Thanks to everyone for checking out the new video today! Mother 4/Oddity has had a long and arduous development journey but is showing more promise than ever right now. I hope you enjoy this dive into the game's history!
Thank you for bringing this to my attention! I was in late HS when EarthBound for the Snes came out, skipped it due to the ugly marketing, and years later while working on a construction job spoke with a little kid who was a Snes fanatic and had a copy of the game and doted on the fun and adventure he had in the world. It was still a few more years before I had the chance to play EarthBound and even later (2020) before I got to watch a Let's Player finish the game and really appreciate some of the myth, legends, and coding quirks from the perspective of someone who has been deep into the Mother fandom. While not in my immediate wheelhouse, Mother and the fandom has been right there in my periphery, always seeing a glimpse here or there in newer games and the like. I am excited to see this game and can't wait to hear more about this loving tribute. Thank you, OP, for the episode and please send more cool things our way!
If you ever played breath of the wild and you've met Kass, he plays a song that's not complete. But when you complete all his quests, he begins to play the full version. People made an extended track of the first half, and it's been out for years now. I just made an extended version (1hour) of the extended version.... Can't upload it yet, but as soon as TH-cam, loads it?, It'll finally be on here... I felt the same way
they should find a way of distributing physical copies underground on like cheap micro sd cards costing pennies as a takedown workaround - what if there was a take down but already a million hard copies already out in peoples hands.
I'm just glad that they rebranded it, so they no longer have to worry about copyright or trying too hard to replicate the feeling and not being genuine enough. This, IMHO, give them more freedom for productivity.
Years and years ago, I left a comment on a Mother 4 trailer saying that this looked like 95% original content anyway, so why not just change the name and create an original game like Toby Fox did with Undertale, and someone involved in the project basically told me off in public saying that I didn't understand the heart of what they were doing and changing the name would make the the entire project pointless.
@@SuperTrainStationH They are beyond stupid. The copyright issue was fucking obvious from the beginning and anyone with a lick of sense could see it from the get go. But instead of making something merely inspired by their favorite series they took it upon themselves to continue it when it was not theirs to continue. So now this project will forever be tainted by it's origins as plagiarism driven by the hubris of clueless nerds.
Not only does it let them be more creative, but it also opens up the door to actually seeing some return on their investment. Japan often tends to assume their IP laws are valid everywhere else (Remember that joke in Austin Powers 3? Yeah.) But one particularly nice thing? The paw in Japan says you can make spiritual successor games. Really, I know this is going to be a hot take... but just do that for a 'fan project'. Nintendo didn't send the lawyers out on Wargroove. They put the trailer on their channel.
@Alex McDonald If that boy drops into Smash, Sakurai probably won't be shy about mentioning his fangame origins. His character reveal streams are the most real and candid I've ever seen Nintendo get
Crazy how every one of the three Mother games all went through development hell and risked being cancelled at one point, and now somehow the curse has been passed on to its spiritual successor.
Of course no... I mean copyright n stuff? You see fans doing an innocent fan project, Nintendo sees a hostile company pirating their IP. The only thing I accuse Nintendo for is not to react faster with a cease & desist. They actualy let people finish their stuff and shut it down then. They should stop it right in the beginning, so nobody wastes their time and people can come up with original ideas instead (like Undertale for instance). Same with AMR2 back then... You simply can't steal an IP, and especially call it "Something X" as if it's an original entry of the main line of games. That's simply a no go... It's so pointless really... just don't call it Mother 4 and don't use original assets. Do an "spiritual successor" and you maybe can even make a buck. I don't get it...
@@vermilion7777, but fans love to show support by making fan project a lot like the original. There are even several fan games about the MOTHER series that Nintendo didn't even bother to take down. There are even companies and creators that even allow them, some of them being Capcom, SEGA, Scott Cawthon, and ZUN (creator of the Touhou series).
Personally, I'm more excited about the project as Oddity rather than Mother 4. I'd prefer a game with its own voice and artistic direction over a fan game. So many titles tout being "inspired by Earthbound," but so rarely do they live up to that inspiration. The work they've done on what is now Oddity looks incredible. Patiently awaiting this and would be more than happy to drop some real $$$ in order to play it so the artists could benefit from their work.
Honestly, this might be the first game I can confidently say is a Motherlike, as opposed to the "inspired by Earthbound" tagline that gets thrown around. I really hope it starts a new subgenre of JRPGs.
@@hippolytabaker9559 100%. Undertale scratched that “more Earthbound-like” games itch for me. A lot of people seem to think that Peanuts-esque visuals and “quirkiness” is what makes Earthbound special, while missing the heart, writing quality, themes and wisdom. Oddity is showing some serious style but also the potential to deliver on some of the deeper elements as well. Not only are they avoiding legal trouble by moving away from Mother, but some of the expectations, too. I’m happy for this to be it’s own thing on its own terms. It just looks charming AF.
And then by 2022 ... it went entirely dark once again. No development updates, no movement on any platform, nothing. It's now 2024 and this vaporware is 16 years old. RIP.
iirc there was drama that came out that's basically killed the project. a lot of mismanagement, expectation for people to work thhge equivalent of full-time without pay, etc.
I absolutely cannot believe how long I've followed this project. Really awesome and indepth look into it! I learned quite a few things about the earlier years that I just straight up didn't know. Even though it's been over a year since the Oddity teaser dropped, I still keep on checking back. It'll be ready when it's ready...
Earthbound : Beginnings Earthbound Mother 3 Oddity : Beginnings Oddity : Beta Oddity : Alpha Oddity And finally. *_S U P E R M A R I O O D D I T Y_* edit : what
"Although it's been over a year now, I'm confident that the team will be able to finish this game." *leans back into computer chair and lets out an agonizing groan*
@@robertbektas1810 even Omori had a long time in development before it's release. It actually made me compare Oddity and Omori a bit with how often it's release date change.
Glad to know there are still people who are still waiting for Oddity to be realeased maybe this is not the Mother we were looking for but it's feels nice that this new game is a tribute to all the Mother series and how the fans (including myself) still have that love for Mother/ EB
Before, I actually felt like Oddity wouldn't release at all until a certain game I was also waiting for a long, long time released (Omori). Now, I can patiently wait for Oddity to release as well.
