MOTHER: Verse Mechanics and Explanation

Introduction

The following is a page that contains an in-depth explanation of the EarthBound/MOTHER series, this will discuss their power, concepts within the verse, some other interesting facts, and mechanics within the series itself.

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Section 1: Series Mechanics

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PSI

PSI is the main set of abilities in the MOTHER series, allowing the character who possesses it to perform a wide variety of techniques and actions. PSI was originally discovered by Giygas’s race, though its secrets were studied by Ninten’s grandfather, George, without permission and eventually made their way back to Earth, where it would spread to humanity. Beings capable of PSI are born with the potential to use it, sometimes being born directly with the ability to use it like Ness, and sometimes needing to realize the abilities it brings later in life. PSI users can also shut themselves away from the ability by not acknowledging it, such as when Ana initially did not want to use her mysterious powers and rather ignored them, though they will indirectly awaken regardless. Likewise, some people are incapable of learning PSI altogether, as is the case with a handful of playable characters within the series. It is not necessary for a person to be born to PSI capable parents in order to be PSI capable themselves, as the parents of Ninten, Ness, and Lucas are never shown to use PSI, nor are they implied to be PSI capable. Being extremely intelligent alone also doesn’t make one PSI capable. Party Members such as Jeff Andonuts and Lloyd are displayed to be far more intelligent than the rest of the party, yet they have no PSI. Dr. Andonuts himself is noted to be smarter than Albert Einstein or Werner Heisenberg, yet he is not PSI capable.

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Consciousness & Souls

Consciousness is a phenomena occurring in living beings that allows them to hold both internal and external experiences, while souls are the vessels that transmit consciousness to the body that it inhabits. Consciousness is fully grown by default within MOTHER, as shown in MOTHER 1 where the Garrickson’s infant is able to fully communicate through its consciousness speaking to Ninten. In addition to being the vessels for consciousness, souls are also the source of a living being’s power, being most clearly demonstrated by the fact that the stats of the cast of MOTHER 2 are conserved during the soul transfer process, with their robot bodies having no impact on how strong or durable they are. Additionally, if souls are ever separated from their original bodies, they will return to them after their new bodies have been destroyed, provided that their original bodies are still intact, even being able to do so from across time as we see at the end of MOTHER 2 after Giygas is defeated. Souls are able to continue existing even after the death of the individual, as seen in the first MOTHER game where Maria is able to sustain and exist within her Magicant even after her death, only disappearing upon accepting her death and wishing to be reunited with her husband, George. Even after a person’s soul disappears from the world, they are still able to communicate with the physical world, something that is seen during the final boss of the first MOTHER game where Maria helps Ninten defeat Giygas by telling him his weakness, as well as in the final confrontation of MOTHER 3 when Hinawa reaches out to Claus to tell him to stop attacking Lucas. Living beings are able to expand their consciousness outside of their own souls provided the right conditions, as Ness was able to overlap his consciousness with the entire universe when he had reached enlightenment by touching the truths of the universe hidden in the depths of his own Magicant.

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Magicant

Magicant is a metaphysical realm that is implied to exist within all living beings, serving as a representation of their own mind that they can access when the right conditions are met. The only two examples of Magicant we see in the series are those of Maria and Ness, though it is implied by Talah Rama in the original Japanese script that every human has a Magicant that they can potentially access, stating that the truth of the universe “makes itself known to the universes known as men”. It is never shown when Maria’s Magicant was accessed or how she was able to access it, though we clearly see that Ness must first complete his journey and revisit key memories within his life at each of the sanctuaries, culminating in him listening to the completed song composed from the eight melodies that allows him to finally access his own Magicant. From this we can infer that in order to access Magicant, one must embark on a personal journey of growth where they are eventually faced with something that causes them to look inward to a degree in which they can access their Magicant. A person’s Magicant will disappear after they have accepted death as seen with Maria, while Ness’s in particular disappears due to the process of him reaching enlightenment, where he absorbs the entirety of it along with the power of the Earth, making it a part of him.

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Earth’s Power

The power of the Earth is a power utilized by Ness during the events of MOTHER 2 to help him face off against Giygas. It manifests itself through eight power spots known to Ness as “your sanctuaries” (“Your Places” in the original Japanese version), each of which holds a piece of Ness’s memory that he recollects when he visits them. Each sanctuary also holds a melody, and when all eight are combined into one song, hearing it allows Ness to access his own Magicant. Once Ness conquers his inner evil and realizes the universal truths, he is able to absorb the power of Earth entirely and make it his own, granting him a massive boost in power and giving him the ability to finally challenge Giygas directly. As noted by the fourth sanctuary guardian when Jeff tries to approach them, only Ness is capable of absorbing the power of Earth, with the sanctuary guardians merely sucking up a fraction of each spot’s power to amp themselves up.

