Mother 1 + 2

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a game by Ape, Inc.
Genre: Adventure/RPG
Platform: GBA
Editor Rating: 7/10, based on 1 review
User Rating: 7.2/10 - 5 votes
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See also: RPGs, Games Like Omori
Mother 1 + 2
Mother 1 + 2
Mother 1 + 2

If you’re looking for a game series that revolutionised the top-down RPG genre, there are few series that will rival Mother in this respect. Mother or EarthBound to US residents is a series that while not received particularly well at the time of release, still has a very dedicated cult following to this day and for this reason, in 2004, the two games in the series would be bundled together for the GBA in a move to drive hype for Mother 3. This would be the Mother 1+2 bundle.

This game is modelled on the retro title Dragon Quest I & II and plays very similarly while taking aspects of this title and satirising them for comedic effect. It’s a move that has since been replicated by a game that would be heavily inspired by the Mother/Earthbound series. This would, of course, be the incredible, Undertale.

So what’s new?

In terms of gameplay, the two titles not differ an awful lot from the originals and in all honesty, that’s exactly what fans will want. The main bulk of the changes you will notice are related to the change in port from the Famicom to the GBA. However, there are changes that make the game run smoother that fans will appreciate. For example, the movement was made more fluid with the removal of single tile movements and the addition of a run feature that doesn’t just play the game on a 2x speed.

The issue that some avid fans may find is the change in tone in parts of these games. The change in the system meant that it had to be more family-friendly on release. So the strip clubs in the game were removed, the gore was scaled back drastically, the crow’s cigarettes we’re removed, knives were removed from the game. Not to mention, due to the GBA being a Nintendo branded system, any direct jabs at Nintendo IPs were made much less obvious. For the casual player, it’s hardly noticeable but for returning players, you may notice a shift in tone.

A little distorted

The game would also have to bear the struggles that came with porting to the GBA. The visuals would remain as crisp as they ever were, if not better, which is great news for long time fans. However, the pitfall of the GBA has always been its audio capacity and the game really does suffer in this department. The soundtrack sounds grainy and distorted through the GBA speaker and may upset a few fans as they navigate through this familiar story.

The soundtrack is also not the original one either. The new soundtrack was composed by Keiichi Suzuki and Hirokazu Tanaka and would consist of altered arrangements of the original themes. While this may have been successful in a system that could provide stellar audio quality, this was far from the case and it will only leave fans disappointed that the original tracks have not been included.

A neat little package

All in all, this bundle does exactly what it aims to do. To deliver two of the most iconic games of a generation to a new generation of gamers in one neat, handheld package. Perhaps the game would have done better if the sound was from the original game or if the themes were as adult as in the originals but as a whole, these are small nitpicks.

7

The bundle provides a more up to date way to play these iconic titles and allows you to play them on the go into the bargain. So this, along with the added accessibility and general fixes to gameplay, make this one a must-have for fans of the series.

Pros

  • Maintains all the things that made the series great
  • Makes improvements to the smoothness of gameplay
  • Visuals retain their quality despite the change in the system

Cons

  • Nintendo has made the game less ‘adult’
  • Sound quality and soundtrack are a step down from the original

Download Mother 1 + 2

GBA

System requirements:

  • PC compatible
  • Operating systems: Windows 10/Windows 8/Windows 7/2000/Vista/WinXP

Snapshots and Media

GBA Screenshots

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