I'm sure I would have enjoyed powering through this with a guide had I played it when I was younger, but as a depressed adult that has maybe 3 hours of free time every night after work, I decided to put the game down when I realized that I wasn't enjoying spending time trudging through an old clunky NES game like this, even for a series whose later games mean so much to me. I still love Earthbound and Mother 3, but it's okay to say that I did not enjoy my time with Mother 1.

The leveling is not well implemented, and it's definitely dated as an RPG, but it's an Itoi game, so I love it. If you've played Earthbound and Mother 3 and loved them (and if you have you will), you should give this one a shot.

The game actually plays quite smoothly up until you get to Magicant, thats when things get wonky. I also do enjoy the vibe of the game, and it was able to carry me through my playthrough.

Usual complaints: Encounter Rate too high, combat is uninteresting.