Mother 3

Mother 3 (Japanese:  ＭＯＴＨＥＲ３) is a role playing video game developed by Brownie Brown and HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy Advance on April 20, 2006. It is the third and final video game in the Mother series, and revolves around the fictional Nowhere Islands, their invasion by the Pigmask Army, and the attempts of young Lucas to depose them.

Although initially conceived for release on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Mother 3 was the subject of multiple delays and several consoles. Initial efforts to develop an N64 sequel failed, and while the project was canceled for a short time, Mother 3 was re-announced in 2003. Its subsequent release on the Game Boy Advance was met with commercial success and positive reception.

Although the game has not been released outside of Japan due to its mature themes, Mother 3 has enjoyed a cult following similar to that of its predecessor, EarthBound. In October 2008, a fan translation of the game was released by Starmen.net, and Mother 3 has been represented by Lucas in the Super Smash Bros. series since Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

Story
Unlike the first two games, the focus is no longer on a group of children. Some chapters put completely different characters in the protagonist role. In one chapter the player controls a limping thief named Duster, in another chapter the main character is Salsa, a monkey who is constantly suffering abuse by a rich traveling merchant named Fassad. The only child character the player gets to control is Lucas, who is about nine to ten years old in the first three chapters and twelve to thirteen years for the remainder of the game. Further controllable characters include Kumatora, a tomboyish princess, Flint, a strange middle-aged cowboy and Lucas's father, and Lucas's dog, Boney.

Mother 3 is set in the Nowhere Islands in an unknown time period. Chaos ensues after an invasion by the Pigmask Army, named after the uniforms, which resemble pigs, and its leader, Porky Minch, the "Pig King". They slowly construct a police state, while experimenting on the land's flora and fauna, and introducing new technology and infrastructure to the islands. The various chapters record the life of a boy named Lucas and his family and friends, banding together to rid the Nowhere Islands of the Pigmask Army.

Prologue
The game opens with Lucas, when his family are visiting Alec. Claus, Lucas's older twin brother, wakes Lucas up to play with the Dragos who came to visit. While playing, they are interrupted by a Mole Cricket who challenges Lucas and Claus for a fight. Afterwards, Hinawa the twins' Mother, calls them to have Omelets for lunch. Later, Hinawa sends a message to her husband Flint via carrier pigeon that they will be going home later that night.

Chapter 1: Night of the Funeral
The game begins the first chapter with Flint, who, after a group of Pigmasks start a fire in the Sunshine Forest, is tasked by the fireman Thomas to rescue Lighter and Fuel who are trapped in the fire. They find Lighter by his house which was caught on fire, and find out Fuel was trapped inside. Flint rescues Fuel and escorts him back to the village. Suddenly, it begins to rain, which puts out the fire in the forest, however Flint and the other residents find out that his wife Hinawa and their sons, Lucas and Claus, haven't come back to the village yet. As such they begin a search for them. During the search, Flint hears from Isaac that earlier, he thought he saw Hinawa, then heard a Drago's roar, followed by bloodcurdling screams. Issac nervously grows skeptical about this, while Flint later receives the letter Hinawa sent at the end of the prologue and reads it at home. Flint then sets out with Boney to continue the search. As they continue searching deeper in the forest, they are unable to proceed through the forest due to a fallen tree. Jonel points out a cliffside that were seemingly slashed at by Drago clawmarks, which worries the people as Dragos are gentle creatures. They spot a strand of Hinawa's dress at the top of the plateau, and seek to scale the cliff. Wess sends Boney to call his son Duster who has the ability to help them scale the cliff. Duster makes a ladder with Wall Staples to allow them to climb up and retrieve the strand, only to have a fight with a robotic cyborg caribou. Afterwards they learn of an unknown individual who has plans to reconstruct the animals living in the Nowhere Islands in similar ways.