Oh yeah are you kidding me I love the Mother series, hell I hope they make Oddity it's own series. Since Nintendo isn't touching mother anymore. They'd make a killing.
Honestly I was really happy with this becoming it’s own thing. As good as it looked, a fan game giving itself a numbered title in the series just always rubbed me the wrong way. But now these talented folks can actually sell their game, it can exist as more than a footnote preceding a DMCA. And this game looks like it really deserves a chance to build it’s own following. Thrilled it ended up that way.
Possibly shocking take: A mother game without Itoi isn't a mother game. Playing earthbound and mother 3, there is something distinct about those games that i cant fully explain. His vision for the series is such a unique take, so much so that a fan game cant emulate that uniqueness. It would be something closer to Undertale that uses aspects from Mother in its design. its great that Oddity went that route since now it can stand on its own
@@uhhh_adam i forgot i made this comment (oops) He isnt making another because he doesnt have a story to tell, and nintendo respects his vision and wont make another (even though Itoi said he'd be fine with it)
Saw this on the Oddity discord, great video. I specially like the way you gave background before playing the Oddity trailer, making it all the more spectacular. It really did encapsule the feeling it gave me when i first saw it, in fact it gave me goosebumps just like back then. Despite being 21 minutes and knowing most of the information, this video went by like a breeze, which i believe it's a testament to how good it was. The timing on this one was key, definetely up to par with the better essay format videos out there.
@@coffeejunkie7954 yeah, here you go: discord.com/invite/suBXtKkh it's a really cool place, specially if you like pixel art and/or indie game developement.
I'm actually glad they rebranded the whole game. The game looks amazing by itself even if it was intended to be a fan sequel to an already existing franchise.
This game is awesome, it doesn't have to be titled "Mother 4" to be Mother 4. It already is. It will release, someday. And it will be something that is great on its own. I hope Mr. Itoi will get to play it
The upside of community planning is a wealth of variety and longevity, the downside is a lack of central hierarchy and no clear head. This means there is no stream to follow and anybody’s input is equally validated.
This kind of reminds me of how in 2008 we were told Arrested Development was going to get a movie to tie up Season 3. I was so excited, then annoyed, then sick of waiting, then I forgot about it entirely. Then in 2013 Season 4 drops on Netflix and I was like "Oh yeah, that's a thing. I guess I'll watch it"
Would you ever consider doing an updated video on this? Some of the game’s older builds got leaked, and there’s rumors that the Lead Dev completely bailed. People are speculating the project might be dead dead
yeah that's what ive been speculating since even late 2020, it was never going to come out xD and now they're just keeping a dead project alive based on lies/fake hope. and people are falling for it... except me.
Every time I see that gameplay trailer I’m filled with both hope and despair. Because a part of me feels like the game isn’t ever gonna come out with how LITTLE we’ve been given, but the other part of me doesn’t want to believe that something like this, with the amount of opportunity, and possibility it has, could get thrown away and for us to never see what we know it can become.
I went to go subscribe and was surprised to see that I already was. Totally forgot about _your_ rebrand lol My first encounter with the Mother 4/Oddity project was after beating Mother 3 for the second time, I decided to look to see if a 4th game would ever come out. I found the Mother 4 website and the subreddit at around December of 2019, and when I saw the rebrand trailer come out I got an incorrect sense of how frequent news would be. It's been about a year since then and although there's been a few little snippets here and there, I'm starting to get a feel of what it's like to wait for Winter 2014...
Now a new MOTHER 4 is coming out, so we'll see how that goes. Contrary to popular belief, Itoi owns the MOTHER IP, not Nintendo, and Itoi has given his stamp of approval for fangames.
@@gr8gmr The fact that MOTHER is copyrighted by Itoi himself. All Nintendo owns is the rights to the individual games, not the overarching IP itself. Even then, the rights are split between the developers (APE, HAL Laboratory, and Brownie Brown).
On October 6th, 2021, Pastel's username and pfp on discord has changed. This has been the first know activity from pastel since November. We could be nearing the end of the drought.
There is one thing that scares me tho, I feel like the game needs to get a bit more of it’s own identity so it won’t just be know as the mother 4 fan game (even tho it’s renamed). Like how undertale has its own identity and personality. If it will just be known as “mother 4” than most people might think it’s only a game for fans and not for them. At least that’s how I’m feeling, I would love to play it tho Edit: what I’m basically saying is that I hope they go farther with the rebranding
They could monetize it but im pretty sure they want it to remain free. It was always planned to be free and too many people have contributed to the project over the years.
@@ians_parks They'd honestly be stupid not to find a way to monetize the property somehow, though. I mean, seriously-10 years of real work that doesn't even put food on the table? Yeesh.
@@austinfondren5053 Some people do things for the satisfaction. That said, I think they should offer this as an Itch.io donation thing maybe, or perhaps do a Kickstarter deal where the game is basically finished and they can offer something minor to go along with the game as a reward for backers, while the game itself is free?
Maybe I sound pessimistic saying this but I fear that "oddity" might not exactly turn out to be as good as "mother 4" but I still have hope, I'm only scared because I've seen what happens to games when they go through a bunch of development teams or have a LONG development period or go through a bunch of game engine changes or whatever (just look at cyberpunk 2077, duke nukem forever and postal 3) but who knows, only time will tell. Regardless of all that, I am so glad that the mother series exists and that the series itself aswell as mother 4/oddity inspired me to go ahead and take a stab at trying to make a mother/earthbound fangame
I remember watching this project as it grew and changed and the Mother roots to me look ingrained in the work. It’s a testament to how even a work directly inspired from something else could become a project completely unique. It’s that sort of inspired creativity I’ve been looking for
Nintendo NEVER would have C&D'd this project. Nintendo doesn't care about shutting down any Earthbound fan project. And never in the history of the company have they ever gone out of their way to ever protect that specific IP. The Mother 3 translation patch had been up for 9 years while Nintendo knew about it, this was confirmed by the patch creator themselves, and they never once shut it down. Nintendo would have had to care about Earthbound to C&D anything related to it, and they have never done either.
