!!The video game series:
* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Due to Itoi's penchant for leaving a lot of elements of characters' personalities, motivations, and stories implicit or merely hinted at rather than stating them outright, as well as the relative drought of direct interactions between major characters during the first two games, you can find any number of interpretations of just about any character in the series.
* CultClassic: The whole series has a strong fanbase even years after the release of all three games, and in spite of their poor sales and/or not getting released outside of Japan (until many years later).
* DiscreditedMeme: Among the fangame circle, naming your fangame along the lines of "Mother /insert number 5 through 10 here/" has become this, thanks to a long list of parody fangames poking fun at people trying to follow the success of ''VideoGame/{{Oddity}}'' (then ''MOTHER 4'')'s attempt at being an OriginalFlavour fangame for the series. It's gotten to the point that attempting to post such a game on the Starmen.net Forum, whether serious or not, will get you temporarily banned after posting it unless you change the name for it almost immediately.
* HypeBacklash: The NewbieBoom that happened after the UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS and UsefulNotes/WiiU UsefulNotes/VirtualConsole re-releases of ''VideoGame/{{EarthBound|1994}}'' and ''VideoGame/EarthBoundBeginnings'' caused some newcomers unaware of the SacredCow status of the series to point out its otherwise overlooked flaws, some even going to the point of calling it overrated. This more affected ''[=EarthBound=]'' and ''VideoGame/MOTHER3'' though, since ''VideoGame/EarthBoundBeginnings'' being a divisive game has made it an accepted target for criticism.
* JerkassWoobie: [[BigBad Giygas]] is an [[AliensAreBastards alien menace]] hellbent on conquering the world, but has a rather pitiable past. Accidentally abandoned by his race on planet Earth as a baby, he was found by Ninten's ancestors, George and Maria, who proceeded to [[HappilyAdopted happily raise him]] as their own child, and Giygas [[HumanityIsInfectious grew to love Earth]]. However, George went behind his back and leaked the secrets of [[MindOverMatter PSI]], the trade of Giygas' race and their one weakness, to the government, which angered Giygas once he grew up, leading to him [[VideoGame/EarthBoundBeginnings declaring war on Earth]]. After his humiliating defeat by Ninten and co. through the use of the [[MagicMusic Eight Melodies]], the very same tune Maria used to sing to him as a child, he returns to Earth [[VideoGame/EarthBound1994 10 years later]] and plots on using the Devil's Machine to grant himself NighInvulnerability and spread his influence across the globe. Said machine, however, gives him invincibility at the cost of [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity destroying his brain]], causing him to ramble incoherently and constantly feel pain, leaving him, as Porky describes him, an AlmightyIdiot. Because of his adoptive father leaving his race at risk of extinction, Giygas grew to be a global threat who lost his sanity in the process.
* JerksAreWorseThanVillains: Although Giygas and Porky have earned their spots as villains in the series, the most reviled characters in the series are Porky's parents for inflicting horrific abuse onto their eldest child and starting him down an extremely dark path that could've been avoided with some actual parental love. George and Wess have also earned some ire for their {{Jerkass}} actions despite never doing anything villainous.
* MemeticBadass: The art style being what it is, it often overlaps with Memetic BadassAdorable. Ness and Lucas are strong kids with powerful psi, but fans would have you believe their bats could kill gods and Rockin'/Love Omega would damage the fabric of the universe if both were done at the same time. Princess Kumatora is joked to be a powerful spellcaster that other princesses of Nintendo franchises would do well to stay away from, even if [[spoiler:the princess part isn't technically accurate]]. Cue jokes that the likes of [[Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda Zelda]], [[VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening Lucina]], and [[VideoGame/KidIcarus Palutena]] gave sighs of relief when she was clearly too powerful to join the Smash roster.
** Flint qualifies too. He survives two PK Love Omega and is shown standing perfectly. Also helps he's dressed the same as Chuck Norris. Few would be brave enough to fight a cyborg T-rex with a plank of wood and a fang, even fewer would be badass enough to ''win!'' He's as BadassNormal as it gets.
