We Are MOTHER - The Nintendo Series That Belongs To Us
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 8 พ.ค. 2021
- No crying until the end.
In Japan, MOTHER is a beloved trilogy of strange, funny, heartrending games - but when it released in America as Earthbound, it didn't enjoy the same success. Retrospective, documentary and celebration all at once, 'We Are MOTHER' looks at the history of one of Nintendo's most peculiar properties and how, against all odds, it found lasting success because of a small, impassioned, and unrelenting fandom.
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This video was only made possible thanks to the artists, developers, musicians and many more that lent their hard work to the project!! You can find links to everyone featured in the video below:
My Life in Gaming - / mylifeingaming
Marc from My Life in Gaming provided nearly all of the physical footage you see in this video! MLiG is one of my favourite channels on TH-cam and I was so thrilled I got to work with them on this. If you like in-depth channels about videogames, they have the most enjoyable and tactile deep dives on retro classic and hardware. Check them out!!
Reid Young - Starmen.net / Fangamer.com
Reid is a de-facto leader of the English-speaking Earthbound community, and was kind enough to allow me to interview him for this video. His work at THE Earthbound fan-site, Starmen, and the support (and Merch!!) he and his team have made for the series over at Fangamer, have made being an English MOTHER fan a little easier on the heart over the years. Whilst the tees have now been retired, if you want to check out some of the beautiful books featured in this video head over to the site - they're available in hardback or .pdf format!
Mother to Earth - www.mothertoearth.com/
Christian and Bones were generous enough to allow me to use some of their fascinating documentary in We Are Mother. Whilst hunting down the history of Mother 1's official (and unreleased) NES translation, the documentary explores MOTHER fandom in full. It's a wonderful insight into this unrelenting community, and the never-say-die attitude of its most diehard fans. (Note: I spelt Christian's last name, Deitering, incorrectly in the credits. Apologies Christian!!)
HappyConsoleGamer - / happyconsolegamer
Johnny Millennium over at HCG is a positive beacon of gaming TH-cam, and he was kind enough to allow me to use his succinct, brilliant summation of Earthbound's dark heart. Thanks John!
GAMES:
The Oddity Development Team - / oddityrpg
Maxxis and the team developing Oddity were kind enough to take the time to participate in an interview for the video, along with providing music by Shane Mesa and even some exclusive footage just for We Are Mother!! How cool is that? Keep an eye on Oddity, it's going to be really special.
Mother Encore - / @motherencore5842
Mother² - • Video
MUSIC:
Patrick Henaghan / Disco Bible - discobible.com/
Copper - / @copperthejackal
McThrillington - / @mcthrillington8558
Snakeshroom - / snakeshroom
MusicMike512 - / musicmike512
DSC - / dscaccount
Josiah Everhart - / boozinwalsh
FEATURED ARTISTS:
Saku [Various Art] - / shiiverse
KurobaSame [Credits Sequence] - / kurobasame
Blu [Ness vs. Frank] - / blu_shade
Ezequiel [Mother 1 Diorama] - / elk_sign
Sagan Yee [POLLYANNA: An Animated Tribute] - / saganyee
Jared Claybrooks [Pencil Eraser / Meteor Strike] - / blkhatraven
MyNare [Mother 2 Kids] - / mynare
Subtitles: Fevol
#Mother #Earthbound #Nintendo - เกม
This Video Stinks.
Lol okay, I mean...
Reeks of quality
I miss 90s wacky advertisement.
I get it.
I get it
The Mother fandom really looked Nintendo dead in the eyes and said, "If you won't support this series, we'll do it ourselves," and for once in their lives, Nintendo just let them.
Good.
How? The mother 4 game which was created by a fan ended up receiving a DMCA takedown notice by Nintendo sometime in 2017, and the game had to rename itself to Oddity. That is the only project I've ever heard of the fans trying to do.
@@sygneg7348 I'm pretty sure he's talking about the fan translation as they can shut those projects down.
This is applies for the Pikmin community (Although they do support us now)
I think Nintendo won't do a thing because the series pretty much belongs to Itoi, also.
@@sygneg7348 They didn’t actually get contacted by Nintendo. What actually happened was that they decided to change it when they saw multiple fan projects get shut down, such as am2r and Mario royal. It was to play it safe.
hope this video gets all the love man. mother is so special.