Nintendo doesn’t own anything Mother related aside the name EarthBound. They published the game and it was exclusive to their system but the IP itself is owned by Hobinichi.
I doubt it, but Nintendo has kinda sorta acknowledged the mother 3 fan translation and said it was something far better than anything they could do, so who knows?
Well the concept for Retro city Rampage originally came from a homebrew project that began all the way back in 2002 Brian Provinciano constructed his own Nintendo Entertainment System development kit and set about remaking or I guess that's demaking grand theft auto 3 with 8-bit spirte graphics before eventually shifting development over to the PC he started to add character and locations from games that he played in his childhood before deciding to make a entirely new game with original content that released in 2007 as a downloadable title for multiple consoles at least according to the Wikipedia page which as we all know is never wrong.
Idk what Shigesato Itoi is doing with his life these days, but with the amount of joy mother 2 and 3 brought the world, I don't see how he wouldn't want to do a mother 4. Advertise it with being the final conclusion in the mother series, spend a whole bunch of money and time making it, just make it the best in the series and it will go down as one of the best jrpg's of all time and his legacy will be even more cemented. To me, he'd be similar to disney's legacy in the animation world.......or he could just leave fans constantly wanting more. Mother 3 being scrapped on the 64 really set the tone for his fans constantly wanting more I guess
I can't wait to play Oddity , even if it means I have to wait till next year. Wanted to play it ever since I've heard of it in 2014 , and I still have the same amount of hype now. Thanks for the video since it reminded me that I still got plenty of time to wait for the finished product.
......It's been 4 years, and I REALLY hope that they follow through with this project.... Been following it since the trailer came out in 2020, and the fact that it's been this long and it's had no other updates or follow-ups or anything, I'm starting to lose hope.
It strikes as super interesting that they announced a winter 2014 release during summer of that year. Surely they had most of the game nearly finished by then? Yet went back to the drawing board, wow
I find it funny Nintendo wanted to stop fans from making Mother 4 for copyright, yet the Mother series itself is practically one big copyright case. Just look at all the pop cultural refences from the old games. The Beatles, The Blues Brothers, Chuck Berry, and countless other musician spoofs. Nintendo's one of those companies that's a master of walking the fine line of copyrighting and being just original enough to succeed. I guess that's what makes them so successful. They've always got their ass covered "legally."
I remember all too well when Mother 4 was started in late 2008, I just started playing the Mother 3 Fan Translation for the first time and man were times much more simpler, I wish I could erase all my memory of Mother 3 and play it again for the first time with no knowledge of the game.
Nintendo: Where not making games for this series anymore, to bad! Fans: No please make more games for this series we love so much! Nintendo: No, what are you gonna do about it make your own game? Fans: Ok, great idea! Nintendo: No wait, that’s not how it’s supposed to happen!
I have never heard of this fan game and I am typically quite vigilant with keeping up with fan games. It's interesting to see fans spend over a decade making a game for the love of the franchise.
Glad I found this video. My only knowledge of the game’s development history was that it was a Mother 4 project before being changed to Oddity. Great video!
the way you ended the video gave me chills haha. thinking about him playing it is dope and probably would be an accomplishment in and of itself for him.
I feel like this entire project is in great parts a huge collection of misunderstandings, which often may have resulted from inexperience. The people who followed this game for years mostly fall into two categories: The ones who are very hyped about this game and can't wait for the day it will release; and the ones who have given up hope (somewhat understandably), who are jaded now and have either moved on or pursue the subreddit of this game to tell the hopeful ones that this game is never going to happen. The way I see it, the developers are working on this project in their free time, which, with how busy life can become sometimes, means that they can't offer as much progress as most people would like. Creating this game isn't their day job, they literally don't gain anything tangible from it, so of course, it takes the priority of a hobby, or a passion project at best. From the outside, we can only view it as "They promised this game more than ten years ago, surely they must be done anytime soon!" - but that is easier said than done. They used to give us set release dates ("Winter 2014", remember that?) and constant updates which made us believe we were getting close to the release, so we got our hopes up way high - but the probable truth is that the developers are very much overwhelmed with the attention this game is getting, considering they are only working on it when they happen to have the time for it. It's not like an actual studio consisting of people who make games for a living (and get paid for it), after all. So I am basically "passively" waiting for this game - I check the subreddit or their Twitter account once or twice a year, and if something interesting happens, like this video, I pay attention. But I'm not going to give my hopes up that it will release anytime soon. Don't get me wrong, the day it _does_ release, I will do a cringy celebration dance and bother my friends, who don't care abouit it at all, to no end. But before that happens, I am not going to let it occupy a large part of my mind; I will not keep asking when this game is coming; or mock those who still believe in it; or fight against those who don't. I will be unspeakably happy once it is actually finished, but I see no sense in being obsessed about it (whichever way). Or, as the trailer of the game itself puts it: It'll be out when it's ready - relax until then.
I'm amazed that I never came across your channel before . You really do deserve more subscribers and views. Insane production value. Keep up the great work. Made me sub :)
Who remembers going on the old Mother 4 website that used to have a box to put in your email, so that when Mother 4 released or had news, they send u updates thru your email? XD I remember being that early discovering the fan project, and ever since I’ve been following it. Great video btw, it was so well informed and detailed. You earned a sub bro
Can you all see?, some games that are inspired by EarthBound/Mother are the Mother 4. Y'all just don't know it. "It's out of the question for now" ok that was the best statements of all time.
The thing that pisses me off is that the game oddity has no release and number two is that they made a soundtrack for mother years before the release of oddity. It’s 2021 and I lost hope for this Game I bet in the next thirteen or even twenty years theirs going to be another video stating what happened to oddity.
@@PressStartToContinueYT of course I’m not saying you are going to make a video possibly someone else even though I forgot all about this game like two years ago. I still have the soundtrack which is pretty awesome I just hope that the game will be released one of these days and it won’t be like any other mysterious fan game that was never released for stupid reasons.
