[Omniverse Audio Brand]

 

[90s phone ring and pick up]

 

CAT

Hey, this is Cat!

 

JESS

And Jess

 

CAT

You know, “Mother,” She Wrote is free to listen to, but it’s not free to make.

JESS

So please consider supporting our work on Patreon.

 

CATYou’ll get early, ad-free episodes of this show and all the storytelling podcasts we create. 

 

JESSHead to Patreon.com/OmniverseMedia to chip in and join our community of world-saving wunderkind.

 

CAT

Oh and - heads up: this episode contains discussion of a pandemic and death during a pandemic.

 

JESS

Please use your best judgment when listening… and take care of yourself. 

 

CAT & JESS

Love youuuu.

 

[phone disconnect sound]

 

[the muted sound of a train rumbling down the tracks and a whistle blow, heard from inside the train car]

 

NINTEN

Dear Mom, sorry it took me so long between letters. I’m trying to write every day, but things have been pretty non-stop for Lloyd and I. How non-stop? Well, as I write you, the scenery is whizzing by.

 

LOID

[in the background]I estimate we’re traveling at 201 kilometers per hour!

 

NINTEN

We’re on a train! But not just any train! We’re- [singing] “Taking the paradise line!” It’s just like in the commercials - zipping across the countryside. And it wouldn’t be running if it weren’t for Lloyd and I. Back in Merrysville, the railroad tracks were blocked by some massive boulders, stopping all the trains from running. No one is sure what caused the avalanche. On the radio, on the news, more and more reports are coming in about strange happenings all over the state and country. No one’s saying “aliens” yet but… people are seeing things they can’t explain. Loid and I aren’t about to wait around for the invaders’ next attack… But we couldn’t get out of the valley without the train… So we came up with a plan…

 

[ambient city noise fades in]

 

NINTEN

I dunno Loid… I don’t think we should sneak into Duncan’s Factory. That’s like… illegal.

 

LLOYD

I know what I’m doing. My father’s a Duncan engineer. It’s like he always says, “great discoveries don’t come from following the rules.”

 

NINTEN

Great, let’s ask him to do it.

 

LLOYD

Ugh. You’re missing the point. 

 

NINTEN

I am?

 

LLOYD

Everyone in town knows that Duncan’s Factory is making high-tech rockets for the military - and everyone in town works for Duncan… so no one is saying or doing anything. It’s all classified. But - I’ve got my hiding places… I’ve heard them whispering. “It’d be ‘child’s play’ for the new missiles to target the boulders.” Well!

 

[a lighter top flicks open]

 

LLOYD

If it’s “child’s play” then I say let’s put that theory to the test!

 

[a lighter clicks a couple times and lights]

 

LLOYD

Shall we? [snickers]

 

NINTEN

You just want to see a big explosion.

 

[the lighter snaps shut]

 

LLOYD

Ah.. uh… a delightful byproduct of our community service. There’s an alien invasion happening and the populace is unaware… The adults in power aren’t taking responsibility! We’re Earth’s Defense Force, Ninten. You and I can do what they can’t and won’t!

 

NINTEN

Okay. Okay. That checks out. How do we get in?

 

[the town ambience ends and a laser bolt fires as electronic ambience plays]

 

NINTEN

It was easier said than done, Mom! The aliens got into Duncan’s Factory! 

 

ROBOT

Destroy. 

 

NINTEN

They scrambled some of the scientists’ brains and they activated an army of robots. 

 

[a laser blast]

 

ROBOT

Destroy. 

 

NINTEN

Ha! Eat bat, butt-bot! 

 

[Ninten’s bat slams against the robot’s metal exterior, a laser fires]

 

NINTEN

[Grunts]

 

[an electric beam pulses in]

 

LLOYD

[distant]

Hold it steady…

 

NINTEN

What?

 

[Lloyd fires a laser that blasts a hole through the robot]

 

ROBOT

Destroy. 

 

[the robot’s speak garbles as it explodes and powers down]

 

NINTEN

Woah! Woo! Nice shot Loid!

 

[electronic noises increase]

 

NINTEN

Fortunately, the robots Duncan made weren’t as tough as the ones the aliens were sending out. These were old, some of them were half-built. 

 

LLOYD

Absolutely preposterous! Duncan has had robots this whole time?! So much innovation held back by the military industrial complex!

 

NINTEN

That laser’s pretty cool.

 

LLOYD

Yes. 

 

[the laser beam makes a powerup noise]

 

LLOYD

This will come in handy.

 

NINTEN

The factory was a maze, but eventually we found the rocket controls - on the top floor. 

 

[intermittent beeping as Lloyd determines which buttons to press]

 

NINTEN

Lloyd’s hands shook as he started plugging in the coordinates for the boulder. 

 

[more beeping]

 

NINTEN

Lloyd… You sure you know what you’re doing?

 

LLOYD

Of course…It’s just… Interfacing- 

 

[He flicks his lighter top]

 

LLOYD

-This machinery… it’s elaborate…

 

[He flicks his lighter top]

 

LLOYD

It’s glorious. Uh…

 

[He flicks his lighter top]

 

LLOYD

Hmm.

 

[More beeping as he presses buttons]

 

LLOYD

[whispering] Einstein, guide my calculations…

 

[a positive beep from the console]

 

LLOYD

Launch sequence engaged!

 

[There’s a big mechanical shifting as a nearby rocket is moved into place and a launch bay opens]

 

 

LOID

3… 2… 1…

 

NINTEN

Please hit the rock…

 

[the rocket blasts off]

 

NINTEN

Please hit the rock, please hit the rock, please hit the rock, please hit the rock, please hit the rock, please hit the rock…

 

[A distant explosion segues back into the ambience of being inside the train]

 

NINTEN

Looks like the boy genius is as smart as he says he is! The rocks were blown apart, the tracks are clear, and the Paradise Express is running again. 

 

LITTLE GIRL

Hey! Is that a ray gun?

 

LLOYD

Hands off, kid! 

 

LITTLE GIRL

Can I see it?

 

LLOYD

No you can’t see it! This is a sophisticated piece of robot smashing technology.

 

LITTLE GIRL

I wanna blast my homework to smithereens! 

 

[she grabs the gun from him]

 

LLOYD

Hey! Don’t touch that! Get away!

 

LITTLE GIRL

Pew pew pew!

 

LLOYD

Where is your mother?!

 

NINTEN

Lloyd and I took the train to Reindeer and… we heard more stories about what’s been going on out there. No one has heard from anyone in Spookane for a week, there’s been a bunch of disappearances from all over, and there’s a flu that’s killing people. 

 

In Reindeer the flu outbreak is really bad and that town… it’s kinda scary. There’s a lot of really rich people, and a lot of really poor people, and a lot of crime. There’s nothing weird happening there… not yet anyway… but it just feels really broken, with problems that’re much bigger than Loid and I can solve. 

 

[exciting music starts, matching the pace of the train. The train whistle blows]

 

NINTEN

So we decided to keep moving. Woah! The train just went through a mountain tunnel and on the other side everything is glistening and snowcovered, so I bet you can guess where Lloyd and I are headed… Snowman! We don’t know what to expect, but we do have a mission: at the Reindeer train station an old woman gave us a hat that was accidentally left behind by a girl our age from Snowman. The name “Ana” was stitched into the hatband. It’s a long way to go to return a hat, but we were headed that way anyhow and… I just have one of those feelings, you know? I just know that something good is gonna happen. So, for now, Lloyd and I are gonna “relax for a while and watch the world go by…”

 

NINTEN & LOID

[singing] “...Just as long as we're together we'll be fine - Takin' the Paradise Line!”

