Encyclopedia MOTHER: MOTHER's PSI Power as Seen by Psychic Ability R & D (Kouji Imura)

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[1989: pp. 134–135]

[2003: pp. 138–139]

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Essay on MOTHER's Psychic Abilities

MOTHER'S PSI POWER AS SEEN BY PSYCHIC ABILITY R & D

Nearly All of MOTHER's PSI Power is an Actual Thing

Kouji Imura

井村宏次　Head of Seitai Energy Research Institute. After graduating from Ritsumeikan University's law department, he studied Oriental medicine and acupuncture/moxibustion at Meiji School of Oriental Medicine, and since founding his research institute in '72, has been Japan's foremost figure implementing proof-based parapsychology research and PSI power development.

PSI Power Can be Classified as Telepathy, Clairvoyance, Premonition and PK.

In MOTHER you use quite a wide variety of psychic abilities, which are called "PSI power". What do you think about this from a scholarly perspective?

IMURA: "PSI power" originated as a technical term. It can be broadly divided into two categories: the thought-based and the energy-based. When it comes to the thought-based, there's telepathy and clairvoyance. Telepathy indicates person-to-person, spirit-to-spirit communication. Naturally, you can also have an alien as your communication partner. If the alien has a spirit, that is. Clairvoyance, known as the second sight, is knowing of things happening far away or the hidden contents of an object. That's not limited simply to physical things, but there's also cases of seeing through to hidden circumstances such as a scandal.

There's another one called precognition. This is foresight. It's the ability to know the future from the present point, that is, Earth time. Knowledge of the distant past from this point in Earth time is what we call hindsight, or retrocognition. Psychokinetic abilities other than these fall roughly under a category we call "PK". The spirit is born of the mind through person-to-person connections, so it's thought to be impossible that a spirit could influence the outside world; and yet, it's PK that regards it as possible. For example, in MOTHER, that's healing.

Is "healing" the actual term for it?

IMURA: It is. Healing is curing another's malady with the power of mental imagery or psychokinesis. You picture them as cured, or rather, there's a way to emit a kind of power and, with psychokinetic energy, forcibly mold your sick friend into their normal state. Put all of this together and you get ESP, or extrasensory perception. That means it's outside the five senses, but it's still a sense. Now, PK is the abbreviation for psychokinesis, right? Kinesis is Greek for moving an object without touching it, psycho means of the mind.

And, falling under the category of peripheral phenomena, you have teleportation, you have the movement of objects or articles or even people... just a ton of PK variants.

What kind of phenomenon is teleportation?

IMURA: Even though time is consistently moving forward by Earth measures if you look at it from the present point, you have articles and people moving faster, and in the blink of an eye at that. This is teleportation in its exact sense. In addition, there's what we call astral travel or out-of-body (OBE) abilities. That means a separate essence containing your spirit leaps out of your body. You now travel across planes, but unlike teleportation, your physical body doesn't go anywhere. Your conscious state of both spirit and self, this is what travels. In this case, there are times it can be visible from the outside.

Is it like an aura?

IMURA: Yes. Sometimes it's a shimmering mass, other times it takes the form of a person. We call it the astral body. These things fall under PSI.

The Origin of PSI Power Research is 1970s America.

MOTHER takes place in present-day America. Is there a connection between America and PSI power?

IMURA: The "PSI" itself in PSI power was christened by American Professor Rhine. He and another man, a British psychologist named Thouless, came up with the word. They referred to the stirring or emission of energies unknown to man, or sixth-sense activity, under the blanket term PSI. This was when we were entering the '70s. Before then, this was spirit research, that is, the world of Tetsurou Tamba¹, in an era of psychical research. There was the argument over whether or not spirits exist, which settled on yes, they do, and the new religion turned into what's known as spiritualism. That was a proposal by Mr. Tamba. Research doesn't move forward when everything from people's psychic powers to spirit phenomena is attributed to spirits, so when they said, let's break off a piece and try it again scientifically, the word PSI was born and perceived anew as human phenomena rather than spirit phenomena.

Love is a Factor that Strengthens the Protagonist and Ana's PSI Power.

In this story, the boy protagonist and a girl hope to protect their families, and this gradually strengthens their PSI. Does that sort of thing actually happen?

IMURA: It can. Of course, the boy has his power from the start, doesn't he? Those without the talent can't go this far, but for those with it, it's a real thing where maybe love, or fighting to protect the Earth, will act as a trigger and bring it out.

On the other hand, the boy genius who has, if anything, an excellent grasp on the Theory of Relativity doesn't have any PSI power.

IMURA: Well, the power may not appear in children with unexpected fervor, and may appear in an uninterested child. PSI power will often weaken when energy goes to intellect. In a child's case, he starts off with a very inadequate psychological perception of time and space. He looks at a clock and all he sees is a simple ruler. There's something about time that doesn't quite click with him. So something like a child's vague sense of time and space can be a factor that draws out psychic ability.

Could the protagonist's state of mind where he's protecting the Earth from a space invasion cause a development of PSI power?

IMURA: Cases will happen now and then where it will show up in a child who likes astronomy, peers through telescopes... It's easier for it to emerge if he turns outward and expands the peak of his consciousness. It seems to me if he carries the peak of his consciousness a far enough distance, it makes that much more of a difference toward how much psychic ability shows itself. It simply can't show up in an adult if he feels like he's measuring the distance with a ruler.

Even psychic powers can, theoretically, be broken down into two groups: the so-called reverted and evolved forms. In a child's case, he has animalistic parts to him from the start, so he's close to the reversion. Contrast this against the recent New Age crowd, who I'm inclined to perceive as evolved. They master the fifth and sixth senses, and try to expand themselves. I consider psychic powers a latent ability humans naturally have, and I continue my research in developing it.

¹ Tetsurou Tamba: A famous actor who also wrote numerous books on spiritualism.