Holy crap, it's been SO DAMN LONG I had nearly forgotten about this game. I was around on the old Mother 4 Blog (No, the *OLD* Mother 4 Blog; you know the one!) all those years ago. I remember checking in almost daily to see if there were any new updates. I left so many comments that other commenters and the devs started to recognize my name lol. I recall a lot of hostility when the Oddity rebrand was originally announced. People saying things like it'll never be the same unless it's MOTHER 4, that the game was doomed to fail as Oddity, etc., etc. I was pretty heartbroken by the news myself, to be honest. It came pretty much out of the blue for most of us, and then we were hit with the most painful period of silence in the game's history (That's when I found myself checking back less and less until I noticed today that I haven't checked back at all in years). But I suppose I'll enjoy the game if/when it finally comes out! Even if Mr. Saturn doesn't come out and say yes to me, say no to me, ZOOM BOING, and has a coffee break with me (Only five can ladder, by the way. Just thought I'd remind you). Still waiting for Winter 2014. 😂
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Thanks to everyone for checking out the new video today! Mother 4/Oddity has had a long and arduous development journey but is showing more promise than ever right now. I hope you enjoy this dive into the game's history!
Funny when you think about it.
Earthbound always had problems in development.
But the common theme is that dedication always pushes through
Been following the project for years now! The updates are so few and far between.
Maybe pin the comment, so people can see it this comment.
Let us hope it does not fall into such a development he that it does not get "Sneeded"
Thank you for bringing this to my attention! I was in late HS when EarthBound for the Snes came out, skipped it due to the ugly marketing, and years later while working on a construction job spoke with a little kid who was a Snes fanatic and had a copy of the game and doted on the fun and adventure he had in the world. It was still a few more years before I had the chance to play EarthBound and even later (2020) before I got to watch a Let's Player finish the game and really appreciate some of the myth, legends, and coding quirks from the perspective of someone who has been deep into the Mother fandom. While not in my immediate wheelhouse, Mother and the fandom has been right there in my periphery, always seeing a glimpse here or there in newer games and the like. I am excited to see this game and can't wait to hear more about this loving tribute. Thank you, OP, for the episode and please send more cool things our way!
This whole story feels like "fine I’ll do it myself" kind of stuff
lol pretty much
nintendo: *i think the fuck not*
If you ever played breath of the wild and you've met Kass, he plays a song that's not complete. But when you complete all his quests, he begins to play the full version. People made an extended track of the first half, and it's been out for years now. I just made an extended version (1hour) of the extended version.... Can't upload it yet, but as soon as TH-cam, loads it?, It'll finally be on here... I felt the same way
That’s exactly what it’s about
they should find a way of distributing physical copies underground on like cheap micro sd cards costing pennies as a takedown workaround - what if there was a take down but already a million hard copies already out in peoples hands.
"It'll be out when it's ready" feels like a very Mother line.
@Hero Games well he is a mother fan :)
Undertale got it’s time in the Spotlight now it’s Mother 4’s/Oddity’s turn
Literally the exact same phrase Duke Nukem Forever and Cyberpunk devs used, verbatim.
they should have went with "no crying until the end"
That’s the line form the first cyberpunk trailer 7 years ago
I'm just glad that they rebranded it, so they no longer have to worry about copyright or trying too hard to replicate the feeling and not being genuine enough. This, IMHO, give them more freedom for productivity.
And more freedom to explore ideas that aren't strictly 'Mother'. I can't wait to see what comes from this project.
True sometimes when games try to recreate the feeling of their predecessor they tend to fall flat
Look at might no 9 and yooka layley
Years and years ago, I left a comment on a Mother 4 trailer saying that this looked like 95% original content anyway, so why not just change the name and create an original game like Toby Fox did with Undertale, and someone involved in the project basically told me off in public saying that I didn't understand the heart of what they were doing and changing the name would make the the entire project pointless.
@@SuperTrainStationH They are beyond stupid. The copyright issue was fucking obvious from the beginning and anyone with a lick of sense could see it from the get go. But instead of making something merely inspired by their favorite series they took it upon themselves to continue it when it was not theirs to continue. So now this project will forever be tainted by it's origins as plagiarism driven by the hubris of clueless nerds.
Not only does it let them be more creative, but it also opens up the door to actually seeing some return on their investment.
Japan often tends to assume their IP laws are valid everywhere else (Remember that joke in Austin Powers 3? Yeah.) But one particularly nice thing? The paw in Japan says you can make spiritual successor games. Really, I know this is going to be a hot take... but just do that for a 'fan project'.
Nintendo didn't send the lawyers out on Wargroove. They put the trailer on their channel.
It's actually crazy how far this game has come. I still remember watching the very 1st trailer for "Mother 4" all those years ago... time flies.
still waiting for winter 2014
ugh same, I feel so OLD!!
Right? My childhood just flashed before my eyes. Now I'm an adult with huge responsibilities. I was just a kid way back when.
Bro I'm shock omori came out 1st
And time will keep flying. This game is never going to see the light of day. Enjoy the nostalgia. It's all we've got.
what are you talking about? the game will come out in Winter 2014!
I can not wait until winter 2014
It's the seventies! We have over four decades to wait!
Wasn’t it going to be postponed till June 2015?
Hello I’m from the future of 2021 a new game called undertale has came out
Reeeeeeeeeeeeee
Imagine if this god released on switch
It probably will because the Switch accepts anything on the eshop
@Alex McDonald If that boy drops into Smash, Sakurai probably won't be shy about mentioning his fangame origins. His character reveal streams are the most real and candid I've ever seen Nintendo get
bro, i wouldnt be surprised since now it *technically* doesnt have ties to mother so
@@superstefanmaker2483 even po*n
If bug fables, a very thinly veiled spoof of paper Mario (the first two games) can make it in, this probably can too.
Crazy how every one of the three Mother games all went through development hell and risked being cancelled at one point, and now somehow the curse has been passed on to its spiritual successor.
Nintendo: *throws a series into the trash*
Fans: *makes their own*
Nintendo: NO!
I think something else happens. The last thing would have to be changed to "*doesn't notice*" or "*unsees*".
Of course no... I mean copyright n stuff? You see fans doing an innocent fan project, Nintendo sees a hostile company pirating their IP. The only thing I accuse Nintendo for is not to react faster with a cease & desist. They actualy let people finish their stuff and shut it down then. They should stop it right in the beginning, so nobody wastes their time and people can come up with original ideas instead (like Undertale for instance). Same with AMR2 back then...
