History Trivia / Oddity

* IKnewIt:
** Many fans speculated that the tentative release date would be in June because of a Konami-style easter egg on the site. (If one were to type "magic" while on the site, the layout would switch to a Moonside-esque colour scheme. One would have had to type in "June" to turn it back to normal. This function no longer exists.)
** When the devs noted there was going to be a big announcement on 3/1/17, many correctly guessed they were going to rebrand the game into an original I.P., given the record of what has happened with other Nintendo fangames at the time.

** During an update going into how ''VideoGame/EarthBound'' style battle backgrounds are made, one of the dev showed off a tool he created specifically for the game. [[note]]Also, no, for anyone wondering if it was released, it wasn't. According to the Dev, it only works and translates well for ''Mother 4'' mechanics and programming, and thus wouldn't work well for any other ''MOTHER'' fangames on the net.[[/note]] Notably, in the window showing what background it is, the name for it is conspicuously blurred out. Naturally, fans ended up having a field day over guessing what it's for.

* {{Vaporware}}: The game has had a rather bumpy road, since all the way back to when it was a fanmade ''MOTHER 4''.[[note]]Hey, fan-made or official, it wouldn't be a ''MOTHER'' game if it didn't face this to some degree[[/note]] To give a good idea, the game started development in early 2008, and didn't even get an estimated release date until ''2013'', and then ''that'' release date got pushed back to ''2015'', and ''then'' the team stated that they wouldn't make that deadline and will no longer state prospective release dates until it's done. On March 1st 2017, the devs revealed the game would be undergoing heavy rebranding. While the game is still in development, this also meant that it would not be ''MOTHER 4'' any longer.

** The staff eventually wound up arguing with Shane, an up-and-coming musical artist who technically owns the soundtrack he composed for the game (from when it was still going to be ''Mother 4''). They came to the tough decision of removing the former soundtrack and [[OnlyInItForTheMoney letting him strike a deal with]] [=GameChops=], which distributes video game-related albums that can be bought. However, weeks later [[https://twitter.com/Mother4Game/status/937785969088057345 the staff made a deal]] with [=GameChops=] to get the rights for the non-remix songs for Mother 4, with the aid of DJ Cutman.

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: As said under AscendedMeme on the main page, the dev team is going to great lengths to avert this trope. One of the set rules they have in place, in addition to no meme references, is no references to then current events and famous personalities either, to give the game a good timeless quality.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: As mentioned many times on the pages of this work, the game was originally intended to be a proper FanSequel to the ''VideoGame/{{Mother}}'' series. However, concerns over getting [[ScrewedByTheLawyers Cease and Desisted]] by Nintendo over them wanting to protect their I.P. made the dev team rebrand the game into an original I.P., so that years of work wouldn't go to waste.

* ContentLeak: Prior to its rebranding, [[https://www.reddit.com/r/mother4/comments/apd565/mother_4_leak_v/ a disgruntled anonymous 4chan user]] (supposedly one of the previous devs from before the game rebranded) managed to leak some major spoiler-heavy details about the plot of the game back when it was still known as Mother 4. The devs have confirmed the leak was legitimate and were rather dishearted by it, though apparently the rebranding has caused some of the details to no longer be true.
-->'''[=SageWaterDragon=]''': ''This is all significantly outdated information, but it's real. Major plot and design elements have changed.''

--> '''[=SageWaterDragon=]''': ''This is all significantly outdated information, but it's real. Major plot and design elements have changed.''

** When the rebranding was happening, a former dev ended up leaving the project and apparently wasn't very pleased with how it was turning out. See ContentLeak above.

* {{Vaporware}}: The game has had a rather bumpy road, since all the way back to when it was a fanmade ''MOTHER 4''.[[note]]Hey, fan-made or official, it wouldn't be a ''MOTHER'' game if it didn't face this to some degree[[/note]] To give a good idea, the game started development in early 2008, and didn't even get an estimated release date until ''2013'', and then ''that'' release date got pushed back to ''2015'', and ''then'' the team stated that they wouldn't make that deadline and will no longer state prospective release dates until it's done. On March 1st 2017, the devs revealed the game would be undergoing heavy rebranding. While the game is still in development, this also meant that it would not be ''MOTHER 4'' any longer. All in all, this game has been in development for ''20+ years''.[[note]]For reference, ''VideoGame/DukeNukemForever'', the most infamous example of this trope in game history, took 14 years to release.[[/note]]

* CreativeDifferences: The staff eventually wound up arguing with Shane, an up-and-coming musical artist who technically owns the soundtrack he composed for the game (from when it was still going to be ''Mother 4''). They came to the tough decision of removing the former soundtrack and [[OnlyInItForTheMoney letting him strike a deal with]] [=GameChops=], which distributes video game-related albums that can be bought. However, weeks later [[https://twitter.com/Mother4Game/status/937785969088057345 the staff made a deal]] with [=GameChops=] to get the rights for the non-remix songs for Mother 4, with the aid of DJ Cutman.

