History VideoGame / Mother3

* TwoPartTrilogy: This game has more {{Continuity Nod}}s to [=EarthBound=] than VideoGame/{{EarthBound Zero}} had in the latter two games.

** One that's even more meta: [[spoiler: one of the final areas of the Empire Porky Building has the music from the title screen of [[EarthBoundZero the first Mother game]].]]

** EarthBound64 was going to be even DarkerAndEdgier than the final version. The DummiedOut "nightmare" backgrounds show that some of these elements were in the GBA game for a part of its development, too.

* [[spoiler:AfterTheEnd]]

* [[spoiler:ApocalypseWow]]

* [[spoiler:BolivianArmyEnding]]: [[spoiler:Either played straight or subverted, depending on how you see it..]]

* [[spoiler:TheEndOrIsIt]]

* [[spoiler: PeopleJars]]: [[spoiler: [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel The "Good Person Bath."]]]]

* TimeAbyss: [[spoiler: Porky is this, due to his abuse of time travel. He honestly doesn't know how old he is himself, although he suggests he may be 1,000 or 10,000. He's also ''immortal'', and then there's the matter of the [[FateWorseThanDeath Absolutely Safe , meaning he has double protection he'll remain this.]]]]

* {{Utsuge}}: '''''[[TearJerker/MOTHER Yes]]'''''.

* {{Utsuge}}: '''''[[TearJerker/Earthbound Yes]]'''''.

* GainaxEnding

* {{Utsuge}}: A rare RPG example. Holy fuck, is it ever.

* GratuitousEnglish: "Welcome to MOTHER3 world" in the original Japanese.

* ApologeticAttacker: One of Salsa's skills is to "apologize profusely" to the enemy. This is a ContinuityNod to one of Porky's totally useless actions when he's your party member in ''EarthBound''.

** [[spoiler: Then the D.C.M.C. show up during the Porkybot fight to save the day, just like the Runaway Five in ''EarthBound''.]]

* HoYay: While underwater, you must fill up on oxygen by kissing robot O2 tanks who look like middle aged [[OurMermaidsAreDifferent mermen]] wearing bright red lipstick. It makes Lucas, Kumatora, and Boney blush. Duster blushes too, but it's difficult to see due to his sprite's cheek marks being only a single pixel big. In the last level there's a similar looking centaur that offers oxygen above water for no reason.
** One of the Pigmasks comments that he kind of likes them, disturbing his comrade.
** There's something fishy about how exactly Ionia showed Lucas how to use PSI, also.
** There's also a Pigmask who nervously offers you an item when [[spoiler: you're dressed as "the Commander"]] and insists it's just a friendly gift.
** Flinty-poo ~<3 ...What? That was my Magypsy impression. Do you like it? ...Don't act so embarrassed!

* MusicalSpoiler: [[spoiler: The Masked Man's attacks in Chapter Seven use the same "attack riff" as Claus's attacks from the prologue.]] There are many things foreshadowing that particular revelation, but only that one counts as a MusicalSpoiler. Another one that's a bit less obscure is [[spoiler: when Fassad returns with his new "horns" and they're squeaking out the sax part of the Magypsy theme.]]

* NiceJobFixingItVillain: The fight against Porky would be a hopeless fight [[spoiler: if he didn't decide to switch on the Absolutely Safe Capsule.]]

* PuttingOnTheReich: The Pig Army's uniforms are reminiscent of German uniforms during WWII. Even their [[StrangeSalute salutes]] are vaguely Nazi-ish.

* UrbanLegendOfZelda: Using the silver dragonfly item against Negative Man is said to yield an extremely rare and valuable item.

->''[[WidgetSeries Strange]]. [[CrowningMomentofFunny Funny]]. [[TearJerker Heartrending]].''

'''''MOTHER 3''''' is a Japanese {{RPG}} starring a [[KidHero Pubescent]] HeroicMime FarmBoy from a DoomedHometown and [[ABoyAndHisX his dog]] who joins forces with a LovableRogue and a TomboyPrincess BlackMagicianGirl to fight a [[WorldDomination World-Conquering]] EvilOverlord and his [[ArmiesAreEvil Army]] of {{Brainwashed}} soldiers in a race to trigger the [[PlotCoupons Seven]] {{Cosmic Keystone}}s [[SealedEvilInACan Sealing Away]] an UltimateEvil that will bring about TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt.

The third and apparently final entry in ShigesatoItoi's ''{{MOTHER}}''/''EarthBound'' franchise, ''MOTHER 3'' continues the tradition of [[WidgetSeries weird and quirky writing and gameplay]] and deft employment of MoodWhiplash, centering on a young psychic-powered boy and his friends; except now, the time and setting are vastly different, and the threat to humanity is much more... earthly than it was long ago.

* ContinuityNod: Many to ''EarthBound'', most notably on the boat ride in New Pork City. Also, of course, the fact that [[spoiler:the theater in New Pork City plays a film consisting of the important moments from ''EarthBound''.]] There are also three residents of Tazmily who look like Jeff, Paula and Picky.

