Josh Miller – The Family Man

Mother (1989-2006)

I have said before on this site that Earthbound is my favorite game of all time. Even the soundtrack is something that I hold incredibly close to the chest. Each game has certain ties that link them together, but for the most part, they stand on their own as well with no knowledge needed of the other games. To this day, it has amazing ideas that games since then haven’t used, but absolutely should. So if a series were to return, Mother is my pick.

The influence of the Mother series is huge despite being a franchise Nintendo seemingly sweeps under the rug. It has easily one of the most passionate fanbases in all of gaming. Don’t believe me? Popular nerd merch site Fangamer was started by Mother fans. When Mother 3 didn’t come stateside, fans translated the entire game through a ROM hack in one of the best game translations ever. They even offered it to Nintendo to use free of charge in hopes that would be enough to release it outside Japan. Never happened. Fansite Starmen.net even held a fanfest in 2014 in honor of the 25th anniversary of Mother. Games like Undertale and the upcoming game Oddity (previously named Mother 4) were developed as love letters to the series. I can not say it enough. Fans love this series.

I know there are certain people hesitant about having a new Mother game without Shigesato Itoi at the helm. Understandable. However, someone like Toby Fox has proven he can nail the feel of the series. If Nintendo gave him the reins, my heart would be happy. I can’t think of many, if any, franchises thrown under the bus by its publisher like Mother. Yet, there’s enough magic there to still have one of the biggest and most beloved cult followings in games. If Nintendo were to give it another shot, I know I and the rest of the fanbase would be ecstatic. So please Nintendo…bring back Mother.