Leave the gloomy ghouls of Spookane behind and head to the sweltering Yucca Desert. Surviving this hostile environment would be hard enough if it weren't teaming with aliens! Ninten and friends will have to hone their skills to stay alive and make some deals with a wacky war veteran to ensure that the desert gives up all its secrets. This sprawling expanse is filled with them - many more than even the game suggests!
LINKS
CREDITS
Written, Produced, & Performed by:
Cat Blackard & Jessica Mudd
Original Score & Sound Design:
Jessica Mudd
Additional Voices:
Sarah Rhea Werner as Ana
Christa Mudd as Nancy
John Mudd as The Pilot
Album Art: Cat Blackard
Sprites: Benichi
Special Thanks: kenisu
TRANSCRIPT:
[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 violence, gun use, severe injury, burns, and death.
JESS
Please use your best judgment when listening… and take care of yourself.
CAT & JESS
Love youuuu.
[phone disconnect sound]
[Strange low ambience, glittering, and slow running water]
NINTEN
Dear Mom, it was so good to see you and Mimmie and Minnie. Thanks again for rolling out the red carpet for Lloyd and Ana. Being at home, gorging myself on pizza, and sleeping in my own bed meant… everything. We all needed it. Not just because of what we’d been through. Having those good memories fresh in our minds was like armor against what came next. The train bridge to Youngtown was still out, so, with no better option, we decided to cross Yucca Desert. I know you asked us not to but, well, obviously I’m writing to you, so - we’re fine, we’re all in one piece… and in the end we needed to be there. It’s just… Even though we made it… I’m sorry Mom. [he sobs] I thought we could handle anything. I thought I was unstoppable. The truth is. If it hadn’t been for Ana and Lloyd - I wouldn’t be here. In our defense: we thought we were being smart about it. Lloyd took going to the desert really seriously. He said:
NINTEN & LLOYD
If we are to embark on an expedition into a harsh environment, we must be prepared.
[The ambience shifts to an elementary school. A bell rings.]
NINTEN
We’ve got plenty of sunscreen.
ANA
And canteens of water.
NINTEN
And cool shades.
LLOYD
Protection from the elements, yes. But the extraterrestrial presence is growing. It’s clear that their reconnaissance has ended and the true invasion is just on the horizon. Do you honestly think we’re ready?!
[Ninten and Ana say nothing.]
LLOYD
That’s right. We’re not. But we will be.
NINTEN
When we passed through Merrysville, Lloyd had us swing by Twinkle Elementary where he met up with this pale, weird science teacher who was an inventor on the side. He sold us some… equipment. The less said the better but… Lloyd seemed pleased.
[Desolate ambience]
ANA
With our backpacks full, we ventured through the woods, beyond Union Station. The treeline fell away, and before us a vast expanse of sand sprawled into the horizon. It was blinding and intimidating.
NINTEN
Gosh.
LLOYD
…Well…
ANA
I took Ninten and Lloyd’s hands. We didn’t have to say a thing. Together, we took one big step into the wasteland. At first, Yucca Desert seemed truly lifeless. Not even buzzards circled overhead. We saw bones of long-deceased animals; sun bleached where they’d fallen, grinning wryly, and whispering with the wind. It wasn’t long before we tried to fill the nothingness around us.
NINTEN
If…there was Orange Julius…
ANA
Oh gosh!
NINTEN
-in this Dessert Desert, I’d… organize…
ANA
Mm!
NINTEN
Heh… Oozey orangutan organs.
ANA
Ugh. Well… if there was… Pixy Stix in this Dessert Desert, I’d… I don’t know… pickle a puppydog?
NINTEN
Ha ha! Sick!
ANA
I don’t like the dare parts of this.
NINTEN
It’s your game.
ANA
I just wanted to do alphabetical desserts.
LLOYD
[He sigs]
I appreciate that we’re all bored, but this is making me very hungry.
NINTEN
For pickled puppydogs?
LLOYD
[He sigs]
Practically!
NINTEN
Well you’re up next, poindexter.
LLOYD
I forfeit.
ANA
Aw, Lloyd.
LLOYD
If you know a dessert that starts with a Q, please educate me.
[An alien trumpeting sound echoes from the distance.]
ANA
We all heard that, right?
