Its cute, simplistic characters were designed by the artist Shinbo Minami.

Its musical direction was spearheaded by Keiichi Suzuki, founder of an extremely experimental rock band called Moonriders. Its creator and author, Shigesato Itoi, was an industry outsider, a famous copywriter and professional dilettante. Released for Nintendo's Famicom in 1989, MOTHER's novel setting-a Japanese conception of modern America, not a Japanese conception of medieval Europe-wasn't all that set it apart.

hijacking an army-surplus tank in the desert and destroying a giant robot to reach a cave full of monkeys.

having people sneeze on you to give you colds.

fighting against an alien who controls the minds of zoo animals.

It's famously a slog through random encounters and 1980s gameplay mechanics, but those EarthBound fans with the courage to get past the Podunk graveyard will be rewarded with a surprisingly complex story, an enormous, non-linear world to explore, and a look at characters and concepts that would later be refined or repurposed for the 1994 release of MOTHER's sequel. Ninten, a stand-in for the player, learns about friendship, and love, and-well, and singing, while also uncovering the true story of the mysterious disappearance of his grandparents and the strange vendetta of the alien Giegue. What follows is a cross-country adventure through the desert, the big city, ominous Mt. In 1989 strange things begin happening to a boy named Ninten, who realizes he and his family are more involved in what appears to be an alien invasion than he could possibly have realized. With those cryptic words begins MOTHER, EarthBound's moodier, more verbose, less scrutable older brother.

At that time, a young married couple vanished mysteriously from their home.

In the early 1900's, a dark shadow covered a small country town in rural America.

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