Proto:Mother


 * ''Note: Earth Bound redirects here. For the second game in the Mother franchise, see EarthBound.

Earth Bound was the intended US release of Mother, but was shelved after completion due to a series of unfortunate marketing decisions. Other than Nintendo of America's typical censorship process, the game also got a number of improvements over the original Japanese version, nearly all of which were retained in the Japan-only GBA compilation Mother 1+2.

Time Machine
ph0t2bpddbI The Japanese version had a "Time Machine" item for sale in Twinkle Elementary School which, if bought, would trigger a short event not present in the US prototype: the player is teleported to the same room directly after Lloyd blows it up with a bottle rocket.

Through some simple hacking to copy the NPC data from the Japanese version into the US one, the event has been restored. Mother 1+2 does not have this item or event, either.

Map
This item is still in the prototype and is fully functional. Using it displays the string "Ninten checked the map."

Characters and NPCs
The US prototype and Mother 1+2 changed the appearance of some characters to give them a more American feel. Most edits were minor, such as the stripe on Ninten's shirt and a hairstyle change on Ninten's mother. It's interesting to note that a couple of the NPCs were edited in order to look less like Peanuts characters. In typical NoA fashion, all religious symbols were removed, including the priest's rosary.

The final two NPCs' edits appear to be little more than stylistic touch-ups.

Enemies
Many enemies were changed to remove blood, cigarettes, or...shiny breasts.

Bread Crumbs
A glitch involving the use of the Bread Crumbs item was fixed for the US prototype and Mother 1+2. One of its main uses is to bypass the rock sealing Giegue's lair, which doesn't normally open until you get the eight melodies, a glitch that has been used in Tool-Assisted Speedruns (TAS) of the Japanese version.

Flea Bag
In the Japanese version, it is possible to abuse the Flea Bag item on R7038XX, dropping his offense to the point where he cannot kill EVE, and after 255 turns the battle automatically ends (as per the game code). As a result, the event for EVE dying and giving you the melody happens, but she also remains in your party – something which isn't supposed to happen, mainly because she's obscenely overpowered.

The US prototype and Mother 1+2 fixed this so that the Flea Bag cannot be used on the indestructible robots.

Location Names
A vast majority of the names of locations were changed from the Japanese version to the US prototype. According to Phil Sandhop, localization producer: "'Itoi originally wrote them to sound friendly. I don't believe that towns named after holidays was friendly. Matter of fact I thought it sounded stupid and thought older players would really be turned off. I wanted it to be enjoyable for all ages.'"

Menus
The menus have some more options in the US prototype and Mother 1+2, such as more speed levels. The world map is also not an option and rather a separate item in the Japanese release, found in the basement (and replaced by Bread in the prototype). Incidentally, nearly all of the names on the map are different, as it was deemed that the original names would not suit American tastes; this change in particular is exclusive to the English prototype. The order of learned PSI is also different.

Melody Backdrop
In the Japanese version, when learning a melody the screen does not do the rolling background effect. The US prototype programs this into the subroutine that plays music; any values containing one of the melodies will use the background whenever they are called, and revert when the song changes. Mother 1+2 changed it to wavy lines instead of simple straight lines.

Ending
xv5XuGlMlO4 The ending was heavily revised for the US prototype. In the Japanese version, the party simply faced the screen as the credits rolled behind them. The revised ending was retained in Mother 1+2.

Maps
The US prototype and Mother 1+2 contain simplified versions of the Underground Stream (in the Magicant wells) and the path to Mt. Itoi, as well as the layout of Spookane. The cave on Mt. Itoi's ascent (which EVE can access) was removed and placed at a new, short forked pathway at the end of the game.

Run
The US prototype and Mother 1+2 added a run button (to move at a doubled speed), which by default is set to B and R, respectively. According to Phil Sandhop, the localization producer and English script writer for the US version, the running feature was originally added for debugging purposes, but ultimately retained as a legitimate game feature at his request.

Magicant Men
Two of the NPCs in Magicant were substantially changed. One of them is the man who appears in the fountain: he cures ailments in the Japanese version, but acts more like an ATM in the US prototype. In the Japanese version, he asks "What do you need?" and the choices "Cure Poison" and "Soften" appear.

The other is the Forgotten Man: in the Japanese version, should a player answer one of his questions wrong, they're sent clear back to the beginning of Magicant. In the US prototype, he simply starts his prompt over again.

Endgame
In the Japanese release, Teddy is positioned on the bed differently. The player is sent back to Magicant after the seventh melody is learned, and Queen Mary automatically remembers the eighth melody on her own. The dialogue associated with this is in the US prototype, but unused. The rock graphic obstructing the final layer was also changed, and there is no Starmen-infested final path that leads to the final boss and captive adults.

The room containing the kidnapped adults is elsewhere on the mountain in the Japanese release, where EVE can easily access it.

Title Screen
In the prototype, the intro text was made more grammatically correct and the golden Mother logo was replaced by the red Earth Bound one. However, the original title is still present in the ROM as it was not actually replaced in the game data. It is actually loaded into VRAM during the opening titles, before showing the Earth Bound logo.