As they near the end of the forest, they soon find Lucas and Claus were found by a river, and were being warmed by a bonfire. Then Bronson arrives to tell the residents good news and bad news. The good news was that Bronson found a Drago Fang which could be used as a weapon, however the bad news was that the fang was pierced through Hinawa's heart and killed her. Flint enters a blind rage caused by the fact that he couldn't save his wife, he then begins to assault the residents who try to comfort him, until Bronson strikes Flint unconscious with a log and temparorily puts him in jail.

The next day, Flint wakes up in jail after dreaming of the last time he saw Hinawa alive, as she and the boys were leaving to visit Alec on Mt. Oriander. Bronson remarks that Flint is the first person to have been put in Tazmily's jail. He explains that everyone understands Flint's grief and why he went on a rampage last night, but also admonishes Flint for his poor method of coping with the stress of his wife's death. Bronson asks Flint to see him once he gets out of jail, as the former managed to fashion the Drago's Fang into an effective weapon. Claus arrives to give Flint an apple with a Hand File in its core to allow Flint to open the prison door, then Claus explains that he is going to get revenge on the Drago that killed his mother.

Flint then goes off to Hinawa's grave where Alec forces Lucas to reveal that Claus actually did steal Flint's kitchen knife and run off to the mountains to avenge Hinawa, causing Lucas to shamefully run away while Alec realizes he was may have been too harsh on Lucas. Alec then asks Flint to go to his house, along the way Flint then heads to Bronson's to retrieve the Drago fang which was made into a weapon, heads to Alec's house. Alec then joins Flint as they go looking for Claus. Alec brings Flint to a house with a group of bizzarre human-like creatures called the Magypsys, lead by Aeolia, who sent Claus off to the mountains with a special power to aid him. As they scale Drago Plateau, Flint and Alec chase off find several other Pigmasks who've been recently terrorizing Tazmily Village, and later find a baby Drago playing with a shoe that is unmistakably Claus's. Travelling further they find a reconstructed Drago with a missing fang, revealing that this was the one responsible for Hinawa's death. Flint pierces the Drago with its own fang and fights it. The Drago then lays injured as Flint attempts to kill the Drago, only to be stopped by the baby Drago and Alex, of which Alec tells Flint that killing the Drago will only put the baby in the same tragedy that struck the kids. In the end Flint decides to spare the Drago. Unfortunately, Claus was nowhere to be found, then he is shown lying unconscious on the mountainside.

Chapter 2: Thief's Adventure
From here, the second chapter begins later that night, with Duster being drafted to go to the abandond Osohe Castle by his father Wess to find the Egg of Light. Along the way, Duster encounters a suspicious man with a pet monkey, who had offered the farmer Butch a bag of money exchanged for pigs. Butch shows Duster that he is hiding the money inside of the well. In the castle Duster finds that it is taken over by ghosts, most of which are hostile although many are also friendly. One friendly ghost allows Duster to purchase the Rope Snake to help him cross gaps in the castle. Later Duster sees a strange girl run past him, as she drops a pendant along the way. After battling a ghostly musician Mr. Passion, Duster finds the Noble Spitoon, and brings it home to his father Wess. However, Wess hevily scholds Duster because it was the wrong item to return, however Duster also gives him the pendant dropped by the girl, who speculates that the pendant belongs to the princess of Osohe Castle. Because of this, Wess joins Duster to go back to the castle to find the real treasure.

However they are ambushed by Pigmasks who send a Clayman to attack them, although the two defeat it. The two trek through the castle and then enter the room where the Nobile Spitoon was located, and Wess performs a dance to open the door to the rest of the castle to find the Egg. Along the way, Duster and Wess are almost shot with PK Freeze by Kumatora, who was the girl Duster saw on his first visit, and also mistook them for a threat. Upon her pendant being returned, she joins them to search for the Egg of Light. They then reach the Egg of Light, just as several Pigmasks attempt to take the Egg. Kumatora grabs the Egg to escape, which sets off a trap sending them into a water filled chamber where they are attacked by the Oh So Snake. After fighting it, the trio is flushed out of the castle and Duster loses his memory. Wess and Kumatora wash up on a beach. Duster is nowhere to be seen, however. Wess suspects Duster ran off to have his "merry time", causing Kumatora to rebuke him saying Duster might actually be in danger.