** [[spoiler: Porky's]] room in Thunder Tower has a few too. The Teddy Bears that were party members in ''EarthBound'' ("You almost feel like it could take your place for you"), and a jukebox that plays the shop theme from ''EarthBound''.

* CrapSaccharineWorld: Quite possibly the most outstanding example of this trope, and definitely one of the most subtle.

* DownerEnding: Sort of. [[spoiler:This game has such a purposefully GainaxEnding that it could really go [[RocksFallEveryoneDies either]] [[IGotBetter way]] depending on how you look at it.]]

* FacelessGoons: The Pigmasks. Slightly [[{{Deconstruction}} deconstructed]] in Chapter Seven, when [[spoiler:the injured Pigmask on Lydia's bed is seen without his mask after Lydia's Needle is pulled, and turns out to be a fairly nice regular guy who even volunteers to look after Lydia's rabbits, and urges that Lucas and his party get a move on.]] Also in Chapter Eight, when [[spoiler:a Pigmask in full uniform and face-concealing helmet, if spoken to, identifies himself as Isaac, having just recently joined the Pigmask army.]]

* FightInTheNude: Somewhat justified, as most of the armor and equipment you'll find are badges, charms, rings, bracelets, and other kinds of accessories which would be too small to be visible on the over-world sprites. Played straight with the much less common shirt and hat accessories.
* FirstEpisodeSpoiler: [[spoiler: [[TearJerker Hinawa's death]], which signals the first big turn in the plot, as well as the first big {{Mood Whiplash}}.]]

* HeroicMime: Played with even more than in EarthBound: the role of protagonist is shuffled around between characters [[spoiler:before the {{TimeSkip}}]], and whoever holds it at the moment is silent, but these characters are perfectly talkative when someone else is in the lead. (The exception is Salsa, who never talks at all. Granted, he's a monkey.)

* HijackedByGanon: Sort of. The villain turns out to be [[spoiler: Porky from EarthBound]].
* HoYay: While underwater, you must fill up on oxygen by kissing robot O2 tanks who look like middle aged [[OurMermaidsAreDifferent mermen]] wearing bright red lipstick. It makes Lucas, Kumatora, and Boney blush. Duster blushes too, but it's diffcult to see due to his sprite's cheek marks being only a single pixel big. In the last level there's a similar looking centaur that offers oxygen above water for no reason.
** One of the Pig Masks comments that he kind of likes them, disturbing his comrade.

* IKnowYouAreInThereSomewhereFight: [[spoiler: The final battle. Did we mention "TearJerker" yet?]]

** Duster's weapons are SHOES and he attacks by kicking. His disability is a [[IncrediblyLamePun club foot]], yet he is not hindered by his crippled leg because that is how god-tier {{Badass}} he is.

* InTheStyleOf: Oddly enough, this game is sort of ''OneHundredYearsOfSolitude'' in the style of ''{{EarthBound}}''.

** EggMcGuffin: The Egg of Light.
** To a rather lesser extent, there's also the Courage Badge. [[spoiler:It turns out to be [[{{EarthBound}} the Franklin Badge.]] And if you take the appearances of the Franklin Badge in previous games to heart, this could be a series-wide ChekhovsGun.]]
* MagnumOpus: This game is considered to be ShigesatoItoi's greatest work.

* NinjaPirateZombieRobot: One of the few works to ''[[DeconstructedTrope deconstruct]]'' this trope. One of the music tracks is called "Tragic Reconstruction" for a reason.

* NominalImportance: Averted. Minor characters are given names, many of them [[ShoutOut shout outs]] to famous people, such as Bronson, Paul and Linda.

* TheOneTrueSequence Somewhat subverted: [[spoiler: the Pigmask army retrieve three of the seven {{MacGuffin}}s before you do, and there are many you get to before they do.]]

* PreviousPlayerCharacterCameo: There's a film in New Pork City depicting actual scenes from ''EarthBound'' at one point, obviously prominently featuring Ness and company.

* PublicDomainSoundtrack: ''Family Matters: 2nd Movement'' contains bits of {{Beethoven}}'s ''Symphony No. 5'', Tchaikovsky's ''Piano Concerto No. 1'', the original piece ''Etude for Ghosts'' (which sounds a bit like Saint-Saens' ''Piano Concerto No. 2''), [[WolfgangAmadeusMozart Mozart]]'s ''Symphony No. 40'', and Beethoven's ''Symphony No. 6''; ''Ode to Ancestors: 8th Movement'' is a mashup of Beethoven's ''Symphony No. 5'', [[JohannSebastianBach Bach]]'s ''Music/ToccataAndFugueInDMinor'', Handel's ''Messiah'', and [[AntonioVivaldi Vivaldi]]'s ''Spring''; ''Leder's Gymnopedie'' is Satie's ''Gymnopedie No. 1''. Contrast with the second game's notorious use of {{Sampling}}.

