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Spoiler MOTHER 3 (EarthBound 2) & Pokémon Black/White

Blue Canary

Your Friendly Neighborhood S***poster
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Feb 11, 2012
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Trash Can
I posted this thread awhile ago, however it was horribly written. I wanted to repost, so Vanessa deleted it for me. (Thanks again!) So, here is my updated version. Please enjoy! ^-^

As you know, I am an advid fan of both Pokémon and the MOTHER/EarthBound series. Awhile back, I was reading up on Pokémon Black/White (As I wasn't all that interested in playing the game based on people's complaints), and I realized some striking similarities between B/W and the Japan-Only RPG, MOTHER 3.

Now, before you read ahead, I shall inform you that there are spoilers for both games in here, more-so for M3. I'm warning you because both of these games are fantastic and I would hate to ruin them for you (Although I think SSBB did that to MOTHER 3 already, am I right?). Anyway, please be aware of this as you read on.

Now, there is something in specific I really wanted to point out first, however it will take longer to talk about, so I'll save it for the end.

So, I have decided that the first thing I will mention is the music. Now, I would like to say that none of the songs are exactly the same. Some I would even say calling them related is a stretch. But, I will still point them out nonetheless.

The first song I would like to talk about is the song the plays in B/W while surfing. People have stated that it is similar to the song in M3 titled "The Green Train is Fun Too!". For most of the tracks, the melodies are completly different and are in no way similar, only the bassline and stuff is the same. However, there is one point in the melodies where the similarities are quite obvious. Around 0:15 for the surf theme, and 0:19 for the Train Song. They are almost exactly the same!
0:15
[video=youtube;yMmwi8rDIF0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMmwi8rDIF0[/video]

0:19
[video=youtube;gFFNzipmvoY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=gFFNzipmvoY#t=19[/video]

The next two songs are called "Route 10" and "Run, My Dog, Run!" I don't have much to say about these. Are they similar? Yes, but only in the sense that they are the same style. I don't hear any real similarities in the tunes, however I put them here because other people do. Appearently.

This is Route 10. Sorry for the link, but rules are rules I guess.

[video=youtube;ODCPUNtocwU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODCPUNtocwU[/video]

The final songs are two you may have noticed: "N's Farewell" and "MOTHER 3 Love Theme". Or not. I don't know what you notice and don't, but I mean for me I heard the beginning of the song is like "Woah! It's the love theme!". But only the beginings (And parts in the middle by extention.) sound similar. But they are super similar. I mean really they are like the exact same tune. I've also heard people say "N's Farewell" has parts of the song "A Letter to You My Sweet" in it, but I never heard it. Maybe if I found the parts and play them side by side, but I don't want to go through the work. You can if you want though.

[video=youtube;DzKRuwKyJmY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzKRuwKyJmY[/video]

[video=youtube;idULzIIF950]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idULzIIF950[/video]

Now, this part of the comparison I'm only mentioning because other people have. To me, this just seems like people doing the fiction writing thing and sticking to tropes of fiction. Maybe some inspiration here, but it would be stretching it to call it a reference; so, I'll just keep it short.

People have said before that a lot of the story aspects are similar. I won't explain them all, because if you've played the games you'll know what I'm talking about.

So, back to stuff I like talking about, there is one 5th Gen Pokémon I would like to talk about: Excadrill, and his first stage, Drillbur. He is a mole with drills for hands! Just like the recontructed mole enemy from M3! When I saw this that I wanted to name it reconsructed mole, but it wouldn't fit. *^*

i06OoBE.png


EXTVKLY.png


This isn't a bad thing. I think it's super cool, actually! Some people might think it's unoriginal to do this, but Excadrill is actually super original compared to the mole, the same way Esper is original compared to a cat.

Now, when I mention this, I know everyone will yell at me. But my reasoning is perfectly justified. Yes, Unova is based on New York. However, remember, it isn't completly one to one. This is probably just a coincidence but I still thought it would be cool to point it out!