Thanks dude
uggggh I love you bp
@@stopdavidlane we love you too, and beyond ghibli, best anituber out there
I have always loved mother. Back in 2011 I remember discovering it with chuggqconroy's let's play and learning how to use an emulator as I played Mother 3 and really loved it. For a long time I made sure to mention it as one of my favorite games. I remember the hope I felt when mother 1 qnd earthbound were re-released on the wiiu eshop. Not to mention all the great games it has inspired. Good games.
Try breath of fire 2 snes retranslation
Tomato deserves a Medal of Honor for his service
"No crying until the end" I tell myself as I tear up every time Mother 3 gets brought up (the original writing and the English translation are both absolute masterworks).
Well i definitely failed on that the first time i watched Joel, play Undertale, i think Asriel, made me cry, because he was, but honestly i can’t remember if i did or not, but probably learning of his tragic story the first time broke me.
I opened the video saying the same. "I will not cry, i can do this".
And then, i failed miserably ! 😂
What a beautiful video! :)
Seeing how crazy the fans were/are for Mother, I now understand how Undertale was also able to explode into what it is.
Joe notes _Undertale_ as being _Mother_ influenced, but it's worth noting that Toby Fox won Internet Fame™ for an _Earthbound_ sequel/mod that I mainly know because it was the first appearance of 'Megalovania.' You may have already been aware of this, but my point is that Fox was on the _Mother_ fandom's radar before _Undertale._
I adore Undertale, because of how much of a Mother, fan i am.
@@boobah5643 Yeah, but it really isn’t about people that knew of Toby, and of course Homestuck, fans knew him as well, but there mainly talking about Undertale, not Toby Fox, so there just saying Mother, is why the game did so well, since it was basically a love letter expect you don’t fight, and you interact with monsters which in the Mother, series you fight, but you could definitely say Frisk, is a more peaceful Lucas, since Lucas, was very much a pacifist, but he still had to well kill.
@@joshshrum2764 That's fair, but _Undertale_ appeared very much a word-of-mouth phenomenon to me, and it's hard for something like that to gain traction from zero. Your point appears to be that Fox hit many of the same themes as _Mother;_ mine is that he started with a core group of _Mother_ fans to spread the word. These are, to my mind, complementary.
Tumblrtale comparisons are so forced. I'm sick of hearing it brought up whenever EarthBound is brought up. It has none of Itoi's nuance, and its loud teenaged fan's intent to make it part of the discussion is obnoxious
Absolutely stunning love letter! I love so many Mother derivatives like Lisa, Oneshot, and Omori, but I've never played the literal mother of them all. And now, I think I will. Thank you Joe!
Omori is wonderful
Don’t forget about Undertale, Cave Story, and OFF. Though Lisa, man that game is emotional as hell, like i literally was wrecked for weeks after seeing the ending for the first time Brad, going on that joy rampage is just chilling especially once the awesome goodbye baby becomes the depressing Goodbye, and Live In Joy, is a sad song to. As for Mother, though play 2, then play 3, because 1, is a pain in the ass, and really isn’t the best to play first.
This year is the 15th anniversary of mother 3. There have been rumblings, but I don't know if an official release can beat the fan translation. Lovely essay, Joe ❤️
the translation got an update recently!
@@jess648 what new things did it add?
@@null301_ mostly slight tweaks to some dialogue and a better framework for people to translate MOTHER 3 into other languages
“You don’t have to go far to see it’s earnest heart beating elsewhere. It’s strange, funny, heart-rending soul laid bare in plenty of games that sing as sweetly...”
Dude, that actually made me cry.
Wow, I didn't notice that that line was actual fυcking poetry until you typed it out like that.
I can't help but wonder what kind of world we would live in without these kinds of games.
Not just Mother, but any game that was created from fans who simply just wanted more from a series.
It's amazing what people who really support something can do.
"Do not underestimate us" would be such a doofy slogan in _any_ other context, but damn if I didn't get some chills when you showed the webpage banner at the end. A story about fangames and Nintendo that doesn't end in nihilistic tears honestly comes across as a modern miracle to me, like a genuine sliver of minor-yet-unequivocal goodness that these people somehow wrestled into the world.
