The MOTHER 1+2 Fan Translation v1.01

Released April 30, 2011

This is a free, unofficial fan-made translation of MOTHER 1+2 for the Game Boy Advance. In this version, MOTHER 1 has been given a complete English retranslation intended to make the game more accessible to EarthBound fans (details here), while MOTHER 2 has basic menu and name translations.

Download the translation patch - if you don't know how to use IPS patches, see here.
Before playing, read these tips and suggestions - they'll help you get more enjoyment out of the game!
Download the files, tools, and source code - these are optional; you can use these to create your own translations or text-based hacks!

Screenshots

Game Start-up:

MOTHER 1:

MOTHER 2:

Frequently Asked Questions

What's different about the MOTHER 1 translation? Why should I care?

For many (most?) Western fans, the first game in the series is really hard to get into. My goal was to create a translation of the game that tries to make the game more palatable. Some of the things I did were:
- Retranslated the script from scratch. The EarthBound Zero ROM has a good number of changes, censoring, and mistakes with plot details and dialog. The text in the EarthBound Zero ROM is also very dry due to limited NES resources. Doing a retranslation with this GBA version allowed for a lot more text, and censoring/changes weren't necessary. The result is a script that should hopefully be more engaging and natural-sounding.
- Expanded many text boxes, allowing for more dialog text at a time, making the text more natural, more presentable, and easier to read
- Expanded menus and names wherever possible, allowing for more natural-sounding text
- Improved the font for better readability
- Added a gift box with an "Easy Ring" to Ninten's room for those who don't like to grind for experience and money. This item, when equipped, greatly increases the experience and money you win from enemies while also reducing the amount of random battles. It makes the game much less of a chore, which is one of the main reasons EarthBound fans have a hard time getting into the game.
- The GBA port already included a number of extra features - for example, the L Button acts as a shortcut key now, just as it did in EarthBound
- Some of the bugs in the Japanese GBA version have been fixed
- Connections with EarthBound and MOTHER 3 have been left intact, so fans of the series will surely appreciate that. The EarthBound Zero translation had changed a lot of things, which broke many of these connections.
This WAS just a Famicom game originally, so it's not as if all of this will suddenly make it an entirely new game, but my hope is that it will at least make it easier for fans to get into and enjoy.
Why didn't you translate the MOTHER 2 part too? Can't you just stick EarthBound's translation into the ROM?

Short answer: if it were that easy, it would have already been done a long time ago.

Long answer: It's a LOT more complicated than what you can imagine. It would probably take me just as much time - if not more - than the MOTHER 3 project took. I don't think it would be worth the effort; the GBA version of MOTHER 2 has a bunch of bugs, the music and sound effects are significantly inferior, the programming is a nightmare, etc. etc.

Still, if I had a lot of free time and/or money I'd love to work on the MOTHER 2 side of the game so we could have all three GBA games fan-translated. But I don't think that'll ever happen.

For more details, I wrote up a thing about it here.
I equipped the Easy Ring in MOTHER 1. How do I take it off?

The only way to unequip items is to equip something in its place.
I want to translate this into my own language!

I've released all the files, tools, and source code I used to make this translation. I designed this project with other languages in mind, so it should be very easy for anyone to translate the MOTHER 1 part! You can download the tools here.
I found a bug and/or a typo!

First, be extra sure that you're not the one mistaken. If you're really sure it's a bug or a typo, then let me know here.

Tips and Suggestions When Playing MOTHER 1

It's usually hard for EarthBound fans to go back and play the first game, I understand that all too well. I was excited when the beta ROM was released, but was very quickly disappointed - it seemed bland, grindy, and hardly like EarthBound at all. It was frustrating. Over the years - and through this project - I've come to appreciate the game a lot more, so here are some personal tips and suggestions for trying to get into the game:

First, DO NOT COMPARE THIS GAME TO EARTHBOUND. When you're playing this game, don't even think about EarthBound. This game was made BEFORE EarthBound, so it logically goes that EarthBound wasn't in mind when this game was made. Forget entirely about EarthBound and let this game stand as its own thing. This is one of the biggest hurdles people run into, but if you can see it as its own game of its own time, it's much easier to appreciate.

If you really have to compare it to something, then think about the other NES games and RPGs that came out during the late 80s / early 90s as you're playing the game.
Following that same thought, it's important to realize this game was released in 1989. Of course it's going to be tough to get into if you use a 2011 (or whatever year this is) mindset. So do this:

Imagine you're a kid in 1989. You have an 8-bit NES with a couple games. On a Friday afternoon on the way home from school, you stop by a video store and rent a random game called "MOTHER". Usually when you rented games back then it was always a very hit-or-miss thing, so whatever game you got, you were stuck with it for the whole weekend. Try playing this game with that mindset - that you're a kid in the late 80s with a weekend ahead of you to play this game. Do that, and you might start to appreciate it in new ways!
If you've played the EarthBound Zero beta NES ROM before - push it away from your thoughts. Pretend you're playing the game for the first time now. The beta ROM had a lot of localization changes, censorship changes, and just no-real-reason changes. This translation doesn't include those, so it's going to be different - that's the point of the project, after all.

