[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.

 

CAT

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

 

JESS

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

 

CAT & JESS

Love youuuu.

​

[phone disconnect sound]

 

[Fade to night sounds]

 

CAT

I had this dream…

 

And in the dream, my friend Doug said to me:

 

DOUG

Look, I know those EarthBound games are really cool and important pieces of media. I’d love to play them - but I don’t think I’m ever gonna get around to it. You talk about the games all the time… maybe you could just… do a podcast about them?

 

CAT

And so my dream-self thought “hmmm… what if… I did an episodic podcast that took listeners through the journey of each game in the MOTHER series, like a diary… but with contextual, cultural, and emotional analysis?”...

 

JESS

Ugh. You work even in your sleep. 

 

CAT

…So anyone could experience these stories…

 

JESS

But I don’t think it’s good to work too hard… 

 

CAT

…And I’d need a co-host.

 

So I wake up and I tell my girlfriend Jess about the dream… “It’s like a diary about the MOTHER series-”

 

JESS

[over the phone]

And you could call it “‘MOTHER,’ She Wrote” 

 

CAT

Welcome to “MOTHER,” She Wrote - a travelog diary through three of the strangest, most thought-provoking, most heart-rending video games ever made. I’m Cat Blackard.

 

JESS

And I’m Jessica Mudd.

 

CAT

And you’re a mother!

 

JESS

I am.  And we both live on Earth.

 

CAT 

We do! And we both love video games - and therefore, we’re uniquely qualified to unpack the MOTHER series, as it’s called in Japan, or the EarthBound series, as it’s called in English-speaking countries. A trilogy of roleplaying games published by Nintendo, written by the enigmatic multidisciplinary artist, Shigesato Itoi.

 

JESS

Every episode we’re going to tell you a piece of that story - as it’s lived by the characters, and as we play it. And then we’ll peel back the layers and talk about the weird cultural references, the music, and… what it all means. But not this episode. This is a place to start. Like the part of the game where you name your characters and pick the color of your text windows. 

 

CAT

And your favorite food. Mine is pizza.

 

JESS

Mine is also pizza… or tacos… or taco pizza…

 

CAT

Or pizza tacos…

 

JESS

But, that’s a delicious topic for after this recording session - So Cat, why is the Mother series so special?

 

CAT

Jess - I am very glad you asked. EarthBound is the first post modern video game. It’s a roleplaying game set in modern times, made at a time when all RPGs were medieval fantasy. It broke all the rules about the kinds of stories you could tell and what a video game should look and sound like. The MOTHER series addresses topics like: 

 

queerness, late stage capitalism, cults and group-think, child abuse, breaking the 4th wall, police misconduct, environmental collapse, the profound power of kindness, homesickness, deadbeat fathers, corrupt politicians, chronic ailments… 

 

-all in an irreverent sci-fi comedy. It is to video games, what Talking Heads is to music. Genre-bending, uncompromising funky and surreal pop art; filled to the brim with as much poignant messaging as there is cartoon imagery.

 

JESS

Wowza.

 

CAT

So, the EarthBound series: it's three games. One came out on the Nintendo in the 1980s, one came out on the Super Nintendo in the 1990s, and one came out on the Game Boy Advance in 2006. Three games, three decades, and only one of them came out in the United States.

 

JESS

And I have to admit that my first exposure to any of the EarthBound characters was in the Super Smash Brothers series, when Super Smash Bros, the original one, came out on the Nintendo 64. There was a character called Ness in it, and I would say his most distinguishing feature was his PSI powers and his baseball bat.

 

CAT

Yeah, Super Smash Brothers, is, of course, a fighting game featuring characters from all across Nintendo's games. But, even in that first game, where there was only a handful of characters - big ones' like Mario and Pikachu... There was this one character from EarthBound and that's not the only thing though. The "Smash" in “Smash Brothers” is like a direct reference to the entire MOTHER series. In all three MOTHER games, when you're battling, you can deal a massively destructive smash attack - and that's like Smash Bros'... whole thing. And EarthBound and Smash Brothers were co-developed by HAL Laboratories so... none of that is probably a coincidence. 