The desert, it turned out, was filled with life - but not all of it was from Earth.
[The creatures sound again and continue]
ANA
Two alien creatures: like leopards with giraffe necks and furry funnels for snouts bounded over the dunes.
[Action music begins]
LLOYD:
We should… try to
ANA:
Communicate with them?
LLOYD:
Ensnare them… with the Slime Generator!
[He cocks a mechanism into place. The aliens short as they run.]
NINTEN:
Here they come!
[The aliens gasp as they get closer]
NINTEN:
The aliens pounced! One dove at Ana and I, but Lloyd aimed his new gizmo at it and took it down. A jet of blue and yellow foam splattered against the alien mid-air. The foam turned into a green slime that hardened like a net and pinned the alien to the ground.
[The machine makes two bursts, it impacts the alien, which screams and the foam makes a grinding noise as it solidifies]
NINTEN
That was cool and all, but Lloyd left himself open - and the other alien came down on him full-force!
LLOYD:
Ah-!
[Lloyd screams, muffled by a sucking alien snout]
NINTEN:
It latched onto Lloyd’s face with its weird vacuum mouth…
NINTEN:
I’m comin’ Lloyd! Don’t let it lay an egg in you! Aaaagh! Let! Go! You! Jerk!
[Ninten’s words are punctuated by strikes with his baseball bat. The alien pops off of Lloyd’s face.]
LLOYD:
[Gasping, spitting]
[The alien trumpets in retreat]
NINTEN:
After I beat it back, it retreated into the desert.
ANA:
Lloyd! Are you okay?
LLOYD:
[Gasping, sputtering]
If - there was… Quik.
ANA:
Quik?
LLOYD:
[Sputtering]
Nestle Quik - in this Dessert Desert…
ANA:
Oh Lloyd…
LLOYD:
I’d quash q-Q*Bert… Ugh …Q-quench…?
NINTEN:
It had totally dehydrated him!
ANA:
Oh! Here!
[She unscrews the canteen]
LLOYD:
[Hungrily gulps down water, then gasps]
NINTEN:
But that was the least of our problems.
[A mechanical whirring, like a wind up toy faintly approaches in the background and then stops.]
NINTEN:
Uh… There’s um… A - lady?
NANCY:
[robotic]
Hi! I’m Nancy!
LLOYD:
A… g-gynoid?
NINTEN:
Move! Move! Move!
[A laser blast, followed by stomping feet and ominous bassy music]
NINTEN:
The invaders didn't stop coming, Mom. There were robot women that smiled at us while attacking - bionic scorpions alongside real scorpions. Were they trying to replace us? The desert was overrun. Not like an army - not yet anyway - but like they were gathering. I mean, who’d look here?
[A laser blast]
NINTEN
We hiked the desert all day, running and fighting.
[Something alien and mechanical whizzes by]
NINTEN
We’d try to disappear before reinforcements came but… We weren’t always so lucky.
[More laser blasts and some unusual mechanical noises, bleeping, possibly communication]
ANA:
What’s that boxy robot doing?
LLOYD:
Is it…? It’s repairing the Starman - pumping something into it-
[An explosion and a roar of flame as Ana uses her powers]
ANA:
I’ve got my hands full - somebody stop it!
[Ninten’s bad taps the ground]
NINTEN:
I’ve got it!
[A laser blast whizzes by]
NINTEN
Lloyd! Cover me!
[Lloyd shoots some plasma beams]
NINTEN
Yaaaa!
[Ninten hits the robot with his baseball bat]
LLOYD:
Wait! Ninten! That robot’s a walking power supply!
NINTEN:
So?!
[More hits landed on the robot]
LLOYD:
Stop hitting it! It could expl-
[A massive explosion, all goes quiet. Eventually peaceful music starts]
NINTEN:
I don’t remember much. I just remember that it was… peaceful. Like being underwater…
[strange noises wisp by]
NINTEN
-But dark all around - and warm.
[faint battle noises bubble up from the physical world]
NINTEN
I thought I could hear you somewhere, humming a lullaby.
LLOYD:
[muffled, out in the physical world, not this inner space]
These burns… I’ve never…
ANA:
[muffled, out in the physical world, not this inner space]
Lloyd, his heart’s stopped! Ninten!
