It's been a while since I've written a truly blasphemous review on this site, so I'll be blunt. I think Mother 3 is fundamentally the least interesting game of the trilogy, which breaks my heart more than any part of its story. Opening your inventory and seeing that key items are separate from regular ones is all it takes to realize that you're now playing through the type of RPG that Mother 1 & 2 were parodying. I've long theorized that nearly every game that claims to be inspired by Earthbound is actually inspired by Mother 3. Humor that stems from out-of-place characters or moments and occasionally produces laughs, but never ends up being broadly funny in the sense that Earthbound is. An unwillingness to inconvenience the player so as to not detract from its grand message, which never ends up feeling as worthwhile as Earthbound's ruminations on memory, connections, and life experiences. I won't deny that Mother 3's story is unique or well put together, or that it ends on the perfect note, but I will say that I'm rarely ever moved by traditional narratives in video games. The deliberate non-stories of the first two games, in my opinion, are what made the series special. It's admirable that Mother 3 rejects so much of its predecessor, considering Earthbound was pretty much a remake of Mother, but I question what it takes and what it leaves behind. Ditching the formula means that the sequence of events didn't have to revolve around collecting MacGuffins, again. Six fully playable characters means that they could've been grouped up into unique combinations throughout the course of the game, instead we spend the bulk of it with the same four. Only having two PSI users means the rest of the party could've grown in interesting ways through battle, instead Duster and Boney never gain any abilities besides the hardly ever useful ones they start with. The game's one mechanical bullseye is the music battle system, which is nothing short of miraculous. It combines with the rolling health meter to add another layer of decision making, it lets you blast through early encounters on a replay, and it cleverly ties difficulty into presentation. Structure-wise, the buildup to New Poke City remains the game's highlight, partially because of the final characterization of the man himself. As Lucas's thematic parallel, Pokey is unwilling to let go of either his childhood or his meta-status as the guy from Earthbound. I can take a hint, Itoi, but, what am I supposed to say? Without the help of any dead moms, fascist regimes, or unstoppable forces of industrialization, I get more emotional at Earthbound's credits than I do at Mother 3's. And that was sort of the point, wasn't it?