There still remains a web page on starmen dot net for games similar to Earthbound. . . It was last updated around the time Contact came out… It doesn't even have Gunman's Proof on it. I was just a kid when I started going on that site and I was thirsty for more games like MOTHER 2. That list is what got me into the Dragon Quest series back when it was still called D_ragon Warrior_ and I realized United States localizations were usually inferior.
_(I wrote this prior to discovering & joining Insert Credit forums):_
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note:
> I’m not a PC gamer. There will be more and more games inspired by Earthbound coming out from the western indie games scene. This list is of games released for consoles prior to the western indie games boom of the past few years. I’m aware of Undertale and Lisa but this is a list of games I’ve found that I don’t think many people compare to Earthbound as much as they should. If you know of any indies similar to Earthbound feel free to post them but I think those usually are advertising their earthbound similarities pretty loudly like Lisa does.
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Kawa no Nushi Tsuri
this game came out for Famicom the year after Mother did. You play as a boy in a Japanese village, participate in first person RPG battles, and fish to complete quests to help people out. The series continued on most consoles up to the DS era, each one is pretty great, although not all of them are in english.
Guman’s Proof
Ganpuru is already well known as a game similar to Earthbound and Mother 3, the similarities are obvious. Cowboys and Aliens RPG might be one of the best niche genres.
Itoi’s Bass Fishing
This wasn't ever really taken seriously by “mother fans”, and that’s really sad. Itoi’s series was developed by HAL, and runs on the same special chip and pastel graphical style used Kirby’s Dream Land 3. Sadly, still no English patch.
Animal Crossing
Itoi helped conceptualize this series. Genyo Takeda wrote the entire script of the original N64/GCN titles, and his writing includes a lot of depth and wisdom. The localization was a huge task and it turned out beautifully.
_(putting my thesis in the middle of the list; creative writing)_
Before I continue with this list; Shigesato Itoi seems to be a fan of Twin Peaks. Twin Peaks was a huge hit in Japan and it influenced a lot of video games. The log cabin aesthetic of Mother 3 harkens back to Twin Peaks and the murder plot of the first chapter does too. The Hobonichi youtube has trailers with music mimicking the Twin Peaks opening theme song. It’s been stated in Iwata Asks that Link’s Awakening was inspired by Twin Peaks, but to me that influence seems even more prominent in Majora’s Mask. The original 64DD version of Mother 3 had a similar day night cycle to Majora’s Mask where the characters in the small town all had their own daily scheduled dramas. (Iwata Asks has also touched on this relationship, they were developed adjacently and ideas _were shared_)This type of open world gameplay was first pioneered by a playstation game called Mizzurna Falls, which undoubtedly took heavy inspiration from Twin Peaks. The rest of this list includes games I’ve found with similar hyper-scheduled character dramas and some with Twin Peaks influences. It was probably hard to escape the Twin Peaks / Soap Opera / Telenovela hype in 90's Japan. (My favorite part of Timothy's review of Tokimeki Memorial Hospital was learning about that popular Japanese teen soap drama.)
Chulip
At this point everyone knows Chulip- it’s become popular because of tumblr, and since then it's grown even more- but it’s a little known fact that it shares staff with Mother. The event designer for Chulip was also the event designer for Mother 3. This game also has heavy emphasis on each characters’ daily schedule, similar to Majora’s Mask and Mizzurna Falls. (I wrote this before listening to the insert credit show where Tim talks about the staff connections between mother 3, chulip, and something else I forget. Rule of Rose? Anyone remember?)
Mizzurna Falls
Shenmue usually gets credit as the first open world game, but this predates it. It’s a murder mystery set in a small town. It also has scheduled character dramas, and this is known as the most Twin Peaks-like game ever, along with Deadly Premonition.
Giftpia
Giftpia shares staff with Chulip and is a coming of age story for the Gamecube.
Moon Remix RPG
You already know
Yume Nikki and RPG Maker games
This is a Japanese RPG Maker game made by one person and undoubtedly inspired by Mother. There’s an area in this game that is a very nice nod to Mother. Also much of this game’s graphics seem to take inspiration from Kirby’s Dream Land 3 as well. It’s the only PC game I have listed here. Like I said above there’s only going to be more and more of these but I feel Yume Nikki was the earliest one to be discovered on the english speaking web. Other obvious ones would be OFF (which I have not played) Space Funeral, and LISA. I’m sure there’s plenty of Japanese RPG Maker projects that are amazing love letters to Mother that have sadly gone undiscovered on the english speaking web.
Honorable Mentions:
Magical Vacation
I may have enjoyed this game much more as a youngster. Brownie Brown was the developer behind Mother 3 you can see a few similarities and possible copied elements. Ever wonder why Mother 3’s menu had it’s own theme music or where that weird feather pen cursor came from? It’s a remnant of this game’s design.
Silent Hill 1-3
Silent Hill. With so many ties to Twin Peaks, I think it belongs here. It’s basically a third person dungeon crawler. If it was first person with the same tank controls it would be pretty similar to King’s Field. The setting is Lynchian in that it’s a regular podunk town where nasty things occur.
Harvest Moon for SNES
Later games switched up the graphics a bit but the rural setting is worth noting as something unique. Although it’s vague as to whether the setting is in Japan or somewhere else.
Majora’s Mask
Arguably the most Mother-like Zelda game. It’s story and writing play out like a SOAP OPERA and I love it. There is a fantasy setting but the characters like Kafei and Anju, the Postman and the Goreman brothers have struggles so real it brings the writing down to earth.
Stuff that I won’t include because there’s already enough people doing obvious comparisons to Mother: Contact, Star Tropics, Undertale, that new garbage world rpg that seemed pretty cool
So Mother 3 has unused data that is this mysterious image of a roadside diner:
[URL=https://i.imgur.com/n2VfQb4.png]
[IMG]https://i.imgur.com/n2VfQb4.png[/IMG][/URL]
Would seem totally inexplicable if you weren't aware of Itoi's love of... well... Life, and Twin Peaks. Mizzurna, of course, also has a diner that is a direct reference to Twin Peaks.
(there's a few more Twin Peaks-like games I've realized since finding Insert Credit, but I'll update with those when I remember them...)