NINTEN:
I was so tired. I thought, maybe I can just float here, just for a while… But then there was this bright light…
[a sudden pulse]
NINTEN:
[Gasping]
Ah-!
LLOYD:
Ninten!
ANA:
[Gasps]
NINTEN:
[coughing]
ANA:
[weakly]
You’re back…
NINTEN:
Ugh… Did I g-g-go somewhere?
LLOYD:
You were in a state of cardiac arrest! For over five minutes!
NINTEN:What?
LLOYD:
Your body was horribly burned!
ANA:
I’ve never been so scared in my life, Momma. We drug Ninten into a grove of cacti that towered over us, keeping us out of sight. I was trying to heal him like I had before. New skin grew over the burns, but his heart wouldn’t start. Then… I saw Ninten’s spirit leaving him. His ghost sat up, right in front of me, while his body stayed on the ground - l-like… like a teddy bear with the stuffing coming out. He looked up into the sky and then… I was so mad at him! I didn’t think - I just slammed his ghost into his body and with every fiber of my being I stitched that reckless, cocky, kindhearted boy’s soul back into place. [She sniffs back tears] In that moment, it was like - I knew him. I knew every blood vessel and bone. How fast his heart should beat. All the baby teeth left in his dumb smile. His body was broken, but when my hands touched his flesh, his flesh spoke to me. Like… Like a tape on rewind I put this humpty dumpty back together again and- [She sigs] And then we were lying on the sand, holding hands, looking up at the universe. The pink blossoms of the cacti shone white in the moonlight.
LLOYD:
Have you sustained brain damage?
NINTEN:
Uh? What? No!
ANA:
Lloyd, come down here and look at the stars.
LLOYD:
You want me to lie on the ground?
ANA:
Just come down here.
LLOYD:
[sighs]
Compliance.
NINTEN:
[Sighs]
Um… Was I… dead?
LLOYD and ANA:
Yes.
NINTEN:
Wow.
ANA:
And don’t you dare do that again.
NINTEN:
[laughs] I’ll, I’ll tr- I’ll try not to.
ANA:
This isn’t funny!
LLOYD:
[whispering]
You could give away our location.
ANA:
Ninten! I don’t know if I can do that again!
NINTEN:
No, no - it’s just that - I’m really happy! I’m- I’m really glad to be here! I mean - Look at this sky! Is that… the Milky Way?
ANA:
I… think so…
[The music changes to echoey calm tones]
NINTEN:
Wow! I love you both so much. So, so much!
ANA:
I love you too.
LLOYD:
I concur.
NINTEN:
Oh wow… Do you hear music?
ANA:
No…
NINTEN:
Are you sure? I mean… Listen… Does that cactus look like it has a face to you?
LLOYD:
You may genuinely have brain damage.
[More echoey notes emerge]
ANA:
Wait… I hear it too!
[The music begins to build]
ANA:
Ninten and I reached out with our minds…
[Organ music starts playing]
ANA
-and the ocean of stars pooled all around us.
ANA and NINTEN:
The cactus sang to us.
[The music becomes a psychedelic jam of melodies, bubbles, and shimmers]
ANA:
We could see the web of life beneath the surface. Endless interconnected spans of spidersilk, wet with phosphorescent dew… around us, within us, and reaching into the beyond….
NINTEN:
Size means nothing! We’re within a galaxy and there’s a galaxy inside us.
[The music swells and continues]
NINTEN
We’re all connected - and the melody?
ANA and NINTEN:
The melody is connected to everything.
[The song continues until it hard cuts to 8-bit, urgent music. There’s the sound of a biplane flying in the distance.]
LLOYD:
Snap out of it!
[He slaps Ninten]
NINTEN:
Ow.
ANA:
[Woozy noises]
LLOYD:
Plane!
ANA:
Huh? Oh my gosh!
NINTEN:
Izzat real?
[Footsteps as they run after it]
LLOYD
Hurry! It’s on a clear descent trajectory!
NINTEN:
I just died!
LLOYD:
No excuses!
ANA:
We charged across the sand, tumbling down dunes, chasing that dark shape against the stars as it got closer and closer to the earth, until-
[The music stops, there’s a sudden splash and yelps from the kids. Ninten starts laughing.]
ANA:
Water?!