 

[the train whistle blows, the music swells. Train tracks clatter, now heard from outside the train. The music continues under Jess as she speaks.]

 

JESS

Welcome to “MOTHER,” She Wrote - a travelog diary through the strangest, most thought-provoking, most heart-rending video games ever made: MOTHER as it’s called in Japan, and EarthBound - as it’s called everywhere else. This is the story of the first game in that series: EarthBound Beginnings.

 

[the music stops]

 

JESS

I’m Jessica Mudd, and I’ve got two tickets to paradise, won’t you come with me? We’ve waited so long… and they weren’t even that expensive! 

 

CAT

[gargles and spits] -And I’m Cat Blackard - reminding you to “Gargle often, Gargle proud, and Gargle strong” if it’s safe to do so, take this podcast in the bathroom with you right now! And get garglin’ - for your health. 

 

JESS

“Get garglin’”? What’s that all about? <laughs>

 

CAT

Uh well… That may be a part of the game that uh… by sheer coincidence you have not experienced yet, but - something we’ll get into!

 

JESS

I think… yeah. I don’t know if I did any gargling on this particular piece of the adventure. I’m very curious to hear what that’s all about! <laughs>

 

CAT

<laughs>

 

[the Mother’s Day Times theme starts]

 

JESS

Well hold on though, before you gargle too much, let’s check out the latest news in The Mother’s Day Times!

 

[the theme flourishes and ends]

 

CAT

The big news from the world of Earthbound is that on July 27th, just several days from this episode’s release, the annual Mother Direct is kicking off!

 

JESS

Mother Direct is a YouTube presentation that highlights projects related to the MOTHER series - both fan creations like translations or documentaries and work inspired by the series. For instance, there’s a whole genre of game now called “MOTHER-likes” that build upon and expand the themes, gameplay, and general feeling of EarthBound. 

 

CAT

We’re excited to share that “MOTHER,” She Wrote is a part of this year’s Direct and we’ll be presenting a live action version of our podcast’s trailer for our part of the presentation. 

 

JESS

We’re super-excited to share it with you!

 

CAT

So mark your calendars - or check it out now, depending on when you’re hearing this. Mother Direct is put together by the wonderful folks at Mother Forever, the current epicenter of the EarthBound fan community. You can watch the 2023 Mother Direct when it debuts - live on their YouTube channel on July 27th at 3PM Pacific, or, of course, anytime after. Just head to mother4ever.net - that’s “mother”, the number 4, and “ever” dot net. 

 

JESS

After the last episode, Biozilla reached out to us on the Omniverse Discord with some additional facts about Merrysville. You’ll remember we were really confused about the little kid at Twinkle Elementary who asks if you’ve played "Super Mario Bros. 7". It turns out that’s just a weird quirk of the English localization. They originally ask if you’ve played Dragon Quest 4. 

 

CAT

MOTHER came out during the two-year interval between the third and fourth Dragon Quest games in Japan.

 

JESSAnother cheeky Dragon Quest reference in EarthBound!

 

CAT

Yeah, and in 1989 only one of them had made it to the US, renamed, Dragon Warrior, so it’s understandable that the localizers would change it - but why Mario 7? Who knows.

 

JESS

Biozilla also shared that the Psycho Car from MOTHER appears as an enemy in the Smash Run mode of Super Smash Bros. for 3DS - renamed "Devil Car", matching its Japanese name. 

 

CAT

Yeah! It’s a super weird inclusion in the game that I’d totally forgotten all about. Thanks Biozilla! Remember, if you’ve got any fun facts you’d like to share, experiences about how these games impacted your life, or other MOTHER memories - you can write in at dearmothershewrote@gmail.com!

 

JESS

You can also chat with us on the Omniverse Discord. You can find a link to it and to all the places you can reach out to us on our website: mothershewrote.earth.

 

CAT

We’ve also got full transcripts of each episode there - made possible thanks to the backing of our Patrons!

 

JESS

This has been the Mother’s Day Times.

 

CAT & JESS

We’ll see you next Times!

 

[Mother’s Day Times outro fanfare]

 

JESS

So when you're heading up towards Duncan's Factory, you're following a little path outside of Merrysville. At one point you stumble across a discarded employee's badge, and when you get to the factory, there is a guard dog that's sitting out in front - and the guard dog talks to you and he says, "are you an employee of this factory? Let me see your ID." And you show him the badge. And he says, "oh, this badge has expired. You must have stolen it." And he starts barking and running around, and then eventually attacks you.

 

CAT:

The Encyclopedia says that a certain terrorist organization is said to have been involved in forgery of Duncan passes in order to gain entry to the factory. "Forged passes beyond their expiration date are known to be on the ground from time to time."

 

JESS:

What I think is interesting is that the dog is talking to you and has apparently been trained to sniff out these expired badges, but because you're able to hear what the animals are thinking - or what this animal's thinking - you understand, the dog recognizes that the badge has expired.

 

CAT:

Yeah. It's possible that in this case, when you fight this totally normal dog battle - it's the same as any stray dog that you've been fighting, thus, so far - whereas the ones that you fight when you're wandering around town are dogs who have succumbed to the extraterrestrial influence... This is actually a dog that is just doing his job and hasn't succumbed to the alien influence. It's possible.

 

[ominous music begins playing underneath the hosts]

 

JESS:

Yeah. I felt bad fighting that dog. He was just doing his job. But, um, you know, it's for the good of the planet.

 

CAT:

Yeah. I mean, what are you, what are you gonna do? Right.

 

JESS:

Yeah.

 

[omninous music ends]

 

JESS:

Duncan's factory... That place is... A-maze-ing.

 

CAT:

Would you call it, "amazing?" I don't- I don't think anybody would call it amazing.

 

JESS:

No, it's not amazing. It's, uh, trying,

 

CAT:

It's like being inside an ant farm. There's weird levels, incongruently dead ends... you never know what you're headed towards. Now that said, it is actually one floor below ground and 10 floors above. According to the MOTHER Encyclopedia. It was built in 1969, but it was actually remodeled recently, in 1983. And that's the point at which Sweet's Factory fell into disuse.

 

JESS:

And speaking of Sweet's Factory, the visual aesthetic of Duncan's Factory mimics Sweet's Little Factory almost perfectly. Like it's the exact same, you know, visual metal plates on the walls. There's some holes that are bricked up.

 

CAT:

Well, things are definitely not right in there. When it comes to MOTHER Encyclopedia, there's a big difference in how they're visually expressed. Sweet's Factory looks like a rundown chain link fence, danger sign, kinda like much older industrial factory. But the photographic image chosen for Duncan's Factory is another thing altogether. The main image for it is a glistening glass building reflecting the sky itself with strange geometric angles and so forth. Now this image is in fact the Christ Cathedral in Garden Grove, California, the epicenter, the genesis point, if you will, for the megachurch movement in the United States. It's a surprisingly beautiful building, and it looks nothing like a church in any kind of traditional sense.

 

JESS:

Yeah, you shared an image of it with me. And as far as interesting looking buildings go, this one is definitely up there. It doesn't really look like a church, and it certainly doesn't look like a factory - especially not a factory that was built in 1969.

 

CAT:

Yeah, I think this is conveying the idea of it being a more updated factory under the full scale remodeling that the Encyclopedia mentions. Yeah. It also goes on to say that with this full scale remodeling, there are few who have accurate knowledge of just what in the world is being produced here.

 

JESS:

Really? Because it seems like everybody in town knows what's being produced there.

 

CAT:

Well, yeah, I mean, they do seem to know that rockets are being produced there. I think they might not know about the killer robots.