You simply can't steal an IP, and especially call it "Something X" as if it's an original entry of the main line of games. That's simply a no go...
It's so pointless really... just don't call it Mother 4 and don't use original assets. Do an "spiritual successor" and you maybe can even make a buck. I don't get it...
No, the creator of Mother just wanted it to end because he thought that Mother 3 was a perfect ending.
Nintendo: "You weren't supposed to do that"
@@vermilion7777, but fans love to show support by making fan project a lot like the original. There are even several fan games about the MOTHER series that Nintendo didn't even bother to take down.
There are even companies and creators that even allow them, some of them being Capcom, SEGA, Scott Cawthon, and ZUN (creator of the Touhou series).
Personally, I'm more excited about the project as Oddity rather than Mother 4. I'd prefer a game with its own voice and artistic direction over a fan game. So many titles tout being "inspired by Earthbound," but so rarely do they live up to that inspiration. The work they've done on what is now Oddity looks incredible. Patiently awaiting this and would be more than happy to drop some real $$$ in order to play it so the artists could benefit from their work.
Honestly, this might be the first game I can confidently say is a Motherlike, as opposed to the "inspired by Earthbound" tagline that gets thrown around. I really hope it starts a new subgenre of JRPGs.
@@hippolytabaker9559 100%. Undertale scratched that “more Earthbound-like” games itch for me. A lot of people seem to think that Peanuts-esque visuals and “quirkiness” is what makes Earthbound special, while missing the heart, writing quality, themes and wisdom. Oddity is showing some serious style but also the potential to deliver on some of the deeper elements as well.
Not only are they avoiding legal trouble by moving away from Mother, but some of the expectations, too. I’m happy for this to be it’s own thing on its own terms. It just looks charming AF.
And then by 2022 ... it went entirely dark once again. No development updates, no movement on any platform, nothing. It's now 2024 and this vaporware is 16 years old. RIP.
Yeah its 2024 and its absolutely dead silence. I still have a faith that one day it will comes out...
iirc there was drama that came out that's basically killed the project. a lot of mismanagement, expectation for people to work thhge equivalent of full-time without pay, etc.
I absolutely cannot believe how long I've followed this project. Really awesome and indepth look into it! I learned quite a few things about the earlier years that I just straight up didn't know. Even though it's been over a year since the Oddity teaser dropped, I still keep on checking back.
It'll be ready when it's ready...
Wait, *aren't you the guy who uploaded the Undertale soundtrack*
Oddity is never coming out. I don't mind them taking a longer time, but at least give us updates monthly.
Given that the dev team is more broken up than a jigsaw due to conflict, i think it is safe to say the project is dead.
Least we have an actual Mother 4 now!
@Jisatsu Check the discord! Updates are posted more frequently there.
Aaaand now there’s a separate Mother 4 project in the works.
And it honestly looks just as gorgeous as Oddity does.
I discovered it this morning
@WhinyDogFish mother 4, they got a youtube chanel with the same name
ironically the creator stated he waited somebody else to make the 4th and he wanted play it.
I don't think that's irony.
Earthbound : Beginnings
Earthbound
Mother 3
Oddity : Beginnings
Oddity : Beta
Oddity : Alpha
Oddity
And finally.
*_S U P E R M A R I O O D D I T Y_*
edit : what
Oddity takes place in 197X
18 years before mother 1.
Idk if the "X" means 0.
HERESY
@@leesohun_40 what?
@@Mr.Knightman912 a random digit for the player to decide, like Undertale's 20XX
Yeah the hype for me has also never died down as long as its not outright cancelled theres always hope
Lol I always for get this Project Exists, then when I hear about it I get hyped for it again.
Yeah, as a fellow Starman I've weathered some similar shit before with EB/Mother. It's gonna be alright!
"Although it's been over a year now, I'm confident that the team will be able to finish this game."
*leans back into computer chair and lets out an agonizing groan*
Good opportunity to follow up on this video on the rabbit hole this “dev team”(?) has put into their “progress”
"But never really had the capability of producing something complex and fully fleshed out."
OMORI:
I hear you, but I haven't played it yet!
yume nikki;
@@PressStartToContinueYT You gotta play it dude, very important game.
Oh, nvm, you did XD
I'm not even a fan of earthbound but damn, that fangame makes me want to play it.
You chould
It's the mother curse
Every mother game, even fan made, is cursed to be in development for years
been watching the mother 4 journey since the beggining. this video rocks
Thanks for watching!
"It'll be out when it's ready"
Genius.
That's the way it should be.
"Welcome to the 2,263rd day of winter 2014"
Day 3,591. The longest winter ever
I didn't think this fan project would take THAT LONG IN DEVELOPMENT HELL jeez I thought lisa the pointless had a long time developing...
Mother 4 is what Kingdom Hearts 3 used to be.
Also this game kinda giving me the same feelings that bug fables gave me
@@brandonwilliams6119 well kingdom hearts turned out great and worth the wait so hopefully I can say for mother 4
@@maniacgreen8609
Damn you brought me back here, why do I feel so old?😞
@@brandonwilliams6119 😔 sorry
This feels like a warm embrace of an old friend
and i feel grateful for this new knowledge
"I wonder what he'll think." That hit me harder than pretty much any video I've ever seen
wow, thanks, that means a lot!
"It'll be out when it's ready" I wish cyberpunk could say the same
Well it wouldn’t be mother without a fucked development cycle
they did say that way back when they showed the concept trailer, shoulda stuck to it.
@@robertbektas1810 even Omori had a long time in development before it's release. It actually made me compare Oddity and Omori a bit with how often it's release date change.
@@vodeaku I know basically nothing about that game but I’m super excited to play it
@@robertbektas1810 Just be sure to prepare for the ending! It was a good tear-jerker for me (if you go to the good route).
Glad to know there are still people who are still waiting for Oddity to be realeased maybe this is not the Mother we were looking for but it's feels nice that this new game is a tribute to all the Mother series and how the fans (including myself) still have that love for Mother/ EB
Haha been waiting since winter 14 in this for the long run
Before, I actually felt like Oddity wouldn't release at all until a certain game I was also waiting for a long, long time released (Omori). Now, I can patiently wait for Oddity to release as well.
