The following is a somewhat lengthy review of MOTHER, a Famicom
(Nintendo) game which probably won't be available in the US until next
year. Some personal "history" relating to the game will be posted
separately. I should note that the Japanese title of the game is
MOTHER in roman capital letters, which is why I use them as well. I
have a feeling the name will be changed for the US release, which will
be a real shame. Kyoko Watanabe is often implied here by the use of
"we"; she has pretty much the same opinion about the game, and if
anything feels even more strongly toward it.

*** MOTHER (Nintendo/Shigesato Itoi) Released 7/27/89. 6500 yen.
3M ROM + 64K RAM

SUMMARY

A modern day role-playing game set in a mythical USA. Scenario writer
Shigesato Itoi, together with Shigeru Miyamoto's design team (of Super
Mario Bros. and Zelda fame) and music by Keiichi Suzuki and Hirokazu
Tanaka, create a beautiful fantasy world to get lost in. The
advertisement for this game boldly says "Guaranteed Masterpiece."
They are not exaggerating. Along with SMB3 this is the best video
game we've ever played. Rating: 10+

BACKGROUND STORY (loosely translated from the rulebook)

"The Strange Story of Great-grandfather and Me"

In the early 1900's, in a rural area of America, a shadow like black
clouds fell, and a married couple disappeared. The husband's name
was George; his wife was Maria.
People grieved at their loss, but nothing could be done except to
pray. Perhaps this prayer was answered, because two years later
George unexpectedly returned to his home. However he said nothing
about where he had gone or what he had done. As they watched George
devote himself to some mysterious research, people spread rumors about
him.
But as time went on the rumors decreased. The one thing people didn't
forget was that Maria had never returned....
It is now 1988.
"It's terrible! It's terrible!"
What is terrible? In Mini's room a table lamp is rattling and
moving around, and in Mimi's room a Kewpie doll is flying around, so
is something even more terrible happening?
Is it still my duty to protect my younger sisters? I'm only 12
years old, but the only man in the house. I have to protect the
three women here. Come to think of it, where's my mom?

Whew. Somehow the house has become quiet again. Mom, who had been
nervous, has also settled down. Ah! Let's call Dad.
"That was a poltergeist. I think your great-grandfather had been doing
research in psychic powers (PSI). If you look in the basement perhaps
you'll understand."
Dad is reliable after all. But he did forget one thing, the
location of the key to the basement. However I figured it out
quickly.
In the basement I found Great-grandfather's diary, and some
seemingly useful things. What could I use them for?
I've made up my mind. With my strength I will discover the origin
of these strange occurences, and protect Mom, Mini, and Mimi.

THE GAME

MOTHER begins with a rather cinematic opening, which ends with the
single line "1988. On the outskirts of the town of Mother's Day."
You begin as the boy in your room when the poltergeist strikes. And
from there you embark on your journey....

MOTHER is a role-playing game, and essentially follows the mechanics
of other games in this genre, but differs from them in many ways. One
strong point is the scenario by Shigesato Itoi, a rather famous writer
in Japan. Although a somewhat strange and disjointed story, it is
extremely imaginative and enjoyable. The game design is by Itoi and
the production by Shigeru Miyamoto, who also did the Super Mario and
Zelda series. As one would expect, the sense of fantasy and childhood
wonder is extremely high. You really feel a part of this world.

Your journey first takes you to the town of Mother's Day, where you
find other strange things have been happening: a girl living near your
house has gotten lost in the graveyard, and animals in a nearby zoo
have gone crazy and escaped. You continue onward to other towns with
whimsical names like Thanksgiving, Easter, and Snowman as the mystery
increases. Along the way you solve puzzles, build up your strength,
and meet some friends that follow along to help, including a nerdy
coward who loves to play with rockets and other toys, a girl with
psionic powers, and bully from a gang. There are mini-stories, plenty
of good humor, and many many beautiful surprises. One great thing
about the game is the numerous subtle touches that really make it a
work of art. And eventually you may even understand what the title
means....

GRAPHICS AND MUSIC

The graphics and music of MOTHER are the best I have seen in any game
on any system. Of course the Famicom cannot provide as good
resolution or as good sound quality as other systems; nonetheless
these aspects are unsurpassed. What makes them so good is not only
their artistic quality, but also that they combine with each other and
the other aspects of the game perfectly, creating an overall mood
which is incredible.

The graphics are extremely colorful and cheerful for the most part,
and the outdoor scenes especially are striking. But they can also be
very dark and mysterious; check out for example the staircase in the
graveyard. I should note that unlike other games one does not enter a
town and have it expand in size; everything is on the same scale in
the game, which makes the world seem particularly huge. The graphics
are usually 3/4 perspective, rather abstract and somewhat "cute".
It's impossible to describe them; they really must be seen.

The music too is beautiful. There is different music for each major
area, and it sets the mood perfectly. The music itself is excellent,
and we would often return to areas just to hear the music. It was
composed by Keiichi Suzuki (of the group Moonriders) and Hirokazu
Tanaka (perhaps an in-house composer) and every piece is excellent. A
lot of work must have gone into the music, as most of it was also
written as pop songs which appear on the soundtrack album (which also
contains over 16 minutes of background music from the game). The
album is well worth getting on its own, and I listened to it more than
anything else over this past summer.

