful should you want to go through an area unharmed.

Mother 2 was a good addition to the series and shared a unique feeling with all those who played it, though the game was not praised graphically for its appearance the game was given kudos on its musical score. As stated the game would be the first time Mother would be seen outside of Japan and within Japan it would rise to 1# in the game charts of Fanimitsu magazine within the first month of its release however, its U.S. release was not so glamorous as the game was even classed as simply 'horrid' by many RPG critics but would later become a cult classic in the U.S. and even the EU to an extent. Upon the U.S. release was backed by a series of promotions in order to sell the game though it did not do as well as Nintendo had anticipated and the game only sold 140,000 copies in the U.S. alone less than half of that of Japan's 300,000 and later an additional 320,000 copies when the game was ported to GBA as Mother 1+2. Again i believe this game was slightly ahead of it's time but unfortunately met resistance the the U.S. market at the time as their was many other games to compete with and being the RPG franchise didn't catch on properly until later years, the following result would end anymore hopes of the game being released outside of Japan and also any sequel to the series in the future.


Mother 3
After over a decade since Mother 2's release in Japan, Mother 3 was announced for the GBA. The game again was developed and produced by Itoi and Miyamoto, and was set for release in Japan on the 20th of April 2006. Mother 3 is slightly different from it's two predecessors wherein the game is not based in the U.S. but a new place simply called Nowhere Island. however the game does follow the same principle in other elements, in this game you play as the protagonist Lucas who like Ninten and Ness possesses the ability to use psionic powers however, it would lay dormant within him and later be awoken within him by one of the mysterious Magypsies.

The game starts with an overview of Nowhere Island and an introduction that rushes you through the surroundings of this new world. After viewing several scenes and locations you come across the house of Alec, the grandfather of Lucas and his twin brother Claus who are staying at Alec's house with their mother Hinata. after being woken up by your brother who pulsing with excitement as the local Drago's have had a baby and Clause can't wait for you to see them and thus runs off without you, after finally getting out of bed you sleepily make you way downstairs and try to leave the house, of crouse mum intervenes and explains you are still in your pajamas and you should get changed before venerating outside. Once you are clad in your clothes you set off to meet with Claus and the Dragos. You play with the Dragos and their new baby whilst learning a new trick or two before it's time to head home for dinner and later the journey home.

Whilst the you and your brother have gone to gather your things, Hinata your mum has written a letter to your father Flint back home, after sending the letter to him via a carrier pigeon a strange anthem starts to emit from a passing flying object (if you have played it, you know the theme :D), Startled but tired, Hinata returns to her quarter's to get ready to set off home with her boys. Shortly after they set off for home something goes awry in the Forest leading back home, out of nowhere the forest bursts into flames, but this is no normal fire, this was planned arson. You watch a scene as some strangely attired creatures throw bombs in the forest in order to create this inferno and engulf the forest in a reddish blaze. Back home in Tazmily the town crier Thomas has been told to gather what people he can to help tackle this calamity and fast! Thomas realises he needs people who are reckless to tackle a problem like this and he knows just the person, enter Flint. Thomas arrives at Flints home banging the door and shouting for Flint help even so that he actually pulls the door handle clean off. After enough row Flint answers the door and hears Thomas's tale and escorts him to the forest where help is needed but what will become of this inferno? will Lucas and his family make it home unscaved? and what why did the Pig mask wearing creatures start this fire? well why don't you find out and play the game.

Mother 3 is the latest and possibly last installment of the franchise, Mother 3 differs from the previous installments in several ways, for starters the game doesn't follow a single character but an sample of them which in their own right advance the plot and allow you to see what happened from many perspectives throughout the games 8 chapters. The game keeps that classic Mother feeling with it's array of strange characters and somewhat humble cast of heroes and villains though the combat system would over go a slight change, the encounters remain physical as in Mother 2 but damage would be calculated by how well you could keep with the beat of the fight, as the music played hitting the attack button at the right note would allow a chain of combos that could hit to a maximum of 16 times. The songs in the game are great for which you would come to expect from the game series and some very catchy tunes at the same time, again the music is well suited for each scene and at points the music does bring out certain emotions within the player through out the game's story unfolds whether they be feelings of happiness, sadness or mild humor, I personally think that the game has a great way of pulling you in and getting you attached to the characters thus providing more power for when these emotions should come out. Mother 3 in my books is a classic game that i have played through multiple times and enjoyed is as much as the first time i did.