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Encyclopedia MOTHER: '80s American Literature Seen in MOTHER (Gen'ichirou Takahashi)

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[1989: pp. 128–131]

[2003: pp. 132–135]

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MOTHER Literary Magazine

'80s AMERICAN LITERATURE SEEN IN MOTHER

Kids Will Have Fun, But Adults Will Have Even More

Gen'ichirou Takahashi

高橋源一郎　Born 1951 in Hiroshima prefecture. After being expelled from Yokohama National University, he moved from site to site working construction. His unexpected debut as an author, which came in '81 with Sayonara, Gangsters, was the arrival of who would be a longtime big-name novelist. First winner of the Mishima Award.

The First RPG Where the Characters Live in Modern Times.

I had certain misgivings before starting up MOTHER. By its nature, the RPG falls into that category of games well-suited to period pieces, that is to say, stories set in the Middle Ages. I had some concerns about whether or not changing that up into a modernized version would be fun or persuasive. But when I did give it a try, my honest impressions were that it was super fun.

The game starts off with poltergeist phenomena. Until now, RPGs have had a predetermined theme of looking for a missing princess or searching for treasure. As far as modern things go, there aren't any princesses or treasures, so it's hard to give the player a solid reason for heading out.

But in today's world we do have a trope called the adventure novel, the theory of modern juvenile literature where a youth goes on a quest for something.

It was incredibly thrilling to watch this thing go on from its beginnings and turn seamlessly into a game before my very eyes.

To be specific, let's take enemy characters. In a medieval setting, you face demons and monsters, but if you're wondering how to do that in a modern setting, that takes the form of facing aliens, middle-aged men and women, as well as animals, all manipulated into a fearsome frenzy by some unknown thing, so that even modern-day trucks and bicycles turn into realized characters.

The "No-Kill" Concept Has that Great Aftertaste of a Good Adventure Novel.

Also, what impressed me above all else, was the "no-kill" basis when you fight enemies. In everyday games, you go around on a merciless killing spree, but this used to be an indispensable part of gaming, as if it unleashed our sadistic bloodlusts. But in MOTHER, they "go back to normal". The author's ways of thinking and feeling make excellent use of this right to the game's core, and it just feels great.

It's not like we ever feel bad sadistically beating our opponents, but there's no way we don't feel some amount of a bad aftertaste, either, after consuming a splatter film or novel.

But when we read things that have the goodness of juvenile literature, we're left with a wonderful aftertaste. That's what this is. I've realized a lot of specific care was put into this game along these lines. This had a persuasiveness. I think MOTHER is an example of how to succeed at introducing the juvenile adventure novel trope into a game.

Horizontal Travel Along a Vast Plane is THE Characteristic of American Novels.

There are two novels in modern American literature that are strangely MOTHER-esque: The Talisman, written by Steven King, and Greg Bear's The Infinity Concerto. And even more interestingly, according to Concerto's afterword, after finishing his own novel, Bear read Talisman, and all he could say was "Whoa, it's just like mine!" This coincidence could also be said of MOTHER. I imagine this means we've reached an era where high-quality storytellers can't help but write these kinds of stories.

They're settings where a young boy, the protagonist, ventures into and back from a magical country, despite living in modern times.

A boy venturing out and coming back a man is a key theme of American literature. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and to speak in more modern terms, Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye, are as American as they come.

Every country has Bildungsromane¹ and coming-of-age novels, but I feel as if American material is big on tales of somewhat younger boys roaming the wild and coming back a man. In Europe's case, the youth suffers through love and gains a different perspective. This has a slightly different texture to it.

America has a wilderness. Originally the country was frontier land, with an unknown world to its west, and by journeying thenceforth a boy would become a man. Happily there's plenty of that concept to go around. Romance was also an element of the journey.

In Europe, the travel is all vertical. It can be a descent into a magical demon land, or an ascent into Heaven. It's the vertical travel of life and death.

In contrast, America has horizontal travel. Even when you go to the demon world, while there may be something of a European scent on the air, you're still moving along the map. It's sideways travel, and that's RPGs. Even Huckleberry Finn goes up and down the Mississippi for several thousand kilometers. For an American, this provokes a longing.

The "Rebirth of the Family" is an '80s American Theme.

The theme of the "rebirth of family post-breakdown", another characteristic of modern American literature, also shows up in MOTHER.

These post-"family breakdown" stories are in a lot of American novels from the '70s. For an American, there's this feeling that the '50s were a golden age, the '60s were a time of disturbance and unrest with son rebelling against father, and that the '70s bore the scars.

Then we get to the '80s, and there's a recovery from these scars. In other words, there's a process of Gold to Unrest to Scars to Recovery. Specifically, your father's generation, or rather that of your older brother, were veterans of the Vietnam War. Those who died or became disabled fall under one generation, and their little brothers and sisters are the current generation writing American literature.

Simultaneously, the '60s saw a drastic change in the family. You had mothers who were divorced or unwed, what we call the single-mother household. Or maybe you were in a household who lost their father in the war. Add to that the sexual revolution, and you had an era where family was dismantled to mean all kinds of things.

The little brothers and sisters also suffered attacks from a different direction — the AIDS virus, or an actual wound within a family, which strengthened a desire to fulfill that need, and the reconsideration of family began.

It feels like, instead of dismantling the family, going back to it after leaving it.

"Let's not do that stuff anymore."

"The '50s were great, weren't they?"

That's why, on the other hand, the story of a young boy is a bond where he ties his family together. A boy leaving on a journey and coming back has become a metaphor for a return to the goodness of the family itself, family by nature.

Even in King's case, you can catch a faint glimpse behind his work of the boy being depended on by the father. In other words, rather than being all by his little lonesome, the boy has warmth in that thing called family, and this coincides with that feeling where one wishes to return to that kind of steadfast '50s family.

Doing a Back to the Future and Heading for the Golden '50s.

MOTHER is also filled with 1950s nuance. Both the music and the pompadour-sporting young men belong to a time where family holds steady.

In the same sense that the Middle Ages are a perfect fit for RPGs, for modern American literature the '50s were a golden age, a time when there was a father around.

