Mother 4! (NEW GAMEPLAY VIDEO ADDED 2/24/15!)

[Amissapanda]

I haven't seen a topic yet, so I'm wondering how many people know about this/are as excited about it as I am!

So what is Mother 4?

"Mother 4 is a traditional RPG set in an idealized vintage America, following the adventures of a young boy and the leader of a biker gang, who get caught up in the whirlwind events surrounding a group calling themselves the Modern Men." (Quote taken from their website linked down below.)

Mother 4 is a fan-created game, based on the popular cult classic series of "Mother" in Japan, which includes Mother, Mother 2, and Mother 3. Mother 2, you may better know in America/outside of Japan as "EarthBound".

This project has been in the works for years now and they announced late last summer that the game would be coming out for PC download in Winter of 2014... which we are quite nearly upon! The team of Mother 4 has been working hard and I urge you to take a look at this sneak-peek trailer they put out last summer:

The sprite work and detail is absolutely amazing, and the gameplay mechanics as well as the music have a very Mother/EarthBound feel to them.

This game will be released FREE for the PC as a non-profit game and if you want to be notified when it's ready for download, give them your e-mail addy on their main site here: http://www.mother4game.com/

The site also has a lot of a little goodies on it, including bios for the characters, screenshots, a taste of the music, the staff, and more!

I know there are some Mother/EarthBound fans around here, so I'm sure some of you have probably heard of this up and coming fangame. But perhaps this might be new news to some--in which I'm happy to spread the word!

I'd love to enthuse about the upcoming release of the game! Who else is excited for Mother 4?

 

[Nerd House]

Would love to play it, but I need to play Mother 3 still xD

And I don't see anywhere to enter my email address to be notified when it's released.

 

[Mairen]

I got really excited because I thought this was an official thing. Of course, I have nothing again fan-made games either! I might check this out in the near future

 

[RhinoK]

I got really excited because I thought this was an official thing. Of course, I have nothing again fan-made games either! I might check this out in the near future

Tbf it's been a project ongoing for years and Itoi is finished with the series (unfortunately) and he did encourage us fans to make our own game; if we wished. I'll be checking it out myself, but I've only finished MOTHER 3 and I'm halfway through Earthbound

 

[Amissapanda]

Would love to play it, but I need to play Mother 3 still xD

And I don't see anywhere to enter my email address to be notified when it's released.

Well, they've officially stated that it's not a continuation of Mother 3 or anything like that and doesn't follow any bits of their plot, so it's not necessary to have played the other games. It's up to you, though!

Hm. Really? You don't see it? As soon as you click the link to the Mother4Game page, it's the first thing that pops up and you can't miss it. Do you have noscript running or something?

I got really excited because I thought this was an official thing. Of course, I have nothing again fan-made games either! I might check this out in the near future

Ahh, my bad. Sorry! Shigesato Itoi himself said that the Mother series is over and he doesn't plan to make any follow-up games for it. As unfortunate as that is, what this fan group has done so far is really impressive. And apparently Nintendo doesn't care enough about the Mother/EarthBound series to issue them any sort of C&D, and they're not doing it for any kind of profit, so they should be in the green for launching it.

Anyway, I just thought I'd spread the word for those who may have had yet to hear about it.

 

[toxapex]

I am so ready for this! (Hopefully it doesn't get delayed, but if so... nbd )

 

[Amissapanda]

Tbf it's been a project ongoing for years and Itoi is finished with the series (unfortunately) and he did encourage us fans to make our own game; if we wished. I'll be checking it out myself, but I've only finished MOTHER 3 and I'm halfway through Earthbound

Awesome! Glad to hear you'll be checking it out, too. For all the work they've been putting into this, I think it's going to be pretty damn awesome. Shane Mesa has made some wonderful music that keeps the Mother/EarthBound spirit alive, too.

Haha, I think Itoi's own words were "If someone does make Mother 4, I want to play it!" Would be pretty cool if he actually did end up playing it after release. I know some Japanese commenters on YouTube were interested in having it translated once it was finished.

I am so ready for this! (Hopefully it doesn't get delayed, but if so... nbd )

Me tooooo! Man, I remember how long in the future it seemed last year when they put up the teaser, but now it's right around the bend! I haven't heard anything about a delay yet, thankfully (I'd assume they would have mentioned it by now if they weren't going to finished on time. But then again, aside from the Twitters, they've been pretty quiet and apparently hard at work). Can't say for sure, but yeah, even a delay would be more than worth the wait.