 

JESS:

Killer robots are being produced there.

 

CAT:

Well, yeah. Yeah. That's an interesting little facet of, uh, of this whole thing. I mean, the history of the robots inside... Well, they are actually old, but you know, here they are in this recently remodeled factory, so it does beg questions about, uh, what they're doing tromping along.

 

JESS:

Yeah. So let's talk about the, the enemies that exist in Duncan's factory. There's the Fireball, which doesn't appear to be like a robot, but I suppose could be interpreted to be that way. There's also Bomber, which is so cute. He's like a little bomb that just walks around with a face and it's got little fins at the top of his head that kinda looks like a beanie. There's the Old Robot and Scrapper, and then Dr. Distorto. So I could see how this factory could be interpreted as also producing robots as well, and not just something the aliens brought.

 

CAT:

The aliens are involved, but they are not alien robots. Specifically, it says that Old Robot and Scrapper were models made as a prototype during World War II, but it's been taken and resurrected by the aliens. The Scrappers are pro prototypes that aren't fully put together, and then the old robots are complete. I think maybe the reason they say they were built during World War II, which of course seems like a little preposterous, is that they are aesthetically modeled after Robbie the Robot, as seen in Forbidden Planet, a 1956 sci-fi film.

 

JESS:

Yeah. That detail, uh, did not escape me. I've actually got a little note here about it to ask you about that. So it's good to have that confirmed. It looks exactly like Robbie the Robot.

 

CAT:

Yeah, I mean, granted, I haven't heard anybody like from the production team say that, but I mean, that's what's going on as much as all the other aesthetic references that appear in these games.

 

JESS:

I see.

 

CAT:

If you can recognize it - that is the point. And shout out to the Old Robot because that is my most smashable enemy of this part of the game.

 

JESS:

That's a good one.

 

CAT:

It's a nice pop culture swap that I can really get behind.

 

JESS:

Definitely.

 

CAT:

Now, Bomber... Bomber, I don't know. Bomber, they don't say where Bomber came from, but maybe especially because Duncan has been working specifically on explosives, it's highly suspect that maybe Bomber is a more recent development in the Duncan line of military industrial complex robots or "metal gears," if you will.

 

JESS:

It could also just be a bomb that's been, uh, you know, brought to life by the aliens.

 

CAT:

I suppose that's possible <laugh>, but uh, with the cartoon imagery of these games, sometimes it can be really hard to figure out what's going on, especially with things like what you mentioned with the Fireball, which is literally a ball of fire with a face, and arms, and legs, and I have no details on how to interpret that exactly... other than maybe this is just a sort of cartoon embodiment of someone's pyrokinesis? I don't know. It uses PK Fire as an attack. Beyond that, what it actually is, what it represents would be the subject of rampant speculation on my part, rather than anything that I could confirm.

 

JESS:

Yeah, I mean, it's also, I guess... We're in a bomb factory, so it could be an explosion that somehow got, you know, like anthropomorphized - the actual explosion itself, so... Hmm.

 

CAT:

Yeah. Or like how I suggested last episode that when an inanimate object attacks you, that the face is more of a like suggestion-

 

JESS:

Right.

 

CAT:

Rather than the reality of what the characters are experiencing.

 

JESS:

Sure.

 

CAT:

Now, Dr. Distorto is a kind of like hunchbacked, weird faced, uh...

 

JESS:

Mad scientist!

 

CAT:

-Guy in a lab coat. Yeah. 100% mad scientist. He even flies into a rage, which is an ability that boosts his offense. According to the Encyclopedia: "He makes his home in Duncan's Factory and, as if possessed by something, goes on creating barbaric robots."

 

JESS:

Hmm.

 

CAT:

So, since we're fighting a lot of those, we can assume that Dr. Distorto is a kind of, uh, you know, personification of all of the science workers, or let's say weak-minded science workers who were inhabiting Duncan's Factory, who have been manipulated by the extraterrestrial influence.

 

JESS:

Yeah. So in the factory you have factory workers, you have inventors, uh, you know, robot technicians, and they are building and keeping up these robots that are attacking and protecting the place.

 

CAT:

Now, why are they doing that? We do not know. There's no explanation given. But it certainly would be in an extraterrestrial's, uh, best interest to take anybody who's making potentially orbital rockets... To take control of that instead of allowing the, uh, local governments to have those.

 

JESS:

There's a lot of items for you to pick up. Of course. Uh, some of the notable ones: I found another psi stone, which was great. I also found a laser beam, and then I also found a bomb, which - I went to check it, but accidentally dropped it.

 

CAT:

[gasps]

 

JESS:

And I was really afraid for a second because I thought that maybe the bomb was what I was supposed to use to blow up the train tracks.

 

CAT:

Oh no.

 

JESS:

And I was like, surely they wouldn't let me drop an item that was that critical to the game. And fortunately they didn't. But still, it was kind of like a moment of panic when I accidentally hit the drop button as opposed to the look button, which is right next to it.

 

CAT:

Unfortunately you did drop a high quality item.

 

JESS:

Yeah. But, you know, easy come, easy blow. That's how it goes.

 

CAT:

<laugh>, I suppose we should mention what some of these items do. I don't think we've mentioned the psi stone before. It's an item that lets you replenish your psychokinetic abilities and it's a multi-use item. So you kind of, I guess the idea is, you sort of like squeeze it. And, like pulling energy from a crystal or something, Ninten gets a little bit of his psychokinetic energy back.

 

JESS:

You know, I didn't even check that item and I kind of just intrinsically knew that that's what it did.

 

CAT:

<laugh> Very few times, but sometimes, the game is intuitive.

 

JESS:

<laugh> Some things just make sense.

 

CAT:

Yeah. Now the bomb and all of the, let's say... Mechanized weaponry items is a thing that only Lloyd can use. And it attacks all enemies on screen at once and deals massive damage. It's very, very good for this part of the game.

 

JESS:

Yeah. I ended up finding another bomb and used it against some enemies later on. I kind of wanna know what the super bomb does now.

 

CAT:

Oh yes. That the, uh, mysterious teacher sells the Twinkle Elementary School. Well... There's only one way to find out, but uh, certainly everything there is a gamble.

 

JESS:

We keep teasing it, so we're gonna have to do it eventually.

 

CAT:

At some point you're gonna have to pony up some money and buy his things.

 

JESS:

Yeah. And I'm gonna go back and I'm gonna find Wally - the neighbor Wally - and I'm gonna be like, "here, I got you a present!"

 

CAT:

<laugh> You're gonna use a super bomb on the farmer? That's, uh, very sporting of you.

 

JESS:

Yes. I can't think of a better use for it than that.

 

CAT:

You also mentioned the laser beam. That is another weapon for Lloyd to use. It seems like, you know, you'd think at first that, "oh, well that must be like clippable as a weapon that Lloyd can use conventionally," but-

 

JESS:

That's what I tried to do.

 

CAT:

Yeah. But no, it's a weapon that you have to use as though you're using an item from battle - every time and it is a multi-use item, but will break eventually.

 

JESS:

Yeah. I haven't tried the laser yet because uh, I wasn't sure if that was a single use or not, but that's good to know that you can use it multiple times.

 

CAT:

Yeah. Now it's just, okay. In fact, if your Lloyd is leveled high enough, it'll actually be not great by comparison to what he's capable of.

 

JESS:

Fair enough.

 

CAT:

Everyone calls Lloyd a weakling, but if you've leveled him reasonably at this point in the game, he is not that bad actually.

 

JESS:

Other than that, there was a whole lot of stat capsules that were around, so I collected as many of those as I could, including one room that had three gifts in it, and it had three different stat capsules in, for three of the different stats. That was a nice find.