DETAILS

As far as mechanics go MOTHER is a fairly typical RPG. The basic
action of the game involves solving puzzles, fighting monsters to gain
experience and money, and exploring new areas. I wouldn't say any of
the puzzles were really hard; we did get stuck in one place near the
end but it turned out we had missed something fairly obvious (although
some people who helped us said it wasn't obvious to them either at
first). Usually there are several different paths to explore at any
time, and the game is fairly non-linear. But it is carefully planned
out and there are tasks that must be performed in order to continue.
Mostly the joy of playing the game comes from exploring the world and
discovering more of the story, as well as small but truly wonderful
events that occur along the way. We want to play again just to
experience these events.

Instead of spells, the hero, as well as a girl he meets later and many
of the monsters, can use PSI powers. You start with telepathy, useful
in several places, and get others that help attack, defend, heal, and
so forth. By far our favorite was teleportation which is really fun
to use, and very funny when it doesn't work! Another great way to get
around quickly is to take the train, which turns corners with amazing
agility, and has some excellent music. And what's this people are
saying you can do with the bread...?

My least favorite part of any RPG is combat, and MOTHER is no
exception. However they do try to make combat as painless as
possible. You have a wide variety of options, can attempt to run away
at any time (which sometimes doesn't work, although there is a PSI power
"dimension slip" which almost always works), attack, use items or PSI
powers, and even check the enemies' strength. If you make a mistake
you can backtrack. One really nice feature is "auto"; if you are
feeling lazy just select this and the computer will do the entire
battle for you! This isn't always recommended as it sometimes makes
some poor choices.

There is a wide variety of monsters, many of them somewhat silly (such
as the "mad truck" which attacks with its exhaust fumes and tries to
run you over) and many with special abilities (some even laugh at you
or chide you, and one annoying one steals your things) including PSI
powers of their own. Up to four can attack you at once, and you can
have several people in your party. There are only about three pieces
of background music for combat and only one is particularly good (the
one for "oniisan" (young man), who would probably be "hippie" in the
US version); this was the only music we got tired of. The main
complaint about combat is that it happens too often when you are
trying to explore sometimes, and it can be annoying. When you defeat
the monsters you get experience, sometimes find an item, and instead
of receiving money your father deposits the money into your bank
account, so you have to go to an ATM to get it.

You also rely on your dad to save the game, which you can do by
calling him; he'll also say how much money you have in the bank and
how much experience you need for the next level. The cartridge allows
up to three games to be saved (and you can make copies of a single
game) but our cartridge was defective and sometimes erased the second
or third game. Apparently this is not a general defect, though. If
you play too long Dad will even call up (no matter where you are!) and
suggest it is time for a rest.

One of the nicest things about the game is when you die. (Actually
you and everyone else never "die" in the game; rather you "become
unconcious" or "stop moving" or whatever.) Along with going to a
somewhat striking scene, you lose almost nothing and simply return to
the last point at which you called your father. To be precise the
only thing you lose is half the money carried with you as well as all
your PSI points; the money in your account as well as any experience
gained is all intact. So "dying" is not such a traumatic experience,
and can even be used as a means of transportation.

At towns you will usually find multi-story department stores with an
ATM and phone as well as several shops, a hospital, perhaps a
fast-food restaurant, and of course many people to give you clues or
just say amusing things. You can use a map which points out your
location as well as the major towns and most (but not all) of the
interesting spots you will need to visit. The rulebook (which folds
out to one big sheet) also has a map on the back. The rulebook itself
is quite short by US standards; it gives the a reasonable amount of
useful information but there are still many things you need to figure
out on your own.

There is just too much to say about this game; I've left out a lot but
the joy is discovering it for yourself. I will warn though that the
ending was quite disappointing, probably because we were expecting
something really amazing. I don't think it gives away too much to say
that it is essentially "to be continued." This would be fine--we
would be ecstatic to play the the sequel--but I have heard nothing
about this coming out and it is over a year after MOTHER has been
released. I will be really upset if they decide never to bring it
out. In any case, except for the tedium of combat, we are looking
forward to playing again. It is more than good enough to play several
times, and it was quite sentimental to watch a friend play through the
beginning again.

As for when the game is due in the US, I can't say for sure but
Nintendo Power implied it would be sometime in 1991, let's hope in the
early part (perhaps in Spring, a year after SMB3?). I have a feeling
several things will be changed, because although the game is set in
America it is really quite Japanese, but it will be interesting to see
what happens. For people like me who can't wait, certainly the
Japanese version is well worth buying (you need a Famicom also though
as it won't play on the NES) but you should know a fair amount of
Japanese. I had two years of courses and lived in Japan for the
summer and still found it tough going, but enormous fun.

CONCLUSION

Certainly not everyone will be as thrilled with this game as we were.
But if you enjoyed Miyamoto's earlier creations such as Super Mario
Bros. 3 and The Legend of Zelda, you should love this game. Not a
perfect game, but it is so good in so many ways that it deserves a 10+
on the 1 to 10 scale.