(Translations) - GameBrew (2024)

This is an unofficial translation of MOTHER 1+2, a compilation of the first two MOTHER games, released for the Game Boy Advance in 2003. MOTHER 1 is commonly known as EarthBound Zero, and MOTHER 2 is known as EarthBoundoutside of Japan.

MOTHER 1 has been completely retranslated from scratch and features many improvements to make the game more palatable for fans. MOTHER 2 has a basic "menu patch"-style translation that translates menus, item names, and more.

You will need to obtain a ROM of the Japanese version of MOTHER 1+2. The file should be 16 MB in size. Put this file in the same folder as the IPS patch file.

Most modern emulators will automatically patch IPS ROMs when you load the 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 with progroms such as Lunar IPS. With it, you can permanently patch the ROM.

Visit the project's site for tips and suggestions when playing MOTHER 1, information about the project and some bonus content.

FAQ

Q. 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. The goal of this project was to create a translation of the game that tries to make the game more palatable. Some of the features for this patch includes:

• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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 the hope is that it will at least make it easier for fans to get into and enjoy.

Q. 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 just as much time - if not more - than the MOTHER 3 project took.

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.

Q. 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.

Q. I want to translate this into my own language!

All the tools and source code used to make this translation are available in the project's site. This project was designed with other languages in mind, so it should be very easy for anyone to translate the MOTHER 1 part.

Troublshooting

Q: I can't get my game to save!

This happens mostly with Mac emulators. If all else fails, you can use save states (I think they call them "freeze states" on the Mac emus).

Q. 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.

Q. 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.

Q. The game crashes/freezes on my hardware!

This may be a hardware-specific problem.

Q. 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.

MOTHER 1+2 Event Video (Translated) (earthboundcentral)

Hacking/translating - Tomato.

Misc. hacking help - 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, Skye, Triverske, Mother Bound, Blair32, PSIWolf674, Ice Sage, PK Mt. Fuji, The Great Morgil, Ness-Ninten-Lucas, 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 , LordQuadros, sonicstar5, Aangie, platinatina, Petalklunk, Aviarei, Realn.

And everyone who have helped that led to this patch's creation.

• Official website - http://mother12.earthboundcentral.com/
• Author's website - http://tomato.fobby.net/
• GitHub - https://github.com/jeffman
• Romhacking.net - https://www.romhacking.net/translations/1609/