 

CAT:

Yeah. Did you give 'em all to Lloyd?

 

JESS:

Uh, yes, except for one of them... Which...

 

CAT:

Wisdom?

 

JESS:

Yeah. Does wisdom - I'm assuming that that has to do with your psyonic powers and, since Lloyd doesn't have any, it seemed like it wasn't worth it to give it to him.

 

CAT:

That's what I did as well. Wisdom increases the chance of hitting with status ailments, both in the form of PSI abilities and also items like the flash dark.

 

JESS:

Oh, okay. Cool.

 

CAT:

The whole factory thing is weird to begin with cause like Sweet's Factory is kind of like this weird dry run for the more dangerous and much more complicated Duncans and they're both very unconventional dungeons - by video games comparison.

 

JESS:

Sure.

 

CAT:

I don't like them actually. I think that they could have been more distinctly done and and better done and uh, yeah, it's just a bit of a slog really.

 

JESS:

Yeah.

 

CAT:

By the time I got out of there, gosh, these little boys were very strong. Ninten was at level 25 and Lloyd was at level 19.

 

JESS:

Amazing.

 

CAT:

And remember Lloyd started at level one when we picked him up.

 

JESS:

Yep. He levels quickly when you're fighting those high level enemies.

 

CAT:

Mm-hmm.

 

JESS:

At some point Lloyd "died" in Duncan's factory and you know, I'm using air quotes "dies", cause they don't really die, they just kind of like become injured, go unconscious, and they get sent back to the hospital. They still appear to be walking behind you, but now they're a transparent angel with wings and a halo <laugh>, which is kind of interesting.

 

CAT:

Well, their spirits are with you wherever you go... Though they may be separate from their bodies... Because when you get to the hospital and talk to the nurse and they say, "who are you here to see?" And you select your party member and they're like, "oh, Lloyd was just brought in" like <laugh>... There's a weird out of body kind of Ghost Dad kind of energy there.

 

JESS:

Yes. <laugh>.

 

CAT:

There is something of extreme note in Duncan's Factory.

 

JESS:

Okay, let's hear it.

 

CAT:

For the only time in the entire MOTHER series, there is a second Franklin Badge.

 

JESS:

What?!

 

CAT:

Yeah.

 

JESS:

Oh, you have my attention. Go on.

 

CAT:

Well, it's just like everything else in Duncan's Factory: buried in the farthest reaches, the deepest depths. Good luck finding it without a map from the internet <laugh>, but it's in there! And you know, I suppose the best guess is that, uh, maybe just, maybe because they're working on a lot of things involving electricity, someone has reverse-engineered the Franklin Badge or perhaps even accidentally created a facsimile of what Benjamin Franklin invented as the Franklin Badge.

 

JESS:

Well apparently lightning does strike twice!

 

CAT:

<laugh> Yeah. And just the once, because this never happens again.

 

JESS:

It strikes twice just the once

 

CAT:

<laugh>.

 

[electronic musical segue]

 

JESS:

As you're climbing up the floors of the factory, eventually you come to a large room and at the end of it is a rocket that is sitting on a platform. And when you go up and interact with it, Lloyd programs the rocket to aim for the train tracks where the boulders are blocking it... And does a countdown: 3, 2, 1. And you watch the rocket launch off and then just, uh, nothing happens. You just assumed everything went well.

 

CAT:

Yeah. The Encyclopedia sort of unpacks that moment. It says, "of course, like you, he's still young. His hands quiver at seeing such elaborate machinery for the first time. So only God knoweth where the rocket will end up."

 

JESS:

Hmm.

 

CAT:

But fortunately it ends up at the right place!

 

JESS:

Yeah, well, I mean, he sets the coordinates. He seems to know what he's doing... So... Good for him! I was really expecting to have to fight some sort of like big boss enemy or something. They just let you walk right in there and just launch that rocket.

 

CAT:

Yeah. After all that preamble, it is rather strange, but that's kind of the nature of this game. It does not have the same pacing as other games like it.

 

JESS:

Once the boulders cleared from the train tracks, you can walk through the little pass that's accessible now, and you walk north a little bit, and you come across Union Station - which is just a little train station that sits out there along the tracks. And inside you can buy tickets to other cities. And there's also a couple of NPCs that are walking around.

 

CAT:

Now, Union Station is another thing that has had its name changed actually. In MOTHER, it is called Santa Claus Station.

 

JESS:

Hmm. "Santa Claus Station". Not the North Pole.

 

CAT:

Yeah.

 

JESS:

Or not the North Pole Station, but <laugh>.

 

CAT:

No, and what's interesting about it is that there's three destinations you can choose from to go to, two of which are also winter themed: Reindeer and Snowman. And both of those town names stayed the same in both versions of the game, for a change.

 

JESS:

Oh my gosh. Of all the names that they decided to keep the same... It was those two <laugh>.

 

CAT:

Yeah. They're like, "oh yeah, a town called Thanksgiving. Ah, no, that's, that's weird... A town named Reindeer. That's fine."

 

JESS:

<laugh> Or "Snowman", like a town called "Snowman".

 

CAT:

Uh-huh.

 

JESS:

<laugh> Weird.

 

CAT:

Yeah. Uh, very arbitrary, very strange. The Encyclopedia says, "as you stand here at last, before the train station, your adventure is about to get a whole lot bigger. The double track rail stretches away to the other side of the horizon. And there, at its end, waiting for you, is a world you've never seen and a friend you've never met. I bet you'll recognize that the moment you've placed your foot on the train's, step in the blink of an eye, you've become more grown up."

 

JESS:

It's the farthest away from home I've ever been.

 

CAT:

<laugh> And Union Station is home to the Paradise Express,, aka the Paradise Line, or the Paradise Special. It goes by all of these names in different places, in different times... Mostly to do with, uh, the song "Paradise Line", the music that plays when you get on board that train,

 

JESS:

Which is my memorable melody of this session. I really love The "Paradise Line". I love the song from the album and I love the rendition of it on the NES. It's all very good

 

CAT:

<laugh>. That is also the song that I will remember this episode. It's a banger.

 

JESS:

Yes!

 

CAT:

And another great example of Keichii Suzuki and Hip Tanaka writing a pop song, and transposing it into 8-bit, and making this game a very rad musical experience.

 

JESS:

Before we get to another city, I actually wanna back up for a second because one of the NPCs that's in Union Station there has some dialogue and says, "I heard on the radio that it's a mess everywhere. I will protect this station at all costs."

 

CAT:

Yeah.

 

JESS:

So that dude's dedicated to protecting Union Station and and I appreciate that 'cause we need this place.

 

CAT:

Yeah. Hats off to that station agent, and also I think that's a really important line. That's a moment in the game where you've crossed another threshold and it implies, as best as the game can, that this problem is getting really, really big. And, whereas you've seen varying scales of how out of hand things can get in a town, you're maybe gonna see some things that are *more *and who knows what else is happening everywhere else?

 

JESS:

Yeah. Even beyond that, you mentioned that the train can take you to three different locations and the tickets for Reindeer, Spookane, and Snowman are $16, $25, and $36 respectively.

 

CAT:

Uh-huh.

 

JESS:

Now what I'm curious about is that survey that you take in Merrysville, where the person asks you if you think that the train tickets are expensive. If you answer that, and say that you do think the train tickets are too expensive, do they lower the price of the tickets?

 

CAT:

If that happens - I have never heard of it. I don't think so.

 

JESS:

Okay.

 

CAT:

But that's a very, I mean, <laugh>, I love this game - This game has you thinking in really unusual ways because you can never tell what's gonna happen.