 

Learning about EarthBound through Smash Brothers was a shared experience between you and a lot of people, Jess. Smash Brothers became one of Nintendo's biggest hits, but meanwhile... No one knew about EarthBound in the States. It was considered a massive flop. But the games are huge in Japan, so, naturally, Ness was in Smash Brothers and his appearance there was actually really important to developing the fan following for EarthBound, because a bunch of people playing Smash Brothers thought, "who is that?", and eventually looked into it, and found (much to their surprise I assume) a very large cult following on the Internet. 

 

It was at exactly the right time where young people were getting the Internet, and fan communities were growing, and the fan community for EarthBound became one of the most dedicated fan communities for anything to do with a Nintendo property. The people who did play this game loved it and had never seen anything like it before. Like we said - it's a roleplaying game, but the fact that it takes place in modern times really set it apart from everything else and the game for the Super Nintendo is extremely colorful, and psychedelic, and extremely strange. So if anybody did play it, it left a big mark. 

 

Its differences were also probably why people didn't bother to pick it up in the first place but... If we're speaking to any audience members that are not familiar with the format of the games - it is like a Final Fantasy game. You have random enemy encounters, and you have items, and you select from a menu of different actions that you can do when you're in a battle or whatever. It's fighting-based, you gain experience, but you're also solving problems, talking to people in towns, making connections, learning things, figuring out social puzzles...

 

JESS

So EarthBound came out in 1994 and you played it pretty close to that release date, right?

 

CAT

Yeah. I rented it from Blockbuster Video.

 

JESS

And eventually acquired your own copy, right?

 

CAT

Yes, which I bought through a mail order subscription service. Back when you could like, buy used games from catalogs.

 

JESS

Did you complete the game when you rented it?

 

CAT

No, I didn't. The thing is that I rented it, a friend rented it. We were both super into it, and the Kay-Bee Toys at our local mall had had one copy of it, in its big oversized box, warming the shelf for ages. And we'd been really curious about it. And then we finally tried it out at blockbuster and we were like, damn we really like this. And he bought it. He bought the one copy that I knew of in town. So then I was playing his, and then another friend got hooked on it from us getting hooked on it, and then I think I ended up being the last person to get a hold of a copy of it - but I was living vicariously through them for a while.

 

JESS

But EarthBound is your favorite game of all-time, right?

 

Cat:

That is correct. Yeah.

 

JESS

So Cat, when I first met you, and we first began to bond over our mutual love of video games, I, at some point asked you what your favorite game was, and you told me that it was EarthBound. And I told you that my favorite game was Final Fantasy VI. And we both discovered that neither of us had played each other's favorite game. And we entered into a bargain of sorts. I would play  EarthBound and you would play Final Fantasy VI. And, uh, how's that going by the way?

 

CAT

Um, uh, well, I, uh, uh… I'm still playing Final Fantasy VI. A lot of other things have come up and a lot of other games have been played in the meantime. And…

 

JESS

Yeah…

 

CAT

You know - but it's great! Final Fantasy VI is great. I cannot believe that I missed out on it so long.

 

JESS

[giggles]

 

CAT

I knew it was a glaring hole in my video game continuum. And now it is only proving… um… however many decades later - that, yeah, it's still extremely impressive.

 

JESS

But two Japanese RPGs that came out at roughly the same time, our two favorite games of all time, and now we're gonna get to talk about EarthBound and discuss all the fun, little strange nuances about it - and what makes it so special to you and me getting to experience it much later in life and, sort of, coming to understand the head space that you might have been in when you played it originally. And I'm very much looking forward to getting to have these discussions with you to really dive into this content and explore this

 

CAT

EarthBound has captured a lot of folks' imaginations and really inspired a lot of young people who have become known adults and creators today. Because, there's shocking amount of depth in it, and it is such a radiant piece of pop art. As a young person, I was really into the Beatles and in any kind of surrealist art or avant garde art that I saw - I didn't have MTV growing up, so anything that looked remotely like a music video was really appealing to me. And EarthBound is, with its irreverent humor, and its strange sci-fi tropes, and everything about it was like: “Hey. Kid. Are you a weirdo? Then you're gonna really like this.” And in turn, it connects to a lot of other pieces of pop culture. I have discovered existing pieces of pop culture, that I now love, through EarthBound, because that's the kind of game it is. It is a piece of pop culture, made from other pieces of pop culture, in this beautiful postmodern collage.

