Mother 3 (fan překlad EN)

Some games become legends not because of sales or marketing, but because of how deeply they burrow under people's skin. Mother 3 is exactly such a case — a title the West never officially got, and yet it built up a cult here that many a blockbuster series might envy.

The third entry in the Mother series (known in the West as EarthBound) came out in 2006 in Japan only. Behind the script stands Shigesato Itoi, an essayist, copywriter and distinctive storyteller whose authorial fingerprint is felt in every line. Because the game never got an English version, fans translated it themselves — and there arose an acclaimed fan translation that is to this day regarded as a textbook example of community work as well as a quiet protest and proof that there was enormous demand for the game.

At first glance Mother 3 is a cute, slightly loopy JRPG full of bizarre humor, talking animals and absurd situations. But beneath that playful shell hides a surprisingly dark and mature story about death, loss, family and what unstoppable industrialization does to an idyllic world and its people. The game masterfully and unabashedly handles the shift from a smile to a lump in your throat.

The combat system adds a distinctive idea: it's rhythmic. You can chain attacks into combos by pressing the button in time with the background music. The better you hit the tempo, the longer the series of hits you chain — which turns ordinary turn-based battles into a little music game and at the same time forces you to listen to the great soundtrack.

It is precisely this union of unexpected emotional power, quirky humor and melancholy that makes Mother 3, for many players, one of the best stories ever created in video games. It's not an action spectacle or a technical miracle — it's storytelling that gets to you.

Why play: For one of the most powerful and moving stories in the history of the genre, hidden behind a cute facade and rhythmic battles.