In case anyone out there didn't know, the Mother 3 fan-translation is out now at mother3.fobby.net! Mother 3 is the sequel to Earthbound (Mother 2 in Japan), which was an excellent game in which a young boy discovered that he had psychic powers and was chosen to save the world from an evil alien. The games in the series are linked, however they aren't so strongly tied together that you need to have played the first two for this one to make sense.

If you've played Earthbound, statistics show that you probably liked it, and Mother 3 has everything that made Earthbound great and gives it a story that makes grown men cry, which is not a bad thing.

If you've never played Earthbound and have called it out on its turn-based battle system every time somebody suggests that you do so, Mother 3 may still be the game for you. It does still have turn-based combat, but it features a unique combo system where if you tap the A button along with the rhythm of the music in the background while attacking, you can rack up combos, which gives a sense of interactivity to what most other turn-based RPGs leave at "You said to attack, so I will." My brother has tried some Final Fantasy, and even Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga, and eventually put them down because of the tedious battles, but he can't get enough of this game, and is always trying to steal my computer from me so that he can play it. He says it's just that good.

I'm actually in the middle of Mother 1 right now (AKA Earthhbound Zero, for the NES), and am enjoying myself immensely. Shigisato Itoi, the creator of the Mother series, is a genius, and has given me the first NES game I've played where the difficulty feels worth it. I just can't get enough of this series, and am going to be quite sad when I've finished Mother 1, the third and final of my trips into this wonderful parody of American Suburbia.

If you're curious at all about the series, go ahead and ask me in the comments, or just check out www.starmen.net. It is a wonderful site with one of the most dedicated communities I've seen in a long time.

In the meantime, Tonda Gossa everybody. I've got a trip to Magicant to plan!