 

JESS

You mentioned the fandom that grew up around this game. What makes this fandom so special, and how did you come to be a part of it?

 

CAT

I think what makes it special is that EarthBound tends to draw on a specific kind of person. Let’s say… quirky people. Thoughtful people, artsy weirdo types that connect with the games’ overarching message about the power of love, acceptance, and togetherness in the face of the evil that humanity is capable of. 

 

EarthBound is really distinct and so people who are fans of it tend to connect beyond just liking the same video game. 

 

As for me - I got the Internet in 1997, when I was in 7th grade. And I was really into EarthBound, so naturally I looked it up. That same year, Earthbound.net, launched and which soon became Starmen.net. 

 

And that was a constantly active community - with news, fan art, all kinds of discussions - big, coordinated efforts to bring the rest of the games to the States. And through that site, and the love of this oddball game no one had heard of, EarthBound grew into the biggest cult fandom in video games. 

 

Now, on Starmen.net, I was more of a lurker than an active participant, but I was always really aware of what was going on and when there was a call to action, like doing things to try to get the games in the States, I responded in full force. 

 

Fast forward a significant amount of time later though, and I'm working as a pop culture journalist, and have a podcast called Nerdy Show, which isa talk show about nerd media - way back when that was a novel concept. Around that same time, Starmen.Net created an English language translation for the third game in the MOTHER series after years of waiting on Nintendo to do it, and that was huge. Also, around that same time, the company Fangamer, which is now massive, emerged directly from Starmen.net. They’re a company dedicated to creating high-end fan works across a bunch of video game fandoms. 

 

So I'd been following these people for a long time. I was a fan of the work they were doing, and now I had a platform to talk about what they were up to. So I dropped them a line, interviewed them on the show, and we became friends. We were all creators building our respective futures based on shared passions. Up until then, I guess you could say I orbited the fandom, but connecting with them directly encouraged me to step up and be more present in it - in whatever small part I have been.

 

I’ve been interviewed for a couple EarthBound documentaries - speaking about MOTHER’s place in pop art. I was the host of a retrospective and exploration of Fangamer’s immersive EarthBoundfan festival: Camp Fangamer, which happened two separate years in Tucson, Arizona. Throughout my career as a media journalist, I’ve written about the MOTHER series often. It's had a deeply profound influence on me as a creator and as a storyteller, and that influence shows up in a lot of what I do. It might not always be obvious, but it’s very present.

 

JESS

Well, thank you so much for sharing your passion for the MOTHER series of games with me. I'm very excited about going on this adventure with you.

 

CAT

Something that we should probably establish here in this episode is a timeline. The MOTHER series is only three games, but only one game was originally released in the US, and amidst all of it there’s been different releases, various cancellations, and it gets kind of complicated.

 

And it’s important to mention all of it, because a huge part of these games being a cult sensation in the States, is the American audience trying to get the Japanese games released here, and this strange saga of them not coming out. 

 

So - the first MOTHER game hits in 1989 in Japan. It’s on the Famicom - what we know in the States as the NES. Nintendo of America translates this game, MOTHER,into English and renames it “EarthBound”. However, even though it’s totally done, Nintendo doesn’t release it. Some magazines mention that it's coming out, but when it doesn’t come out, it’s entirely forgotten. It's lost to history, that there was a game called EarthBound.