Mother 3 received massive publicity in Japan with T.V coverage, special promotions with commercial companies like Coca-Cola who into the release of the game has special Mother 2 key rings with special Coca-Cola products, a few years before the games release the Mother 1+2 would be released in order to help bolster the fan base of Mother 3 and help recap on what has happened in the game at this point and help refresh memories. One thing I do find peculiar about Mother 3 that it was released in 2006 on the GBA, which was 2 years after the initial release of the Nintendo DS in Japan, logically thinking I would have thought that they would have made the game for the DS but evidently I would be wrong and this was also a very similar case which lead to the cancellation of Mother 64 (a story for another time). However despite being released for a console from the previous generation of handhold consoles the game fared very well in the Japanese markets selling 205,914 copies within the first 3 days of its release and would go on to be the 34th best selling game of 2006 in Japan selling a total of 370,213 units for that year. The game has since been demanded for an international release to the U.S. and the EU, this has sparked many rumors of whether this game will come out of Japan? Rumor has it that the game will be released on the DS as a compilation with all 3 games on however i can't stress enough that this is just a rumor and i don't want to get hopes built up about it though i do hope that the games does reach U.S. and EU shores one day.

Well, that's my apparently brief overview of the Mother series, i may later go on to do more in depth reviews of the individual games, but for now i think there is enough information to perhaps get people interested in the game and spread some awareness of this title, as for the future of this series? well in an interview with Mr. Itoi after the Mother 3's release, Mr. Itoi announced that there will not be a Mother 4, at the time this was sad news for Mother fans such as myself but later on would release another interview when in he said he would like to see a Mother 4, but not so much be on the programming side of it. This does leave a glimmer of hope for the fans but the gap between Mother 2-3 was over 10 years so perhaps a sequel will be made? as for my opinion, i will believe it when i see it.

Thank you for reading and take care.
Rikgief

P.S
If you are interested in playing Mother 3 in English a patch can be found at: http://mother3.fobby.net/

Since Mother 2 was released as Earthbound in the U.S. English versions of the game are within circulation on places such as Ebay however, despite not getting an official release a leaked English version of Mother 1 was released and can usually be found under the name of Earthbound 0 and is quite rare to say the least.

How you acquire the game however, well that is up to you.

Review: Viva Piñata

Well like i said in my first post i would do a review of this game, i would also like to note before hand that this game is a couple of years old now so this is a late review however, i also think this is one of those games that might get overlooked simple because it looks puerile.


Development Information: The game was made for the XBox 360 and later was ported to PC, the game itself was developed by RARE and was finally released in 2007, this in essence was Microsoft's first attempt at creating a game orientated for the younger audience. The game also had a T.V. Series based upon the characters in the game in which the show shared the same name as the game and was developed by 4Kids. The game itself would later go on to receive a sequel called Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise. Which was released along with Viva Piñata: Party animals for the XBox 360 and would later create Viva Piñata: Pocket Paradise for the Nintendo DS.

Beginning: The game starts with you becoming the new owner of a plot of land on Piñata Isle, upon arriving at your new land you encounter a woman who is crying, after conversing with her you discover her name is Leafos and she is upset because the area is covered in trash (which the jerk who sold you the land probably didn't tell you about, what a jerk) and gives you a shovel to clean up the mess by cudgeling it to pieces. After disposing of the waste Leafos guides you though the basics of the game and gives you new items when you advance enough such as seeds and a watering can. if you may not have noticed yet, the game is basically gardening however don't let that be your deterrent from playing this game. with your new found tools you can begin to develop your new Garden, usually starting my flattening the land and growing grass on your new grown soil. Now growing a garden might sound monotonous though it does serve a purpose, upon re-turfing your new garden you will get your first visitor, this little fellow is a Whirlm (Worm). which has come to reside within the growing utopia which is soon to be your garden. So now you have attracted your first Piñata, is that it? well no not really with the Whirlm now a resident of your new garden this attracts the attention of other Piñatas however, the other Piñatas might not be so Hasty at moving in if the garden does not suit their standards (that's right, they are to good for your garden and they don't even pay your rent) but should you meet this requirement the Piñata will become a resident in your ever growing garden. Though this sounds like a peaceful and fun loving world Piñata Isle's gardens are often under siege of by the Piñata's of the games antagonist Professor Pester who seeks to ruin the fun and happiness of the inhabitants.

Game play: The game itself is somewhat strange yet enjoyable, at first the game may seem like it needs to gather momentum to get the proverbial ball rolling but the game does offer a lot of diversity, as mentioned earlier some items may attract certain Piñatas whilst at the same time could deter others from coming, this adds a depth of thought to the game, for example the Doenut requires your garden to be 98% Grass, but the Quackberry requires around 30% water, from that you can see it is not possible to attract both at the same time. The game also allows your to build homes for the Piñatas you would take fancy to, or if you would like to theme your garden in a particular way like having only insect based Piñata or essentially turning your garden into a small aviary. During the game you will be visited by several bad Piñatas or other characters that may prove to be a hindrance of sorts these range from Sour Shellybeans which place tainted candy around the garden and eat the seeds of the plants in the garden, or the Arrival of the cunning Dastardos who comes to break open any ill Piñata and take their deliciously delicious candy entrails (the horror).