 

JESS:

For sure. Well, it made me think it's like, "okay, so this person's conducting a survey and they ask you, 'do you think that the train tickets are too expensive?' And then, 'have you ever used the bullhorn?' So it's like, are they asking you, are you a protestor - somebody who's going to pitch a fit if the train tickets are too expensive? And if you're not the kind of person that's used a bullhorn, and you don't think that the train tickets are too expensive, then we can jack the price up." And given everything that they've done, all the commentary about capitalism, and exploitation of the environment, and corrupt politicians and everything, it would not surprise me if this game raised the prices on you for answering that survey the wrong way.

 

CAT:

<laugh>. Yeah. I don't know. I've never heard that, but that would be right on point. Yeah.

 

JESS:

<laugh>. So before I bought one of those not too expensive tickets, I went out of the train station because I wanted to explore a little bit. I noticed on the world map that there's a little bit of space north of Union Station that looked like it was explorable. So I headed out, I went to the northeast just a little bit - and lo and behold I came across a desert. Did you go to the desert, Cat?

 

CAT:

I did. I did the same thing. I was like, "oh, where's this go? Huh." And you know, I've played this game before, but it's been a while. And then yeah, found myself in the desert and then found myself in some terrifying battles that I almost didn't survive.

 

JESS:

Yeah. There's a lot of enemies there that will give you poison or like venom of some kind that does recurring damage, there's a tarantula and also a scorpion.

 

CAT:

Yeah. Was it a scorpion or was or did you fight a Titanees?

 

JESS:

Uh, I did not fight a Titanees.

 

CAT:

There's some conventional creatures out there and there's some other creatures out there, like Ultra Barbots, for example.

 

JESS:

Yeah. There's Ultra Barbots. There is the Omega Saucer and there's also my smashable enemy of this session, Nancy. Did you fight Nancy?

 

CAT:

No, I did not fight Nancy, but I know Nancy, I know her well.

 

JESS:

Nancy is a very intimidating-looking purple robot with big shoulders. That kind of slightly reminded me of Samus Aran.

 

CAT:

That similarity to Samus may be something a bit more universal because the design of Nancy and other, let's say fem-shaped robots in this game - because there are others - are all derivative of the gynoid design from Fritz Lang's 1928 film Metropolis.

 

JESS:

Oh. It also kinda looks like Bride of Pinbot.

 

CAT:

That is a, of course, a pinball mascot - I guess? Uh, character on a pinball table. That is another of the many storied pieces of science fiction iconography that is derivative of Metropolis. This extends all the way to C-3PO. The aesthetics all over this film are massively, massively influential to the entirety of sci-fi, but none more so than the quote unquote "gynoid" - the female robot. If you want to check out other pieces of media that are adjacent to EarthBound, I would highly, highly, highly suggest Metropolis. If you want the easy version, check out the Giorgio Moroder edition from the 1980s, which has a pop soundtrack to this silent film. Once you're super-duper into that, go all in on the over three hour version. You won't be disappointed, if you love the Moroder version.

 

JESS:

I didn't explore the desert too much. It did have some interesting music in it, which I thought was pretty cool. A very sort of like western-inspired jaunty tune type thing - but I didn't spend a lot of time there because the enemies were scary.

 

CAT:

So what's happened here is the game has really opened up here. If you're leveled high enough... Yeah, you can go out there. You can do whatever you want! You can go to all three of those towns. You can go anywhere. It is now an especially non-linear game. One might even call - if they wanted to use a game design buzzword - they might even call it an "open world game".

 

JESS:

Just be careful where you go.

 

CAT:

<laugh> Exactly. And gosh, if I had encountered Nancy, because of my status as a Metropolis fangirl, she definitely would've been my most smashable enemy. But alas. I'm glad to have made it outta the desert alive and kind of glad that I didn't see Nancy for that specific reason.

 

JESS:

Yeah. Well, Lloyd didn't make it alive, but that's neither here nor there.

 

CAT:

Oh, no.

 

JESS:

Ghost Lloyd rode the train and we got to the next town. So the train's really cool. It kinda looks like a cat wearing sunglasses.

 

CAT:

<laugh> The sprite of the train?

 

JESS:

Yes.

 

CAT:

A kind of Cat Bus kind of energy. Okay.

 

JESS:

Yeah.

 

CAT:

I never thought of that.

 

JESS:

I was getting Cat Bus energy from the train.

 

CAT:

Nice. Nice.

 

JESS:

It was very cool. <Laugh>. So when you arrive at Reindeer Station, you get off the train, you're immediately approached by a woman who asks you if you're going to Snowman and if you say yes, then she says, "I found this hat. I believe it's the property of a girl who lives there. Please take it to her." And then she walks away.

 

CAT:

Did you check the uh, the hat by any chance?

 

JESS:

Uh, no, I did not, actually. I guess I probably should have. What does it say when you check it?

 

CAT:

There's a name embroidered on the lining inside - it's "Ana".

 

JESS:

Oh, really? Okay. Well that makes sense. Guess we just gotta take Ana her hat back to her and she's like, "okay, you're finally here. Let's go." <laugh>.

 

CAT:

<laugh> Uh-huh. That could happen.

 

JESS:

Could be. Yeah.

 

CAT:

Reindeer is an interesting place - because it is very large and also in the scope of the game is kind of optional. It's just a whole town that has a lot of stuff going on. There's plenty of reasons to be there, but there's not a plot reason.

 

JESS:

It's very just like physically large. There's a lot of farms that are outside sort of the main city area. And there's a few NPCs that are talking about an old man on the mountain. One of them says, "the old man on the mountain is so generous, he'll give you as much as you could possibly carry." Somebody else says "high in the mountains, lives an old man. Legends say he hasn't had a cold in 300 years." And my response to that was, "uh, I think you buried the lead there a little bit. There's an old man who's 300 years old!"

 

CAT:

Right. <laugh>. Well, it's just legends, I mean, who knows. Who could say. I take it you haven't, uh, tracked down this old man?

 

JESS:

I guess not. I kind of went looking for him and found some other stuff, but I guess I haven't found the old man yet. I thought maybe he was on Mt. Itoi And we wouldn't find him until later or something like that.

 

CAT:

This is a part of the game that is a full-blown side quest. It's not a big one, but it really does make you go outta your way to do something... And who knows why. <laugh> We will explore that momentarily as we work our way through the highs and lows of the very troubled town of Reindeer.

 

JESS:

There's a flu that's going around apparently. And so I imagine that someone who hasn't had a cold in 300 years, you know, maybe just cause he lives by himself, but maybe there's something else going on there. Regardless, it seems like a lot of people are suffering from this flu.

 

CAT:

You mentioned the farms - like, this is a very interesting piece of the game aesthetically because you walk from the train station through a rural region, through a bunch of cornfields and so forth. And depending on how you go, like, you can walk through the woods a little and find yourself in a residential section or you can head further south and find yourself in a bigger city. Reindeer's major industries are commerce and agriculture. And according to the Encyclopedia, "this was originally a wealthy, peaceful town where the elite, now retired from the job scene, could take it easy and live out their twilight years. But their wealth attracted scoundrels like thieves, dine and dashers, and conmen. Once you've left the high-end neighborhood, after the station, and taken your first step into a town overrun with crime, you're sure to smell on the air how intense the wealth disparity is."

 

JESS:

I figured there was something like that going on. One of the NPCs is a little girl that says, "you thought I was going to beg for food, didn't you? I wouldn't do that even though I'm ever so hungry."