Chapter 3: The Suspicious Peddler
Chapter 3 occours simultaneously with Chapter 2. The Pigmask Army then plan to reconstruct the town of Tazmily Village with the help of Fassad. The chapter begins with a monkey named Salsa, who is forced and abused by Fassad to do his bidding, though Salsa is not involved with the scheme and simply wants to rescue his girlfriend, who was kidnapped by the Pigmasks. First they are traveling through a desert to find a passage that will lead them to Tazmily Village. They are attacked by a Cactus Wolf with Salsa being forced to fight it alone, at which point Fassad opens a secret underground passage.

The passage leads to Tazmily' s graveyard, where Salsa and Fassad then head to the village. Along the way they bump into Duster, and then Fassad overheard Butch telling Duster that he hid the money in the well. Fassad then stays the night at Yado Inn. The next day Fassad attempts to convince the town with a new infrastructure and "Happy Boxes," which are like TV's, that will cause the village to be modernized. Fassad forces Salsa to deliver Happy Boxes to several residents in the village. They use the happiness boxes primarily to corrupt the residents of Tazmily and make their job of establishing authority easier.

Fassad later receives notice that the Pigmasks's raid of Osohe Castle, intended to obtain the Egg of Light, was foiled by a group of amature raiders (Wess, Duster, and Kumatora). Knowing that the amateurs are in the basement, Fassad forces Salsa to drain the waters at the bottom of the castle, washing away the amateurs-- and the Egg of Light. Angered, Fassad goes back to the inn to stay the night. However, on his way there, he encounters a frenzy erupting in the town square: the man who sold Fassad his pigs is accusing a family in the town of stealing his money. Fassad takes the opportunity to continue his propaganda, while a strange girl in the crowd forms a telepathic connection with Salsa.

Fassad then once agains stays the night at the inn. That night Salsa is ultimately rescued by Kumatora and Wess, who upon escaping are ambushed by Pigmasks in tanks in the forest. Fortunately, Lucas shows up and calls a Drago to attack the Pigmasks. Lucas then learns of the schemes the Pigmasks are attempting to put upon the Nowhere Islands, and Lucas begins getting stronger to help put an end to their plans.

Chapter 4: Club Titiboo
Three years later, Tazmily Village is cometely modernized. Lucas explores the town and learns of a new bassist named Lucky who joined the DCMC, who looks strikingly similar to Duster. Lucas tells Wess, who asks Lucas to confirm the rumors that he has joined DCMC and to respond via carrier pigeon. Lucas must travel to Club Titiboo, near the Clayman Factory, where the DCMC performs. Unable to take the train, Lucas and Boney follow the train tracks on foot. Along they way, they reach a hot spring with Ionia bathing in it. Ionia senses power within Lucas, then it attempts to awaken the power by having Lucas hild his breath underwater. Lucas learns PK Love as Ionia remarks that not even the Magipsys can learn it.

Lucas reaches the end of the tracks where the Clayman Factory and Club Tittiboo are located. However, only factory employees are allowed in the club. Lucas and Boney then work part time in the factory to gain access to the club. The club has a strict no pet policy forcing Boney to put on a human disguise. The security were still suspicious with the two, however Kumatora (disguised as a waitress named Violet) grants access by calling Boney "Wuff" and Lucas "Poo. Lucas and Boney then watch the concert and find that Duster did indeed join the musical group DCMC as their bassist. Kumatora guides Lucas and Boney through an underground passageway to one of the dressing rooms, where she reveals that Duster disappeared three years ago and has lost his memory. Unable to get past security, she send the two into the attic to reach Lucky's dressing room. Upon defeating an abandoned and vengeful bass, the two enter Lucky's room where all of the DCMC members are gathered. Duster unfortunately still couldn't remember who he really is, however he remembers where he hid the Egg of Light. Lucas and the DCMC play a game of stone-sheet-clippers to determine if Duster should stay with the band or go. The band agrees that Lucky is Duster then purposely allow Lucas to win, and so the next day Duster listens to the DCMC's farewell song, send the carrier pigeon to Wess, and the four set off together to search for the Egg of Light.