Recently I played Omori, what an absolute amazing game, if it wasn't for the Mother franchise, games like Omori, Lisa or Undertale wouldn't exist, it truly changed the videogame industry and thanks to it, beautiful touching stories have been born. Every gamer that loves a good story should play Earthbound and Mother 3, is a must play.
Mother 1 has a great story too I think!
"What's Beyond Ghibli's best video?"
"Yes."
Great video as always, Joe! You just gave me a newfound respect for this weird, but wonderful franchise. And as questionable as Nintendo can be most these days, never say never...we will get Mother 3 someday. I can feel it...
Possibly the best thing you've put out so far. And that's a high bar. You've clearly put a Herculean amount of effort into this, from the heartfelt script to the insider interviews and deep deep research, to all the little touches in the editing (talk about appreciated, unnecessary effort :-) ) - it really shows your passion for the series and does it so much justice. Somehow the video itself perfectly captured the essence of the games, it doesn't go unappreciated! Even as a longtime fan I learned and saw a lot of new things. The channel is an absolute class act, thank you. BOING.
e: thanks also for putting all the featured content in the description, great stuff. And I thought there was some Oddity footage in there I hadn't seen before! Really cool that they gave you exclusive footage
Thank you so much for the kind words!!! I really hope I did such a wonderful property and fandom proud :) And yes the Oddity guys were so lovely!! Can't believe I got to debut some new Oddity footage !!!
Not to mention the amazing closed captions!! This is seriously the only video I've ever seen on TH-cam that makes use of caption color, placement, and font. The song at the end even has light-up sing along lyrics! A person who can't do cartwheels really outdid themselves here
@@guy-sl3kr Thank you! I'm so happy to hear that you liked them! Hoping to outdo myself for the next video too, and the next one after that! ~ The person who really can't do cartwheels
I can remember when I first asked "Who the hell is Ness" my buddy told me "he's from earthbound" but I never looked into it. What a shame that it wasn't more successful. I'll have to boot up a few emulators and check it out. Thanks for making this; I appreciate all your work.
Talking with you already gives me so much nostalgia! Thank you so much for having me, and thank you all for being MOTHER fans!
good luck with oddity!
do you play among us
Maxxis I couldn't fucking believe it when you showed up in this video. Jesus fucking Christ
hell yeah!!!
I feel like no matter how miniscule you think your contribution to the community is, it could lead to a lot more people getting inspired and wanting to their own things to pay tribute to the MOTHER series. Every fanart, every cover, every fangame, it matters because it leads to more love for the MOTHER series
Fun fact: for the brief time I worked at NOA support, we were explicitly told to NOT ask Reggie about Mother 3 if we met him on campus.
You really finished this well-done and released it in time for our mothers to also enjoy...Happy Mothers' Day to all!
This is stunning. This video goes well beyond video essays. It's a proper documentary. It's amazing
1996, sitting with my earthbound strategy guide in the gym, waiting for the bus. After years of being bullied, beat up, ostracized, and made to feel like I didnt belong...a kid came up to me and gasped. "You know about Earthbound too?" It was the first time I made a friend and felt like maybe, just maybe this gaming thing was really who I was.
This is, without a doubt, one of the best videos I have ever watched.
Appropriate that it was about the Mother series, because you are just as criminally underrated.
Never heard of Mother until now, and I loved every minute of this video. You outdid yourself. Well done my friend.
Wow. Get to playing it!
Go!
I'VE YET TO EVEN PLAY THE SERIES FOR MYSELF YET I'M STILL ON THE VERGE OF TEARS GDI THIS VIDEO'S SO GOOD
Mother 3 is like the Zuko of Nintendo, no support from it's parent, banished, and with a support from uncle Starman-Iroh, Mother 3 became a refined gem!
A perfect upload for mothers day
Wow those fresh animations must’ve taken you ages… the hard work is evident; thank you so much for the attention to detail! It doesn’t go unnoticed!
I've absolutely loved the Mother series as far back as 2009, when I was 9 years old.
This franchise has always resonated with me a certain way.
I remember finding out about it when I was about 6 years old, due to SSB Melee, and thinking "Whats Earthbound?" Only to find out my dad still had 2 copies. One old Cart, and a boxed copy he keeps locked away. I believe he even had one of the english dev copies of Earthbound Zero.