The game also allows your to breed your Piñata's in what the game refers to as 'Romancing', after all the game is aimed at the younger audience and i think people would be in uproar if they referred to the birthing cycle of a Piñata as a '2's on a B*stard' or 'a quick shag'. Romancing your Piñata's requires your to play a small mini game wherein you have to guide one of them to the other, this also allows your to earn some extra cash and watch the Piñatas dance inside their homes, hence the Romance Dance. Like in real life some Piñatas are carnivores and thus feed on the papery flesh of your residents or visitors for that matter. The game also has a leveling system like a lot of games in this era, levels are gained by improving your garden by a certain degree, once enough experience has been gained for a level up new things become available such as new tools, new shops and new Piñatas. The game uses a currency system which is usually refereed to as CC, short for Chocolate Coins which can be used to buy an array of things for your garden such as fences, fruits and foot paths.

Graphics: The game looks very cartoony as you would have guessed or expected but the game still looks visually attractive at the same time, the scenes are colourful and bright and the animations of the Piñata's are well suited for their personalities. The Piñatas themselves look like they are made out of paper and such but at the same time feels like it's a real creature (for a Piñata anyway) and thus captures a rather peculiar essence of the game.

Music and Sounds: The games sound track suits the game well, though it might not be something you would go out of your way to listen to, it suits the rural garden scene of which the game is based, like animals, Piñatas have their own sets of calls and noises usually similar to that of the animal of which they are based. Chuckles sound like chickens and Sparrowmints sound like birds, though some of these Piñatas have sounds which are foreign to the animal they are based on but suit it well, the Whirlm for example sounds a but like a puppy. The music transitions well with the game as for night and day, the music during the daytime is somewhat uplifting and pleasant but at night the music becomes some what more sinister and gloomy but fits in perfectly for the scene. Though the sounds are well placed and suite the game well sometimes these sounds can be a bit of a nuisance, for example should one of your Piñata fall ill it will lie of the ground whining every couple of seconds until it his healed (or until Dastardos batters it) which might not seem like a massive issue and it isn't, unless you don't have the money to pay for Dr. Patch's services

Controls: The controls to this game i somewhat usually fall out with, because the game text can be slow at times i usually find myself bashing 'A' to skip the dialog and usually go to far and choose something i did not want, now for me the i have a habit of pressing 'Back' Instead of 'X' so i usually undo everything i have just done which can be a real pain in the ass if you have just spent 5-10 minutes working on a new fence or planting some seeds in the right place. Though i have complained about the button placement which i am pretty sure is only a problem to me and a few other people out there, the games controls itself are OK. at times the controls seem somewhat slow and the cursor looks like it could take forever to reach where you want to go, but other than that the controls are not a complete gripe and you would familiarize yourself with in time.

Other: As mentioned before the game is made for children and thus comes with its own set of precautions which help protect the child from possible threats in online play and also make the parents aware of what the children will be doing with the game which i give to Microsoft for as you don't usually see much effort with this issue other than a label saying "...Online play my differ to regular play" or something on these lines but Microsoft went one step further and wrote a small booklet to help it's consumers protect their children and so forth.

Though Viva Piñata does feature an online service, this is purely on a non player to player basis. unforunatly i have not tried to play Viva Piñata online for myself but it is stated that the game is played solo still.

Overall: Viva Piñata is a strangely addictive game that will keep you entertained for a lenghty period of time should it be your cup of tea, though the game might suffer slightly in certain aspects the game as a whole is a excellent title and is well worth playing even if it is just to see what it is like and is visually pleasant, if i was to relate it to another game i would probably go with Sims or Animal crossing, Sims because it is essentially a life simulator and Animal Crossing because though you don't seem to do much, it keeps you comming back for more.

Rating: 78% - Very Good

Yargh it be here!

Hello and welcome to the first Blog that Jerks built

I am Richard, but i am known by a few names, Ric, Rario, Rikgief, or whatever it is you would like to call me.

In short i am going to start a blog about video games and gaming in general, in this blog i hope to talk about up coming titles, reviews of new and old games video and table-top as well as other things that interest me on the side.

Before i start i think i will give a brief introduction about myself. I am from the U.K. my hobbies are gaming (who'd have guessed?!), collecting action figures and game memorabilia ...... i really should get some more hobbies. Anyhow i an currently enrolled in the University of Scarborough on a business degree though recently things are in the air as well as being boring so i won't waste your time whining about it. I have recently got myself a XBox 360 and i also own a Wii along with other consoles (SNES, Megadrive, PS1, PS2, GB/GBC/GBA/SP and others), I am a Nintendo fan at heart but i try to keep my opinions as un-biased as possible.

well anyway i think that is enough information for now, as for what to come? well i have been playing Vivá Pináta on the 360 and i think i might write a review in the next few days, also will share some information on SF4 in the process hopefully before it's release (i got to play an open demo at an expo in a local shopping outlet) and on the same subject a review of SF4 itself when it comes out. I will talk about many other things, but for now these will do.

Many thanks for reading my blog, i hope you enjoyed it and stay for more when i write them.

Regards
Ric