Chapter 5: The Tower of Thunder
The team travel through the Unknown Valley and learn that Duster hid the Egg inside a non-functioning Clayman, which began to malfunction and run rampart after being struck by the lightning from the Thunder Tower. They chase the Clayman into a warehouse, where inside Lucas is mistaken for the Pigmask commander due to baring a strong resemblance to him. They give Lucas his proper uniform and dress his friends as Pigmasks, and then find the malfunctioning Clayman is being taken to the dump and so follow it across a highway.

They borrow a Pork Bean to navigate the Highway faster, however it slips on a bunch of banana peels (presumably dropped by Fassad), catching the attention of a higher-ranked Pigmask named the Fierce Pork Trooper, who is also a DCMC fan and attended the concert the previous night. Using his highly developed sense of smell, he sees through the team's the disguise and attempts to fight them off. Ultimately he is incapitated by jealousy due to the teams DCMC merchendice, allowing them to defeat him and take his own Pork Bean. They find it in a dump where it was reconstructed into the Forlorn Junk Heap. They defeat it and retrieve the Egg of Light, which restores Duster's memory. They then head to the Thunder Tower, learning that it is used to stroke houses that refuse to buy a Happy Box with lightning, to shut it down.

They once again run into the Fierce Pork Trooper, defeat him again, and run into Fassad. Fassad recognizes Lucas as the blonde-haired kid who sent the Drago to attack the Pigmasks three years agoand chases him further up the tower. While escaping, they find their way into a strange playroom belonging to King P. Among the items are a casket from a foreign land, some teddy bears that don't look like they were used since the 1990s, and a jukebox that would be "better suited for a café somewhere in a big city" that only plays a song "suited for a department store".

The continue up where Lucas is struck by a faulty lightning bolt, causing him to learn PK Flash, and destroying the generator to shut down the tower. After shutting down the tower, Fassad appears to try to stop them, but falls from the tower. Shortly after, an aircraft comes with the Masked Man inside. Duster grabs the craft with the Rope Snake and the party clings for dear life as the ship flies away. The Rope Snake cannot hold forever though, and the party falls from the aircraft.

Chapter 6: Sunflower Fields
Lucas awakes in a field full of sunflowers. After finding Boney, he sees figments of his mother, Hinawa. After chasing her off the edge of a cliff, he falls back down on a haystack near the retirement home in Tazmily Village, where Wess and Alec bring him home and help him get well.

It is unknown if the sunflower fields is where Lucas landed after falling off of the aircraft, or if it was just his imagination.

Chapter 7: The Seven Needles
When Wess and Alec bring Lucas and Boney home, they explain that they had a dream where Hinawa told them to put a haystack right where they landed. Alec asks about Duster's whereabouts and suggests for Lucas to visit the Magypsys. As Lucas and Boney are leaving, they find the Magypsy Ionia tied up on the bridge. They rescue Ionia and then it takes the duo upriver to Aeolia's house. Suddenly, a loud tremor is heard outside and the sky begins to flash different colors for a short time, then Aeolia begins to disappear. It explains that its needle has been pulled and is now time for it to disappear from existance. As Aeolia disappears it gives Lucas a razor and lipstick, and uses the last of its power to open a secret passageway to the location of its needle in Osohe Castle.