Because of my dad, I was able to dive into what would always be my favorite game series for the rest of my life.
I'm 21 and I still get emotional over the games. I remember getting an english translated cart of Mother 3 through the mail at my grandmothers when I was 15, and I just sorta cried tears of Joy.
This series will always be in my heart, just like a ton of other people.
Im not much of a Mother fan myself, but I really appreciate how such a thing as just a series of games can generate so much love and caring for a community.
Really good video.
I've never even played or even heard of any of the mother/earth bound games yet this 30 min doc was an absolute pleasure to watch. It gives me so much joy and hope that people can get together like this as a community and do so much together for something they all collectively love.
It's such a miracle that Ness was randomly included in the first Smash. That seniority status guaranteed his presence in every future Smash Bros, and granted Mother the opportunity to eventually get 2 characters, 4 stages, and a ton of music. For a franchise that has even less material than Gold Sun, it's a blessing of fortune that it was allowed to be given the love it deserves in a game with such a massive audience.
This video made me go back to 2008 when I first got into the Mother series. From downloading an emulator to play the game to even owning a genuine Earthbound cartridge! It goes to show that if there's enough of a community, nothing will fall to obscurity.
Thank you for the video. It was great!
The Mother franchise means a lot to me and you did wonders on this video explaining it. So thank you!
While I am still playing though Earthbound for the first time I am a huge fan of the Mother series and your in depth analysis on three games was truly remarkable. Thank you.
Thank you for this video.
There was this interview of Itoi. If a remember well, he said something like : "I feel that now, if there was a Mother 4, I would like to be the player and not the creator".
This kind of blew my mind away. I read this directly after viewing Mother 3 ending and its "The End ?" screen without knowing there was something after. The interrogative mark still remains in my mind. Finishing Mother 3 is not the end, but the beginning. Mother 4 is our own life, what we want to do with it next.
So, this "quote" of Itoi, for me, is like if he said that now, instead of wanting a Mother 4, we should simply live. Some interpreted this as "We need to make Mother 4", but in fact, I feel that Mother 4 is not supposed to be a "Mother". It is supposed to represent others creative works.
Undertale is Mother 4.
Lisa the Painful is Mother 4.
Yume Nikki is Mother 4.
Omori is Mother 4....
Oddity, of course, is Mother 4.
There can't be A Mother 4 cause this "game" is everywhere. It is our life, our passion. What we decided to do with what to series taught us. And, I think you also got this impression, seeing your title. So. Thank you.
I do hope that Itoi is indeed the player now.
30 mins of goosebumps and tears. Perfect musical choice. A perfect video in every way.
Reminds me on some level of Don't Starve. I wonder if the creators of that were inspired by Mother. They treat it very much the opposite of the way Nintendo treated/s Mother and keep reinvesting so much into their games in ways fans eat up.
It's always wholesome to encounter a piece of media that inspires people so much that they reinvest themselves into it in other ways, coding, translation, art, music, etc.
I can't pinpoint why, but I thought of Don't Starve, too!
Mother has a way of invoking rare feelings deep inside your heart. When I played mother 2 I had a feeling like I was revisiting an old childhood home or friend. Like I had been here before but perhaps only in my dreams as a kid. It left a permanent mark in my heart
When my son was 2yrs old I dressed him up as Ness with the cap and bat! I have mained Ness since I first unlocked him on the N64! The music and humor of Earthbound will never be forgotten!
Hope this video blows up. It really shows how much effort you put into it and your love for the franchise. I'll turn on my snes classic and play Earthbound/Mother2 for the first time now because of you. Hopefully I'll enjoy it as much as the fanbase seems to. Thank you
crying in the club rn thank u
The quality in this video is incredible!! I'm only 5 minutes in, but I felt super compelled already to thank you for putting so much work into this. Very well done :)
Edit: I just finished watching the whole thing, and this has 100% become my favorite recap/doc/overview of the series. Will definitely be sharing.
By far one of the best love-letters to the MOTHER trilogy and its impact that I've ever seen. Seriously, this is absolutely incredible. Anyone who is a fan of the series owes it to themselves to give this masterpiece a watch. Outstanding work to all involved!