Basically, don't go in expecting the EarthBound Zero names and text to be used.
Use the Easy Ring! It increases the experience and money you get from enemies by a ton, and it also reduces the number of random battles. I tested it out a lot and got a lot of feedback to make sure it all balances out.

As long as you play right (instead of constantly running away) it'll make the game a lot easier. It won't make it SUPER easy, just less annoying and generally more enjoyable.
Use the map! The Start Button opens up your world map. It's very easy to get lost in this game or not know where to go next. Basically, if you see a town nearby, head there. Or, if you see any black dots on the map nearby, go check them out! It's a crappy-looking map, but it really will take away all the random wandering!
Use the R Button to run around more quickly than normal.
When you're walking around outside, you can tell if there are random enemies where you are by pressing the L Button or using "Check". If there are enemies around, it'll say something about danger lurking nearby. Otherwise it'll say the default line of something like, "There's nothing here."
Turn the battle text speed up all the way. You can do this during battles or from the file select screen. Having the battle text at maximum speed makes it less frustrating somehow.
If you're using an emulator, try not to use things like cheats or save states. If you can, I recommend playing the game on actual hardware.
If you're not sure where to go, talk to everyone and/or try to visit any nearby black dots on your map. If you go through the game normally, without consulting any guides or rushing through, you'll almost always be at a decent level for each new area.

Still, if you really need help from a walkthrough or guide, you can check the online EarthBound Zero walkthrough here.

That walkthrough uses all the EarthBound Zero names and such, but it'll still help you figure out where to go and what to do next.
Unless you're an ultimate awesome gamer, you WILL find the big Duncan factory to be brutal. You can find a map to the factory here, but if you don't want to cheat, just know that you basically need to head as far up as possible. Leaving the factory might be a little more complicated, though, so try making a trail of bread crumbs (use Bread instead of eating it) if you can.
Some of the other dungeons in the game are tough and confusing, but you can usually get through them just fine if you persevere and/or draw a map yourself.
There are two Franklin Badges in the game. One you get from Pippi, and the other you can find in the big Duncan factory. Unlike in EarthBound, these block PK Beam instead of PK Thunder. Actually, they only block stronger versions of PK Beam that enemies in the last half of the game use. Strong PK Beams can instantly kill party members, so you definitely want to get both Franklin Badges!
Don't rush through the game. Shigesato Itoi said this many times himself, even before the game was released. Completing a section of the game or discovering a new area in the game is supposed to feel like a big accomplishment. I can just see Japanese kids running to tell their friends whenever they finished a new part of the game. It's harder to feel that way now if you're an older gamer, but if you at least keep that in mind it should help.

The game doesn't explain what each PSI technique does, and some of these are very different from what they do in EarthBound. Knowing what the PSI moves do WILL make battles a lot easier. Here's a quick list with info:

Lifeup α	Restores a little HP to one ally
Lifeup β	Restores more HP to one ally
Lifeup γ	Fully restores an ally's HP
Lifeup π	Restores some HP to all allies
Lifeup Ω	Fully restores all allies' HP

Healing α	Cures an ally who's been poisoned
Healing β	Cures an ally who's been paralyzed
Healing γ	Cures an ally who's been petrified
Healing π	Cures an ally who's been put to sleep
Super Heal	Revives an ally who's been defeated

PK Fire α	Fire damage to all enemies
PK Fire β	Stronger fire damage to all enemies
PK Fire γ	Very strong fire damage to all enemies
PK Fire Ω	Destroy all enemies in one hit (RECOMMENDED!)

PK Freeze α	Ice damage to a single enemy
PK Freeze β	Stronger ice damage to a single enemy
PK Freeze γ	Lowers a single enemy's HP to almost nothing (RECOMMENDED!)
PK Freeze Ω	Strong ice damage to all enemies

PK Beam α	Damages a single enemy with a beam of light
PK Beam β	Damages a single enemy with a strong beam of light
PK Beam γ	Damages a single enemy, can even instant-kill
PK Beam Ω	Damages all enemies with a strong beam of light

PK Thunder α	Lightning damage to an enemy
PK Thunder β	Strong lightning damage to an enemy
PK Thunder γ	Lightning damage to all enemies

PSI Block	Prevents an enemy from using PSI
PSI Shield α	Halves damage from an enemy, for a single ally
PSI Shield β	Halves damage from an enemy, for all allies
Power Shield	Reflects damage from attacks back at the enemy

Brainshock	Confuses an enemy
Brain Cyclone	Confuses all enemies
Hypnosis	Puts an enemy to sleep
Paralysis	Paralyizes an enemy
Darkness	Blinds an enemy, lowering their attack power

Offense Up	Raises a single ally's offense
Defense Up α	Raises a single ally's defense
Defense Up β	Raises all allies' defense (can be stacked!)
Quick Up	Raises a single ally's speed
Shield Off	Destroys an enemy's shield
Defense Down α	Lowers an enemy's defense
Defense Down β	Lowers all enemies' defense
PSI Magnet	Steals an enemy's PP

Telepathy	Use this to read the minds of various characters in the game
Dimensional Warp	Use this to escape a battle with 100% certainty
Teleportation	Use this to return to any town you've been to before. You need a good running start. You can also use the control pad to change your direction while running. If done well, you can teleport even when there isn't much open space around you.