Pretty much, Unova is similar in shape and layout to the Nowhere Islands, the place where MOTHER 3 takes place. It's cool, just look!

kmvp2fi.jpg


pWuBLBQ.gif


I know it's probably just a coincidence, so don't argue about it. It just think it's neat, that's all.

And last but not least, the grand finale of comparing video games, this! ...thingy.

Now, I couldn't actually find a single quote from the game, so I took what I knew and wrote a legend type story:

(When writing this, I was looking at Bulbapedia. I always thought that it was the splitting of the dragon that recreated the region, so I went with that; however, Bulbapedia stated that Reshiram and Zekrom created it after they split.)

"A legend tells, that long ago, there were two twin brothers with the ability to control a mighty dragon. They lived in peace, until one day, the brothers started to fight over which direction they should take their country into. The older brother fought for truth, and the younger brother fought for ideals. Since both of the brothers controlled the dragon, their fighting split it in two, creating two new dragons: Reshiram, reflective of the older twin, and Zekrom, reflective of the younger. The splitting of the dragon had such imense power that in the process, it recreated the entire region of Unova."

Now, after writing that, I am super tired and I don't really wanna explain all of MOTHER 3. But here is a summary:

Claus and Lucas are two twins living in Tazmily Village, a small town in the Nowhere Islands. They are the only two people who can pull the needles and awaken the "Dark Dragon" under the earth, and, by extention, control it once it wakes up. However, during the events of the story, the older twin, Clause, gets captured and is turned into a cyborg to do the bidding of the villian, Porky, who is trying to convince everyone to take up is way of life in order to be truly "Happy". However, Lucas, the younger twin, knows that this isn't all it's hyped up to be, and doesn't conform. He fights the Pigmask army, knowing that the industrialized lives they lead aren't truly "Happy", as they are making the people greedy and cruel. So, Lucas, fighting for truth, has to fight against Claus, who is fighting for Porky's ideals, even if it is against his will. They both pull some of the dragons needles, and then meet at the final needle. Since I don't want to explain the entire final battle, I will just say that Lucas ends up pulling the final needle, recreating the entire world. And then... well, I don't know. They never explain what actually happens to the dragon.

Now, after reading this, it makes perfect sense. Or... no, no it doesn't. In the Reshiram/Zekrom story, the younger fought for ideals and the older for truth, and in the M3 story it's reversed. Now you might say that is proof enough, but let me say something: Legends always change. Or, at least realistically they do. If you were to compare The Bible as you read it in english today to the original Bible, you would see some major differences. So, our little flip flop here isn't that big of a deal.

Also, as I stated, no one knows what happened to the dragon. I mean with the fact that both Claus and Lucas reflected their hearts into the creature, it would make sense that it split. I mean okay, Black/White probably isn't supposed to be MOTHER 4, but I don't think that is a coincidence.

Well, this has been a long post. Took me a few hours to write it all. But hey, it's a lot nicer than the original one, so yeah. Well, hope you enjoyed this, sorry for this being so long, and what do you think about this?
 

Skunk

Floof
Joined
Dec 31, 2011
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Neat! This could be because a lot of people who worked on the Mother series work in the Pokemon series now/as well. I'm thinking of playing through Pokemon Black and Mother 3 again, so if I see any similarities I'll definitely add them here because you have a really neat thing going :)
 

Hsien Ko

Thread murderer
Joined
Dec 12, 2012
If I recall I do remember that the people who worked on the Earthbound series actually moved to Game Freak.
Also in Earthbound there's an item called Bag of Dragonite and in Pokemon there's a Pokemon call Dragonite.
 

Blue Canary

Your Friendly Neighborhood S***poster
Joined
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Location
Right Behind You
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I just thought of something else. There are black and white dragons in the prayer sanctuary in MOTHER 3. I guess I didn't mention it 'cause it's not really something.... Alright I should post this before my ungammatical stupid speach spams that summer salad. Sorry I just had to alliterate.
 

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