Huizinga had a masterpiece of a book titled The Autumn of the Middle Ages, which brought back a medieval revival. Pointing out our error of viewing the time period as the "Dark Ages", he wrote that it was actually a golden autumn age where people's feelings were, in a sense, in full bloom.

Americans have the exact same feelings about the 1950s. The High School, the First Kiss, the Graduation Party... you guessed it, it's the world of American Graffiti. It has a hardworking mother and a father who keeps a firm hold on his dignity. The Goonies and American Graffiti are part of this, ideologically. For a child raised in the era of Kramer vs. Kramer, it's no time for adventure after his family is split up. But once the boy grows up and the '80s hit, he feels like simplifying things, and does a Back to the Future and heads for the '50s, a stand-in for his own memories. You get over your differences by fighting it out with a young pompadour head. This is the '50s. When you try to create a universal trope for the current day, you end up with 1950s America.

Psychic Powers are the Game's Weapon, Linking Together the Past and Present.

Psychic powers are a new key component tying together the "1950s" past and the present. The '80s are a mechanical age. When the system is robust, you've got a lot of things in your personal belongings that make it difficult to time travel. You have to make up for that with something. For Americans, the '50s fall under the same category as the Middle Ages, and if that's the case, you're going to need weapons that came about in the Middle Ages. There's something about psychic powers that fill that role.

Psychic powers as a metaphor become abilities from the past, hidden abilities that have been sleeping inside oneself. They then go on to represent the act of going somewhere both modern and ancient. I'd say King's Carrie is representative of that. If we assume this connects to a lost time period, I think there are two sides to this: Giving boys and girls psychic powers also becomes the principal factor, or the key, establishing the RPG itself as a game.

Presently, America has an issue where its frontier is dying out, but the country still wants a frontier as its image. Close Encounters of the Third Kind and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial are in fact frontiers to an American. The people of that country are always looking outside themselves and broadening their boundaries, so in that sort of sense, wouldn't that make aliens the natives?

And in the modern times, psychic powers will be indispensable toward communications with the unknown.

MOTHER is a Well-Enough-Furnished Boys' Adventure Novel.

And, as far as British and American literature is concerned, there's fantasy, the key genre. C. S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia count, but the major key that connects juvenile and fantasy literature is in fact Magicant.

The modern day has a place that links directly to the fantasy world. And the frontier can be found simply by traveling through that fantasy world. Whether it's the Chronicles of Narnia or The Wonderful Wizard of OZ, the secret passage to the fantasy world is the door of your house.

Looking at it that way, MOTHER has components of both 1950s-callback juvenile adventure novels and Narnia-style fantasy books, and it's equipped with all the components of a well-enough-furnished story for young boys. Americans would be fired up if they read a tale like this.

I guess you could say there isn't a single reason MOTHER wouldn't sell in America.

- (end)

[Photo: Cover of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain.]

▲A classical masterpiece of boys' adventure novels

[Photo: Cover of The Infinity Concerto by Greg Bear.]

▲'80s adventure fantasy

[Photo: Cover of The Talisman by Stephen King and Peter Straub.]

▲An adventure world on both sides of the door

[Photo: Cover of Carrie by Stephen King.]

▲An occult masterpiece, whose movie was a hit too

[Photo: Cover of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis.]

▲The Chronicles of Narnia series

[Photo: Cover of The Wonderful Wizard of OZ by L. Frank Baum.]

▲The girl Dorothy's adventure tale in the land of OZ

¹ Bildungsromane: Plural of Bildungsroman, a term built off the German words bildung ("education") and roman ("novel"). As defined by Wikipedia: "a literary genre that focuses on the psychological and moral growth of the protagonist from childhood to adulthood (coming of age), in which character change is important."

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Encyclopedia MOTHER: The Making of MOTHER's Music (Keiichi Suzuki & Hirokazu Tanaka)

To Encyclopedia MOTHER contents

[1989: pp. 136–139]

[2003: pp. 140–143]

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A Nighttime Chat About MOTHER's Music

THE MAKING OF MOTHER'S MUSIC

The Grand Debut of the Famicom World's Lennon-McCartney

Keiichi Suzuki (left)

鈴木慶一　Bandleader of MOON RIDERS, those Middle-Aged Nobleyouths you know from the techno world. In his enthusiasm for his first Famicom soundtrack, he transformed his own home into a studio for five months. Which makes sense when you consider the album's magnificent end results.

Hirokazu Tanaka (right)

田中宏和　Nintendo Music Director. Known as the Julie¹ of the game music world, and the only one at Nintendo who gets letters from female fans. His previous band experience is alive and kicking in this collaboration with Mr. Suzuki.

INTERVIEWER: Takashi Watanabe 渡辺隆司

Even on the Famicom, You Can Do a Guitar String Bend.

Mr. Keiichi, you've been crazy about video games for a long time, but this is your first foray into Famicom music, correct?

SUZUKI: Yep. That's why I began by exploring what was and wasn't possible. I mean, coming from my own experience with all the games I've played, there were parts where I'd go, "Personally, I would've done it like this". So when I started, I probed Mr. Tanaka, asking, how far can we take this?

So musically speaking, the limitations of the Famicom really are a thing to be reckoned with?

SUZUKI: Believe you me, it can reduce a man to tears (laughs). But, you know, before I came on board, there was already the music Mr. Tanaka had made. He was doing guitar string bends. I was blown away: I had never heard of that kind of thing. I thought, I can do this.

Like the Chuck Berry-esque guitar sounds in the battle scenarios, right? Was that difficult from a technological standpoint?

SUZUKI: Oh no, that was an issue of hard work.

TANAKA: Hard work and stamina (laughs). No, for real, for several years I've been experimenting as a programmer to see, okay, if I do this, it'll produce this kind of sound, and I've been creating different patterns. So I've had the ideas themselves, there just wasn't a game that used them.

So what you're saying is, these ideas you'd been sitting on for so long saw the light of day with MOTHER.

TANAKA: That's right. The ideas themselves are nothing new, but I hadn't been making good use out of them. Even songwriters don't get as hung up on things like that. ... Me, I like music, and it so happens I can also program it, so I like to try a lot of different things.