 

CAT:

Yeah. There's two characters that look aesthetically, like I suppose a ragamuffin type. There's another one who says, "give me something, whatever it is, just give it to me. Gimmie, gimme! Please gimmie! Why won't you give it to me? I said, 'please.'" You can give them literally anything. If you do give them something - to show their gratitude, they give you a fleabag.

 

JESS:

Okay. So it doesn't change depending on what you give them.

 

CAT:

No.

 

JESS:

I gave them a magic herb and got the fleabag back and I was like, "okay, well that seems a pretty like for like exchange."

 

CAT:

<laugh> Well, the fleabag can be a very useful in-battle item that anyone can use.

 

JESS:

Yeah, for sure. But they also say, "I'm thinking of something nice to give you."

 

CAT:

Yeah. I guess their impression of something nice is, uh, is a bag of fleas.

 

JESS:

<laugh>.

 

CAT:

Um, which, uh, you know, that's not a good look for the game, I suppose.

 

JESS:

Sure.

 

CAT:

But it also is, uh, it's critical of the rich, uh, as well. For example, there's someone who says, "have you ever thrown food out into the field? Well, it's a game, but it's pretty wasteful."

 

JESS:

Mm.

 

CAT:

Just like, yeah: "oh yeah. We play a game where we throw perfectly good food into a field!"

 

JESS:

There's also a woman that eats five pizzas and then runs away without paying.

 

CAT:

Yeah. You talk to a couple police officers that all have these stories about people who have done some kind of weird petty crime, and in all the cases you can sort of bump into those people elsewhere in the town.

 

JESS:

Yeah. I ain't no rat. I wasn't turning anybody in.

 

CAT:

Did you happen to meet the man with the slick mustache?

 

JESS:

I did! He forced some money on me.

 

CAT:

Yeah. You get $420 from that guy.

 

JESS:

$420, huh?

 

CAT:

Yeah. Now it's your problem!

 

JESS:

I didn't know exactly how much it was, but that's good to know.

 

CAT:

I don't know if that's a coded message, but I would like to think it is.

 

JESS:

Well, he asks you if you'll take the money from him and if you say "no," he says, "just do what I tell you" and you hear the noise - the little sound effect that plays whenever you get an item.

 

CAT:

Yeah.

 

JESS:

And one of the cops, after he asks you, "have you seen the man with a slick mustache? I lost track of him." And if you say "no", he is like, "oh, well. I'm gonna go check some traffic violations."

 

CAT:

Yeah. The cops are lazy.

 

JESS:

There's also somebody that says: "the store will buy good medicine for good money" <laugh>. And I'm like, "what about bad medicine for bad money?"

 

CAT:

<laugh> In this town? Probably. But that medicine thing is another clue about the old man.

 

JESS:

Oh really?

 

CAT:

Suspense. I'm building suspense. There is a cold in town, as you mentioned. I would say that we're dealing with a pandemic here - because as we'll find out, it's not just Reindeer, it's also Snowman.

 

JESS:

Really? Okay. There was somebody who was just outside the hospital that said, "I heard someone died from a cold, just a cold."" And then inside the hospital there is a man walking around that says, I don't have a cold. *cough* *cough* I'm just talking to myself. *cough* *cough*"

 

CAT:

Yeah. And then another person says, "this year's flu is so bad, I lost so much weight." So if anybody's got any kind of trauma from the pandemic, uh, this <laugh> this, this part of the game is... A little dicey.

 

JESS:

It's hitting a little too close to home here lately.

 

CAT:

<laugh> Yeah. And, and talking to these people, for the most part, will give you colds in the game that need to be remedied.

 

JESS:

I figured that out and went back... I went to the doctor and was like, "cure me!" But he charged a lot more than the doctor in Merrysville.

 

CAT:

But if only you found the old man... Hmm!

 

JESS:

I know. I gotta find the old man. He hasn't gotten a cold in 300 years, so he is gotta teach me his secret.

 

CAT:

Before we venture outside of town and talk to this old man, let's hear from the other people around town, because there are some absolutely wild and crazy things happening with the dialogue in this town that I love so much. So the neighborhood up in the upper lefthand side of the town, that is singled out as being a residential area, is specifically a wealthy neighborhood. But in this wealthy neighborhood, there's a man... Standing weirdly by the side of a house, facing away from you - like facing kind of towards the house. And he says, "you startled me! For college credit. I study, uh, indoor architecture. That's the whole truth and nothing but the truth."

 

JESS:

<laugh>. Yeah. Yeah.

 

CAT:

So you've either found a person who's doing either one of two things: either they are a criminal who is canvassing a wealthy home to steal from, or they are a voyeur.

 

JESS:

Mm-hmm.

 

CAT:

Either way. Wow. <laugh>.

 

JESS:

Yeah. It's not a good look whichever way you go with that. But, uh...

 

CAT:

Or a good excuse for that matter! "For college credit, I study indoor architecture. Don't talk to me, kid!"

 

JESS:

Indoor architecture! What does that even mean? <laugh>

 

CAT:

I dunno.

 

JESS:

One of my favorite things that somebody said in this town was, "I love this town. I wouldn't be caught dead in Spookane." And then somebody else says, "this place has become dangerous, but it's still a much better place than Ellay " - which is spelled E-L-L-A-Y, but I have to assume that that is meant to sound like you're saying L.A., the abbreviation for Los Angeles.

 

CAT:

Yes. Except that that is just in the English version, because Ellay is another one of the name changes to the towns. But the intention is for it to be a parallel to Los Angeles - per the translation.

 

JESS:

I see. It's just, you know, it's making fun of Los Angeles, but in a really weird, passive aggressive way.

 

CAT:

Yeah. <laugh> And what you've stumbled onto here is a really cool component of this part of the game, which is: it is a bigger world. You're hearing people talk about places that you haven't gone yet, but are going to go to. Now, your entire dynamic of how you're playing the game has changed. You need to take trains to get from one place to another. I mean, you could walk, but you might end up fighting dangerous enemies or, just walking for a really, really long time, which could be... Very annoying. So with all this traveling, like you're gonna be staying at hotels a lot, which brings us to a piece of music that I think is quite important. There's a little few note long jingle, let's say, that plays when you have slept in a hotel. It sounds like: da-duh-duh-da-duh-duh-da-duh-duh-daaahh. And that is consistent between this game and EarthBound... and there's a lot of conjecture that that is meant to be a musical reference to "Good Morning" by The Beatles, where the chorus is them saying "good morning" a bunch, but is "good morning, good morning, good morning-aaaah." And sonically it's even more convincing when you hear it with more tones in EarthBound.

 

JESS:

Hmm. Okay. We'll have to revisit that when we get to EarthBound.

 

CAT:

And speaking of being on the road, I finally used all of my magic herbs in my big bag.

 

JESS:

<laugh> Did you find it useful?

 

CAT:

Well, I did find it useful. I mean, that's a bunch of.

 

JESS:

Okay.

 

CAT:

It's a bunch of free health items that take up only one inventory space. I'd say it's very useful.

 

JESS:

Mm-hmm.

 

CAT:

"When the big bag was emptied, it disappeared into thin air."

 

JESS:

Mm. Okay. Mysterious.

 

CAT:

Yeah.

 

JESS:

As you're walking around, there is a "good looking boy" who says, "oh yeah! Are you ready? All right!" And if you say "yes," he says, "hey, wanna hear my song?" And if you say "yes" to that, "the good looking boy sang a quite unique song. Tom did not want to remember this strange melody." <Laugh>

 

CAT:

,Laughs> And it plays music for you-

 

JESS:

Yeah, it does. It's just a little ditty.

 

CAT:

Yeah. It's like, it's like the rock music that you've heard in the game so far, but it's a little slower. It's a little stranger. It's not bad.

