Why EarthBound Might Be Gaming's Most Important Story About Motherhood

The concept of motherhood in gaming has changed drastically over the last few decades, but especially over the last two, as the industry entered what has been dubbed the “dadifcation” era of gaming around 2010, and it is still firmly in it. Since then, mothers have either been absent, or their role has been altered to something almost opposite to what is expected of a mother. A recent example is Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, which adopts the “sad mom” trope and ultimately makes her the antagonist, all while the story’s father, though initially portrayed as a villain as well, wants nothing more than to save his family from themselves. Games like The Last of Us and God of War (2018) have even largely removed mothers from the picture in order to center the focus on the fathers instead. All of this is what makes looking back at EarthBound‘s legacy so important these days.

On the surface, EarthBound may look like nothing more than an old-school RPG with all the wonderful SNES charm of games from its time, but on a much deeper level, it offers a retrospective look at how motherhood was once portrayed, even within the gaming industry. In a time when video game dads are stealing the show as single parents, their violent and damaged personas ultimately humanized through their relationships with their children, mothers in gaming have either become background noise or antagonistic. By making Ness’ mom present, recognizing the immense value of the ordinary mother, and portraying her as a place of comfort and support, EarthBound remains one of gaming’s most important stories about motherhood.

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EarthBound Makes Motherhood Present Instead of Tragic

EarthBound is now over 30 years old, so, naturally, a lot has changed in the gaming industry since its 1994 release. Today, dads like Joel Miller and Kratos take center stage, all while the mothers sometimes never come out from behind the curtain. However, in the days of EarthBound, and even games like Pokemon Red, video game moms were an unfailing support system that characters, and the players controlling them, knew they could count on.

Scratch & Peek

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Scratch & Peek

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It’s not that motherhood is completely absent from the picture in modern gaming, though it certainly is in some cases. Rather, it’s more that the role of a mother has been changed to better accommodate the story. A lot of games make mothers narratively useful only after they are gone, whether they’re deceased or merely absent. Other games like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and Silent Hill: Origins turn moms into monsters and villains, generally due to unchecked grief or a desire for revenge. Very rarely, if ever, is a modern video game mom simply that—a mom.

That’s where EarthBound really stands out, as it shows the difference between where gaming’s idea of motherhood is today and where it once was. In EarthBound, Ness’ mother is alive, present, and always reachable. She is not put in the story to die, haunt him, or explain his trauma. She is there because Ness is a child, and she is his mother. It’s as simple as that, and today, video game moms like her are largely unheard of.

EarthBound Understands Motherhood Through the Ordinary

That doesn’t necessarily make one version of motherhood in gaming better than the other, though. Instead, it merely shows what has changed, and perhaps what has been lost, as storytelling has evolved. The death or absence of a character’s mother can make for a compelling story, and it can be just as compelling when a mother, who is generally viewed as a reliable, trustworthy giver of life, is transformed into a cold-blooded killer. Even so, EarthBound shows that a story can be just as powerful when it treats a mother’s ordinary presence as meaningful.

Instead of turning the concept of motherhood into an explosive story hook, EarthBound leans into the domestic details of a mother, showing her cooking Ness meals, being at home, answering the phone, letting him rest, and existing as part of the game’s suburban childhood texture. She isn’t important because the plot dramatically spotlights her. She is important because EarthBound is one of the rare games that understands ordinary motherhood can still contribute just as much to a story as something that opposes the idea.

EarthBound shows that a story can be just as powerful when it treats a mother’s ordinary presence as meaningful.

Where the “dadifcation” era of gaming has seen male protagonists learning how to be fathers again or for the first time, female characters have seemingly forgotten how to be mothers, or they simply aren’t allowed the chance. EarthBound, on the other hand, remembers that motherhood doesn’t need to be twisted, removed, or dramatized in order to matter. In a game where a child eventually faces cosmic evil, her ordinary maternal presence becomes one of EarthBound‘s most memorable ideas.

EarthBound Turns Homesickness Into a Real Obstacle

EarthBound doesn’t just treat Ness’ mom as a character either, as it puts her at the center of one of the game’s recurring mechanics. There is a random chance (depending on his level) that, after winning a battle, Ness will become homesick, which is announced via a message that reads “Ness is homesick.” When homesick, Ness has a 1 in 8 chance of losing his turn in battle because he is “thinking about his mother” or “missing his home.” To cure it, players can either call Ness’ mom on the phone or speak to her in person.

A mechanic like this was unheard of even a few years later, when 10-year-old trainers left their mom at home in Pokemon Red and Blue in 1998 without looking back. Essentially, the Homesick mechanic in EarthBound added a human element to the game that emphasized Ness’ youth and the fact that he was going on a long, perilous journey. Somehow, Pokemon treated 10-year-old kids like they were capable of making adult decisions and never thinking twice about being alone, all while EarthBound acknowledged a child’s need for the comfort only a mother can provide.

Interestingly enough, EarthBound is the American title for the Japanese game MOTHER 2 and is the second entry in a series directly inspired by the creator’s lack of a mother during childhood after his parents were divorced. In a Hobonichi conversation where creator Shigesato Itoi was asked directly about the relationship between MOTHER and motherhood, he said he had a longing for motherhood, then explained that because his parents divorced, he felt he had been “lacking” in relation to a mother and had spent his life practicing how to live without being conscious of one. He then says that because of this, he has both consciously and unconsciously been drawn toward that world and still carries it as a theme in what he does.

Somehow, Pokemon treated 10-year-old kids like they were capable of making adult decisions and never thinking twice about being alone, all while EarthBound acknowledged a child’s need for the comfort only a mother can provide.

In light of that, it makes sense that EarthBound would have a mechanic that ultimately stems from the protagonist’s longing for his mother, just like the longing of the game’s creator. Ness’ homesickness isn’t just a cute quirk or a clever way to interrupt combat, but a reflection of something much deeper within the series’ identity. EarthBound may be strange, funny, and surreal on the surface, but underneath all of that is a story that understands how powerful a mother’s presence can be, especially when it is felt most strongly in her absence.

EarthBound Knows Why Mothers Matter

That’s ultimately why EarthBound still feels so important now, especially as modern games continue finding new ways to complicate, remove, or darken the role of mothers in their stories. None of that is inherently wrong, and some of gaming’s most powerful stories have come from those choices, but EarthBound is a reminder that motherhood doesn’t always need to be tragic to mean something.

Sometimes, the most powerful mother in a story is the one who answers the phone, makes dinner, lets her child rest, and remains a constant source of comfort while the world outside grows stranger and more dangerous. In that sense, Ness’ mom isn’t memorable because she breaks from what motherhood is supposed to be, but because she reflects it so well.