 

But then 1994 rolls around, and MOTHER 2 comes out in Japan. And the next year it’s translated and it DOES come out in the States - again - as EarthBound . So this is the first EarthBound game that’s actually come out. No one knows the other one exists. And MOTHER 2, aka EarthBound, the second game is on the Super Nintendo in America. It’s not a big seller, but the fans who discover it are super passionate about it, and eventually they realize - “Oh, there was a game before this.” And then a ROM, a copy of Nintendo of America’s translation of the first game, leaks out to the Internet. It’s dubbed “EarthBound Zero” and it kind of blows people’s minds. A lot of people didn’t believe it was real. Because how is it possible that a game would be translated entirely and not released?

 

JESS

[giggles]

 

CAT

That sort of thing doesn’t really happen.

 

JESS

But you, you played earthbound zero, right?

 

CAT

Yes. I admit, Nintendo of America, I admit I downloaded the illegal ROM when I was a child and I played it. [Laughs] But, uh, fast forward to 2015 and EarthBound Zero gets released as EarthBound Beginnings on the virtual console on the WiiU. So it's out there and you can play the first two EarthBound games in English, in the States, or any other English-speaking countries on the Nintendo Switch right now. The Nintendo Switch Online, if you subscribe to that, you can get access to their catalog of NES games and their catalog of Super Nintendo games - and both the first two MOTHER games are there: EarthBound Beginnings and EarthBound.

 

JESS

I played EarthBoundbecause you loaned me your Super NES Mini.

 

CAT

Yeah. We live in a golden age where it is possible to get a hold of, but it has been up until recently, like, you know, kind of spotty to get a hold of. Like, when EarthBound was released on the Virtual Console and stuff, that was shocking because for the longest time it seemed like Nintendo of America, in spite of knowing full well that there was a massive cult following for these games, just didn't didn't care - didn't wanna put it out, didn't even wanna get a cheap buck. But then there were also concerns about legal issues, because it became more and more public knowledge that the score to EarthBound actually samples existing music, which is something that had never happened in a video game before. Fortunately I guess the legal eagles decided that the sampling was above board, not that it had been approved, but that it was short enough and remixed enough that it does actually constitute as an original work. So everything's fine. I'm not a lawyer. I don't know. And I definitely don't speak for Nintendo of America

 

JESS

Still. It's not really a surprise that they were hesitant to re-release those games,

 

CAT

But they did. And they were best sellers when they were things that you could buy independently on the Virtual Consoles. And now you just subscribe to Nintendo Switch Online and… you just get 'em. But the thing about the thing is about the third game, MOTHER 3 - it was originally announced in 1996 as EarthBound 64, a game that was so big you were going to need an expansion to the Nintendo 64 to play it - one that didn't actually end up coming out in the States, and when it did come out in Japan was a flop. It was called the 64DD: a disc drive expansion. And the game was canceled in 2000, which is the year before the Game Cube came out, the system that immediately followed the Nintendo 64. And with it, MOTHER 3 died. But the thing is that, because EarthBound had come out in the states, American magazines were covering EarthBound 64 as a game that was coming out.

 

So at the time, especially with the hype of Smash Brothers and Ness being a character in Smash Brothers, all us EarthBound fans on the internet were like, “oh my god. There's gonna be an EarthBound game on the Nintendo 64. Can you believe it? This is so crazy. And like… Everyone's talking about it.” And when that didn't happen, a bunch of children on an Internet fan community, which I was a part of tangentially at least, got together and raised a ruckus… and started calling Nintendo of America-

 

JESS

[laughs] 

 

CAT

-And started sending letters, and started active, dedicated campaigns to antagonize this company into releasing this game, to prove that there was an audience for it.

 

JESS

Smash!

 

CAT

Yeah. [Laughs] 

So, in Japan, a compilation game for the Game Boy Advance called MOTHER 1+2 was released in 2003. What was interesting about that is that, MOTHER 1+2 - the version of the first game on there is a Japanese language version of the American translation. There are graphical changes that were made for American audiences that are ported over into the Japanese version of that game - and the “run” function, which was not in the original Japanese version, is in that game. It's really weird. I don't know why.

 

JESS

Wait. So my, my, my brain is getting kind of bent around here now  - around this.

