Mother 3 — Review

Mother 3 is a top-down style Role-Playing Game published by Nintendo. The game covers a variety of complex issues such as grief, guilt and the conflict between man and nature. The story follows a young boy named Lucas. The happy-go-lucky community that Lucas lives in is changed dramatically due to the influence of an outside business. This sudden change in Lucas’ world culminates in a dramatic and tragic event in his life. This change in circumstances leaves Lucas dealing with his own feelings of grief and self-doubt in an environment he no longer recognizes. Together with his friends, Lucas embarks on a journey to confront this outside influence as well as come to terms with his new reality.

Despite the dark nature of the narrative, the story of Mother 3 is presented in a quirky and colorful manner. The game’s graphics are rendered in a pixel art style and the characters have cartoon-like designs. There are many surreal aspects to the in-game universe such as a talking frog that serves as a means to save the player’s progress in the game. The gameplay is a typical role-playing game. The player traverse around a top-down 2D environment, solving puzzles and following the narrative to progress through the game. When the player interacts with a hostile creature, the game transitions into a turn-based combat system. The playable characters in the game have a variety of their own abilities to help them fend off their foes.

All in all, Mother 3 presents an original interpretation of the Role-Playing genre with a vibrant cast of colorful characters and an emotionally driven story that seamlessly weaves in and out of being incredibly heartfelt to outright hilarious. Mother 3 proves to be a powerful exploration of grief, guilt and the destructive powers of modernization.

Mother 3 was originally released on the Gameboy Advance in 2006.