In that sense, are there other areas you'd say were highlights?

SUZUKI: Mr. Tanaka is excellent at zeroing in on the finer details. Like how to put together drum sounds or echo effects. You can't actually make echoes on the Famicom, but by putting the sound in again after its cue, with the levels brought down, you can simulate the acoustics of an echo.

So it's all putting in numerics as you go along?

TANAKA: That's right. Calculations and numerics. For example, even a canary voice is a calculation, and when I think about it on my own later, even I'm like, wow, I'm doing something crazy. Like calculating a frequency then adding a random number to it.

SUZUKI: Even though it's a canary voice, it ended up in harmony with the music in that area. It's a fine detail. That's why, if you time it right, it should sound like a canary is singing in time with the background music. It all consists of a pile of hard, fine-detailed work of that sort.

The Programmers and Working with What You've Got = A Tussle Over "Money"

There's also the issue of how much the Famicom can hold, correct?

SUZUKI: Yep. We called it "money", but it ultimately turned into a battle. The music we started with had more going for it. Like changes in drum patterns, and so on. But there'd be various requests from the game creator, and when that happens it becomes a question of, what's most important to keep? For example, the Tejano-style music heard in the desert area. It nearly got scrapped. So I wrote a letter to the programmers. It said: "I want the music to change when you enter the desert."

A letter?

SUZUKI: Uh-huh. In other words, for the music to change, it would have to be programmed in that way.

TANAKA: It's quite the pain in the neck.

SUZUKI: And everyone's in the final stretch and bloodthirsty and scary, and here I am, writing a request letter (laughs).

Actually, I was brought in by Itoi and caught a glimpse of the programmers' workspace, and there were some unbelievably cool things going on there.

SUZUKI: Yep. But even in the prep meetings, you could feel the incredible love not only from Mr. Itoi, of course, but the entire staff. So I'd steel myself, like, there's absolutely no way I'm saying, "Yes, understood. I'll make that." Well, I think it ended up being, in all, a good five months' worth of me falling for their charms (laughs).

Making the Suzuki Home into a Studio for Five Months of Student Training Camp

So, when it actually came to creating, did that take the form of Mr. Keiichi getting a mental image of a sound, then Mr. Tanaka taking that and implementing it technically?

SUZUKI: Sometimes, yes, and sometimes it was the other way around. Lemme tell ya, it was a completely shared effort. Even writing the compositions was between me and Mr. Tanaka, so it was like, take your pick. ... See, it was in my own home that the data entry was done. I mean, anywhere would've done just fine, but I also had to keep my secrets. So I had a computer sent to my house and Mr. Tanaka would come from Kyoto about three days at a time every week. There he'd do the data entry, and then he'd say, I think it needs such-and-such kind of sound here, then the two of us would listen to records. I almost felt like I was back in school. Two people listening to records, that's pretty rare these days.

Sounds like a whole lot of fun (laughs). How did you convey the compositions to each other?

TANAKA: Mr. Keiichi would leave a demo tape with me that had him singing alongside the raw guitar elements, then I'd input that as a rough cut. Then, when I went to his house, I'd bring it out and have him listen to it. That's how we did things.

SUZUKI: When a musician makes Famicom music, he gets used to just handing over a demo tape or sheet music or something. Then, even if the piece is good, I hear there are a whole lot of times when it'll turn into something else when it's entered into the computer. That's what Mr. Tanaka told me, and sure enough, when I had him input the melodies I sang, they'd come out with something weak about them. We had to correct that, so we had our own little training camp, just the two of us.

It's Precisely Because it's Game Music that it Has to Have a Strong Melody

What do you mean when you say the melodies ended up being weaker?

SUZUKI: I mean there's something the natural voice has that other things don't. It turns into an instrumental, that is, it's played with instruments. When you're making a normal recording, I think you can use arrangement and the sound's design as the heart behind the song. But with the current Famicom sound generator, all that comes out is a bare-bones melody. You can't expect the heart of the music to show through from that, so since you're arranging the notes in a more basic way, it just won't work unless you have a strong melody.

Oh, I see. In MOTHER's case, you can tell on the record that they became proper songs. Right?

SUZUKI: Uh-huh. That was a fixed thing from the get-go. Then, later on, when it comes to making the record, it's just awful when it bears a resemblance to something. I mean, I guess it's no biggie if everyday game music sounds like something. ... I imagine there've been a lot of these that use music patterns you've heard somewhere before.

TANAKA: Current Famicom music kind of sits on the fence. It's melodic, but there's an airiness to it in places that covers up where the melody is lacking. That, of course, is why I think it'd be boring if you put that on a record.

These Two Have a Real Band Vibe Going for Them, So Their Records Would Come Out Great!

What I thought was incredible about MOTHER was, it's also good to let Famicom sounds stand on their own merits as Famicom sounds, and records stand as records. The way I usually picture the process is making the Famicom sounds first, then developing those and making a record out of them. But then, if you did it that way, I wonder if you'd get the same results. ...

SUZUKI: I don't think you would. The reason they stand on their own merits is because the creator links them together. Both Mr. Tanaka and I always took record-making into consideration when we were making the Famicom music. Mr. Tanaka had a lot of know-how on the Famicom side of things. So he'd listen to my compositions and say something like, "I think this would be a good fit for the walking parts." On the other hand, I'd say things like "Mr. Tanaka, 'Snowman' is gonna sound really great on the record, mark my words!" That's how our exchanges would go while we worked on it.

Come to mention it, I didn't know who did what piece of music until I saw the credits on the record.

SUZUKI: With game music, I don't think you would know unless you were quite the pro.

TANAKA: Of course, it was Mr. Keiichi who made the broad outline. Me, now, there are a lot of times I'll get stuck when making a composition or a pattern. It was times like that when I was glad to have Mr. Keiichi there to even things out. He'd tell me not to think of it as game music so much as just music.

