Mother 3

video games
1

I know nothing about it other than I’ve played some Earthbound and people love it.

I’m not too familiar with “unreleased” type stuff, or translations. I haven’t looked at my vault yet but I’d imagine I have some folder with 8 different indistinguishable (U) and (J) versions to choose from.

I want to play in English. Is there a specific version and/or emulator I should use?

2

@Squit#7422 The trasnslation by Tomato even in 2008 was perfectly playable to my recollection. I finished the entire game on a GBA emulator on PSP. You‘re only concern with the game is that there is a rhythm based component to the battle system, so you wan’t to go for as accurate an emulator as you can find. I know the market is awash with repro carts, and a flash cart on GBA might be the best way to go. The game will even run on the ancient EZ-Flash IV.

3

I‘ve never played it either and I actually bought one of those reproduction carts a little while ago because I thought it’d be a fun thing to play on the Analogue Pocket.

4

I had a perfectly good time with one of the repro carts a while back as well. I played it for the first time on pc and the input lag problem did diminish the experience so avoid that if you can

You should really play through Earthbound first though to "get" important aspects of the mother 3

5

3 is by far the best in the series. The rhythm is important though, I remember some bosses being pretty difficult when I played it on a PSP emulator. You basically tap the attack button on beat to rack up extra hits on the battlefield. I think you can get like 4+ hits max maybe, but on emulator you’ll struggle to hit 1 or 2.

I remember the battle against the sentient bass guitar being particularly frustrating.

6

Some emulators have a synch-to-music mode that will make the rhythm elements likely to work. But if the emu is slightly off you'll never be quite sure if its you.

I think the best way to go is put it on a flash cart and use real hardware. Nailing the rhythm is like a big part of the fun and tension of battle. Every character has an instrument in the battle tracks and you tap to that enemy's heart beat. You can get BIG combos off but they stop paying off significantly after like 8 I think. Ive def got like 10+ hit combos and I'm not rhythm person.

You can find it in English on pirate carts for like $15 right now. I'd personally suggest that route and a used DS or GBA.
https://www.etsy.com/listing/864581038/mother-3-earthbound-2-gba-english-fan

8

@PhantomPhotom#7436 This is the way I'm gonna go I think. Thanks!