Lucas and Boney reach the former location of Aeolia's needle and see that it was pulled out. Ionia appears to teach Lucas about the Seven Needles. Pulling the Seven Needles will release a seal on the Dark Dragon, a being that rests below the islands, which inherently possesses massive power. In the wrong hands it could destroy the islands, while it could heal the world in good hands. Ionia worries that whoever pulled Aeolia's Needle has a dark or unpure heart, and urges Lucas to pull the other needles before he does. He finds a transceiver phone like Fassad's nearby, and answering the call find the location of the next needle being near Chimera Laboratory. The party races against the Pigmask Army to activate the needles.

From here on the Needles 2-5 can be pulled in any order. Below is the chronological order of the story.

Upon returning to the surface, Boney brings Lucas to Hinawa's grave where the gravekeeper Nippolyte gives Lucas the Courage Badge, a present from Flint. The duo then head to the Chimera Laboratory in the Murasaki Forest. Lucas and Boney soon find themselves in the genetic-engineering laboratory where Dr. Andonuts and other scientists work. To infiltrate the lab, the two disguise themselves with Pigmask helmets and are tasked to find Salsa and his girlfriend Samba, who were intended to be used for an experiment but escaped. While searching, they learn about the brutally abusive experiments performed on the once innocent and harmless creatures, turning them into dangerous chimeras. They later find the two monkeys, but then they run off due to mistaking Lucas for a Pigmask, and so the duo must continue chasing throughout the lab.

They also find out that several chimeras have accidentally been let loose in the lab. After battling an escaped unfinished mechanical lion chimera, they learn that the lab is in a state of emergancy because their most dangerous creation, the Ultimate Chimera, is still on the loose (being the last one) and is terrorizing the workers in the lab. The Pigmasks explain that the Ultimate Chimera is a deadly monster that will stalk its victims and murder them with its razor sharp teeth. There is no way to beat it so they warn Lucas to stay away from it at all costs. Lucas and Boney then continue their search, while simultaneously trying to avoid the monster. Eventually they find a strange man named Dr. Andonuts hiding in a trash can, presumably hiding from the Ultimate Chimera. He explains that he is being forced to work as the Pigmasks' chief technological developer by King P. Soon the duo manage to corner Salsa and Samba, only to realize they themselves have been cornered by the Ultimate Chimera. As they flee for their lives they drop their helmets, causing Salsa to recognize Lucas as the boy who rescued him from Fassad three years ago. While Lucas and Boney are trying to stay alive, Dr. Andonuts reveals the Ultimate Chimera has one weakness that he added as a precautionary measure, being the button placed on the monster's back that incapitates it when pressed, and wasn't able to be removed when it escaped. Salsa, wanting to repay Lucas for rescuing him, rushes in and presses the button as the monster is about to attack Lucas and Boney. As they leave to find the next needle, the yellow bird that rides on the Ultimate Chimera jumps onto the button, waking it back up and allowing it to escape into the wild.

The party then reach a previously un-openable door, of which Salsa performs a dance to open it, leading to the house of the next Magypsy Doria. Inside they also find Kumatora, who was found by Doria after she fell off the aircraft. She rejoins Lucas and then they locate the next needle, at the bottom of a pond near Doria's house. To reach it they must move the water from that pond into the empty one beside it, with the help of a chimera created by Dr. Andonuts, they succfully drain the pond and Lucas pulls the second Needle. In the process Lucas learns PK Love β and Doria disappears, leaving behind its memento. Meanwhile Kumatora and Salsa say farewell and as they part ways, Salsa gives Kumatora a nut as a goodbye gift.