 

CAT

I'm sure I'm confusing everybody else. I- I'm. I'm sorry, folks. There, there are, there are diagrams. We're- ah, gosh. 

 

JESS & CAT

[Laugh]

 

JESS

Hey, it’s okay. 

 

CAT

I'm gonna try to keep this as concise as possible. This is the info dump. 

 

JESS

The release schedule of this game just mimics how wild the games are themselves.

 

CAT

Well, and the fan community that's tied and twisted around it. So, the important part here is, dear listener, who wants to get a handle on these games: is if all this is confusing to you - don't worry. We're just gonna be talking about the stories, more or less, going forward. We're just gonna be talking about the stories. This is where we're talking about the like… weird social politics and business politics of these games coming out at all - but it's part of what - the scarcity, the demand, and all of this  - is part of what galvanized the most active fan community for a cult video game that there's ever been

 

JESS

Before. You can build a pizza, you gotta make the dough. So that's what we're doing.

 

Cat:

Exactly. So in 2003, when MOTHER 1+2 came out in the Game Boy Advance in Japan, they said, “and we're working on MOTHER 3.” And eventually, in 2006, MOTHER 3 came out on the Game Boy Advance. And then everyone was asking, “okay, now, so you're gonna bring it to the states, right?” And they didn't. And they didn't. And they didn't. And they didn't. And they didn't. And so eventually the game was translated by a dedicated fan community.

 

JESS

The fan community steps up again.

 

CAT

And all these stories are so immersive and complicated and interesting. I'm not qualified to tell them. And fortunately, I don't have to - ‘cause those two documentaries that I'm interviewed in? Well, they're about both of these things. The first one's called MOTHER to Earth - that's “t. o.” - which is about how the first game was translated in the States, but then not released, and then leaked out to the internet, which is something that had never happened before - and the weird saga of how that happened, who translated it, how it leaked out to the Internet and all the strange world of trading bootleg video game cartridges and stuff. It might sound a little bit insider baseball, but it is a deeply fascinating documentary that's really well done. You can check out more about that at mothertoearth.com again, that's “t. O.”.

 

And the other documentary is called EarthBound U.S.A.. It’s coming out later this year. It's a film by Jazzy Benson, made in-house by Fangamer. Essentially it’s the story of this incredible fan community that's come together to create… friendships, and families, and lifelong partnerships, and businesses… incredible, multimedia convention experiences - And basically, what the impact of EarthBound is - and how the games not being released in the States were a part of that impact. How all these teenagers from all over America got together and became a family - through this weird circumstance with this incredibly strange game series at the epicenter of it.

 

JESS

That is really a heartwarming tale.

 

[music starts playing under hosts]

 

CAT

“MOTHER,” She Wrote is coming out every other week, on Mondays… or “mom-days” if you like a mnemonic device. Jess and I are playing the games in segments and each episode opens with immersive audio drama segments, exploring the story from the perspective of the characters - to pull you into the adventure even if you’ve never played the games before. And then Jess and I discuss all the fascinating details in the game and behind the scenes.

 

JESS

Yeah. And at least with the first MOTHER game, I'm going into it blind - without ever having played it before. I'm gonna be recording my play sessions and posting them to YouTube, so if you wanna follow along, uh, you're welcome to come do that.

 

CAT

Yeah. And you haven't played MOTHER 3 either. I've played all of them, but there's some new experiences here for you, which I'm so -  Jess, I'm so excited to share this with you.

 

JESS

[giggles] 

It was really a lot of fun to play EarthBound and get to share the wild and zany things that were happening in real time, and I'm so looking forward to getting to dive into that again.

 

CAT

Until then! I’m Cat!

 

JESS

I’m Jess!

 

CAT

And that’s all she wrote.

 

[music ends / closing music begins]

 

CAT

“MOTHER,” She Wrote is made possible thanks to the generous support of our Patreon Producers: 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 the voice of Doug Banks, as himself.

 

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.

 

[Omniverse Audio Brand]