NINTEN:
Woo! Ha ha ha!
ANA:
An oasis!? [laughing]
LLOYD:
I can’t swim!
NINTEN:
Dude, just stand up.
LLOYD:
Oh.
PILOT:
Uhh. Hello?
NINTEN:
The pilot was old.He looked like something from a movie - in a leather cap with goggles and a scarf. He had a permanent camp set up at the oasis with a tent, and a fire. There was a worn strip of flat land that he used as the runway for his biplane - and parked next to it? Was-
LLOYD:
A PEABODY TANK!?
[Lloyd’s playful theme starts playing]
PILOT:
Oh. Yeah. They used to run maneuvers out here during the war. Found her all broken down, so I fixed her up!
LLOYD:
IT RUNS!?
PILOT:
Shoots too. Wanna take her for a spin?
LLOYD:
[the noise of Lloyd’s brain breaking]
ANA:
Oh, we’ve lost him.
PILOT:
Haha! You look so happy about that. Yeah, I do air tours of the desert, the ruins... Ten flights gets you a ride in this ol’ hell buggy.
[He knocks on the side of the tank]
NINTEN:
Woah! Let’s go!
PILOT:
You kids’ enthusiasm is enough to grow my hair back. But first things first: a good night’s rest.
LLOYD:
How can I possibly sleep?!
[Lloyd’s theme ends.]
NINTEN:
That night, we slept out under the stars. And the next morning? We took to the skies.
[plane engine noise, adventurous music]
ANA
Hey, look at that!
NINTEN
Woahh!
ANA
[laughs]
NINTEN
Wooo!
PILOT:
[talking loudly, projecting]
Now coming up on your starboard side are the ruins. After the war, a lot of us thought we could make our fortune as treasure hunters. They called us the “Ransackers”.
ANA:
[talking loudly, projecting]
Ruins of what?
PILOT:
[talking loudly, projecting]
No one’s sure! We never found any treasure. A lotta experts have come out, but it’s stumped ‘em all. These days most folks say it musta been built by little green men! Ancient aliens! Ha ha ha!
NINTEN:
[talking loudly, projecting]
Waaaait! I remember this now! “Eagleand’s underground pyramid”!
ANA:
[talking loudly, projecting]
You must have seen the saucers.
PILOT:
[talking loudly, projecting]
Oh yeah! I’ve seen foo fighters ever since the war. More and more’a them lately, but that’s progress for you. Dunno if they’re our boys or the Ruskies, but hooo they sure can fly! Here come the ruins! Hang on! I’m gonna take her low!
NINTEN:
It looked like a crumbling maze - stone walls, two stories tall, half-buried in sand. In the center was a courtyard and a temple. …And then we saw a glint of metal to the West. There was an object as big as the ruin walls.
ANA:
[talking loudly, projecting]
What is that?
PILOT:
[talking loudly, projecting]
I don’t know.
NINTEN:
As the plane zoomed over we could see it: an enormous robot.
[a shining sound illustrates the glint of the robot]
NINTEN
A war machine - And it was guarding the ruins.
[The adventurous music stops and gives way to desert ambience]
LLOYD:
Hmm. Given their increased presence here, it must be an alien base.
ANA:
Maybe, but what about the cloud on Mt. Itoi?
LLOYD:
They can have two bases.
NINTEN:
This temple is thousands of years old. Maybe aliens built it, but maybe not. It- it might not be the same aliens.
ANA:
Well, maybe they’re just hiding out in there.
NINTEN:
…Or maybe they’re looking for something.
ANA:
Maybe they’re guarding something from us.
NINTEN:
Maybe… All I know is when we flew over the temple I felt something.
ANA:
…Maybe we don’t have to go now, we could make a plan…
LLOYD:
Maybe you’re forgetting we have a tank! Armored defenses! 76 millimeters of robot blasting firepower! Piercing and high explosive ammunition!
ANA:
…You’re 11 years old. Ninten just died.
NINTEN:
Wouldn’t have died if I was in a tank though…
PILOT:
Ah, go ahead and take her for a spin. There’s nothing out here you can do any harm to.
LLOYD:
Ha! We’ll see about that.