How to Use the Translation Patch

Unzip the contents of this zip file to a folder/directory. You should find the following files:
- mother12.ips
- mother12.txt
Second, you will need to obtain a ROM of the Japanese version of MOTHER 1+2. This clearly steps into promoting piracy, so you will have to find this on your own. Search engines are useful for this sort of thing.

Once you have the ROM, make sure it is unzipped/uncompressed. The file should be 16 MB in size. Put this file in the same folder as the files from above.
Most modern emulators will automatically patch IPS patches when you load a ROM. This is known as "soft-patching". If your emulator can do this, then make sure the IPS file is called "mother12.ips" and that the ROM is called "mother12.gba". Then load the ROM in your emulator. If all goes well, the translation patch should work automatically!

If it's not working and you're sure your emulator can soft-patch IPS files, then you might have to put the IPS file in a different folder, depending on your settings and what emulator you're using. Check your settings and read the documentation that came with your emulator.
If you don't want to use soft-patching or if you can't get it to work, then you can always hard-patch it. Download Lunar IPS here. With it, you can permanently patch the ROM. Then just load your ROM in your emulator.

NOTE: If you're still having trouble getting either methods to work, then see here.

Troubleshooting

I can't get the patch to work!
Read the directions above. If you STILL can't get the patch to work, try asking on the Starmen.Net or Romhacking.net message boards.
I tried applying the patch to a ROM that already had another patch on it. Now it's weird! What do I do?
You NEED to make sure you've applied the patch to the original Japanese ROM. If you apply it to an already-modified ROM, then it's naturally going to behave in unpredictable ways.
The MOTHER 2 stuff is still in Japanese!
The MOTHER 2 side of this patch only includes translations of menus, item names, enemy names, etc.
The naming screen stuff in MOTHER 2 is mostly in Japanese still!
The naming screen programming is truly insane and would take me more time to hack than I felt was worth it.
I can't get my game to save!
This happens mostly with Mac emulators. I don't have a Mac, so I can't really troubleshoot this. If all else fails, you can use save states (I think they call them "freeze states" on the Mac emus).
I double-click on the .zip file but nothing happens!
If your computer doesn't have .zip file support (most computers in the last 10+ years have support by default), look on Google for things like 7-Zip or WinZip.
The game gets stuck at the intro screen. Help!
You can skip this normally by pressing any button. If you're using an emulator, keep in mind that you might need to set up what keyboard keys act as what GBA buttons. If you're new to emulators and you don't understand what that means, then just smoosh your face into the keyboard until it works.
The game crashes/freezes on my hardware!
This may be a hardware-specific problem. I don't know much about this stuff, so I can't really help you in this regard.
I'm trying to use a save file from the Japanese version, but the names and stuff get all messed up!
There's no way to fix this, you'll either have to start a new game or live with your wacky new names!

Support

I often get e-mails from people asking how they can donate to my projects, but I don't like to accept donations for this particular kind of stuff. If you'd still really like to help out, though, if you buy any EarthBound/MOTHER merchandise through these links, I'll get a dollar or so. This will help keep EarthBound Central up and running, not to mention many of my other projects, like Game Swag!

Credits

Hacking / Translating: Tomato
Hacking assistance: Jeffman

Thanks to:

Poe	byuu	reidman	Jonk	Plo
sarsie	HockeyMonkey	weasly64	Rhyselinn	PKDX
Buck Fever	dreraserhead	Demolitionizer	Kasumi	Ness and Sonic
PK_Fanta	linkdude20002001	climhazard	TheZunar123	sonicstar5
Skye	Triverske	Mother Bound	Blair32	PSIWolf674
Ice Sage	PK Mt. Fuji	The Great Morgil	Ness-Ninten-Lucas	LordQuadros
Ross	rotschleim	LakituAl	Kuwanger	MotherFan
Anonymous	BroBuzz	Trevor	Rathe coolguy	EBrent
Robert	KingDarian	Satsy	tapioca	curtmack
Chuggaaconroy	Roido	MarioFan3	blahmoomoo	VGMaster64
Corey	Superstarman	Halloween	Robo85	ZUUL
Crav	Priestess Paula	My Name Here	Aangie	platinatina
Petalklunk	Aviarei	Cuca	Realn

And probably a hundred or more other helpful people! Forgive me if your name should have been here, there are so many to remember that my brain is failing me now. But know that your help was appreciated and led to this patch's creation!

Extra Goodies

EarthBound Central