* SavePoint: In the form of various frogs, who also inexplicably take the place of the ATM machines from ''{{EarthBound}}'' once money comes into play.

* [[SealedEvilInACan Sealed Evil]] / [[SealedGoodInACan Good In A Can]]: [[spoiler:The Dark Dragon, though ''which'' he is depends on who pulls the [[CosmicKeystone Seven Needles]].]]
* SequelGap: It came out a good twelve years after ''EarthBound'''s Japanese release.
* SequenceBreaking [[spoiler: Subverted; You can go after the Needles after Aeolia's has been pulled and before Ionia's has been pulled in any order, which may make things a hell of a lot easier since you will have a full party by the time you get the needles other than the Chimera Lab, you need to clear that to get Kumatora back on your team though. Only real problem is trekking back to Saturn Valley because the Coffee Table that you use to ride will be gone when you go there the first time if you plan on getting Duster right after Aeolia's needle.]]

** The Carpet Monster (or at least what we can see of it) looks like a certain [[TheNightmareBeforeChristmas "One who hides under your stairs."]]

** As in ''EarthBound'', there are various musical references: for example, two enemies are named Rock Lobster (after a song by The B-52s) and [[TheBeatles Gently Weeping Guitar]].

* SilentBob: Leder for most of the game. When he does speak, though, [[AwfulTruth good God...]]

* SpellMyNameWithAnS: [[spoiler:The fan translation follows the lead of ''SuperSmashBrosBrawl'' and uses the proper translation of Porky's name, instead of using the erroneous "Pokey" spelling used in ''EarthBound'''s official translation.]]

* StepfordSuburbia: [[spoiler: Tazmily Village, [[CrapSaccharineWorld though it doesn't seem that way at first..]]]]

* StoneWall: [[spoiler:[[{{Deconstruction}} Deconstructed]] with the "Absolutely Safe Capsule;" nothing can hurt the person inside, yet the one inside can't hurt anything outside. Porky encasing himself in it results in the battle ending prematurely, as he's unable to hold back the heroes any longer while trapped in the capsule.]]

* [[spoiler: TheEndOrIsIt]]

* TwoPartTrilogy: This game has more {{Continuity Nod}}s to EarthBound than EarthBoundZero had in the latter two games.

The CharacterSheet for all three games can be found [[Characters/{{Ptitlel20vmqnd}} here.]] For the Trivia for ''MOTHER 3'', see the [[Trivia/{{Ptitlel20vmqnd}} the link here]].

* FridgeLogic: Lucas uses sticks as weapons because nobody brought baseball bats to Tazmily. He likely played stickball with his brother. This is why one of his ultimate weapons is a real baseball bat.
** [[spoiler: Once you learn the [[CrapSaccharineWorld truth]] about life on the Nowhere Islands, a lot of this that can be found in pre-corrupted Tazmily Village.]]

** Also, the [[spoiler:Ultimate Chimera is woken back up after you leave the lab. You never see it again.]]

* ReptilesAreAbhorrent: Averted. Both the Save Frog and Rope Snake are helpful and benign characters, and nearly all the major and most dangerous bosses and enemies (save the Drago and Oh-So-Snake) are mammals.

-->''[[WidgetSeries Strange]]. [[CrowningMomentofFunny Funny]]. [[TearJerker Heartrending]].''

-->''The more you think about it, [[FridgeBrilliance the greater MOTHER 3 will become]].''

* ForcedLevelGrinding: The Barrier Trio and the Masked Man can easily be ThatOneBoss for any player... unless you learn PSI Shield Omega (for the former) and Lifeup Omega (for the latter), after which their difficulty is immediately cut in half.

* MushroomSamba: Mixed in with some NightmareFuel: After washing ashore on an island, your starving party is forced to eat some mushrooms. This results in a very bad trip. On the way to sobriety, you can look inside some mailboxes, which are not really there, and find things like "expanding darkness", "an image of yourself, crying", a rotten plate of your most cherished meal made by your mother, and you see images of your friends and family who insult and threaten you. Designer and ''MOTHER'' series mastermind Shigesato Itoi described this as his worst fear, and had to tone down the original script for this area because he was scared to read it.

* BeefGate: Not the usual "you'd better be leveled up" variety; instead it's there to make sure you eat the [[MushroomSamba funky 'shrooms]]. Enforced further by [[WarringWithoutWeapons the loss of everything in your inventory that isn't attached to you]], thus preventing you from healing by an alternative method.

* DownerEnding: Sort of. [[spoiler:The world is destroyed. OrIsIt This game has such a purposefully GainaxEnding that it could really go [[RocksFallEveryoneDies either]] [[IGotBetter way]] depending on how you look at it.]]

*** If you have a Fresh Egg in your inventory and go into a hot spring for a few minutes, step out and check your stuff: you will have a ''Boiled'' Egg.