[He closes the tank door]
LLOYD:
[muffled mischievous laughter from within the tank]
[The tank engine rumbles to life and Lloyd’s theme, rendered in a heavy metal style begins]
NINTEN:
The tank - oh my god, Mom. It is so choice. If you have the means, I highly recommend taking one for a spin. It’ll change your life. And save your life, as a matter of fact - because. This robot would’ve killed us. …Again. It was hulking and sleek, like a house-sized hammer made for person-sized nails. Even the tank felt puny looking up at it. When we approached, it just stood there, looming, and it was faster than we figured. It struck first, and hard.
LLOYD:
Brace for evasive maneuvers!
NINTEN and ANA::
[Screams and yelps]
[big metallic thuds]
NINTEN:
It was terrifying. But the tank was more than the robot bargained for. It reeled from its own punch, like it wasn’t made for fighting another machine.
[Rocks rumble]
LLOYD:
Now! Witness the firepower of this fully armed and operational battle tank! Ninten, Ana, Fire! Fire! [maniacal laughter]
[Guns fire, guitars solo]
NINTEN:
It only took three shots and the robot crashed backwards against the ruins’ ancient stone walls.
[Crashing, crunching, rumbling]
NINTEN
The weird green light inside it flickered off. Unfortunately, that was it for the tank too.
[metal cracking and grinding, crunching]
NINTEN
In a last ditch effort, the robot ripped apart one of the tank treads and we couldn’t go anywhere. I don’t know how to make it up to the pilot, but… maybe he’ll see what we were up against and call it square.
[The music stops, desert ambience]
LLOYD:
I would like to say a few words. …Farewell, noble tank. Being at your controls and within the sweltering confines of your steely embrace… has been… [He chokes back a sob] One of the great privileges of my young life. May you ride again.
ANA
Amen.
[The desert winds give way to a low cave ambience and echoing monkey chittering]
NINTEN:
The temple at the center of the ruins had signs of all the expeditions that had come and gone - most notably, the weird smell and the screeching - but the pilot had warned us about that. Years back, a research team lost their pet monkeys in the temple ruins and now the place is overrun. The monkeys don’t like intruders, but they’re not mean - they just pull pranks and since Ana and I can talk to them… they lie a lot.
ANA:
Another dead end?!
[An explosion of monkey laughter]
ANA:
Come on! We’re really nice! I promise!
[The monkeys continue to laugh]
LLOYD:
The social dynamics of a cave full of monkeys and an elementary school are surprisingly similar…
[A penguin squawks]
ANA:
That’s a penguin. There’s a penguin in the monkey cave... I give up!
NINTEN:
Here’s the thing, Mom: No one has ever figured out how deep the ruins go… but we did. Beneath all the temple corridors is a cave. And in that cave is a shining, swirling stone. And just like that-
[Hard cut to the sound of running water]
NINTEN
-We were in Magicant.
SWIMMING CAT
Are you lost? Oh! Welcome back!
[He splashes]
NINTEN
Right back in the center of town where we always end up. It was a welcome sight! But after everything we’d gone through - across the desert, and deep into an ancient temple - we had to wonder why.
[The bubbly music of Magicant begins to play]
NINTEN
Why was there a portal to Magicant here? What does Magicant have to do with the aliens? But I guess that’s a question I should’ve already been asking myself. The password to Magicant in Great Grandpa’s Diary… it reads: “Where is God's tail? The forgotten one of the ship that sailed the cosmos.” I’d met a forgotten man the first time I was here. I haven’t seen him since. Is that what it meant? Who’s lost a tail?! What could this beautiful, weird, dream place possibly have to do with those things that want to destroy our world? And jeez - are we really going to have to walk across the desert again? More soon, Mom. Love, Ninten.
[The Magicant music swells and continues under the hosts]
JESS
Welcome to “MOTHER,” She Wrote - a travelogue 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 song flourishes and ends]
JESS
I've been through the desert on a tank and a plane. It felt good to get out of Spookane. I’m not a fan of caves, but I do love me some monkey business - I’m Jessica Mudd! And with me is my simply smashing co-host…
CAT
Cat Blackard. You know, Jess… the desert - it can’t be reached by a train. But I met a strange cactus and it sung to my brain. It went la la la la la la-
JESS
It did do that!
[The Mother’s Day Times theme starts]
JESS
But before we get lost in those dusty dunes and catchy tunes, we’ve got to check in on community news in the Mother’s Day Times!
