Mother 1 in French: The Game That Started Itoi's Series
When Shigesato Itoi, a copywriter, took the idea of a Dragon Quest-style RPG to Nintendo in the late 1980s, the result was Mother, released on the Famicom on 27 July 1989. Developed by Ape and published by Nintendo, it sold about 400,000 copies in Japan and was that year's sixth best-selling game there. Instead of knights and castles it sent a boy named Ninten and his friends across a late-1980s America of hippies, zombies and psychic powers.
At a glance
- Based on: Mother (Famicom, 1989), as reissued on the Game Boy Advance in Mother 1+2 (2003)
- Created by: Shigesato Itoi (writer), Ape and Nintendo; French fan translation
- Released: 1989 on Famicom; GBA version in 2003
- Genre: Role-playing game
- What sets it apart: a quiet, offbeat, very human RPG, here in French
Why the GBA version matters
- It follows the changes from a finished English prototype that was shelved in 1990 and later surfaced in 1998 as EarthBound Zero.
- Those changes include altered religious symbols and smoking references, a longer ending, lower difficulty, and extra conveniences like a run button and the ability to examine enemies.
- It adds a bonus scene after the credits where Ninten's father phones him with a warning.
- The story: Ninten gathers the melodies of a song for Queen Mary, learns the tale of George and Maria, and confronts Giygas.
On the cartridge
The game was only officially localised in English as EarthBound Beginnings on Wii U in 2015. This edition carries a complete French translation of the story and menus, which makes it one of the few ways to play the game in the language.