Starmen.Net

The order doesn’t really matter for the most part, but Mother 3’s callbacks to EarthBound might be more fun if you played EB first. A few parts of the game, althought small and usually inconsequential, require that you’ve familiar with EarthBound.
Besides that, each of the games feature the same RPG style combat, but have very different feels.

EarthBound Zero / EarthBound Beginnings as very much an old-school RPG. It plays like Dragon Warrior, so expect random encounters, giant maps to explore, grinding, less guidance on where to go at any time. If you get a Mother 1+2 english cart, you can get an Easy Ring which brings the encounter rate down to a reasonable level. Story is fairly light here. It’s a fun time if you like to keep things simple and wouldn’t mind having to consult a guide now and then.

EarthBound is essentially is a more modernized version of EarthBound Zero. Expect significantly more story, real cutscenes, less of a need to grind, encounters that you can see and avoid on the overworld, more mechanics, and less empty maps. There’s virtually nothing tying EarthBound to its predecessor other than the “return” of Giygas / Gyiyg. It’s extra fun if you"Get Nintendo’s official player’s guide that came with the original game":https://www.nintendo.co.jp/clvs/manuals/common/pdf/CLV-P-SAAJE.pdf and it as you play along! EarthBound’s my personal favorite, as it’s the one I keep going back to. It also has the most mods if you end up liking it enough. EarthBound is the game that “everyone and their MOTHER can love”!

Mother 3 is like EarthBound but more modern and more artsy. EarthBound has a bit more of an open-world flair, expecting you to explore the game at your own pace. Mother 3 is a series of story chapters where the game’s narrative takes center stage. You’ll also find yourself playing as many different characters in this one, not just the same party of 4. There’s also a nifty rhythm-based combat mechanic where you rack up attack combos by pressing A to the beat. This is kinda like if EarthBound was created by indie game developers with today’s technology, but on the GBA. The game’s translation feels like exactly what the game would look like if the game was released officially, probably one of the greatest fan translations of all time. Shigesato Itoi decided to get REALLY weird with this one, though, so expect maximum quirkyness and even some controversial stuff at times. I can’t agree with everything Itoi decided to put in the game, but I think there’s more than enough to make it worth putting up with. It’s an emotional rollercoster.

Overall, I’d say start with EarthBound. The original cart is crazy expensive, but you can find an EarthBound Uncut cart for about $40-$60. Personally, I find Uncut better than the original as it retains some elements from the Japanese version, but to each their own. For EarthBound Zero, I’d suggest the Mother 1+2 cart with English patch, and same for Mother 3. EarthBound might also be available on the Nintendo Switch online, but don’t quote me on that.

I will always go to bat for starting with Mother 1. Wholeheartedly agree that you’ll want to use Tomato’s translation hack for it. Equip the Easy Ring, use maps, don’t be afraid of cracking open a guide every once in a while, and expect that it’s an old school RPG. Forgive it the associated NES jank (of which there’s honestly very little when you get down to it), and you’ll experience something truly wonderful. I strongly disagree that it has the least story of the entries or a lack of focus on its narrative. It’s straightforward, but it’s beautiful. Mother 3 is better if you’ve played Earthbound, and Earthbound is better if you’ve played Mother 1. There’s a lot more connecting it to the rest of the series than you might think, and I promise you it does so much more justice to the game and to experiencing the series as a whole if you treat it as more than an afterthought. And, if you do decide to play it first, I have some recommended listening as you go. It’s a journey worth taking.

I started with Earthbound in 2000 or so and played Mother 3 as close to launch as I could using a translation guide (which was an awful experience but that was really my only option) and eventually finished it using the translation patch when that became available.

Tried playing EB Beginnings after it came out on WiiU and still try every once in a while but I bounce off it pretty hard every time. As such I can’t say it’s a GREAT entry point to the series unless you’re VERY dedicated to finishing it because I’ve seen time and time again people try to play EBB and bounce off and if that’s where you’re STARTING, there’s a chance you won’t experience the other games. Which would be far worse.

I’ll echo everyone else and say go play Earthbound first. It held the crown of being my favorite game of all time for the majority of my life and I can and have written entire essays on why it is a masterpiece in impressionist art capturing the essence of childhood and nostalgia better than any work ever has.

Also yes use the guide. This game is not really about “solving” difficult challenges so you’re not spoiling the experience like one might think by using a strategy guide. If anything it compliments the experience and together really help the game come alive.

As you mentioned the GBA ports do indeed have a number of quality of life improvements and bug fixes, which are most noticeable in mother 1. Probably the most notable quality of life feature would be the inclusion of running in Mother 1. These features do lead to a smoother gameplay experience, but keep in mind that this game was only released in Japan and Japanese so you will need to utilize the translation patch to play it in English.

Apart from that however, the GBA port runs the games on a smaller display than their respective consoles, and has inferior audio quality, so it might just be better to play both games on the Nintendo Switch Online apps.

No idea why they made that change…

catgirltoast:

thisishabspeaking:

I’m curious, are there any other differences between the Mother 1 & 2 for the GBA and the original titles other than quality of life improvements?

All the (positive) changes in MOTHER 1+2 are all present for MOTHER 1. MOTHER 2 suffers from worse audio & horrible screen crunch. MOTHER 1 also suffers from this, but not as bad bad. It has the advantage of backporting “L to Check” from MOTHER 2 (as originally you had to go through the menu to check), smoother character movement, and basically all the changes present from the original MOTHER 1 Localization (including the run button, improved ending, but also the censorship since CERO (Japanese ESRB) had been established a year prior)

There’s an English patch for just the MOTHER 1 section by Tomato that sticks closer to the Japanese script, plus it gives an item called the “Easy Ring” which increases EXP+Money & lowers random enemy encounters.

Just don’t try MOTHER 2 for the GBA. the screen crunch is worse there & I’ve heard it introduces new glitches, overall just making it worse. It’s biggest downside has to be the audio. It’s not just poor GBA audio quality, the audio driver is broken iirc. Compare any song from the original game to the GBA version & usually sound really different.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6TEXfM3x5c

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UefXg304ezk

Love how you chose my favorite EarthBound battle theme.

Why the lower chords? (Not saying it’s bad though)
Also Mother 1+2 just weren’t made for the GBA. The crappy sound quality would ruin my experience.

I have a SNES classic and I usually like to plug it into old TV monitors my dad used to use for work.
The sound quality is TERRIBLE but if I put it onto my regular tv the sound is amazing but it doesn’t give me the feel like I’m playing it in the 90’s
I wasn’t born then so I was very disappointed I couldn’t experience EarthBound the way some of the site OG’s did…