Oh yeah are you kidding me I love the Mother series, hell I hope they make Oddity it's own series. Since Nintendo isn't touching mother anymore. They'd make a killing.
No matter how amazing this game is I still want to play the original with the earthbound things in it
PPPFT, a new mother 4 just got announced
Honestly I was really happy with this becoming it’s own thing. As good as it looked, a fan game giving itself a numbered title in the series just always rubbed me the wrong way. But now these talented folks can actually sell their game, it can exist as more than a footnote preceding a DMCA. And this game looks like it really deserves a chance to build it’s own following. Thrilled it ended up that way.
Possibly shocking take: A mother game without Itoi isn't a mother game. Playing earthbound and mother 3, there is something distinct about those games that i cant fully explain. His vision for the series is such a unique take, so much so that a fan game cant emulate that uniqueness. It would be something closer to Undertale that uses aspects from Mother in its design. its great that Oddity went that route since now it can stand on its own
so, a mother-like game it is.
it can be a genre on it's own, no need for Itoi, it's just the concept, style and messages present that are important
but itoi is never making another so..
@@uhhh_adam i forgot i made this comment (oops)
He isnt making another because he doesnt have a story to tell, and nintendo respects his vision and wont make another (even though Itoi said he'd be fine with it)
Itoi actually writes and reads the script for his game out loud until it sounds right.
@@uhhh_adam And that's okay. There doesn't need to be another one. Mother 4 is our lives.
Saw this on the Oddity discord, great video. I specially like the way you gave background before playing the Oddity trailer, making it all the more spectacular. It really did encapsule the feeling it gave me when i first saw it, in fact it gave me goosebumps just like back then. Despite being 21 minutes and knowing most of the information, this video went by like a breeze, which i believe it's a testament to how good it was. The timing on this one was key, definetely up to par with the better essay format videos out there.
Thanks, I really appreciate it!
Ya got a link to the oddity discord?
@@coffeejunkie7954 yeah, here you go:
discord.com/invite/suBXtKkh
it's a really cool place, specially if you like pixel art and/or indie game developement.
@@likesflower cheers man
Could someone link the discord?
I'm actually glad they rebranded the whole game. The game looks amazing by itself even if it was intended to be a fan sequel to an already existing franchise.
This game is awesome, it doesn't have to be titled "Mother 4" to be Mother 4. It already is.
It will release, someday. And it will be something that is great on its own. I hope Mr. Itoi will get to play it
Earthbound community is just built different
i am amazed i got here as soon this got uploaded
Welcome!
Oddity: *Finally releases*
Prosafia gaming: ODDITY, ALL BOSSES (NO DAMAGE, SECRET BOSS) *Spoiler thumbnail*
Ooh that first trailer music is SO delightfully Earthbound
I remember being so invested in this in middle school. Thank you for such a well written and researched video!
i've been along for the ride since 2014. here to stay
amazing video :]
I was waiting for an update on this matter
@@geinelws me too
You’re my sister aren’t you
My long lost sister
@@69replieslol huh?
The upside of community planning is a wealth of variety and longevity, the downside is a lack of central hierarchy and no clear head. This means there is no stream to follow and anybody’s input is equally validated.
Been following this project since I think before I was 10, and I remembered the email list they had
Too much work, love, and passion has been put into this project for it not to come out in some capacity.
Jesus Christ I was in my early high school years when this project started 😭
This video deserves to blow up
Thank you!
I got this in my recommendation, hopefully it will soon
@@hellobrothers2803 yeah! I hope it’s a sign that it will soon
And so it shall
Glad I was brought here at 4AM.
Fitting since it’s Mother 4.
This kind of reminds me of how in 2008 we were told Arrested Development was going to get a movie to tie up Season 3. I was so excited, then annoyed, then sick of waiting, then I forgot about it entirely. Then in 2013 Season 4 drops on Netflix and I was like "Oh yeah, that's a thing. I guess I'll watch it"
Hahahaha YES!
More people need to see your stuff! This is great work man!
I appreciate that!
Would you ever consider doing an updated video on this? Some of the game’s older builds got leaked, and there’s rumors that the Lead Dev completely bailed. People are speculating the project might be dead dead
yeah that's what ive been speculating since even late 2020, it was never going to come out xD and now they're just keeping a dead project alive based on lies/fake hope. and people are falling for it... except me.
Eyo a dev confirmed the game is still alive today
@@Bl0MANIACsauce?
Every time I see that gameplay trailer I’m filled with both hope and despair. Because a part of me feels like the game isn’t ever gonna come out with how LITTLE we’ve been given, but the other part of me doesn’t want to believe that something like this, with the amount of opportunity, and possibility it has, could get thrown away and for us to never see what we know it can become.
I went to go subscribe and was surprised to see that I already was. Totally forgot about _your_ rebrand lol
My first encounter with the Mother 4/Oddity project was after beating Mother 3 for the second time, I decided to look to see if a 4th game would ever come out. I found the Mother 4 website and the subreddit at around December of 2019, and when I saw the rebrand trailer come out I got an incorrect sense of how frequent news would be. It's been about a year since then and although there's been a few little snippets here and there, I'm starting to get a feel of what it's like to wait for Winter 2014...
Now a new MOTHER 4 is coming out, so we'll see how that goes. Contrary to popular belief, Itoi owns the MOTHER IP, not Nintendo, and Itoi has given his stamp of approval for fangames.
Since when? Explain
@@shonenfanboy1943 The new MOTHER 4 trailer debuted last year.
So who's responsible for this new Mother 4? Also, did Oddity ever get released?
Where did you get that Nintendo doesn't own the IP?
@@gr8gmr The fact that MOTHER is copyrighted by Itoi himself. All Nintendo owns is the rights to the individual games, not the overarching IP itself. Even then, the rights are split between the developers (APE, HAL Laboratory, and Brownie Brown).
"a few years had passed by now,"
ah yes, we're getting to more recent times-
"2012"
man. its been a long while, hasnt it?