[The theme flourishes and ends]
CAT
The Mother’s Day Times is a newspaper, so we’ll start this installment by printing an erratum. There’s a mistake in this episode, which you’ve already heard, and which we’re going to keep making. A mistake that any botanists or southwesterners out there may have already noticed. Another location was mispronounced, but this time it’s not up for debate.
JESS
Throughout this episode (and in prior episodes) you’ll hear us call the desert the “You-ka” desert. But it’s actually “Yuck-a” desert.
CAT
You’ll even hear us talk about the difference between yuca and yucca in this episode, but while doing so, I thought they were pronounced the same. Another word I’ve been saying wrong my whole life - and it never came up. [she sighs]
JESS
But hey, here’s some good news! In the latest issue of Nintendo Force Magazine, which is basically the modern equivalent of Nintendo Power, there’s a spotlight about this year's Mother Direct.
CAT
In it, they crowned the MOTHER fan community as “the greatest fan community of all the fan communities!” Obviously, we very much agree.
JESS
It’s a wonderful write-up of the event and they even singled out a certain EarthBound podcast as a “SMAAAASHING inclusion.”
CAT
Ooh! Which EarthBound podcast was it?
JESS
You’re adorable. To check out this wonderful send up to the MOTHER fan community, head to NintendoForceMagazine.com and pick up Issue 67: Sidescrolling Showdown - the one with Sonic Superstars and Super Mario Wonder on the cover.
CAT
And now to the mailbag! We’ve got a letter from Ernie - they say: “I’ve been a fan of EarthBound since I watched Chuggaconroy play through it, eventually getting it on the Virtual Console for my 3DS. I played through it from right to left, top to bottom.” In getting older, they say they’ve “become a bit more pessimistic and a tad angsty” but that recently they “watched Chuggaconroy play through it again for old time's sake” and that during a specific part of the game where a character confronts the darkness within themselves, the music really impacted them. They say: “It made me feel so optimistic… That theme really put everything at ease for me.”
JESS
Wowza! The artistry of these games and the connections they bridge, are so powerful they can help soothe even the most tumultuous inner ocean! Thanks for writing in, Ernie!
CAT
If you’d like to share your stories, MOTHER memories, Earth-boundings etc - remember to write in at dearmothershewrote@gmail.com
JESS
Hey! It’s almost Halloween and we’ve got some MOTHER memories of our own to share over on our Tumblr.
CAT
Yeah, way back when, Starmen.net used to run community fan art events - seasonal “Funfests”, and I submitted some art of my own starting way back in 1999, when I was fifteen years old.
JESS
Woahhh.
CAT
So we’re digging up the shambling, zombified EarthBound art of my childhood and putting it on display like a fiji mermaid.
JESS
You can find that at tumblr.com/mothershewrote!
CAT
If you’d like to help share this show and the story of MOTHER with the world - remember the power of recommending it to a friend - or stranger! Post about it on your social platform of choice, or leave us a rating or a review on Apple Podcasts or Podchaser. It all means a lot and really does help people discover the show.
JESS
With that in mind, shout out to folks like 2-D’s Fun Zone, Shazeka, Cucumber Eater, and row kitty who left ratings and reviews - we see you and we thank you.
CAT
Also get a load of anowlofmanycolors’ comment on our Dimensional Slip episode with Sarah! They said: “As an aspiring theology professor, wow. Just wow. Thank you again for making this podcast and sharing so much joy and asking questions and wow.” Wow!
JESS
Wowza even! Finally, a reminder that Cat will be at North Carolina Comicon in Durham the first weekend of November - the 4th and 5th.
CAT
So if you’re in the area, we can plan a MOTHER meet-up! Drop us a line at dearmothershewrote@gmail.com For more info about the con, check out nccomicon.com.
JESS
That’s all for now!
CAT & JESS
We’ll see ya next times!
[Mother’s Day Times outro fanfare]
JESS:
It's a big dusty world out there!
CAT:
It sure is Jess! <Laugh> You know, we accidentally found our way to the Yucca Desert when we first got access to Union Station, but uh, it was pretty apparent - immediately we should not be there because it's very dangerous. There's no guarantee that any random player's gonna necessarily do that. Though, the fact that we both did that in our respective playthroughs, even me the first time years ago, suggests maybe that would happen. It is a bit of a roundabout way to get there.