Upon leaving the area, Lucas and co. encounter Okera, the mole cricket from the prologue of the game. He challenges Lucas to another match, and leads the party down into the lair where the mole crickets live. After an easy battle, the party is allowed to travel through the maze-like caves that lead up into a tall mountain. After traveling up the mountain, the group meets the next Magypsy, Lydia, who has allowed a captured Pork Colonel-turned-good to rest in the house. Lydia reveals the location of its Needle, being behind the house. As Lucas the party is about to go outside, they hear the sounds of Pigmask aircrafts and rush outside, just as the Masked Man arrives and pulls the Needle, revealing he is the heartless person pulling the Needles. After Lucas forms a telepathic link with the Masked Man, they enter a battle with the Steel Mechorilla. After defeating it, Lydia arrives while disappearing, urging Lucas to be the one to pull the Needles. Then the party finds the Pigmask Captain is seen tending for Lydia's pet rabbits after disappearing. He is also unmasked, revealing that the Pigmasks are just regular people who've sworn their ultimate allegiance to the Pig King. Finally to leave the mountain, the party ramps off the mountains in a refrigerator and crashes in Tazmily Village's cemetery.

The party then finds a series of notes with strange handwriting that ask for help, and they are led through a new route on the Pork Highway atop a strange coffee table vehicle. Near the now closed Thunder Tower, they arrive at their destination, which is an occupied Saturn Valley where a race of strange beings called Mr. Saturn reside. In the village, the Mr. Saturns are being forced by the Pigmasks to tell the location of the next Needle with the use of Frightbots. In one house a Mr. Saturn, Duster, and Rope Snake are being interrogated by the Pigmask Army on the whereabouts of the nearby Needle, however the Mr. Saturn insists he doesn't know it's location. Once all of the Pigmasks and Frightbot s are destroyed, the village is freed and Duster rejoins the party. The Mr. Saturn admits that he actually does know the location of the next Needle, inside Fire Mountain The Mr. Saturns help the group enter the volcano by using themselves as a ladder to allow the party to reach the entrance.

Inside they find the next Magypsy, the more serious and detailed orientated Phrygia, who is asleep. It gives Lucas some "Encouraging Words" to speak to the boulders blocking the path so they can go farther into the volcano. They continue through until they reach the end, where the next Needle is guarded by a rebuilt Fassad, now sporting trumpets as weaponry, introducing himself as "New Fassad". Fassad cannot speak on his own anymore, instead he blows into his trumpets while an Interpreter translates the sounds into words. He is ultimately defeated, allowing Lucas to pull the Needle, and learning PK Love γ in the process. Phrygia comes to witness the pulling of its needle. It gives Lucas the locations of the other Needles, then leaves a memento and disappears as with the others. The reunited party returns to Saturn Valley and has some coffee while resting in a hot spring in a familiar manner, then afterwards a Mr. Saturn offers to borrow Lucas's Courage Badge to polish it, and return it later. As the team is about to leave, a Pigmask Major blows up the only exit from Saturn Valley to trap the party members. With the help of the Mr. Saturns, the party uses a flock of birds in a cage to return to Tazmily Village, as the party holds on to Rope Snake. Once again, his jaws are unable to hold the party's weight and they are dropped into the ocean at Cerulean Beach.

They learn the location of the next needle on Tanetane Island, and lacking a form of transportation they must travel on the ocean floor to reach there, and so they dive in. Here they encounter rather questionably designed oxygen machines which supply them with oxygen, with even all but one Pigmask not being fond of their mermen-like appearence. As they near the island, they encounter Master Eddy who battles them. Upon being almost defeated, Master Eddy attacks the party with a gigantic whirlpool leaving them unconscious on the beach with all their goods lost. After waking up, Lucas, Boney, Duster, and Kumatora are low on energy and are unable to proceed due to a Zombieshroom blocking the path. Their only source of food are some strange-looking purple mushrooms, and despite feeling skeptical about eating them, decide this is the only source of food to allow them to survive. Boney opts out, leaving the human party members to experience a drug-induced hallucination in the jungle. Alongside seeing bizzarre nonsensical things throughout the island, the party also find that all the chimeras on the island appear as people they know, and they make strange speeches reflecting the group's tragic memories and fears, or other negative feelings, especially to Lucas. When battled they appear as Eerie Smiles that turn into the actual creatures they are as they're being defeated.

