 Our favorite Japanese writer/celebrity Shigesato Itoi has been trickling out information about his new game, the ten-years-in-the-making Mother 3, sequel to Mother 2, which is one of the best games ever, anyway. It's been said (by Itoi himself) that not a screenshot of the game will be revealed before the release, perhaps even on the back of the game's box! Amazing. You can view his new periodic updates page right here.
Now for the important part: a lot of game and music fans (correctly) regard Mother 2's soundtrack, by the illustrious Keiichi Suzuki, to be the best-composed videogame soundtrack of all-time. They should be delighted to know that Itoi has decided to make a piano recording of the song available to all of the internet today. The game will release on April 20th; Itoi says, "It'd be really nice if people would play this song everywhere before the game is released." In the spirit of Itoi's entrepreneuristic philosophy, I have hosted the song here. Just because I'm curious to see how many people download it from me.
The song is called "Mother 3: Love Theme." The similarity to "Eight Melodies" from Mother 2 is quite striking. It sounds like something you'd hear at a jazz bar, or when a department store is closing for the evening and they want to depress everyone out.
The story of Mother 3 is, at this point, mostly unknown (the canceled Nintendo 64DD version was apparently about a man, his son, his dog, and a pig emperor (perhaps Pokey from Mother 2)), though chances are it will be a more overtly sad story than Mother 2 (which was only conceptually sad). The blurb that will appear on the box (and posters and promotional materials), according to the newest information, is
"It was bizarre. It was fascinating. And then, it was devastating."
Again, Itoi's skill with the Japanese language is amazing. I'd recommend reading the essay I linked above, and especially this one, if you can read the language and/or are learning. Learn his vocabulary (I can recommend a good program with a lightning-fast built-in Japanese dictionary that I use at work), and you'll impress every man, woman, and child in a ten-meter radius. As long as they're Japanese.
In the spirit of slow information leaks, I'll explain something about Mother. You remember the guy in the beginning of Mother 2, who tells you all the people in town were afraid of the meteorite, though he was okay, because he eats garlic? (I love that guy. Probably because I love garlic.) He asks you to read the sign by his house. He says, "That's what I do. I write signs." Years ago, this is how Itoi explained himself. He doesn't write essays or videogames or stories or novels; he writes signs.
Now: the Japanese word for "blurb," such as the blurb that appears above, is "Copy." Itoi originally gained fame as a master copy-writer. And by "copy," I don't mean articles -- I mean the Japanese concept of "Copy." Itoi's passion is in sentences, not paragraphs, pages, chapters, or complete works. All the Citizens of the Internet currently cursing Itoi's wicked and "unprofessional" means of PR clearly don't understand that in his vision, there is no success and no failure. There are only sentences, readable in or out of order, all containing the same heart.
In closing, Mother 3 will be a superstar. It will come to your town if you'll just give it time. Be patient; don't expect it to teach you how to live. Live how you will. Be gorgeous. When it comes, learn something, brush your teeth, and then go to bed. Good night.
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