 

JESS:

Mm-hmm.

 

CAT:

It doesn't sound discordant, but apparently it does not suit the musical tastes of Ninten one bit.

 

JESS:

No, I just love how self-reflective that was. It was kind of poking fun at itself, you know, about how "Ninten remembered that melody," but now this time it's like, "no, he doesn't want to remember this strange melody." <Laugh>. That was just really good.

 

CAT:

"Hey gamer? are you wandering around this entire world trying to find the melodies that you missed? Well, this isn't one of them. <laughs> Try again later."

 

JESS:

I'm sorry. Ninten, but your melody's in another castle <laugh>,

 

CAT:

Speaking of melodies, there's a woman in this town who says nothing, but if you use telepathy next to her, it says, "did you hear the dragon's lullaby?"

 

JESS:

Oh, that's curious... That's very curious. I don't think I ran into that NPC, but that's very, very interesting.

 

CAT:

And there's another weird little Magicant reference nearby. There's a man who's kind of like wandering around a little copse of trees...

 

JESS:

Yeah. This guy.

 

CAT:

<laughs> Yeah. He says, "I'm a man whose existence does not matter. My importance is so small that I may not be missed, should I disappear."

 

JESS:

Yeah... That was... that definitely caught my attention. And of course that is seems to be referencing the Forgotten Man-

 

CAT:

Yeah.

 

JESS:

-At the end of Magicant, just before you exit and get back to the real world. It begs a lot of questions about the nature of Magicant and how people tap into it. At first, I was kind of thinking that it was like your Great Grandmother Maria's sort of like dream fantasy world, but now I'm wondering if it's not much more of a collective experience for everybody in the world.

 

CAT:

Yeah. It's certainly possible. Or if it is part of Maria's dream specifically, maybe it takes up so much space in the collective unconscious that people's own minds butt up against it.

 

JESS:

Yeah.

 

CAT:

A final piece of dialogue that I want to address that I teased, actually, in the last episode - is a reference to Stand By Me, that was changed. In the English version there's a character that says, "I remember walking through the tunnel when I was young. I went to see what was on the other side." But it has been changed, perhaps because of a very specific reference, maybe not because it was a pop culture reference. In Japanese, the person says, "one time when I was little, I walked through the tunnel. I went to see a dead body."

 

JESS:

Mm. Yep. That's pretty much the plot of Stand By Me <laugh>

 

CAT:

Or the Stephen King short story that it's based on, "The Body".

 

JESS:

Yeah.

 

CAT:

Stand By Me casts a massive shadow in Japan. In fact, it was even mentioned by the director of the beautiful live action commercial for MOTHER on Japanese television. There was a tagline for the game, which was "guaranteed masterpiece". And in the MOTHER Encyclopedia, the director said, "'guaranteed masterpiece' was to include the meaning - we don't mind one bit asking you to compare this game to masterpieces from other genres like Dandelion Wine, or the Never-Ending Story, or Stand By Me -"

 

JESS:

Wow.

 

CAT:

"-And I believe that that's just about how far it's already come."

 

JESS:

This game was very self-aware about what it was trying to do and what was trying to say.

 

CAT:

Yeah. And not just Itoi, but any collaborators or media personalities that got involved in the promotional push for it. They all seem to believe in it at that scale.

 

JESS:

There's also somebody who is standing inside of the hotel that says, "hi Ninten, I'm a little busy. I'll catch you later."

 

CAT:

Yeah. I don't know.

 

JESS:

<laugh>

 

CAT:

I don't know what that guy's deal is.

 

JESS:

Nothing to expand on with that?

 

CAT:

Not that I remember. Why does Ninten know this guy? Why does this guy know Ninten? I have no clue. It's a little ominous and I'm hoping that maybe I've just forgotten something cool that happens later, but I don't know.

 

JESS:

Yeah.

 

CAT:

The department store in Reindeer has an interesting feature. At the top, there's an unmarked store that sells bombs, laser beams, and most importantly plasma beams.

 

JESS:

Yeah, I saw that. It was an unnamed store and I was like, "ooh, what's this place got?" And it's like, okaaaay, lots of weapons!

 

CAT:

<laugh>. Yep. Perfect for weak of body, but strong of mind little boys to blast things to pieces.

 

JESS:

<laugh>. Yeah. But it's like, you know, do they need a license for that? I mean, why is this unmarked store up there. It's just kind of quirky, you know?

 

CAT:

Yeah. And if you haven't picked up a plasma beam, gosh, you should really pick up a plasma beam.

 

JESS:

Okay.

 

CAT:

It's gonna make a big difference.

 

JESS:

I'll do that next time. Before I went to Snowman to return the hat, I ventured out a little bit from Reindeer and I headed west. I saw there was a sign that said that there was a healer, if you went further west. I found the healer and the healer's house. And it really wasn't that big of a deal, just a old man that was inside who will heal some particular status ailments if you ask him to. But then I kept on going northward and I found another house. And in inside this house there was two individuals. There was what looked like a younger man and an older man. And the younger man's like, "I can't understand anything that this guy's saying." And if you go talk to the older man, it's just a lot of like mumbling, like, "mrrmmmphhmmhmm," like that. But then if you use telepathy on him, he says, "I can't speak very well without my dentures." <Laugh>. And so I started looking around for this dude's dentures. Uh, and I couldn't find them anywhere... so I just, I left them for later, but I thought that was such a like... Who's this person?!

 

CAT:

Well, my stars and garters, Jess, you found the reclusive old sage!

 

JESS:

Okay. The old sage... All right.

 

CAT:

Yeah. That's the 300 year old guy you just talked to the brain of.

 

JESS:

It is!?

 

CAT:

Yeah.

 

JESS:

He wasn't on a mountain.

 

CAT:

Well, his house is on a hill.

 

JESS:

<laugh>. A hill is not a mountain!

 

CAT:

The game is still impressionistic! And, uh, his weird little chateau is... or maybe the tails are just too tall... But, uh, I guess that's a mountain. I don't know.

 

JESS:

Okay. Well then I guess I did find the old man... "Old man at the top of the mountain" <laugh>

 

CAT:

<laugh> Yeah. They did say, "high in the mountains" is specifically the piece of text. And that is not what's happening there. But that is the old man. If you walk outside the house where he lives, you'll see to the left, there is a signpost at the bottom of the elevated piece of ground that the house is on. And if you figure out how to walk your way around that little area and get to that signpost... The sign reads: "now entering the Mislay Triangle! Watch out!" And then this note: "someone lost his dentures right under the sign."

 

JESS:

Okay. So I guess you don't want to go into, what was it? The Mislay Triangle?

 

CAT:

Yeah, the Mislay Triangle as in like it's place where you mislay things.

 

JESS:

Okay,

 

CAT:

<laugh> Like the Bermuda Triangle, but smaller.

 

JESS:

Yeah.

 

CAT:

And on the ground

 

JESS:

Bermuda Triangle for items. Okay. So that's where you find the dentures then, I guess.

 

CAT:

Yep. Once you get those dentures back, well, he reveals himself to be the old sage, and shares with you his secret recipe of the mouthwash that he has been developing all this time - that is the secret to his longevity. And this is where my Mother, She Quote comes in, he says, "gargle often, gargle proud, gargle strong. And if you catch a cold, gargling will help."

 

JESS:

<laughs> Oh, that's so good! That's so, so good! I love that.

 

CAT:

<laugh>

 

JESS:

Oh! Gargle away! Everybody gargle! Gargle for your health!