On October 6th, 2021, Pastel's username and pfp on discord has changed. This has been the first know activity from pastel since November. We could be nearing the end of the drought.
Hahaha I noticed that
There is one thing that scares me tho, I feel like the game needs to get a bit more of it’s own identity so it won’t just be know as the mother 4 fan game (even tho it’s renamed). Like how undertale has its own identity and personality. If it will just be known as “mother 4” than most people might think it’s only a game for fans and not for them.
At least that’s how I’m feeling, I would love to play it tho
Edit: what I’m basically saying is that I hope they go farther with the rebranding
How about those Oddity updates, Press Start
It would be a crime to play this for free.
Say if it's a rebranding does that mean they can monetize it? Maybe
Yes, actually
If they monetize this game, I will pour hundreds to play it
They could monetize it but im pretty sure they want it to remain free. It was always planned to be free and too many people have contributed to the project over the years.
@@ians_parks They'd honestly be stupid not to find a way to monetize the property somehow, though.
I mean, seriously-10 years of real work that doesn't even put food on the table? Yeesh.
@@austinfondren5053 Some people do things for the satisfaction.
That said, I think they should offer this as an Itch.io donation thing maybe, or perhaps do a Kickstarter deal where the game is basically finished and they can offer something minor to go along with the game as a reward for backers, while the game itself is free?
Maybe I sound pessimistic saying this but I fear that "oddity" might not exactly turn out to be as good as "mother 4" but I still have hope, I'm only scared because I've seen what happens to games when they go through a bunch of development teams or have a LONG development period or go through a bunch of game engine changes or whatever (just look at cyberpunk 2077, duke nukem forever and postal 3) but who knows, only time will tell. Regardless of all that, I am so glad that the mother series exists and that the series itself aswell as mother 4/oddity inspired me to go ahead and take a stab at trying to make a mother/earthbound fangame
These games look like a really nice time. This fan project seems especially chill. Will definitely pick this up when it comes out.
Thanks for the history of why the words “winter 2014” brings back ptsd flashbacks for mother fans
There are times when I say, I love Nintendo, and there's time where I ask myself "Why Nintendo. Why".
pretty much lol
I hate the company but I love the devs
I remember watching this project as it grew and changed and the Mother roots to me look ingrained in the work. It’s a testament to how even a work directly inspired from something else could become a project completely unique. It’s that sort of inspired creativity I’ve been looking for
Nintendo: "Time to C&D!!"
Oddity: "Ah, ah, ah! Can't touch me! (proceeds to dance)
Nintendo: (surprised Pikachu face)
Nintendo NEVER would have C&D'd this project. Nintendo doesn't care about shutting down any Earthbound fan project. And never in the history of the company have they ever gone out of their way to ever protect that specific IP. The Mother 3 translation patch had been up for 9 years while Nintendo knew about it, this was confirmed by the patch creator themselves, and they never once shut it down. Nintendo would have had to care about Earthbound to C&D anything related to it, and they have never done either.
Nintendo doesn’t own anything Mother related aside the name EarthBound. They published the game and it was exclusive to their system but the IP itself is owned by Hobinichi.
@@the-NightStar its a joke dude calm down-
@@RealCloverlol don’t mind Night Star. He’s always angry for some reason.
@@_JewGiOh_ yeah tbh I'm not shocked
I remember watching the mother 4 trailers when i was still in middle school, im in my second year of college now
Imagine if this ends up being on Steam or the Switch? lol
I doubt it, but Nintendo has kinda sorta acknowledged the mother 3 fan translation and said it was something far better than anything they could do, so who knows?
Well the concept for Retro city Rampage originally came from a homebrew project that began all the way back in 2002 Brian Provinciano constructed his own Nintendo Entertainment System development kit and set about remaking or I guess that's demaking grand theft auto 3 with 8-bit spirte graphics before eventually shifting development over to the PC he started to add character and locations from games that he played in his childhood before deciding to make a entirely new game with original content that released in 2007 as a downloadable title for multiple consoles at least according to the Wikipedia page which as we all know is never wrong.
Idk what Shigesato Itoi is doing with his life these days, but with the amount of joy mother 2 and 3 brought the world, I don't see how he wouldn't want to do a mother 4. Advertise it with being the final conclusion in the mother series, spend a whole bunch of money and time making it, just make it the best in the series and it will go down as one of the best jrpg's of all time and his legacy will be even more cemented. To me, he'd be similar to disney's legacy in the animation world.......or he could just leave fans constantly wanting more. Mother 3 being scrapped on the 64 really set the tone for his fans constantly wanting more I guess
I can't wait to play Oddity , even if it means I have to wait till next year. Wanted to play it ever since I've heard of it in 2014 , and I still have the same amount of hype now. Thanks for the video since it reminded me that I still got plenty of time to wait for the finished product.
This story is so cool! Looking forward to seeing you speak about oddity when it's ready.
I don't know man, it seems like an Undertale Rip-Off.
@@MegaLinket lol the most meta joke!
Best part about the rebranding is that it could be on switch. I would Totaly pay money to play it
......It's been 4 years, and I REALLY hope that they follow through with this project....
Been following it since the trailer came out in 2020, and the fact that it's been this long and it's had no other updates or follow-ups or anything,
I'm starting to lose hope.
I have never felt such frustration as when Nintendo DMCA'd Pokemon Prism days before release.
Nintendo- If it doesn't make sense to us we will do anything we can to destroy it and then build a shopping mall on top of it's grave.
It can't be a mother game if it doesn't take 15 years to release.
It strikes as super interesting that they announced a winter 2014 release during summer of that year. Surely they had most of the game nearly finished by then? Yet went back to the drawing board, wow
I find it funny Nintendo wanted to stop fans from making Mother 4 for copyright, yet the Mother series itself is practically one big copyright case. Just look at all the pop cultural refences from the old games. The Beatles, The Blues Brothers, Chuck Berry, and countless other musician spoofs. Nintendo's one of those companies that's a master of walking the fine line of copyrighting and being just original enough to succeed. I guess that's what makes them so successful. They've always got their ass covered "legally."
Nintendo never prevented mother 4.