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Universal System

The Universal System’s name comes from an exposition scene given by a rock. In it, it explains to Ness that his destiny is not his alone, it is a part of a universal “system”. This system applies to anyone considered a “Chosen One” and will protect them on their journey, this includes making it where their deaths were mere dreams, making it where a party member will join regardless of what choice the player makes, even if it is the wrong choice, etcetera. Ness eventually overlaps with the universal system when his consciousness is overlapped with the universe.

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Time Travel

Time travel is a prevalent aspect of the MOTHER series, particularly in the second and third games. It was first introduced by Buzz Buzz who noted he came from the far ruined future to stop it from happening. It’s later brought up with Dr. Andonuts after he explains to the Chosen Four that Giygas is attacking in their exact location from many years in the past, with him creating the Phase Distorter in order to go to the past. However, Dr. Andonuts phase distorter destroys biological matter, requiring the Chosen Four to put their souls into robots in order to traverse into the past. Giygas’ race contains a superior time travel device as Porky Minch uses a machine that allows him to travel through time without destroying his biological matter. As explained by Leder, it is possible to be locked out of time travel completely should the user abuse it too heavily, as we see Porky being banished from using it after he is dumped into the Nowhere Islands in MOTHER 3. Overuse of time travel can cause the user to eventually become immortal, as Porky has time traveled for so long that he no longer remembers how old he is, stating that he could be 1,000 or even 10,000 years old.

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Section 2: Tiering & Stats

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Regular Characters

Attack Potency & Durability
Characters at level 1 seem to universally start their journeys at 9-C, as they don’t have any impressive feats until they progress further. 9-C is chosen over 10-B or 10-A due to the fact that their regular method of combat involves weapons at this level, with most normal people being scared of any enemies, along with their ability to fight enemies that can tear apart entire houses before they can even equip a weapon. 9-B feats will start to show up later when the characters are able to start fighting enemies made of metal; for Ness in particular this starts when he defeats Frank and is confronted by Frankystein Mark II directly after. 9-A feats start appearing close to the mid game, as attacks like bombs and explosions become more commonplace; outside of battles, we see Ninten no-sell a direct landmine explosion when traveling in the Yucca Desert. 8-C is the highest showing we see for regular characters, first showing up when the cast of MOTHER 2 fights the kraken, which dwarfs the boat they’re on in size and attacks by whipping up tornadoes. The characters become much stronger from this point forward, though as there is no definitive higher tier that we see, “At least 8-C” is the final rating that all protagonists and higher end enemies are given. PSI scaling is a bit different as offensive PSI deal damage in set ranges that are typically quite a bit above what they are capable of through normal attacks, most clearly being demonstrated in the late game of MOTHER 2 where techniques like Starstorm Omega are capable of completely decimating either side of the battle, with the only character capable of tanking it being Ness, who at that point has become a cosmic being. A complete list of feats will be shown below.

9-C

• Baseball bats can output energy within this range when swung, being the weapon of choice for Ninten and Ness. Baseball bats have an average weight of 1 kilogram, and the average swing speed of a Major League player is around 70 miles per hour, giving us a total energy output of around 489 joules per swing.
• Ninten fights Poltergeist that can tear apart entire houses.
• Can return zombies to the dust of the earth.

9-B

• Many enemies are robotic and made of metal that the characters must be able to damage and destroy in order to defeat them.
• Flint bursts through a chunk of wood when rescuing Fuel from a burning house, smashing it into pieces in the process.
• Flint can bust open doors by ramming into them.
• Ninten can fight crocodiles by himself.
• Ninten can fight elephants by himself.
• The MOTHER 1 and 2 cast can fight and scrap sentient cars and trucks.
• Mecha Drago snaps a tree in half.
• Mecha Drago leaves massive claw imprints on sheer stone cliffs.

9-A

• Ninten steps on a landmine in the Yucca Desert and is unharmed.
• Bombs are found as early as the Peaceful Rest Valley (Grateful Dead Valley in the original Japanese script) in MOTHER 2 and Jeff can gain access to bazookas as early as Fourside, which output the same amount of damage.
• The Territorial Oak bursts into flames and explodes upon death, though the characters are not able to tank this until later.
• Smiling Spheres explode into pieces upon defeat, though the characters are not able to tank this until later.
• The Clumsy Robot throws missiles as its form of attack.
• PSI at the alpha and beta levels are around this level of damage output.

Low 8-C

• The Thunder Tower in Mother 3 can blow up people's houses with its bolts of lightning.