SUZUKI: For instance, I might say, "I'd like to go with classic American rock for the airplane scene." Before, I didn't have anybody who got that. But, for my part, I can say about this: "Oh, okay. Then it's better doing it this way."

Japanese Music's Expansion into Overseas Markets May Begin with the Famicom.

You two make quite the formidable combo. I gotta say, I want to call you the Lennon-McCartney of the Famicom world (laughs).

SUZUKI: Hey, we should form a band (laughs). But I think from this point forward, it'll become more and more important to do it this way, to have joint collaborations. I mean, once we get the Super Famicom, there'll be more things you can do with game music. Not only that, but to speak in terms of the bigger picture, Japanese artists will expand into the overseas market, and when that happens, not only will there be the angle where they get into that market through records, but I believe there'll also be the Famicom angle. I guess you could call it the subliminal effect the Famicom has, but you're hearing this stuff for a really long time. I think it has huge potential to go on from there and be the birth of a hit across America.

That'll be fun to see! Oh man, hearing all this has made me want to play the game again so I can listen to the music.

The score for "Flying Man".

[Photo: Pencilled sheet music, labelled FLYING MAN II. The II may indicate a second draft. One line of Linda Hennrick's lyrics is visible in the middle of the page. Presented as written: So Shine for all the world to night, And Live for Love give your Love To me]

[Screenshot: Ninten and Lloyd, with a ghost Ana between them, entering the Advent Desert. Caption below:]

The desert music is Mexican.

 

[Small feature on the MOTHER vocal album:]

For this Other MOTHER, You Close Your Eyes. And Listen with Your Ears and Heart.

Presenting the MOTHER CD album, the result of the notable combo of Keiichi Suzuki & Hirokazu Tanaka. Of the eleven tracks included here, seven feature what you could call a first in game music history: English vocals. Catherine Warwick (pictured at right), a cute girl singer from Britain, starts the album off in her well-rounded voice with "Pollyanna" (that's the melody you hear in the game when the hero leaves his home). "The Paradise Line" is what you hear when you ride the railway. The diesel car-like (if that's the term for it) vocals are provided by Jeb Million. Then, when a British boys' choir sings MOTHER's theme song, "Eight Melodies", at the tops of their lungs, your musical journey is nearing its end. In a word, this album is brilliant. By all means, please do give it a listen.

¹ Julie: The stage name of Kenji Sawada, a huge Japanese rock star who nicknamed himself after Julie Andrews. He was the vocalist for the Japanese rock band The Tigers, and their 1968 movie, The World is Waiting for Us, served as the inspiration for Shigesato Itoi including the player's name in the end credits of MOTHER, as told in this comic by Keiichi Tanaka.

Thanks to my friend, professional translator Crouching Mouse for clearing up a few sentences for me.

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Encyclopedia MOTHER: American Film Found in MOTHER (Akira Kagami)

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[1989: pp. 132–133]

[2003: pp. 136–137]

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MOTHER Film Study

AMERICAN FILM FOUND IN MOTHER

Spielberg is the Key Word

Akira Kagami

鏡　明　Born 1948. Main line of work: Commercial director for Dentsu. Has a reputation for his deep knowledge of sci-fi novels and American film. The sci-fi reviews he writes regularly for Book Magazine have also become an author's source of information. Major Famicom authority.

MOTHER Makes Me Go: "Oh, I Get it! That's So Spielberg!!"

You know, I think MOTHER is just so America, in a humongous way.

While playing it I've been wondering why it makes me feel that way. 'Course, I don't think about it too hard, it's more fun to just play the game. Either way, it suddenly hit me: Oh, I get it! That's so Spielberg!

For instance, the beginning, where the lamp stand attacks you. It catches you off guard. Wh- what the heck are these guys thinking?

Since then, walking around the house, I've been on my guard around the sofa, I've been cautious around the armchair, I'm careful not to approach the bed, and when the phone rang, I just about made a break for it. And later, I thought, isn't that Poltergeist? A movie Spielberg produced?

There may be plenty of opinions out there on Steven Spielberg, but the man is very deeply rooted in Americana. The good old American dream is always apparent in his works. I get the feeling that leads us to the atmosphere of MOTHER.

Let's Go Looking for Spielberg in MOTHER, Even if We Have to Force it

There's a forced aspect to this, but what say we take a peek at MOTHER, making Spielberg the key word.

Get around Thanksgiving and a "Mad Truck" shows up. It calls to mind the truck from Duel, Spielberg's debut title. That's a giant trailer truck that pursues the hero's car like there's no tomorrow. It was uncanny. The presence of slingshots and caves also made me think, "Oh hey, The Goonies!" but maybe I was overthinking it on that one.

Let's jump ahead. Holy Loly Mountain, where the climax takes place, recalls Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and come to think of it, even though the Little Saucer has a different kind of design, it sort of brings Batteries Not Included to mind, doesn't it?

Then there's the Teleportation you'll be able to use in the latter half. When I first saw it, I gotta say, I laughed my head off, and had a blast doing nothing but making charcoal out of the three kids; but of course, it's the time travel from Back to the Future. I especially think the way the brakes are applied once you've reached your destination is, to tell the truth, a nice touch. I couldn't do it if I didn't like it. Just letting you know, the examples I've given don't necessarily have to have been directed by Spielberg: I'm including ones he produced, superfluous as it is for me to mention it.

Given all that, I wanted to find Jaws and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial², but nothing managed to jump out at me.

The Enemy Robot Characters Remind Me of My Favorite Old Sci-Fi Films

While we're at it, not all of these are necessarily Spielberg. A good number of bits and bobs from old sci-fi films show up as well. For instance, this includes Jane, the gynoid that shows up in the game's latter half. She's a clear nod to Maria from Metropolis. Mix up Maria's imagery well enough, and you have C-3PO from Star Wars. I also get the feeling the Old Robo has its origins in the robot toys from the 30s and 40s of the Shouwa Era³, but it wouldn't be crazy to think of it as Robby from that masterpiece, Forbidden Planet. That masterpiece! That's what I call it, yet those who don't know about it won't be able to relate — I remember being quite shocked by the conclusion: What? The culprit was the Id!? 