 

[Amissapanda]

OH YEAH.

I almost forgot to share this gem.

This is one of the really cool things they're incorporating into the game, called "Level up jingles". The more people that level up at the same time, the different beats/melodies/instruments you get mixing together at the same time. So if it's a big boss fight and everyone levels up, you get this SYMPHONY of harmonies and instruments that is freaking gorgeous.

The video itself is a bit old, so they might have changed things up by now (they have with the character appearances, at least). But it's just too cool of an idea not to share.

 

[Emily]

Wow I cant believe I've not heard about this definitely getting this ily for making a topic <3

 

[Amissapanda]

Wow I cant believe I've not heard about this definitely getting this ily for making a topic <3

My pleasure to spread the word! They're doing some really amazing stuff with it and since it's coming out soon, now seemed like a great time to make a topic and give them a little well-deserved advertising for what they're doing. Plus, it'll be completely free to play, which is exciting enough in itself!

 

[Uffe]

I heard of this about six years ago. I'm kind of surprised it's not even out yet.

 

[Amissapanda]

I heard of this about six years ago. I'm kind of surprised it's not even out yet.

Well, like any fan-made game, I'm sure it's had its drawbacks and problems. I've heard they had issues with staff quitting the team along the way and such, too, so I'm sure that didn't help.

Either way, I'm just glad that it's reaching fruition instead of being ultimately abandoned like so many other fan projects have over time.

 

[Groovycat64]

Looks very promising. The fact that the game will be free has me extremely excited.

I absolutely adored Earthbound or Mother 2.
I played halfway through Mother 3 which is just as good, if not better than Earthbound.

Also, the guy to the far right of the level up jingle video looks quite a bit like Duster from Mother 3.

 

[CrowHunt888]

Cant wait for this. Isn't it supposed to come out sometime this winter?

 

[Amissapanda]

Looks very promising. The fact that the game will be free has me extremely excited.

I absolutely adored Earthbound or Mother 2.
I played halfway through Mother 3 which is just as good, if not better than Earthbound.

Also, the guy to the far right of the level up jingle video looks quite a bit like Duster from Mother 3.

Me too! I've been excited about it for a few years now, but the fact that it's so close to being released really has me on the edge of my seat.

I really love EarthBound and Mother 3, too. They're so good and seeing a game inspired by that series just has me so incredibly anxious and excited to see the final product. Most especially since they really kept the spirit of it alive with the spriting, gameplay, and music. They're even keeping up with the tradition of the protagonist being a young boy with a striped shirt. lol

Haha, now that you mention it, he does look similar to Duster in some ways.

Cant wait for this. Isn't it supposed to come out sometime this winter?

Yup! Winter 2014. They didn't give an exact date for the release yet, but it has to be within the next couple months, which isn't long at all. I'm really excited that it's so close!

 

[Geoni]

I want them to take as long as they need to, because Mother 2 and 3 are hard to follow.

 

[Ponyu]

Thank you for sharing! I entered my e-mail, very excited to play it whenever they're ready! I already love the butterfly healing thing, and the idea with the leveling up jingles <3

 

[Amissapanda]

I want them to take as long as they need to, because Mother 2 and 3 are hard to follow.

They've already taken many years with it and I don't think they'd announce a ballpark for the release time like that unless they were pretty sure they'd be ready by then. Either way, I'm excited!

Thank you for sharing! I entered my e-mail, very excited to play it whenever they're ready! I already love the butterfly healing thing, and the idea with the leveling up jingles <3

No prob! It's my pleasure to get the word out there, 'cause this game looks like it's going to be everything I wanted from another Mother game and more. I'm glad they brought magic butterflies back. They're so cute. X3 And I love the idea with the level up jingles, too!

 

[Nerd House]

Hm. Really? You don't see it? As soon as you click the link to the Mother4Game page, it's the first thing that pops up and you can't miss it. Do you have noscript running or something?

Nothing special running.

 

[Amissapanda]

Nothing special running.

That's odd. It's supposed to look like this:

I'm not sure why yours isn't showing that part. Are you running it on a Mac? Or what browser? I'm running in Firefox on Windows 7 PC.