

The game's odd soundtrack, orchestrated and performed by Suzuki and a band of unknown British singers, was prepped for release. An 80-page instruction manual/player's guide was produced. Itoi's minimalist quirkiness, stylized humor, and spare sentimentality resonated immediately with Japan's RPG-hungry gamers, and MOTHER sold over 400,000 copies in its initial release.Īn English localization began immediately, with firm plans for a September 1991 release. Its cute, simplistic characters were designed by the artist Shinbo Minami. Its musical direction was spearheaded by Keiichi Suzuki, founder of an extremely experimental rock band called Moonriders. Its creator and author, Shigesato Itoi, was an industry outsider, a famous copywriter and professional dilettante.

Released for Nintendo's Famicom in 1989, MOTHER's novel setting-a Japanese conception of modern America, not a Japanese conception of medieval Europe-wasn't all that set it apart.


What follows is a cross-country adventure through the desert, the big city, ominous Mt. In 1989 strange things begin happening to a boy named Ninten, who realizes he and his family are more involved in what appears to be an alien invasion than he could possibly have realized. With those cryptic words begins MOTHER, EarthBound's moodier, more verbose, less scrutable older brother. At that time, a young married couple vanished mysteriously from their home. In the early 1900's, a dark shadow covered a small country town in rural America.