The Starmen, which weren't any stronger than I thought they'd be, recalled the giant robot from The Day the Earth Stood Still. Not only that, but the one I'd thought was actually the master was really more of a puppet, and the one I'd thought was just a robot turned out to be...! When I learned that flip-flopped fact, it honestly left a deep impression on me. I was awfully naïve when I was a boy. As for what I'm like now... If any of the boys and girls reading this expect the unexpected, or are distrusting, or think something is off, please don't let yourselves end up like me.

I Want to Play MOTHER Again and Take Movie Notes!!

The zombies who appear in the zoo⁴ early on aren't particularly reminiscent of either Michael Jackson's "Thriller" or John Carpenter. Zombies are a strangely popular subject. If anything, seeing the appearance these "Pseudo-Zombies" take on, I can't help but be vaguely reminded of a guy named Shigesato Itoi. Nah, that can't be it.

Come to mention it, Friday the Thirteenth showed up somewhere too, didn't it?

This one is probably no more than my own association, but there's a swimming cat in Magicant, right? Let's not forget the one that swims in the ground either. They reminded me of the swimming man in The Beatles film HELP! I'd never come across a gag in that category of absurd. It's actually quite memorable.

Although the concept of a town of nothing but children is pretty common in sci-fi, I feel like the Twilight Zone (to branch off into TV) had something like that in it. There may have been others, but hmmm, I can't remember.

You know, thinking about all this makes me want to play MOTHER again and make a serious effort to take notes. I get the feeling there are all kinds of other examples, but I don't have the time to replay it. Maybe that's one thing to look forward to when I'm old.

[Screencap from Close Encounters of the Third Kind. The scientists at Devil's Tower are staring at the floodlights from the mothership.]

From Close Encounters of the Third Kind (RCA Colombia Pictures Video)

¹ Itoi admitted in this interview (link goes to Mother Forever, with the translated text taken from the Yomuka! blog) that the Mad Truck's resemblance to the one from Duel is a coincidence. Thanks to Biozilla for pointing me to it.

² Maybe not in the game, but the frog story from Ana's Starring Cast page certainly reminded the translator of E.T.

³ Shouwa Year 30 started in 1955, and 40 began in 1965. If he's talking about two full decades, that's mid-'50s to mid-'70s.

⁴ "Zombies who appear in the zoo": Either he was remembering things wrong, or he wasn't paying attention to what word he was writing. Or somebody on the editing team goofed. Whatever happened, it should read 墓場 (cemetery), not 動物園.

To Encyclopedia MOTHER contents

Encyclopedia MOTHER: Making the MOTHER TV Commercial (Hiroshi Ichikura)

To Encyclopedia MOTHER contents

[1989: pp. 146–147]

[2003: pp. 150–151]

[Side Tab:]

Essay on the MOTHER Commercial

MAKING THE MOTHER TV COMMERCIAL

Do Commercials Trick Innocent Children?

Hiroshi Ichikura

一倉宏　Born 1955. Copywriter affiliated with Nakahata Advertisement Works. Has made a lot of commercials for Tokyo Gas, Suntory, and Sony. Saw recent fame for the Suntory Malt's tagline, "I am not dry." And, of course, "Guaranteed Masterpiece."¹

We Mustn't Make a Joke Out of Children's Creativity

In American TV commercials, it's turned into a taboo to show toy robots and spaceships flying through the skies on their own. You make sure you show a kid holding a robot or a spaceship in his hand and making it fly or whatever else. In other words, you have to make it explicitly clear that this is how it really is, they don't move on their own, they don't transform on their own, and they certainly don't grow giant-size.

I'm sure what they mean by this is, a commercial can't be allowed to trick innocent children; but in truth, doesn't this make a big joke out of their imaginations? Do you know what I mean? When kids pick up a small object and go, "sha-keeen!" or "za-boom!" they've got a clear picture of it riding at hyperspeed through the stratosphere or outer space. Don't they? Isn't that a little thing we call imagination? I remember it like it was yesterday: I had a robot some 20-odd years ago named Tetsujin 28-gou², and you can bet he saved the Earth over and over.

Even the Famicom is Bound to Have Masterpieces

That brings us to the commercial for MOTHER. After being approached by Mr. Itoi to put this thing together, everything we took into consideration was boldly drawn toward this "world of imagination". After all, I believe RPGs are stories that let us participate in our imaginations, and in MOTHER's case especially, I felt like that was what Mr. Itoi had most in mind when he made it. Of course, when it comes to stories that let us have fun with our imaginations, we have literature and film, so there you go: we tackled this commercial with the idea of making that sort of thing. The intent behind the tagline, "Guaranteed Masterpiece", was to include the meaning: "We don't mind one bit asking you to compare this to masterpieces from those other genres, like Dandelion Wine, or The Never-Ending Story or Stand By Me." And I believe that's just about how far it's already come.

Shooting was Done with Kids' Imaginations in Mind

It was fun shooting the MOTHER commercial! Even though all of us on the crew were middle-aged guys to varying degrees, in this commercial, we had a blast working the robot and wielding psychic powers. After all, even in America, there's no restriction saying Bradbury and Ende's books have to have the disclaimer, "This is fiction."

Which means I could end my story here, but for those readers who are interested, I'll briefly explain some of the special effects techniques we used in this commercial. Or, put another way, how our commercial tricked innocent children (laughs).

First of all, the robot (R7038XX), which shows up in a few shots in the first half, was a towering 50 cm [just under 20 inches] (laughs)! We shot it at an angle where the camera was looking up at it. When shooting these kinds of miniatures, camera movement is key. The slightest shake or oscillation will betray the scale, so we use a special system called motion control, which moves the camera delicately and smoothly and follows the numerics we've entered into a computer.

