Hello, this is Nagata from Hobo Nikkan Itoi Shinbun. Three years after the production of MOTHER 3 was restarted, I interviewed MOTHER 3 creator Shigesato Itoi. This wasn’t a conventional interview, with a third party lobbing questions, because I accompanied Itoi on most of his visits to the team during development. As a result I feel that we were able to set aside the usual pleasantries and atmosphere-building and reach the genuine core of the matter without embellishment. Consider these the liner notes for a new work, released after a twelve-year hiatus.

This article is available in Japanese, English. ＞ Japanese（日本語）

Part 4

The Original “MOTHER 3”

I heard that the concept for MOTHER 3 came up near the end of development for MOTHER 2.

Itoi
In the middle of making MOTHER 2, actually. (Laughs)

Which part of the game had you envisioned then?

Itoi
Some of it ties in to MOTHER 3 as it is now, and some of it is completely unrelated. First of all, when making MOTHER 2, the characters go from one town to the next. When you go back to an older town, folks might express their appreciation for what you’d done for them. I realized that a game doesn’t necessarily require this premise. So I decided that next I would make a single town the focus of the entire game.

I see.

Itoi
Instead of the townsfolk changing their script as the game progressed, the town itself would simply have time pass, and things would change over time. I wanted to try a setup like that. Something where vandalism on a tree would remain on that tree from then on.

When I interviewed you ten years ago, you said something interesting, as a hint to the original MOTHER 3. “If you leave on a trip and your room’s a mess, when you get back from your trip, your room will still be a mess.”

Itoi
Oh, yeah, that’s right.

Was that influenced by the fact that the original platform was designed for the 64DD, which boasted high-capacity storage?

Itoi
Yeah. With that capability, you could do more than just travel through towns. It would feel like you could climb a staircase, come back down, and feel the joy from that helix spiral where you can see how everyone in town has grown since then. Because of how far games have come, I can give Animal Crossing as a really clear example of what I mean.

Ah, yes! Now that you mention it, Animal Crossing was also originally destined for the 64DD when it first went into development.

Itoi
Oh, really? Well, that’s what I mean.

Yes, I see.

Itoi
We’re not going to make it this way anymore, so I can kind of explain this in detail, but the main character was originally going to be something like a bumbling detective. The story would take place in a single town, where this detective takes on cases like investigating affairs, conducting stakeouts, or catching petty thieves. He gets pulled into all kinds of situations, and through that, you start to see the deeper dimensions of the town and its people. That was my original idea.

And that was intended less as MOTHER 3, but as a game you wanted to make after MOTHER 2?

Itoi
That’s exactly right. I hadn’t assigned it the name MOTHER 3 yet. But that original approach, where you’ve got minor incidents that intertwine, and different stories from different characters that start to come together, shows its face in the current MOTHER 3 game in that there are chapters, and in each chapter the main characters change.

There’s something you said ten years ago. You explained the meaning of swapping out the main characters by saying, “The way I see you and the way your mother sees you are not the same.”

Itoi
Ah, yes. That’s right, that’s what I was going for. I’d also thought of a major component of the storytelling structure. I’m not going to say too much, since it’s in play in the final game, but it is a main part of the story plot. Come to think of it, I’d written it out at some hotel, and immediately brought it to the staff and said “Check it out, this is really interesting!” I remember the staff cried out in surprise, and the sheer excitement I felt at the time really stuck with me.

So the original MOTHER 3 had that major plot point in the story, plus the layered dimensions of the structure you’d explained earlier, as well as the latest technical specs to work with in order to create a cinematic experience.

Itoi
Yes, for the original MOTHER 3. Back then, both in terms of structure and technique, I was too convinced that anything was possible, so I found myself wanting to incorporate every single idea that crossed my mind. I’d done that for every game in the MOTHER series, though. And when we had the team working on it, I’d see how it was going, and wonder how far they could go. I figured I could keep pushing, and if they said we couldn’t do something like that, then I’d pull back.

I see.

Itoi
So I was there poised to really shake things up. I didn’t understand the technical aspects, so I was out there coming up with more ideas, but didn’t keep those limitations in mind. But the young crew working on the game at the time were there because they wanted to be, so they were just as excited to try and include it in the game. No one really pushed back against any ideas. Which isn’t necessarily bad, but it takes up an incredible amount of time.

I take it that’s one of the reasons the original MOTHER 3 didn’t make it to release.

Itoi
That’s right. The build-up to the original MOTHER 3 was incredibly drawn out, and right when it was supposed to get on the tracks to move forward, it was cancelled.

(To be continued)

2006-04-21-FRI