Oddity team simply got scared. Itoi owns mother completely and he has no interest in shutting fans down. He looked forward to mother 4
I remember all too well when Mother 4 was started in late 2008, I just started playing the Mother 3 Fan Translation for the first time and man were times much more simpler, I wish I could erase all my memory of Mother 3 and play it again for the first time with no knowledge of the game.
such a good video talking about the game, and only 2k views? definitely deserves way more, nice!
Thanks, I appreciate it!
i get the feeling this video will explode over the next few days. loved your work on this, you earned a subscriber forsure.
Nintendo: Where not making games for this series anymore, to bad!
Fans: No please make more games for this series we love so much!
Nintendo: No, what are you gonna do about it make your own game?
Fans: Ok, great idea!
Nintendo: No wait, that’s not how it’s supposed to happen!
It's because those series like F-Zero and Metroid aren't popular, that's why.
@@GiordanDiodato tbf with mother the creator doesn't want to do another and with f-zero the creator has left nintendo iirc
20:20 "the game will be out when it's ready." yeah, I've heard THAT one before.
*glances angrily at Cyberpunk 2077*
Well, let's just hope it gets a better reception than that.
@@PressStartToContinueYT haha yeah, totally. I'm really excited for this game, and it already looks awesome.
The editing in this video is out standing
Really looking forward to this. Big fan of the mother series and the trailer looks promising af
I have never heard of this fan game and I am typically quite vigilant with keeping up with fan games. It's interesting to see fans spend over a decade making a game for the love of the franchise.
the first trailer was like 10 years ago
Glad I found this video. My only knowledge of the game’s development history was that it was a Mother 4 project before being changed to Oddity. Great video!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Short answer: it rebranded to avoid dmca and thus became "oddity".
the way you ended the video gave me chills haha. thinking about him playing it is dope and probably would be an accomplishment in and of itself for him.
I feel like this entire project is in great parts a huge collection of misunderstandings, which often may have resulted from inexperience. The people who followed this game for years mostly fall into two categories: The ones who are very hyped about this game and can't wait for the day it will release; and the ones who have given up hope (somewhat understandably), who are jaded now and have either moved on or pursue the subreddit of this game to tell the hopeful ones that this game is never going to happen.
The way I see it, the developers are working on this project in their free time, which, with how busy life can become sometimes, means that they can't offer as much progress as most people would like. Creating this game isn't their day job, they literally don't gain anything tangible from it, so of course, it takes the priority of a hobby, or a passion project at best. From the outside, we can only view it as "They promised this game more than ten years ago, surely they must be done anytime soon!" - but that is easier said than done. They used to give us set release dates ("Winter 2014", remember that?) and constant updates which made us believe we were getting close to the release, so we got our hopes up way high - but the probable truth is that the developers are very much overwhelmed with the attention this game is getting, considering they are only working on it when they happen to have the time for it.
It's not like an actual studio consisting of people who make games for a living (and get paid for it), after all.
So I am basically "passively" waiting for this game - I check the subreddit or their Twitter account once or twice a year, and if something interesting happens, like this video, I pay attention. But I'm not going to give my hopes up that it will release anytime soon. Don't get me wrong, the day it _does_ release, I will do a cringy celebration dance and bother my friends, who don't care abouit it at all, to no end. But before that happens, I am not going to let it occupy a large part of my mind; I will not keep asking when this game is coming; or mock those who still believe in it; or fight against those who don't. I will be unspeakably happy once it is actually finished, but I see no sense in being obsessed about it (whichever way).
Or, as the trailer of the game itself puts it: It'll be out when it's ready - relax until then.
Great video! I've been following Mother 4/Oddity for a long time so seeing this video is really cool
I'm amazed that I never came across your channel before . You really do deserve more subscribers and views. Insane production value. Keep up the great work.
Made me sub :)
We was all waiting for this game in 2015 and then, it never been released:(
Maybe but just.....maybe nintendo acknowledges MOTHER 4/Oddity.
Btw i cant wait to see Shigesato's reaction if he ever play the game.
It would be awesome!
Too bad it aint coming out
Man, this thing has been going on WAY longer than I thought. I didn't start following this thing until 2014
Who remembers going on the old Mother 4 website that used to have a box to put in your email, so that when Mother 4 released or had news, they send u updates thru your email? XD
I remember being that early discovering the fan project, and ever since I’ve been following it.
Great video btw, it was so well informed and detailed. You earned a sub bro
Can you all see?, some games that are inspired by EarthBound/Mother are the Mother 4. Y'all just don't know it.
"It's out of the question for now" ok that was the best statements of all time.
it's quite an Oddity
😮
I'm always ready for Oddity, whenever it's ready to give its best
The thing that pisses me off is that the game oddity has no release and number two is that they made a soundtrack for mother years before the release of oddity. It’s 2021 and I lost hope for this Game I bet in the next thirteen or even twenty years theirs going to be another video stating what happened to oddity.
oh, I won't do that to myself lol
@@PressStartToContinueYT of course I’m not saying you are going to make a video possibly someone else even though I forgot all about this game like two years ago. I still have the soundtrack which is pretty awesome I just hope that the game will be released one of these days and it won’t be like any other mysterious fan game that was never released for stupid reasons.
Holy crap, it's been SO DAMN LONG I had nearly forgotten about this game. I was around on the old Mother 4 Blog (No, the *OLD* Mother 4 Blog; you know the one!) all those years ago. I remember checking in almost daily to see if there were any new updates. I left so many comments that other commenters and the devs started to recognize my name lol.
I recall a lot of hostility when the Oddity rebrand was originally announced. People saying things like it'll never be the same unless it's MOTHER 4, that the game was doomed to fail as Oddity, etc., etc. I was pretty heartbroken by the news myself, to be honest. It came pretty much out of the blue for most of us, and then we were hit with the most painful period of silence in the game's history (That's when I found myself checking back less and less until I noticed today that I haven't checked back at all in years). But I suppose I'll enjoy the game if/when it finally comes out! Even if Mr. Saturn doesn't come out and say yes to me, say no to me, ZOOM BOING, and has a coffee break with me (Only five can ladder, by the way. Just thought I'd remind you).
Still waiting for Winter 2014. 😂