For the main shot looking on Holy Loly Mountain, we made a composite out of a bunch of separate shots. The portion that would become the underlay was a set that, speaking in terms of actual size, was made about as big as a stage in a school auditorium. To bring out a sense of depth, we made it so that the further away the road gets, the more it dwindles and the hazier it looks. The section with the faraway Holy Loly Mountain is separately-shot film. The actual mountain we made was about one meter tall [about 3.28 ft.]. The clouds were set in motion with animation, and in them we also made an alluring, synthesized light.

How about it? Do you think we did a good job tricking you?

(N) Hiroshi

(L) Genius

(A) Natsuno

(T) Big Brudder

(F) Omelette

[Translator's note: The girl who played Ana has been identified in this Reddit post! Her name at the time was Laurel Dollahon. Thanks to Biozilla (who else?) for alerting me!]

[Photo: The three kid actors standing on the set.]

▲Lloyd's legs trembled on the set.

[Photo: The raw mountain model without the cloud.]

▲The peaceful, calm Holy Loly Mountain, before the commercial production crew brought in the black cloud.

[Photo: The production crew working with the kids, showing them how to crouch for the PK attack.]

▲When you do PK Beam Ω, you go like this... no, further down... there you go!

¹ One of the two taglines for MOTHER. If this Famitsu article (link goes to EarthBound Central) is to be believed, the other, more well-known tagline, "No Crying Until the End" was also Ichikura's doing, not Shigesato Itoi's. Everything we MOTHER fans thought we knew was a lie.

² Known in the US as Gigantor.

To Encyclopedia MOTHER contents

Encyclopedia MOTHER: Holy Loly Mountain

To Encyclopedia MOTHER contents

[1989: pp. 100–103]

[2003: pp. 104–107]

20. HOLY LOLY MOUNTAIN

• 1,013 m Above Sea Level (about 3,323.5 ft.)
• Avg. Temp. on Summit: 8℃ (46.4℉)

 

[Photo: A mountain peak under a cloudy sky. This may be Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs.¹ Caption below:]

▲Holy things have something about them that won't easily let people near. At times that takes the form of the severity of nature.

[Jump links coming soon.]

Holy Loly Mountain

Climbing Holy Loly Mountain

Holy Loly Mountain Map

The Holy Loly Lake

The Fabled Workshop

Approaching the Summit

Thoughts from Shinbou Minami

EVENT CHECK POINT

Holy Loly Mountain

A holy mountain with many legends

handed down about it

Let's get this out of the way first: Holy Loly Mountain has never been a tourist spot. Hardly anyone ever goes near it apart from the occasional daredevil rock-climber out to attempt it. With sheer cliffs approaching a 90-degree angle all around, this mountain looks like it rejects visitors. But the biggest reason it won't let people near it is probably due to the dignity held by a sacred peak with the name Holy Loly Mountain. It's not really that high above sea level, so what kind of mental image do people have of it? The two stories we'll now introduce should tell you.

One is the Legend of the Holy Loly Angel. The whole sky could be clouded over, yet there'd be no worrying about rain. On days that cloudy, kids and adults alike can't help but turn their minds to the skies above Holy Loly Mountain. What if right over the mountain, and nowhere else, the clouds were to gape open and the blue sky peep through? ... Holy cow! Who could think of studying at a time like that! School teachers would cancel lessons and rush home where their own kids would be waiting. The children would skip their way home singing in chorus, "An angel came down!" Mother would be bustling like mad around the kitchen, baking a cake and cooling the wine. This would be a day to commemorate, the day an angel came out of a rift in the cloud and descended upon Holy Loly Mountain. To everyone, this is a sign of good luck, and that's how the people in the towns surrounding the Great Peak have celebrated it, for a long time. When it happens a lot, they'll celebrate up to three times in the same month!

The other story is the Legend of the Devil. In the early 1900s, a mysterious black cloud covered the summit of Holy Loly Mountain for several continuous weeks. Teddy bears and thermoses flew around the inside of homes, and pets attacked their masters. And there were posters all over town for missing persons. ... Everyone cursed the black cloud. Everyone believed without a doubt that the Devil had settled on the mountain. Before long, the cloud disappeared, peace returned to the towns, and the people stowed the nightmare away deep within their hearts. ...

And now, in 1988, the legend has seen a return, along with horrible monsters and evil robots, who seem not to be servants of the Angel, but minions of the Devil. ...

[Photo: Extremely rocky terrain.]

▲Perhaps the real adventure begins after you ditch your vehicle.

Climbing Holy Loly Mountain

'Course, it's never been a mountain

meant to be climbed by people. ...

Relying solely on the mountaineering ropes thought to have been left by rock climbers, it's not impossible to scale the sheer cliffs of Holy Loly. But if you guys do tackle them, don't look down. Naturally this goes for those with a fear of heights, but even those without it should keep facing upward, even if you're dying to avert your eyes from the ghastly black cloud looming overhead.

The first person you'll have come across in a while is in the hut about three-tenths² of the way up. His dislike of human society led him to a reclusive life here, but engulfed in boredom, he taught himself Healing. And he passes each day waiting for some tired body to come wandering along so he can put his powers to the test. It's a place you want to reach before you use up your vitality or your stamina. 

Also, the time here passes in such a way you can enjoy a moment of peace with your friends. It's also times like this when a girl feels like disclosing the feelings she's kept locked up inside of her... perhaps. But you'd better not think you're completely safe here. For you see, the Devil's minions who hang about Holy Loly probably won't take kindly to the music that'll be coming out of the hut.

[Photo: Basalt columns at Calcite Springs Overlook in Yellowstone National Park.³]

▲There are times you'll fall for an optical illusion and think the precipice before your eyes seems to reach clear up to Heaven.

[Photo: The rooftop of a forest house, possibly a cabin.]

▲The mountain hut is the first man-made thing you've seen in a while.

[Photo: An antique stove inside a log cabin.]

▲The quiet music playing in the mountain hut almost seems to invite lovers to a ball.

 

HOLY LOLY MOUNTAIN MAP

Cave Exit

Mountain Hut

The Holy Loly Lake

It didn't take long for the hollow made

by fault activity to become a lake

It isn't very well-known that there's a lake about halfway up Holy Loly Mountain. At a circumference of about 1 km [about 3,280' 10"], it's a small one, but its depth is reportedly worth considering. Fish like the black bass inhabit it, but it's never been featured in Fishing Mania Journal⁴.

