This is one Mother most gamers will enjoy spending some time with. Errr...no offence to any moms out there. It's just an intro blurb. Nothing serious. In fact, nobody even reads these stupid things anyway. by Vaughn Smith

February 16, 2006 - Whether you know the Mother series as Mother or Earthbound, if you know it at all you then know why it's dear to your gaming heart. Patient gamers have been waiting for a sequel to appear to the popular and quite insane RPG series since the SNES game Earthbound (called Mother 2 in Japan) appeared in 1994. A sequel was in development for years on the Nintendo 64, which then was moved to the dead-in-the-water N64DD add on (again only released in Japan) but it never materialized.

This oddball RPG isn't known for it's epic battles or magic attacks, but rather for it's askew look at Western life through the satirical eyes of the Japanese. Bursting with inane dialogue and even crazier situations, players can almost always expect the unexpected. In fact, the player themselves will often be referenced, therefore breaking the "fourth wall" that separates the player from the onscreen antics.

Mother 3 as you might expect is one of the most anticipated releases in Japan. Producer Shigesato Itoi felt it necessary to post info on his website regarding when the info for the game would be available. Now that's what I call a game that's highly anticipated. In a cool presentation made especially for fans, you can visit the Mother 3 website and open some gift boxes. If you click on the second gift box at the top, you can download an mp3 of the Mother 3 theme song. Click here to visit the Mother 3 website.

But it's not all kisses and sandwiches dear readers. And that means that I've got good news and bad news.

First the good news: In case you're a little thick in the noggin, you can see that this is a preview for a new game entitled Mother 3, which means they're making a new one. Mother 3 is set for a Japanese release this April 20th, 2006.

Now the bad news: In case your reading comprehension skills blow, you'll notice that this is a Game Boy Advance preview....not a GameCube preview, not a DS preview and definitely not a Revolution preview. That means that Mother 3 is a GBA game. The other slightly bad news at the moment is that there isn't a North American release date set for Mother 3, but we're really hoping that changes.

Other than that little tidbit I can't really add much more. It's all a mystery. I've been told that the game will be entirely different than what was planned for the Nintendo 64 version, which would make sense considering the system differences. I'm not even sure if Ness (the silent protagonist from Mother) that has appeared in other Nintendo properties such as the Super Smash Bros. series, will be appearing in this next installent. However I expect the same irreverant humor and whackiness that permeated the other games in the Mother/Earthbound series to be present and can't wait to play it - GBA or not.

Stay tuned.

By Vaughn Smith
CCC Site Director