8-C

• Ness and co. defeat a Kraken that massively dwarfs their ship in size.
• Super bombs become more common around the late game, with Jeff gaining access to the Heavy Bazooka during the fifth sanctuary, having the same damage output.
• The enemies within Lost Underworld massively dwarf the cast in size, to the point that they look squint sized.
• Uncontrollable Sphere explode into bits upon defeat.
• The Atomic Reactor Robots and Nuclear Reactor Robots explode into bits upon defeat, with the resulting explosions being nuclear in nature, though to an unspecified degree of energy.
• PSI at the gamma and omega levels are around this level of damage output.

Speed
Characters’ speed for the most part stays at Superhuman for most of the early and mid game, only reaching Supersonic around late game to end game. Superhuman comes from characters being able to outrun cars on the world map, such as Ness outrunning the mad taxis in Fourside, and being able to dodge attacks of theirs such as when they rev up and accelerate at full speed. Along with this, Ninten is able to travel 700 meters in around 13 seconds. Supersonic comes from the MOTHER 3 cast, being able to dodge shouts from the Steel Mechorilla.

Intelligence
The potency of PSI is directly correlated with the intellect of the individual using it, with PSI users in general being considered intelligent for their ability to use it. This can be most clearly seen with Poo, where he meets the Star Master for the first time when traveling to the spot for his Mu Training, telling him that he wishes to teach him a technique that can only be used by those who have reached a higher level of intelligence. Aside from PSI users, Lloyd is able to fix broken machines and turn them usable again, and can create things such as a bathroom TV at the age of four in dedication to Albert Einstein. Jeff is able to turn mundane, broken items into advanced technology for use in battle just by fixing them up. Dr. Andonuts, Jeff’s father, is able to create technology such as the Phase Distorter, that can warp through space and time, as well as the Absolutely Safe Capsule, a device that is entirely indestructible to any known physical forces, keeping the user safe from harm for the rest of their lives at the cost of trapping them inside. Outside of Ness himself after reaching enlightenment, Giygas’s race are the pinnacle of intelligence in the series, developing technology such as intergalactic travel, time travel superior to that of Dr. Andonuts as one does not have their biological matter destroyed from time traveling, as well as being the progenitors of PSI.

Range
Most characters' standard attacks are normally Standard Melee Range, with weapons like bats, frying pans, and swords reaching Extended Melee Range.

Weapons such as boomerangs get Dozens of Meters, as boomerangs on average have a 20-40 meter range.

Weapons such as slingshots can hit around 90 yards.

Weapons such as Lloyd and Jeff’s guns can hit around Hundreds of Meters, which is how far guns and bullets can reach without a scope.

PSI abilities vary in range, though PSI techniques such as PSI Starstorm reach at least Hundreds of Meters, due to it being described as the “shaking of the stars”, implying it’s grabbing comets from the upper atmosphere, but it’s unknown.

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Cosmic Characters

There exist three characters within the MOTHER series that can be considered cosmic beings, those being Ness, Giygas, and the Dark Dragon.

Ness
Ness is the primary chosen one and the boy destined to make the Earth’s power his own, and in order to do so, he is required to reach enlightenment and overlap his consciousness with the entire universe. We do not award him 2-C for this, as the state of consciousness does not correlate to attack potency, nor does it make sense for him to be able to output energy comparable to that of the entire universe for his regular attacks. The exact power of the Earth is unknown, as all we know about it is that it will channel and multiply Ness’s power when he receives it, something we see happen when he finally absorbs it, granting him enormous boosts to all of his stats and making his IQ formula twice as potent. As this degree of power cannot be properly quantified, Ness is simply listed as Unknown. What we do know is that he is the only being powerful enough to face Giygas directly and is considered the undisputed champion of Earth, being vastly more powerful than anything we’ve seen from the regular cast.

Giygas
Giygas, otherwise known as the “archfiend of the universe”/”universal cosmic destroyer”, becomes evil energy itself within MOTHER 2. Even in MOTHER 1, his strength was so far beyond Ninten and his party’s that he compared them to mere insects. In MOTHER 2, his strength has increased far more to the point that he must contain himself within the Devil’s Machine as he can destroy his own mind with his unimaginable power. No matter the game, Giygas possess PSI that cannot be comprehended or understood, even by characters that have received the ultimate intelligence such as Ness. While his power is noted that it will destroy everything within the universe by Ness’ consciousness, along with Porky noting that the Chosen Four will burn up with the rest of the garbage of the universe, neither of these statements imply instantaneous destruction nor does Giygas showcase this during his unsealed boss fight. Along with this, Giygas’ nature in EarthBound is meant to be vague and unexplainable, directly noted by Itoi himself. Due to this he does not follow the conventional standards of the tiering system (as he is not supposed to) and is very clearly a cosmic being that cannot be accurately gauged, thus he is listed as Unknown.