One of the few videogames series that manages to get me emotional. Especially after watching dedicated works such as this video
Finally played Mother last year. It's great and worth experiencing. I got choked up emotionally several times.
I have always wondered what this game was and it's such shame for me that I never knew this game back then. But, you know, I guess it is never too late to try this out now. Very thankful that I stumbled upon this video of yours :>
You uploaded the Mother video on mother's day. Kinda genious
the first time i watched this video, i teared up a few times. then, i got to the credits. and i started to sob, full-on gasping for air crying.
this was an amazing video. thank you so much
I just noticed its Mother's Day today.
I first heard of mother in 2016 when i was a huge fan of undertale and saw all those “10 FACTS YOU DIDN’T KNOW”, the series have always catch some of my attention but i never had the chance to play or even forgot about it... That is until I started dating a friend of mine who has been always a mother fan and always talked about it, now that we are dating he keeps trying to convince me to play all the games with me (i also know almost everything that happens haha) and then he sent me this video 2 days ago.
I always knew that the series was a heart touching one, but your video made me even more touched, the heart you put in it just proves the effort and care the fandom of this game puts in the series as a whole. Your video was so good and definitely made me want to play the series even more because it is games like this, that speaks to the player in a unique way and makes you fall in love with it, that i absolutely love.
Not only that but the community seems so nice and supportive, it even made me realize that... wasn’t that the message of the game? The one of friendship and that if you have people together with you, your friends, you can get past through anything? Anyway, really hoping to play the series with him and being part of this beautiful community, and fall in love with such a beautiful franchise
i just finished earthbound and this video was pretty much the reason why to its memorable lines to its weird insanity that happens in the game to its wonderful mascots it is now one my favorite games ever and i have no one but you to thank
Mine too, waiting decades for a remake
Just hearing the Mother 3 theme playing is enough to make me tear up.
23:19 I'm really happy to played Citizens Of Earth all the way which is a big love letter to Earthbound and I can finally understand the love for Earthbound series maybe someday I will give Earthbound a shot when the time is right also this was a nice retrospective great job.
One of the most thoughtful, well-crafted, and praiseworthy video essays I've seen in a long time. This channel consistently performs as an incredible source of high quality content, but THIS was phenomenal. My words can't do it justice, great job and I hope you are rewarded in views, likes, subs, and appreciation!
All of your videos are so touchingly heartfelt. Thanks for doing what you do
This video legit made me cry
I discovered the game when I was 17, I'm 24 now, and it has been such an important piece of art for me, still my favourite game of all time, made me pursue language studies (I learned english to play it), and I could have never discovered it at a better age, it's truly a piece of candy that makes you go back to your childhood but still makes you grow and become less afraid of growing up. This video made me real nostalgic man
You’ve done it again. The passion in all of your videos is overwhelming at times. I fall in love all over again with every franchise you make a video about. Thank you for all of your hard work.
Sorry, I started crying before the end of the introduction. Finished the video and haven't stopped. Thank you for this one, beautiful beyond words.
You know a game is special when all your friends are talking about it and no one else has heard of it.
You've good good friends then
This video is brilliant! You’ve upped your hand in such an impressive ways. Please know that your others videos are amazing as well, I just wanted to applaud your efforts to continually improve. Thank you for being such a genuine and hardworking creator.
The presentation on this is absolutely immaculate right down to the end and there's a really strong air of sentimentality to it that I love. This is wonderful.
I keep coming back to this work of art of a video, it truly made me want to explore this series and give it another try, and I just wanted to thank you for that as it has become one of my favourite rpg series of all time.
More than any other channel that I've come across, you are able to fill my body and soul with such deep feelings and nostalgia over a game/series/movie that I've never seen or played. It's uncanny.
This is such a lovely polished video. I love the MOTHER series so much, especially Mother 1, and this video really displays all the beauty of the games. Thank you.
This is so awesome. Thank you for making this for those of us who fell in love with the game.
