Mother (series)

Mother (Japanese: マザー Mother), localized as EarthBound in the western regions, is a role-playing game series created by Shigesato Itoi for Nintendo. The series started in 1989 with Mother/EarthBound Beginnings for the Famicom, and was then followed up in 1994 by a sequel, Mother 2/EarthBound for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, and again much later in 2006 with the Japan-only Mother 3/EarthBound 2 for the Game Boy Advance.

The Mother games are not a sequential series, but rather three "stand alone" games that feature common characters, themes, and settings. All three games are tied together with their respective final bosses.

Although most RPGs depict knights and wizards in pseudo-medieval settings, the Mother series takes place in more modern present-day Western settings told from a Japanese perspective. The first installment is set in rural America in '198X', while EarthBound is set in "199X" in Eagleland (an allusion to the United States) and Mother 3 is set an unspecified number of years following the events of EarthBound, on the Nowhere Islands (with some Western overtones). Enemies consist of everything from aliens, to possessed guitars, to evil hippies. Instead of swords and shields, weapons consist of household items like yo-yos and frying pans. The series became extremely popular in Japan, and merchandise for the game was produced, including shirts, handbooks, and even a fully-orchestrated and performed soundtrack.

In China, Mother series is known as the title of "地球冒险 Earth Adventure".