 

CAT:

<laugh>. So, now he can talk again, his grandson can talk to him again, and something very interesting happens. There was that one person that said that weird thing about "he'll give you as much as you can possibly carry," but the question is of what?

 

JESS:

Mm-hmm.

 

CAT:

Well, he fills every spare item slot for every character in your party with mouthwash

 

JESS:

<laugh>

 

CAT:

Which would be extraordinarily annoying were it not for the fact... That mouthwash retails for $175 and it resells for $87.

 

JESS:

Ohhh.

 

CAT:

So you can fill up your whole inventory with hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of dollars. He and his grandson are so grateful to you, his grandson will continue to sell you mouthwash - the special recipe of this old man - for $10 a-pop, instead of $175. So you can just... Make money. If you wanna go to the money factory, that's where you go to get money in this game.

 

JESS:

The money factory for the mouthwash. Okay. "Toothpaste companies hate this one easy trick!"

 

CAT:

<laugh> It's important to note: you think, "oh, well what good is that? What does mouthwash do?" Mouthwash, in this game, for reasons that I cannot tell you - I do not know - mouthwash cures the cold.

 

JESS:

I figured as, as soon as the old man who has never caught a cold in 300 years has given you mouthwash, I figured that must be what it does.

 

CAT:

Yep. And considering how many people are suffering from a flu right now... You need it.

 

[plucky music begins to play under hosts]

 

JESS:

Yeah. You should start handing that out to everybody.

 

CAT:

Well, maybe THEY should have found that old man's dentures, huh?

 

JESS:

Alright. Yeah, that's true. You gotta put in the work.

 

CAT:

<laugh>.

 

[music swells and continues]

 

CAT:

So Jess, when I asked you to play the section of the game... Because it's wide open, I was trying to be as cryptic as possible. Next episode, we are going to go to Snowman, but you and I have both already been there. We won't talk about that part of the game yet. We'll do that next episode. But we will talk about one thing:

 

[music fades out]

 

CAT:

There's only one phone to save from in Snowman, and should you happen to pick up the phone there... Which is something that you don't have to do at all... a very strange thing happens.

 

JESS:

So Dad starts talking to you, he says, "this is your dad. Excuse me, I need to see the person playing this game." And you can say yes or no. And if you say "yes," he says, "hello there, I appreciate your kindness to Ninten. I'm the boy's dad. Could you please let me know your name? Thank you for your cooperation." And at that point you have another text entry window that pops up and you can put in your name. And once you do that, he says, "thank you for spending your time with me. I too have urgent things to do, so I better go now." Slam! <Laugh>.

 

CAT:

Yeah.

 

JESS:

Uh... Wow. Wow! How wild was that moment-

 

CAT:

<laughs>

 

JESS:

-When suddenly the game is addressing you directly? Are you one of Ninten's friends that's along for the ride? This is so much like Never-Ending Story where it's like the audience... We were there the whole time! We were with him when he helped the canaries! You were with him when he went to the magical dreamlands! You were with him when he tried to wake the dragon! It's, it's, it's incredible!

 

CAT:

<laugh>

 

JESS:

I'm exploding! I'm spontaneously combusting from this one little moment to the game. ,sigh> This was incredible. I cannot believe that they did this. Having this type of fourth wall breaking direct interaction with you as the player being addressed in this game.

 

CAT:

Yeah. Isn't it just? It won't be the last time that something like this happens in this series, but doing it here, in 1989, is unprecedented, and the way that it's done... It's not just asking you for your name. Having this dad character, that you've been sort of passively interacting with the whole time, talking to you, and thanking you for taking care of his kid, is very interesting. As is his tone: "thank you for your cooperation." Begs more questions as to who the hell is this guy and what the hell does he do?

 

JESS:

Dad is the console. I'm telling you, he was the Famicon. He was the Nintendo. That's why the kid's called Ninten!

 

CAT:

<laugh> What does that mean?

 

JESS:

Your dad-character is the console! He's the one who's like directing everything. Ninten is his child. You're interacting with him. He's saving the game for you.

 

CAT:

Yeah. But why?

 

JESS:

B-because Tron! Because Tron is a thing. That's why.

 

CAT:

<laugh>

 

JESS:

The Grid. Okay?

 

CAT:

Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. So, so your dad got hit by a Shiva laser.

 

JESS:

Yes.

 

CAT:

And was put inside the Grid. But he's never been able to know how to explain it to his wife - that he can only communicate through the phone line - because they have a modem.

 

JESS:

Yeah. Something like that... No, I think literally the character of Dad is supposed to be representative of the console that you are playing the game on.

 

CAT:

I've heard a lot of theories about Ness and Ninten's dad, but never once have I heard the theory of: "he got Tron-ed". <laugh>

 

JESS:

<laugh>. I don't mean he literally got Tron-ed. I literally think that, in this weird impressionistic way, the character of dad is you interfacing directly with the console that you're playing the game on.

 

CAT:

And that is deeply fascinating <laugh> and very likely! It's one of the best theories I've heard as to like, why... I don't know. But it certainly is extremely compelling and anthropomorphizes the system that you're playing the game on in a way that I'm pretty sure I've never seen or heard of before... If that's true.

 

[plucky 8-bit music begins playing beneath the hosts]

 

JESS:

Like why is the main character's name Ninten? Why in EarthBound is the main character's name Ness - like N.E.S., but with an extra "S" on the end for "Super". They couldn't name the character "Snes", so they just called him "Ness".

 

CAT:

Undeniable that these characters default names are references to the consoles they're on.

 

JESS:

Because their dad is the console.

 

CAT:

<laugh>

 

JESS:

I'm gonna chill out and think about this for a while. Uh, so until next time, I'm Jess.

 

CAT:

I'm Cat.

 

JESS:

And that's all she wrote.

 

[music stops]

 

[upbeat music plays]

 

CAT

“MOTHER,” She Wrote is made possible thanks to the generous support of our Patreon Producers: Amber Devereux, Becky Scott Fairley, Bob Hogan, C B, Joe “Tank” Ricciardelli, Josh King, McDibble Deluxe, MjolnirMK86, Patrick Webster, Sean Hutchinson, Sean T. Redd…

 

And our Super-Deluxe Executive Patreon Producers:

BigBadShadowMan, Marcus Larsson, and Jaimeson LaLone

 

JESS

You can join the team at Patreon.com/OmniverseMedia! And if you think “MOTHER,” She Wrote is simply smashing, please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or Podchaser  - and be sure to subscribe via your favorite podcast player.

 

CAT

This series is recorded and produced in Orlando, Florida and Louisville, Kentucky on lands stolen from their Indigenous people: the Timucua and Seminole, and Shawnee, Cherokee, Osage, Seneca-Iroquois, Miami, Hopewell and Adena.

 

JESS

Acknowledgement of the first peoples of these lands, and the lasting repercussions of colonization is just the beginning of the restorative work that is necessary. Through awareness, we can prompt allyship, action, and ultimately decolonization. 

 

CAT

For links to aid Indigenous efforts and to learn more about the first nations of the land where you live: visit omniverse.media/landback

 

JESS

“MOTHER,” She Wrote is written, produced, and performed by me: Jessica Mudd.

 

CAT

And me: Cat Blackard. Our original score is composed and performed by Jess. And this episode features additional voices by Dany.

 

JESS

Special thanks to Kenisu for his invaluable work translating the MOTHER Encyclopedia. Find a link to his translation, other media we’ve referenced, and full episode transcripts at mothershewrote.earth

 

CAT

“Mother,” She Wrote is not affiliated with Nintendo, Shigesato Itoi, or any rights holders of the MOTHER and EarthBound intellectual properties. Please play the games' official Nintendo releases.