JESS:
Well, the game encourages you to explore, you know, from the very beginning when you're having to like find your way through the woods to find Canary Village or to the zoo, and there's all these different paths and things that are kind of hidden. It encourages you to explore and to do that. So of course we found our way into the desert as soon as it was available to us.
CAT:
Yeah. <laugh> encourages you to explore while also punishing you with... A lot of enemy encounters, especially here... In the desert.
JESS:
Yeeeah.
CAT:
The desert is a survivalist section of the game. You have to go into there prepared. There's a number of clues that suggest that you need to go there, like saying that you need to go to Youngtown. Well, if you bring up your map, your map is useless. It doesn't show you how to get anywhere. But you can see relatively that Youngtown is in a direction that you haven't been before. So if you poke around, you may find your way to the desert. Once you get there, you're gonna learn pretty quickly, as we all did, that it's not... The easiest and there's nowhere to save. There's nowhere to replenish your health. It's a massive, massive region. So Jess what did you do to prepare?
JESS:
So I did lose some of my party members. They got knocked out several times, particularly Ana, because those enemies do hit hard. So yeah, there was some stuff going on there. A comment about the map, though: it does have little dots on it that are sort of in between the major locations of the game. So you can tell when there's something there for you to find. Like, I wanna say that the old man that lives in the mountains, who you find his dentures, I wanna say there's like a little dot that's on the map.
CAT:
There is a little dot.
JESS:
That kind of indicates there's something for you to find there. So the game does give you some feedback in the form of the map that shows you, "oh, there's something there that might be worth exploring."
CAT:
But figuring out your relative position to it and exactly like... How to get from point A to point B or if it's even possible...
JESS:
It's terrible for that.
CAT:
Yeah.
JESS:
So I prepared by buying bread. Lots and lots of bread.
CAT:
A good tactic.
JESS:
-And not much else, honestly. I went up there and started exploring. I left the breadcrumb so I could find my way back and I just kept fighting until somebody was knocked out and then I went back to Marysville and healed them back up and away we went.
CAT:
Well, you know, Jess, I'm gonna say: I'm surprised. Because I know there's something that's been itching at you for a while and this'd have been a great time for you to dip your toe into it. The mysterious professor at Twinkle Elementary, did you happen to throw down some money and get some strange equipment that might be useful here?
JESS:
No, I didn't think to go back there to do that. Is there something good that I should've been picking up?
CAT:
Well, there might be, but... maybe we should save that discussion for another time when we've both done it.
JESS:
Okay. Alright...
CAT:
I found myself in a situation where I had an awful lot of money and knew I was going into a very bad situation, so...
JESS:
Okay.
CAT:
One thing I made sure to bring with me, which we both have had access to, although I don't know for sure if you have it, is the Super Spray, which is an item that's found in Duncan's Factory. It's an industrial strength insecticide.
JESS:
I might have that in storage. I'm not really sure.
CAT:
The desert's probably the best place for it, but it's definitely a useful thing for Lloyd to have on him because it has the same effect as buying insecticide except that this one can't break. If you're in a battle with insectoid enemies, you spray it and they all die.
JESS:
That is a really good piece of advice because I do find myself frequently getting into encounters and not really having much for Lloyd to do, although he does have that ability to "inspect" enemies and sort of give you a rundown of how powerful they are and what they may or may not be weak or strong against. So that's typically what I will do is I'll use that ability first to get an idea of what we're fighting against. But then after that I find myself just using his normal attack. So, having some better gear would probably be the smart thing to do.
CAT:
His normal attack is... Good, but uh, I keep my Lloyd strapped. He's always carrying a plasma beam or three... Or four. So suffice it to say I went out there pretty well stocked.
JESS:
You went out to the desert, loaded for bear, but all you found was a bunch of insects.
[Sci-fi music begins to play underneath the hosts' dialogue]
CAT:
Yeah... And robots and alien creatures that shouldn't be in the desert on Earth. You know, normal stuff.