Dark Dragon
The Dark Dragon is a creature in MOTHER 3 that was put to sleep by the ancestors of the current Magypsies. It resides underneath the Nowhere Islands, and is described as being roughly the size of the islands.The Dragon itself is said to be the vessel of the power of the very earth itself, if the Dark Dragon wakes up to someone with an evil heart or bad heart, it might end up destroying everything and extinguishing all life, interestingly enough, it’s noted by Itoi in an interview that the Dark Dragon being awoken by Claus would be the end of everything, including Itoi himself. It is unknown the full extent of his power, thus he is rated as Unknown.

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Section 3: Timeline of Events

MOTHER 1
MOTHER 1 is the beginning of the series and what starts all of the events relevant to Giygas. Giygas’ race kidnapped George and Maria in the early 1900s, with George stealing vital plans from them, spreading the knowledge of PSI to the Earth, in 1988 Giygas comes for revenge, with George’s descendant, Ninten standing in his way, singing Maria’s Lullaby to fill Giygas with guilt and cause him to call off the invasion and flee.

MOTHER 2
MOTHER 2 barely has any relation to MOTHER 1, none of the events or anything are really referenced. However, the title for MOTHER 2 in Japan was directly, “MOTHER 2: Gyig Strikes Back”, with Itoi noting he gave it this surname since Giygas did not die in the last game. Showing it’s a direct sequel within the MOTHER 1 continuity.

MOTHER 3
MOTHER 3 is set in its own plot though it borrows characters and plot points from MOTHER 2. At the end of MOTHER 2, Porky notes he is going to sneak away into another era in order and plan his revenge from there, with it being explained in MOTHER 3 that Porky abused time travel, causing him to be banished from all points in time and space, being forced into the era of MOTHER 3, Where it’s shown in the Theater Room in Chapter 8 that Porky has pictures of the Chosen Four while they were on their adventure during MOTHER 2.

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Section 4: Script & Translations

The scripts for MOTHER 1, 2, & 3 are all handled differently for this wiki regarding usability.

In MOTHER 1, the localization changed a lot of things, such as the names of the towns, enemy names, and censored various things that were not considered appropriate in America. We mainly use the MOTHER 1+2 fan translation, as this was fully translated by Clyde Mandelin (Tomato), a professional translator, widely known for his legends of localization book on EarthBound. Thus the accepted translation for MOTHER 1 is the MOTHER 1+2 fan translation made by Clyde Madelin.

In MOTHER 2, Clyde has noted that the NoA translation stayed true to the original intent of the text and it’s a top-notch localization for it’s time, however it does still have some removals from the original script and censorship of its own. Though it is considered fine to use the NoA translation for MOTHER 2, the more accepted source however is Clyde’s legends of localization post on EarthBound as he has translated many parts that were different in localization.

In MOTHER 3, we do not have an official localization, so we use the MOTHER 3 fan translation, which was fully translated by Clyde himself.

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Section 5: Supplementary Material

Manga
Mother 2: Ness no Boukenki is a manga written and illustrated by Benimaru Itoh with supervision by Itoi himself. Events and characterizations differ considerably from the game; most notably there is no sanctuary plot, the cast are able to reach Giygas as soon as they defeat Master Belch, the power of Earth is used as a one time attack to destroy Giygas’s dimension instead of being absorbed by Ness, and Giygas himself being a corporeal entity more akin to a Lovecraftian monster, fully conscious of his choices and choosing to attack humanity as he sees them unfit to rule the planet they inhabit. We see a clear depiction of the dark future in this manga, complete with various sanctuary bosses toppling large buildings and destroying a city together. We are also shown that there are infinitely many diverging timelines for each potential difference, with the cast crossing between these at one point in their journey.

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Other Media
Super Smash Bros.
Ness and Lucas are recurring characters within the Super Smash Bros. series, with Ness having been a part of the cast since the very first game. Both of them mainly use PSI moves from their other party members in their movesets, with their trophy descriptions explaining that they were taught how to use them by Paula, by Poo and Kumatora respectively. Furthermore, Ness is referred to as a genius when he is unlocked in the first game.

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Super Mario Maker
Ness and Lucas appear as amiibo costumes in the first Super Mario Maker and even had a Nintendo made level dedicated to them.

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Undertale
Official anniversary art of Undertale depicts MOTHER characters alongside the cast of Undertale.

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