* {{Vaporware}}: The game has had a rather bumpy road, since all the way back to when it was a fanmade ''MOTHER 4''.[[note]]Hey, fan-made or official, it wouldn't be a ''MOTHER'' game if it didn't face this to some degree[[/note]] To give a good idea, the game started development in early 2008, and didn't even get an estimated release date until ''2013'', and then ''that'' release date got pushed back to ''2015'', and ''then'' the team stated that they wouldn't make that deadline and will no longer state prospective release dates until it's done. On March 1st 2017, the devs revealed the game would be undergoing heavy rebranding. While the game is still in development, this also meant that it would not be ''MOTHER 4'' any longer.

* ContentLeak: Prior to its rebranding, [[https://www.reddit.com/r/mother4/comments/apd565/mother_4_leak_v/ a disgruntled anonymous 4chan user]] managed to leak some major spoiler-heavy details about the plot of the game back when it was still known as Mother 4. The devs have confirmed the leak was legitimate and were rather dishearted by it, though apparently the rebranding has caused some of the details to no longer be true.

** Why this whole project began. It started as a game made on VideoGame/RPGMaker, then moved to GameMaker for better capabilities, before finally having its own custom engine made. Simple, low-quality sprites evolved into what they are now, cleaner, polished looking sprites similar to ''VideoGame/MOTHER3''. To top it all off, the team went all the way, even having clay models of the cast created like past games. All of this was done for free, no donations, no gifts, just the MOTHER 4 team wanting their game played when it comes out after over around ''seven / eight years'' of development.[[note]]It should be noted, however, that the game in its current state has only existed since 2012, when it was taken more seriously.[[/note]]

* {{Vaporware}}: The game has had a rather bumpy road, since all the way back to when it was a fanmade ''MOTHER 4''.[[labelnote]]Hey, fan-made or official, it wouldn't be a ''MOTHER'' game if it didn't face this to some degree[[/labelnote]] To give a good idea, the game started development in early 2008, and didn't even get an estimated release date until ''2013'', and then ''that'' release date got pushed back to ''2015'', and ''then'' the team stated that they wouldn't make that deadline and will no longer state prospective release dates until it's done. On March 1st 2017, the devs revealed the game would be undergoing heavy rebranding. While the game is still in development, this also meant that it would not be ''MOTHER 4'' any longer.

* {{Vaporware}}: The game had a rather bumpy road. To give a good idea, the game started development in early 2008, and didn't even get an estimated release date until ''2013'', and then ''that'' release date got pushed back to ''2015'', and ''then'' the team stated that they wouldn't make that deadline and will no longer state prospective release dates until it's done. On March 1st 2017, the devs revealed the game would be undergoing heavy rebranding. While the game is still in development, this also meant that it would not be ''MOTHER 4'' any longer.

* CreativeDifferences: Sadly, the staff eventually wound up arguing with Shane, an up-and-coming musical artist who technically owns the soundtrack he composed for the game (from when it was still going to be ''Mother 4''). They came to the tough decision of removing the former soundtrack and [[OnlyInItForTheMoney letting him strike a deal with]] [=GameChops=], which distributes video game-related albums that can be bought. However, weeks later [[https://twitter.com/Mother4Game/status/937785969088057345 the staff made a deal]] with [=GameChops=] to get the rights for the non-remix songs for Mother 4, with the aid of DJ Cutman.

*** That said, they did also send out a message asking for staff.
*** Fast forward to 2016: [[http://blog.mother4game.com/post/139340665329/update-11-update-for-the-birds "We aren't done with the game."]] But they ''will'' try to finish one major area per month.
*** They eventually lampshaded this on [[https://twitter.com/Mother4Game/status/807300278689103873 their Twitter account]].
---> Making games is hard.

* {{Vaporware}}: Hey, fan-made or official, it wouldn't be a ''MOTHER'' game without a downplayed version of this trope. To give a good idea, the game started development in early 2008, and didn't even get an estimated release date until ''2013'', and then ''that'' release date got pushed back to ''2015'', and ''then'' the team stated that they wouldn't make that deadline and will no longer state prospective release dates until it's done. On March 1st 2017, the devs revealed the game would be undergoing heavy rebranding. While the game is still in development, this also meant that it would not be ''MOTHER 4'' any longer.

* {{Vaporware}}: Hey, it wouldn't be a ''MOTHER'' game without a downplayed version of this trope. To give a good idea, the game started development in early 2008, and didn't even get an estimated release date until ''2013'', and ''that'' release date got pushed back to ''2015'', and ''then'' the team stated that they wouldn't make that deadline and will no longer state prospective release dates until it's done. On March 1st 2017, the devs revealed the game would be undergoing heavy rebranding. While the game is still in development, this also means there is no MOTHER 4 anymore.