Eventually the party makes its way to the next Magypsy, Mixolydia ("Missy" for short), who at first appears to look more beautiful in the illusion compared to the other Magypsys. Mixolydia then snaps them out of their hallucination and tells where the 5th Needle is located, in top of the mountain and guarded by the Barrier Trio. After defeating it, the Pigmasks and their commander, the Masked Man arrive. After Lucas has another telepathic link with him, the Masked Man shoots a bolt of lightning which incapitates the party, and then pulls the Needle. Mixolydia arrives in distress to see the Masked Man succeeding in pulling the Needles, then along with its memento it gives the Jar of Yummy Pickles to give to Ionia, and let's them be ferried back to Tazmily Village on the back of its octopus friend Ocho, who also found and returned their items.

By the time they return to Tazmily Village, they find that almost all of the residents have moved on to live in the big city, leaving the village deserted. Traveling through Argilla Pass they reach Ionia's house. Giving the Jar of Yummy Pickles Mixolydia left them, Ionia gives Lucas the Waters of Time so they can sprinkle it on the time-locked vines and allow them enter the Chupichupyoi Temple nearby. Along the way to the temple, they meet a hooded Mr. Saturn who gives the polished Courage Badge, now revealed to have been a Franklin Badge. At the temple, they meet the Masked Man, who tries to destroy the vines blocking the entrance to the temple, but is umable to due to them being frozen in time. He then notices Lucas and his friends, then Lucas has yet another telepathic link with him, and finally the Masked Man shoots them with lightning once again, but this time Lucas's Franklin Badge reflects the lightning back to him, and a battle starts. The Masked Man is defeated and then retreats, leaving Lucas to pull the next Needle. After sprinkling the Waters of Time on the vines, they enter a cycle of flowering and wilting, then the entrance to the temple is open. Just before Lucas pulls the Needle, Ionia comes and teaches Kumatora PK Starstorm. Lucas pulls the Needle and learns PK Love Ω, the strongest tier of the attack. Ionia disappears, orphaning Kumatora, who was taken and raised by Ionia many years ago.

As they exit the temple, a limousine pulls up driven by a well-dressed man. The man introduces himself as representing the king who he calls "Porky". He then claims that Porky has invited them to New Pork City, which is where Tazmily's inhabitants have migrated to. Ultimately they accept the invitation expecting to find the final Needle there.

Chapter 8: All Things
In New Pork City, Lucas and friends go to the movie theater, which shows some of the Porky's past adversaries (including Ness, Paula, Jeff, and Poo from EarthBound). A stinkbug gets the attention of Boney, and the party chases him into the sewers. Once there, they follow Boney's barks to find Leder, the bell ringer from Tazmily Village. He tells them the long history of their world and Porky, including the fact that their islands are a post-apocalyptic utopia and that it exists on the back of a giant sleeping dragon, which is kept asleep by the Needles. The Magypsy were put in place to guard them. On the way out of the sewers, Fassad attacks again, now known as Miracle Fassad and is defeated by the party.

As the group climbs the Empire Porky Building, which is the tallest building in New Pork City, they discover a Magypsy house. Upon entering, they find items that prove that Fassad is the final Magypsy, which include a turban like Fassad's, a pair of trumpets like the ones Fassad has after being rebuilt, many crates filled with luxury bananas, which Fassad ate throughout the game, and banana peels lazily tossed on the floor like Fassad did.

When the party makes its way up the final floor, they discover a robot that resembles Porky. They compete with the robot in a few mini-games before moving on to Porky himself.