I love this video so much, this encapsulates everything about MOTHER that I love. This series is truly something special, and I don’t think it would be that way without projects like this. Thank you so much! 😄
I had no clue that's how fangamer started! I also didn't know they had those books, just ordered both mother handbooks and both legends of localization books! Incredible video, loved all of the little bits you threw into the backgrounds :)
Pog
This video was so touching. Thank you.
cool to see a video about mother from you! this is my favorite gaming franchise of all time
What a heartwarming tribute of a documentary video you made. I think I'll bring newcomers here from now on.
Incredible video, single handedly sold me on the franchise. Thank you so much for this!
we're just in May, but this is already in my top3 of best videos of the year, just incredible work, and it makes one appreciate the hard work of the Mother fandom that much more, there's truly nothing like "Mother" and there's truly nothing like the Mother fandom
This was so beautiful , we are mother forever
incredible edit man! i loved this video through and through
This video is so special. Heartfelt, thoughtful, and absolutely delightfully edited; thank you for this!
Ahh, this is why i watch your videos. Most of the times, they're about subjects that i had no idea about until you brought them up but just the sincerity, the humility in the way you deliver your choiced words for the things you love always resonates with me and encourages me to give them a look.
I've been blessed to be recommended a plethora of Mother-related videos these past couple of weeks. Replaying all three games, it really is the butter on such warm toast for me. This was not only an incredibly well made video, certainly filled to the brim with detailed information that I love, but it tugged at my heartstrings just as anything pertaining to Mother would naturally do. This video deserves over a million views, and this channel deserves over a million subscribers as well.
Amazing video. So glad to have found this ;;w;;
Thank you.
I appreciate that you always put 100% into each video
My favorite types of TH-cam vids are Mother Series reviews and retrospectives, this video in particular really did the series justice.
Been holding off from watching this. Mostly because watching this video got me very teary eyed.
Earthbound has an incredibly special place in my heart. I was born after the game released, and growing up I learned how to mod my Wii when I was a teenager so I could emulate Earthbound.
I’m 24 now, and since then I’ve done a full playthrough of Earthbound every year, and I enjoy it every time.
What an absolutely incredible video. I wish I had the time to play the Mother series, I only hear more and more good things every day.
I had only heard of it in passing. there must be several JRPG games that could do with a world wide release, thanks for the video to highlight something widely missed in the west.
There very much are there's lots of them
Like almost the entirely of the metal max series and terranigma
Bless you for this video.
This video is beautiful. Thank you for making it
Came here from the Mother Direct, everything here was awesome, including your video, I love it
So glad you did this. I love love love love love this series. Mother is the most heartfelt game ever. Mother 3 had straight sobbing for several minutes at the end. Earthbound I think has the most playthroughs of any game by me with like 6 or so. Everyone should play these games.
Thanks for always high quality, new and surprising content ❤
Love the motion graphics of your backdrops. They add a ton of polish to the presentation.
There are a lot of pretty good videos talking about the mother series, but this was really just something special. I seriously loved this. Thank you
I just beat Earthbound for the first time this past March and then beat Mother 3 this past weekend and this beautiful video really captured how great these games are. I know for sure that I'll probably replay this excellent series numerous times in the future. Great job on the video man, good work!
Everytime man, everytime you upload a video and me watching it always make my heart flutter 😭
This was beautiful. I’m so grateful to have played the translation and want to get a cart copy and play it again.
This one of the most professional done and spectacularly designed TH-cam videos I have seen thanks for Vid it is amazing.
AHHHH YESSS FINLY IVE BEEN WAITING FOR A NEW VIDEO🥺🥺 (don't pressure yourself tho, I've already just about ewatched every video so I'll gladly wait for an upload its always worth it!)
Another MASTERPIECE of a video. great work, joe!!!!
KurobaSame's artworks are so heartwarming, I've never played the games but his attention to details and his passion is so inspirational (although I may be a little biased hehe)
Lad I just want you to know you make some of my favourite videos to both listen to while I work and while I try to sleep because you are both interesting and one of the most calming people to listen to. So I just wanted to know that your videos are very important to me as they have helped cheer me up in some of my darkest moments. You making a video on one of my favourite game series means a lot. Keep up the amazing work and hope you have been doing well in these trying times.
Wowzees! Did not know what to expect going into this and by the end of it I’m somehow a slobbery mess. Thanks for making this ❤️
Loved the video, you are a true craftsman of the art, and your passion is truly inspiring!