Warning! This article may contain spoilers!
As you may remember, 1999 was when I was introduced to Earthbound. Right around this time, development was in full swing for the sequel tentatively titled Earthbound 64. Details about the project were fairly scarce, though there were mentions of a pig-like army, dinosaur-like creatures, and the destruction of Ness’ hometown of Onett. Unfortunately, the game, or the Nintendo 64 incarnation at least, was ultimately canceled sometime around the year 2000. It was revived almost six years later as the Game Boy Advance title Mother 3, though the U.S. didn’t see a release, mostly likely because of the Advance was being phased out in favor of the Nintendo DS around this time.
The sequel to Earthbound started out as a title for the Super Nintendo before development was moved to the Nintendo 64 Disk Drive, where, along with URA Zelda, it was meant to the system’s big title. However, the N64DD was proved to be a failure and the game’s development was transferred over to the main Nintendo 64 console. Additionally, the production team had virtually no experience making a 3D game and ended up requesting assistance from the Pokémon Stadium team. Despite these issue, a trailer and demo were shown at Spaceworld 1999 and was met with much applause. However, with the upcoming launch of the Gamecube which resulted in the Nintendo 64 being phased out, the game was canceled sometime around 2000 with only 60 to 80 percent completion. Fortunately, a version of the game was hinted to at the end of a commercial for Mother 1+2 and was finally released in 2006 as Mother 3.
This is perhaps a very abridged history of Mother 3, which may have well been called Mother Forever due to taking around 15 years to finally be released. Naturally, a game stuck in Development Hell for this long went through a lot of changes, and not just between consoles. The game was supposed to have been longer, being roughly 12 chapters long instead of the final’s eight, and the cast was supposed to have consisted of around ten characters with the possible inclusion of a few from Earthbound. Early screenshots and scenes from trailers hinted that the characters of Flint and Claus, the father and twin brother respectively of main protagonist Lucas, were supposed to play a larger role than they did in the final game.Battles still had the trippy animations like Earthbound, though the normal environment was still visible through it. Enemies were fully animated models instead of the static images common to the series, though defeated foes still were launched into the background.
The story seems to be similar between incarnations, though this is conjecture from trying to piece the original plot together from situations in the final game being similar to many trailer scenes and screenshots. Most famously is a scene with the twins riding a mine cart as there are no mine cart sequences in the Advance version of the game. Depending on if Claus was meant to remain playable past the first chapter, this sequence may have happened during the game’s first chapter after Hinawa’s, the twin’s mother, death but before they were returned to Flint. Considering the scene with Flint learning of his wife’s death is probably the most tragic scene in the entire franchise, the cart sequence could have ruined its impact.
The biggest change between the Earthbound 64 and Mother 3 was that the atmosphere would have been darker. Granted, Mother 3 was already a much darker game than either of the games that proceeded it, featuring the death and disappearance of Lucas’ mother and brother within the first chapter as well as having a rather depressing, if not confusing, ending. The series creator Shigesato Itoi has stated in interviews that he had been suffering from depression at the time, which ultimately effected the game’s development.
Things that were scrapped aren’t strictly from the transition from console to handheld as there was still some things scrapped from Mother 3. The first trip through Tanetane Island is a fairly disturbing version of a mushroom samba, though the original version was said to have been so dark that it left people in tears. Other things include unused animations, like Flint likely killing the Mecha-Drago at the end of the first chapter, the case containing the game’s main antagonist Porky shattering and Porky himself expiring, and the Masked Man being created like Darth Vader as well as exploding. Most disturbingly, however, may be a set of battle backgrounds that feature Claus in a variety of situations that may have involved his mental state as if he were reliving his life from his near-death to his conversion into the Masked Man. These backgrounds, plus some unused cutscenes, could hint to the final battle may have been intended to be a battle at the center of Claus’ mind.
More unused sprites show party member Kumatora doing the infamous “Wess Dance,” hinting that she could have been focused on at least part of the time during the second chapter. There are also sprites of both Kumatora and fellow party member Duster in fancier clothes and surrounded by magic, which could have meant that they were Magypsys, the guardians of the needles that Lucas has to pull late in the game. Considering the fate of the Magypsies, Kumatora and Duster are perhaps lucky to have made it through the entire game.
This is perhaps an extreme abridgement of the differences between the unreleased Earthbound 64 and the released Mother 3, though a lot of this may be conjecture. The only sure way to know is if the creators give all the details of what changed or if the prototype, the Holy Grail of Couldabeen Gaming, surfaces. The final product of fifteen years of development may be somewhat inferior to what could have been, and the opinions on how good the game was varies significantly between countries, but to me Mother 3 was an excellent follow-up to an underrated RPG.
Now if Nintendo would finally give the game a proper U.S. release…
Links and Resources
Starmen.net’s Eartbound 64 Page
Unseen 64 (Earthbound 64)
Unseen 64 (Mother 3)
The Cutting Room Floor (Mother 3)
A more thorough look at Mother 3/Earthbound 64