On top of the tower, they find the Hall of Memories, showcasing many items from EarthBound, which include the Runaway Five's tour bus, Tessie, the helicopter that Porky flew away from the Monotoli building in, the submarine which Ness and co. used to enter Deep Darkness swamp, the black and white sesames from the desert between Threed and Fourside, and Porky's original spider-mech from the battle with Giygas, before ending up in a long hallway leading to Porky. In Porky's room they are attacked by more complete Porky robots, which are soon destroyed by Duster's ex-bandmates of DCMC. After the townspeople of Tazmily Village enter the room with Dr. Andonuts and Flint, Porky descends from the vines on the roof to speak to the party. He reveals that the last Needle has been found and challenges Lucas and friend to beat him to it via the express elevator. Lucas, Boney, Kumatora, Duster, and Flint rapidly descend the elevator shaft to a mine-like environment.

Flint goes ahead and soon tells Lucas that the Masked Man is actually his brother Claus, who has been changed by the Pigmask Army. They have been using him because he is the only other one besides Lucas who is capable of pulling the Needles and awakening the dragon.

Porky soon confronts them in his spider-mech. When Porky seems to be defeated, he calls upon the Absolutely Safe Capsule and climbs inside. It seals Porky inside and being true to its name, it protects Porky from all harm. However, Porky finds that he cannot harm the heroes, either. When the battle ends, Dr. Andonuts reveals that he built the Absolutely Safe Capsule with the specifications that once someone is inside, the machine cannot be opened by anyone, including the person inside of it, and while Porky is "absolutely safe", he is trapped in the machine forever.

Before reaching the final Needle, the Masked Man attacks again in a one-on-one battle with Lucas, who stays safe from his lightning attack thanks to the Franklin Badge. Hinawa pleads with Claus from beyond the grave, trying to get him to stop attacking Lucas, while Flint blocks the effects of the PK Love attack. Eventually, the Masked Man removes his helmet revealing himself as Claus, and regaining his own will, he sends a final bolt of lightning at Lucas so that it would reflect back at him and end the fight. After Claus collapses, he regains his sense of self and utters a few parting words. Lucas pulls the final needle, and the player is shown a grim outlook of what appears to be the end of the Nowhere Islands. A secret on the final screen of the game, in which the word 'End?' appears, will actually reveal that everybody survives the attack and thank the player for all their help. As the residents of the Nowhere Islands give their thanks, the player finds a Doorknob, likely the doorknob that was pulled off Flint's door in Chapter 1.

Playable characters
Unlike the two games before it, having a set of four playable characters and rarely deviating from it, Mother 3's playable cast changes often before settling on a team of four in Chapter 7.


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Antagonists

 * Pigmasks and the Pigmask Army - The main threat in Tazmily Village, the Pigmask Army does various things such as reconstructing wild animals, hypnotizing people with Happy Boxes and set Sunshine Forest on fire, and other evil tasks.
 * Porky - The leader of the Pigmask Army, his tasks are fueled by a simple desire to destroy everything.
 * Masked Man - The commander of the Pigmask Army, a cyborg controlled by Porky as a fighting machine and to also pull the Seven Needles.

Release
Mother 3 was released on April 20th, 2006 for the Game Boy Advance, however it was also playable on older Nintendo DS models released at the time. The game was only released in Japan and to this day has not had an official English release.

At the time of the release, a limited time Deluxe Box was also released only in Japan that sold for 18,000 yen. Packaged inside was the game itself in a white box (as opposed to the regular red box), a Franklin Badge pin, and a Mother 3 themed Game Boy Micro.

On December 17th 2015, the game was released on the Wii U's Virtual Console exclusively in Japan.

Fan Translation
A team from the fansite Starmen.net created a fan translation of Mother 3 in 2008. It can be found at mother3.fobby.net

Trivia

 * Mother 3 was originally going to be released on the Nintendo 64DD add-on under the name EarthBound 64. However, the add-on flopped, and although some games originally planned for the N64DD were continued on the original N64, EarthBound 64 was scrapped and moved to the GBA.
 * Near the end of the game, there is a room that shows off various objects from EarthBound. It also plays the song Pollyanna, from EarthBound Beginnings.
 * In the games files there is an unused boss that seems to resemble Claus and Lucas.