Occult and/or general /x/ stuff found in this series specifically and vintage games in general.
Even on it's surface Earthbound is pretty wild - young teens develop psychic powers and end up fighting the embodiment of Evil in the Abyss.

Thread was inspired by this guy >>40781099. Hopefully he chimes in.

>>40792375 (OP)
If he just took whatever he found that would mean there isn't a deeper meaning there. Great game though.

>>40792375 (OP)
https://vsbattles.fandom.com/wiki/Happy_(Happy!_TV_Series)
>Happy used to be an imaginary friend of a kid named Hailey.
>She was kidnapped by a man dressed up as Santa, who was the enforcer of a child trafficking ring.

>>40792375 (OP)
The PSI stuff in this series is very interesting compared to other "psychic" characters in games. The entire Poo segment is insane. Him breaking his bones in a trance like state to unlock abilities and whatnot, meanwhile Lucas gets MKUltra'd by a transgender-esque being to unlock his powers in Mother 3... I wonder how much Itoi knew about this stuff on a deeper level. Also I never played or saw much gameplay of Mother 1, did any character go through insane trauma to unlock abilities in that game?

Also there's Ness's nightmare featuring a golden baal idol, Magicant; which is some sort of dreamlike spirit realm place, Mr. Saturns (interesting name is all), and the fact that Ana in M1 has a Bible, and Paula in M2 prays to defeat the final boss. You'd never see that in a modern Nintendo game.

appreciate you kicking off a full thread.

I personally maintain that while researching for MOTHER 1, Itoi became deeply immersed in the paranormal. So much so that by the second game, he was so into the occult that he ended up designing the entirety of MOTHER 2 around his obsession with /x/ topics.

For the "Encyclopedia MOTHER", Itoi wrote:
>I bought up books on psychic powers, a world I'd been interested in from the start. I must have gathered a bookcase's worth of materials.

At first, MOTHER 1 was inspired primarily by Spielberg films, like ET and Close Encounters. But after reading up on psychic powers, his fascination with these subjects grew.
The second game goes way beyond the first game's b-movie parody, and was instead designed around showcasing various cryptids, real-life alien encounters, government suppression, religious cults, child sacrifice, humanity gaining psychic powers from aliens, eastern mysticism, psychedellic drug trips, stonehenge/pyramids, alien bases inside the Earth, and scientists adapting alien technology for human use.

Another thing people often overlook is Itoi's friendship with novelist Haruki Murakami, whose books insist on a strange blend of mind-numbing realism, and strange psychic powers. From his writing, Murakami will have you absolutely convinced that psychic powers are real, and perhaps he thinks so himself. That, combined with the fact that Itoi and Murakami once wrote a book together (Let's Meet in a Dream), suggests that Itoi is far more well-read than the average game developer, particularly on the subject of the paranormal.

The MOTHER series caught my eye when I was a little kid, because it seemed to hint at a lot more than its simple presentation. Since then I've found that a lot of other people agree. There's a strange feeling of depth to this game. It's at the centre of a web of a whole host of sources that the author drew upon when writing it, and I've been unwravelling that web for most of my life

the mani-mani statue has an aura that infects people with a desire for fame and fortune. It seems to be fittingly designed after an Oscar award, but also resembles ancient Egyptian Ptah statues, which are talismans of ritual sacrifice, death and the everlasting afterlife. (See also Sokar statues, spelled similarly to oscar)
The statue has been underneath Porky and Ness's houses for centuries. Its influence is probably the reason Porky's dad is so deranged, abusive, and money hungry.

>>40792375 (OP)
>>40792753
>named after a song from the same John Lennon album as “God”, a song where John says he just believes in him and his wife.
>the song Pollyanna takes the opposite approach and says the magic and myth in the world is worth believing in and that love is on the same level as childlike wonder
>unless you be like a little child, you cannot enter the kingdom of god
There’s also the fact Mr. Carpainter bears a striking resemblance to David Berg of the Children of God/Family International cult who had a substantial presence in Japan during the 70’s and 80’s. The fact PK Love is the final killing blow to Gygas is also deeply esoteric if you know what it truly means.

>>40793544
Good post.
>government suppression
There's also a strong theme about police corruption as seen in Onett and Fourside. Also in Fourside a local oligarch makes a bargain with an evil entity to maintain his wealth, power and grip on the city.

bump

>>40792375 (OP)
Isn't it an allegory for gnosticism?

>>40793701
>>40794033
The mani mani is even more similar to depictions of the Canaanite deity Baal, who is sometimes syncreticly conflated with Moloch in the Bible. Both names are possibly corruptions of the Hebrew words for Lord (Ba’al) and King (Melech), and in occultism, both Baal and Moloch are seen wearing crowns

>>40794540
Porky himself in mother 3 becomes his own idol, and the design of the absolutely safe capsule resembles the ceremonial pig skins found in Chinese and Taiwanese ceremonies , wherein the fattest pig is killed and sacrificed to the mountain gods in an attempt to gain fortune. The spirit of Giygas is only contained when his final vessel is kept alive indefinitely as a symbol of prosperity and glory for all time, yet unable to actually do anything

Huge Mother fan for about 15 years now, never expected an /x/ thread about it.

>>40792394
>Summers
In addition to Magic Cake, I think the secret club is noteworthy. They might seem braindead, but perhaps they are a front for a deeper well-funded organisation. Summers is a rich town with rich people, which always breeds such creepy clubs.

>40793544
>ET and Close Encounters
I never made the connection, but they are close to the same era. These are some of my favourite films.

>The second game goes way beyond the first game's b-movie parody ....[etc]
MOTHER has just as much paranormal stuff going on, it is not just a "b-movie parody". There are literal ghosts, a haunted house, UFOs, zombies, Bigfoot, among other things. Alien abduction, various robots. Etc. You could even call it "In Search Of...: The Game" and that wouldn't be too far off. I am in the minority where M1 is actually my favourite of the series.

I think something worth talking about is the Mook from Fourside. I have more I could say, but not enough time right now. I'll keep returning if ya'll keep this thread alive.

>>40794988
>I think something worth talking about is the Mook from Fourside.
The one in the department store? You have me intrigued.

>>40793701
I have Mani Mani in my house.

>>40794988
>>40795253
https://wikibound.info/wiki/Dept._Store_Spook
Is it because he's called a "spook"?? Lol

>>40795654
His appearance looks similar to the pathways between Binah and Chokhma
To Tiferet, which would be the lovers (two children in the garden of Eden with an angel over them, symbolizing innocence) and the star (a young woman carrying water as a star shines ahead). These two paths cross the abyss of Da’at, which would fit well for what Moonside (that comes soon after) represents.

>>40796552
Don't all the mooks look the same outside of palette swaps? Why single out the Dept Store one?

>>40795393
the mani mani statue is playable in project M.