Even so, this lake, which you'd think would be unexplored territory, has a pier, unimpressive though it may be. It's on the east side. The motorboat moored there, with its broken-down engine, appears to belong to the owner of the mountain hut, but the wooden pier, which is missing a plank here and there, was made a pretty long time ago. Who on Earth made it, and for what purpose...? If a pleasure boat was in regular service here once, this is hardly the location for it.

And there's another strange thing at the lake. Sometimes there's oil on the surface. There's too much of it for it to be a leak from the motorboat.  Maybe there's some secret on the lakebed. There's no way you could get your hands on a submarine, but exploring the lake surface with the motorboat is feasible. That is, of course, if somebody who's a good mechanic could get the engine running (and if you were to pull it off, you'd have to be careful of the whirlpools that sometimes appear on the lake).

[Photo: A lake with a tree in the foreground.]

▲When you're sick of the brown of the fault, feast your eyes on the blue lake water.

 

[Photo: What appears to be a waterfall surrounded by pine trees and spire-like rocks.]

▲Within the unexplored is more of the unexplored.

The Fabled Workshop

A workshop on the verge of

legend, hidden on Holy Loly

"Somewhere on Holy Loly is a secret workshop. There sleeps a robot named EVE. And one day, when the Legend of the Devil sees a return, EVE will awaken."

There was once a time when people showed an interest in that kind of hearsay.

This would have been around the middle of the 1900s. Where did the rumor come from? Does it have any basis to it?

Never minding that, people went crazy guessing where this place could be. There were actually some climbing the mountain looking for the fabled workshop. But there was just one spot not even a single person considered: the bottom of the lake.

... If the rumors really are true, EVE should be awakening soon. Setting aside the question of whether it's an enemy or an ally...

Approaching the Summit

For those of you right smack in the middle

of the black cloud of mystery

If it weren't all covered by black cloud, the view from here would be incredible. Valentine, where you brawled with Teddy. Snowman, where you met Ana. Thanksgiving, which you brought Lloyd out of. And the town where your little sisters and pet dog Mick, as well as your mother, await. You guessed it: Mother's Day.

You're nearly to the summit. Take heart. The key words are Courage and Friendship, not to mention the Melody of Love⁵.

- Matsuo Haizen

松尾ハイゼン

[Photo: A desert landscape with a slightly otherworldly look to it.]

▲I wonder why I feel at one with the cosmos...?

Props to Those Who are Good at Famicom Games

Shinbou Minami

南伸坊

Illustrator

Props to those who are good at Famicom games. That's effort and conviction. It takes patience and passion and self-confidence, and I'm just no good at those things. Mr. Itoi, now, he not only keeps those earnest qualities ready at hand, he's able to have fun with them. He's a good man.

Encyclopedia MOTHER: Holy Loly Caves

To Encyclopedia MOTHER contents

[1989: pp. 98–99]

[2003: pp. 102–103]

19. HOLY LOLY CAVES

• Total Length: 736 m (about 2,414.7 ft.)
• Avg. Temp.: 6℃ (42.8℉)

[Photo: A mountain forest. Caption below:]

▲On the other side of a multilayered mountain range is your final destination, Holy Loly Mountain.

[Jump links coming soon.]

The Road to Holy Loly

The Hut Near the Caves

Holy Loly Caves Map

The Holy Loly Caves

EVENT CHECK POINT

The Road to Holy Loly

A streamside road strong-willed enough to

cut deep into the heart of the mountain

You should now be bursting with the resolve to fear nothing and the confidence to be able to take on the unknown in battle, whatever its form. Think of how badly you miss Lloyd after leaving him in Valentine. Think of how badly your elder, Teddy, wants revenge on those who stole his parents from him. When you think of how much these things will bolster you, you can get through this. I'll bet, too, that you're suddenly aware you've developed the Heart of an Adult.

Holy Loly Mountain, over which the black cloud hangs, now towers before your eyes. Impatience is to be avoided like the plague here. You'll also want a moment to take out your Ocarina and make sure you know those melodies. And don't even think about letting the Teleportation gifted to you by the Garrickson baby go to waste. Use it to return somewhere you've forgotten to go, or reunite with somebody on your mind, before the final battle. And there will be no need to be downcast. Don't forget, you have on your side Teddy, with his trusty brute strength, and Ana, whose eyes sparkle with mind power; not to mention the wisdom you yourself have cultivated.

Once you're satisfied you won't have any regrets, cross the bridge east of Valentine and head in toward the heart of Holy Loly Mountain. Follow the densely wooded path alongside a mountain stream and the path will gradually slope upward until, before you know it, you find, hidden on the other side of the forest and mountains, the Great Peak.

The Hut Near the Caves

One last rest stop so you can build up enough

force of will to tackle the mountain

You'll definitely want to make it to the mountainside hut before nightfall. Here, get plenty of sleep and tend to your scrapes with care. The doctor in the hut is sure to be generous with his medicine. From this point on, you'll find no place your hearts will be so at ease. When you awaken to the sound of singing birds, it's time to get a move on.

[Photo: The top of a forest hut.]

▲The calm before the battle permeates every fiber of your being.

HOLY LOLY CAVES MAP

Entrance

Exit

The Holy Loly Caves

Nature's trial is nine caves that will

bestow God's blessing unto you

You can't reach the fabled Holy Loly Mountain unless you make it out of these caves. The deep mysteries of acts of nature are taken to an extreme in here. Nine great caves are linked intricately together by several narrow passageways, forming a natural maze. Nature, however, is always your ally. My guess is you'll immediately recognize this very trial before the final battle as something more: a place blessed, in fact, by God. It's through trials like this that you've gained the wisdom to make allies out of the power of nature, the power of God and the power of people.

- Maji Kanto

真面完人

[Photo: The view inside a large cavern.]

▲Over tens of thousands of years, this mysterious, natural maze was formed.