[Music swells and fades out]
CAT:
Let's talk about the desert. It's called Yucca Desert in EarthBound Beginnings, but it's called Advent Desert in MOTHER. And it's "Yucca" with two "C"s, not "Yuca", with one "C". Yuca with one "C" is a starchy, edible tuber of the cassava plant. While yucca with two "C"s is a broad genus of spiky desert plants. As the Encyclopedia informs us, there used to be a lot of Latter-day Saints in the area. And the story goes that, "because of the desert's harsh climate conditions, once every thousand years, Christ returns again to undergo the trials of resurrection. And on the day of resurrection, Christ shall turn this desert into sacred ground and return again. North of the desert, the sea will open up before you: beneath a precipice with a hundred kilometer drop. Standing on this cliff, you'll see how 'The End of the World' became the nickname of the Advent Desert. Advent Desert may now be the world's last remaining entryway to the Kingdom of God." Which is a lot of weird energy.
JESS:
There is. Especially considering how they remove any references to religion, particularly Christianity, when translating it for the English speaking audiences. I know that you're reading from the Encyclopedia, which was not translated, but that seems to be something that is such a part of the idea behind what the Yucca Desert is... It's surprising that there's not more of that represented in the game itself... Or was there and that it was just removed from the localization?
CAT:
No, there's not. It's one of those chunks of information - they're like, "well that doesn't have anything to do with anything in the game itself..." One thing it does suggest is, though these are not the origins of Mormons being in Utah, but it kind of suggests that this part of Eagleland might be representative of Utah. Though "Eagleland" as a broad idea of America... We'll get into this in a little bit, but this desert in particular has a lot of different flavors and timelines and stuff kind of crashing together that could have been points of inspiration here. I think it's a really interesting bit of backstory. It's interesting to see how... If you walk north of the desert, you do encounter an ocean with no shore. And it's like an easy way to be like, "well, the map ends here folks." As opposed to just like, "here's another forest." It's interesting to see a very vivid description of like, "yeah, it's the ocean and there's a sheer cliff face. So the whole desert is called the 'End of the World' because it's like death and nothingness..." And then boom, you fall your death <laugh> So...
JESS:
Yeah, we mentioned that there's a lot of insects and some alien robots and things like that that are wandering around the desert. But there's also a really interesting creature, that happens to be my smashable enemy for this section of the game: the gabilan. It's sort of looks like a weird leopard print animal with a funnel for a mouth. It spits a sticky substance at you, and if you have Lloyd inspect the creature in a battle, it says "something like this should not exist on Earth."
CAT:
Yeah. That is not a robot that's masquerading as a creature from earth. It is actually an alien creature.
JESS:
And that is the first type of creature like that that we've seen, right? We haven't seen something that wasn't a robot or imitating another creature like... That is an alien!
CAT:
Yes. That is the first biological alien we've seen, though this area also comes with another such alien creature. It's called a "titanees" or "titany" in MOTHER. It looks like it's an insect, but super spray does not work on it. It's like a big weird scorpion, with an upright face, and a strange mouth, and these kind of googly eyes.
JESS:
Yeah, I thought it looked like a mechanical scorpion. I thought that was a robot of some kind.
CAT:
Well, there is a bionic scorpion, which is just basically a scorpion but green - like the other bionic creatures that we encounter.
JESS:
Okay. I made a note that specifically I thought the titanees looked like a mechanical scorpion.
CAT:
It is not. However, it is not a creature that ever existed in any nature. Specifically the Encyclopedia describes it as "a space creature made by the aliens through the use of biotechnology."
JESS:
Maybe they took some inspiration from the scorpions of Earth and tried to make a better version.
CAT:
There's certainly a possibility that they could like, let's say... chimera-ize something in a way that isn't just using machine parts. Both these creatures are difficult in their own ways. Titanees have extremely high defense and use hypnosis, and the gabilan spits the mucus, which it uses to blind you. It also can dehydrate you and has continuous attacks. The Encyclopedia describes the galiban as a thing that looks like a qilin, which is a legendary hooved chimerical creature from Chinese mythology. But they also then say he's plainly a space creature.
JESS:
It kind of reminded me of like a Dr. Seuss character.
CAT:
It's a very goofy-looking creature, especially it's Birdo snout.
JESS:
Birdo! Yeah, that's what it looks like.
CAT:
Yeah. And instead of eggs, it's spitting mucus at you. Fun.
JESS:
Gross.