Mother (マザー, Mazā), is a role-playingvideo game series made by Nintendo, Ape, Inc., HAL Laboratory, and Brownie Brown. Shigesato Itoi was in charge of all three games. It has three main games in it, and started on the NES with Mother, and then it had EarthBound on the Super NES and finally, Mother 3 on the Game Boy Advance. EarthBound was initially the only game of the three that came out in English; until the first game, EarthBound Beginnings (Mother 1) was released to America on the Wii U's Virtual Console in 2015, 25 years after Mother 1 had come out in Japan, and it has a strong fanbase that wants the other two games in English too.
Mother is the first title in the EarthBound series. It was made by Ape, Inc. and designed by Shigesato Itoi for the NES. It was going to be called EarthBound in the United States, and Nintendo of America completed the translation of the game, but they decided that role-playingvideo games were not worth releasing, and that it was too late in the NES' life to release.
EarthBound (known as Mother 2 in Japan) is the second title in the series. It's the most well known because it was the only one released outside of Japan. It was made by Ape, Inc. for the Super NES. It stars a boy named Ness, a girl named Paula, a boy named Jeff, and a boy named Poo, who have to work together to defeat an evil alien called Giygas, who conquers the Earth 10 years in the future.
Mother 3 is the third and latest EarthBound game. It was made by Brownie Brown and released for the Game Boy Advance. It started on the Nintendo 64 as EarthBound 64, but got canceled since the N64 was almost done. It was announced in 2003 that it was going to move to the Game Boy Advance, and came out in 2006. It changed from 3D to 2D, but it kept the same characters and story. It never came outside of Japan because of EarthBound's low sales in the United States, though there have been a lot of rumors, including one in Electronic Gaming Monthly about a game called Mother Compilation for the Nintendo DS which would include all three games. Mother 3 is about the adventures of a boy named Lucas and his dog Boney, who joins up with a princess named Kumatora and a thief named Duster who have to fight the Pig Mask Army. Shigesato Itoi, the creator, has no plans to make a sequel.
Other releases
Nintendo made a collection of Mother and EarthBound for the Game Boy Advance called Mother 1 + 2. It never came out of Japan. There has not been another re-release of any of the games since, but EarthBound was rated by the ESRB for a Virtual Console release.
EarthBound has always been in the Super Smash Bros. series. In Super Smash Bros., Ness (from EarthBound) is a playable character, using special PSI moves and attacks from EarthBound. He appeared again in Super Smash Bros. Melee with some new moves, and was going to be replaced by Lucas because he was going to be the star of EarthBound 64, but since it was canceled, he kept Ness instead. Melee also added stages from EarthBound based on two of the towns from the second game, and collectible trophies of characters and items from it. Super Smash Bros. Brawl brought Ness back, but also added Lucas since Mother 3 came out. It also added a stage from Mother 3 and new trophies too.