* MemeticMutation:
** [[YouCannotGraspTheTrueForm You cannot grasp the true form of Giygas' attack!]] [[labelnote:Explanation]]Giygas' only attack from his already infamous battle.[[/labelnote]]
*** Heck, Giygas is a meme unto itself! Whenever a MindScrew occurs, ''MOTHER'' fans will bring him up.
** Clay models means we totally mean business, guys. [[labelnote:Explanation]]Among the fan work scene, there's a tendency to make clay models for fangames/[[GameMod ROM Hacks]] ala' what the main series does. Nine times out of ten, the clay models are often the ''only'' things that come from these projects, so as a result people often like to poke fun at it when the clay models are the only things revealed about the game/hack when announced. The only one that can possibly get away with this is ''VideoGame/{{Oddity}}'' back when it was ''MOTHER 4'', thanks to doing it [[GrandfatherClause before it became common place to poke fun at the practice]].[[/labelnote]]
** We've been taking Shigesato's nostrils too lightly! [[labelnote:Explanation]][[http://earthboundcentral.com/2015/06/shigesato-itoi-mother-1-in-gintama-anime/ A reference/joke from]] ''Manga/{{Gintama}}'', which in turn was referencing ''VideoGame/EarthBoundBeginnings''. Naturally, the fanbase quickly latched on to it.[[/labelnote]]
*** His nostril hair already has a vice grip on our heart! [[labelnote:Explanation]]A further continuation of the above.[[/labelnote]]
** "No problem here!" [[labelnote:Explanation]]The stock text whenever you press an action command on something that can't be interacted with, usually a wall or door the player can't open yet. The Mother series being what it is, there's a high probability there's something significantly wrong with the current situation, coming off as a bit of BlackComedy relief.[[/labelnote]]
** "Is Ness 'x'!?!" [[labelnote:Explanation]]Based off of WebVideo/GameTheory's infamous "[[VideoGame/{{Undertale}} is Ness Sans!?!]]" video, any theory that involves the Mother games will inevitably have someone make this joke.[[/labelnote]]
*** "Is Ness Varik!?!"[[labelnote: Explanation]] The most common non-Sans variant is that Ness is Ares, the protagonist of ''VideoGame/{{Brandish}}'', due to Ares, under his localized name of Varik, being the protagonist of VideoGame/TheHalloweenHack and said hack bringing some implications that Ness and Ares are the same person.[[/labelnote]]
** Pyromaniac Paula [[labelnote:Explanation]]While Paula starts with [[AnIcePerson PSI Freeze]], most fanworks have her primarily use [[PlayingWithFire PSI Fire]] against any enemy that isn't [[EldritchAbomination Giygas]], especially if that enemy [[BewareTheNiceOnes did something to piss her off]]. Some also portray her as a ClingyJealousGirl who gets on fire whenever someone flirts with Ness, infamous being [[http://files.fobby.net/0000/7cc1/Earthbound467.jpg Paula's reaction to Venus kissing Ness's cheek]] in ''Webcomic/TheChosenFour''.[[/labelnote]]
*** While her version of PK Fire Omega is a [[OneHitKill One-Hit]] TotalPartyKill, Ana doesn't usually receive the pyromaniac treatment due to her being Christian. There is, however, [[https://starmen.net/comics/series/fotpk/index.php a webcomic]] where [[https://www.deviantart.com/marcotto/art/M2-3-TFOTPK-Cards-Ana-286944227 she got Dissociative Identity Disorder]] due to her gaining a [[TookALevelInJerkass rebellious streak]] that Ninten didn't like.
*** [[VideoGame/TheHalloweenHack I'm going to burn you to such a crisp your ashes will scream for water!]][[labelnote:Explanation]]While neither Paula nor Ana say this line in neither canon nor fanworks, people who played the Halloween Hack usually think about this line when the two get mad.[[/labelnote]]
* QuirkyWork: It's most apparent in ''VideoGame/{{EarthBound|1994}}'', which mostly keeps things silly and wacky outside of its infamous FinalBoss. While ''VideoGame/EarthBoundBeginnings'' and ''VideoGame/{{MOTHER 3}}'' have their silly moments, they're generally far more serious in tone than ''[=EarthBound=]''.
* SacredCow: Boy, was it ever... Though, this status has become increasingly downplayed over the years thanks to [[NewbieBoom more people getting into the series]] ([[HypeBacklash and pointing out its flaws]]).
* WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids:
** The cartoony style and odd sense of humor make it hard to believe at first that this is one of Nintendo's darkest franchises. On the other hand, those traits [[DisguisedHorrorStory can serve to]] [[CrapsaccharineWorld make it]] [[BreakTheCutie even]] [[SubvertedInnocence darker]].
** To show how dark it is, the third game begins with the player character's wife dying, them having a mental breakdown, and one of their children going off to fight the creature that killed his mom.
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