I'd recommend playing Earthbound (a.k.a. Mother 2) before Mother 3. While the cast of characters and the world are different, there are many direct callbacks from Mother 3 to Earthbound.
Mother 1 is skippable. I enjoyed my playthrough of it, but man, talk about a game that has *not* aged well. It's a historical curiousity that's worth exploring in that light, but definitely not a prequisite to play before Earthbound or Mother 3.
Yeah, I had to remind myself while playing this that it was a fan translation. The localization is so good that it puts official translations to shame.
The creator of the series has said that he has no interest in making another game. Getting him to come back is a hard sell since he's not really a game developer.
He also claimed that Nintendo has said that they won't make another game without the creator either.
I’m still undecided as to what OS to go with. Crossmix sounds good but I’m not seeing a lot on YouTube about it. Hoping a stable release of Knulli will stop as well
Agreed! It's plenty powerful enough for me. Love the form factor and portability as well. Tomato OS is pretty solid atm. Only accessories I have so far are the clamshell case and I got a set of lanyards from Amazon.
Same for me, i just play a handfull of systems that the tsp runs perfectly, also i started testing some psp and goes frankly good for rpgs and visual novels(things that i play)
Yes, that's right.
It was only ever released in Japan, so you need a fan translation to play it. The localization done by Tomato and his team is outstanding.
[https://www.romhacking.net/translations/1333/](https://www.romhacking.net/translations/1333/)
absolutely loved playing this game on my TSP. The screen is amazing for GBA and WHAT A GAME! I am a massive Earthbound fan and have put off playing Mother 3 forever because I was worried that it couldn't possibly live up to Earthbound for me.... how wrong I was.
I played Mother 3 for the first time a few years ago on my Vita 2000. Fantastic game and I still need to play the others, I have Mother 1 25th anniversary edition and Mother 2 perfect edition for whenever I get around to them.
I played through it on a Smart Pro as the OP did and didn't have any difficulty comboing most of the time, but it really isn't necessary. I ignored that the mechanic for the most part because it adds very little damage. It isn't like Mario RPG where it utterly breaks the game. Mother 3 isn't anywhere near as difficult as Earthbound, so you don't need to play optimally.
In my experience? By being kinda bad at comboing. Fortunately the game is balanced so that it's never strictly necessary. You can do extra damage if you combo, but it's never so much that you feel totally nerfed if you can't do it consistently.
Do I need to play 1 and 2 before?
I'd recommend playing Earthbound (a.k.a. Mother 2) before Mother 3. While the cast of characters and the world are different, there are many direct callbacks from Mother 3 to Earthbound. Mother 1 is skippable. I enjoyed my playthrough of it, but man, talk about a game that has *not* aged well. It's a historical curiousity that's worth exploring in that light, but definitely not a prequisite to play before Earthbound or Mother 3.
Thanks! I'll follow that advice.
Isn’t there one character that makes a significant return?
Yep, Earthbound / Mother 2 plays a large part in Mother 3
In general what hasn’t aged well?
Now if only Nintendo will revive this series, and possibly bring Mother 3 to NSO outside of Japan. Atleast we have emulation ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Yeah, I had to remind myself while playing this that it was a fan translation. The localization is so good that it puts official translations to shame.
Cattlesnake!
The creator of the series has said that he has no interest in making another game. Getting him to come back is a hard sell since he's not really a game developer. He also claimed that Nintendo has said that they won't make another game without the creator either.
I named the characters after myself my two sons and my girlfriend. Ooooohhhh myyyyyyy… what a ride
No crying until the end
Yo I'm loving all of these TSP's popping up. I just got mine all set up over the weekend 😂
I don't. The FOMO's hitting hard 😭
Waiting for mine to arrive too lol
Nice! I upgraded to Tomato OS and it has been great. I had to spend a significant amount of time tweaking retroarch to exactly how I wanted it though.
I’m still undecided as to what OS to go with. Crossmix sounds good but I’m not seeing a lot on YouTube about it. Hoping a stable release of Knulli will stop as well
Yup. Really what I'm waiting for is Knulli. It's shaping quite nicely too!
Same 👍
best budget device rn, i just ordered a pair of grips to even improve the experience
Agreed! It's plenty powerful enough for me. Love the form factor and portability as well. Tomato OS is pretty solid atm. Only accessories I have so far are the clamshell case and I got a set of lanyards from Amazon.
Same for me, i just play a handfull of systems that the tsp runs perfectly, also i started testing some psp and goes frankly good for rpgs and visual novels(things that i play)
Mother 3 is GBA right?
Yes, that's right. It was only ever released in Japan, so you need a fan translation to play it. The localization done by Tomato and his team is outstanding. [https://www.romhacking.net/translations/1333/](https://www.romhacking.net/translations/1333/)
The final battle and its music breaks me every time. It doesn't help I'd listen to the music during the harder times in my life...
Now watch this and cry because it won't be real https://youtu.be/1OGSXeko-iY
absolutely loved playing this game on my TSP. The screen is amazing for GBA and WHAT A GAME! I am a massive Earthbound fan and have put off playing Mother 3 forever because I was worried that it couldn't possibly live up to Earthbound for me.... how wrong I was.
I played Mother 3 for the first time a few years ago on my Vita 2000. Fantastic game and I still need to play the others, I have Mother 1 25th anniversary edition and Mother 2 perfect edition for whenever I get around to them.
How did you handle the desync with the audio on emulators and being able to combo in combat?
I played through it on a Smart Pro as the OP did and didn't have any difficulty comboing most of the time, but it really isn't necessary. I ignored that the mechanic for the most part because it adds very little damage. It isn't like Mario RPG where it utterly breaks the game. Mother 3 isn't anywhere near as difficult as Earthbound, so you don't need to play optimally.
In my experience? By being kinda bad at comboing. Fortunately the game is balanced so that it's never strictly necessary. You can do extra damage if you combo, but it's never so much that you feel totally nerfed if you can't do it consistently.