A few months after the first MOTHER launched, in September 1989, publisher Shogakukan sold the MOTHER Strategy Guidebook filled with lots of fun art of the characters that you can find on our MOTHER Guidebook Art page and a walkthrough of the game. Thanks so much to Biozilla for sending in the scans of this book! You can find the complete scans on the Internet Archive. Shigesato Itoi was interviewed for this guidebook and revealed more details about the first game’s characters and plans for the whole series.

The following are translations of selected questions from an interview with Shigesato Itoi from the MOTHER Strategy Guidebook published by Shogakukan in 9/1989. This translation is by Kody NOKOLO. Please credit Mother Forever and Kody NOKOLO if you report on or repost these translations.

• Itoi notes that Ninten’s dog, Mick, is actually called “Milk” by his sister Minnie.
• He confirms that Ninten’s Dad is not present due to a “family matter.”
• The reason Pippi gets lost in the cemetery is because she loves playing outside with animals, and she eventually just got lost there at some point.
• Itoi confirms that Ninten has had PSI powers since he was very young, like Ness.
• When asked about how all the melodies were scattered across the world, Itoi said he couldn’t answer that since only Ninten’s great grandfather knows. And he says you probably can’t interview a singing monkey about it either.
• Itoi talks about how the team decided on what the main characters would be like. He says Ninten is like baseball player Shigeo Nagashima in his youth, Ana is a deceptively powerful psychic, Lloyd looks like author Ryotaro Shiba, and it seems like he jokes about Teddy’s gang affiliation by congratulating him on being elected as a member of the Japanese parliament. It’s important to note that Ninten’s name is actually mentioned by Itoi here, and it’s formatted in hiragana instead of the katakana used for his name today.
• And, in the final question, Itoi is asked what the idea for “Part 2” might be. Itoi says:
  “Actually, MOTHER was created two years ago as an idea for a trilogy. Right now in the creator’s head, the idea for a MOTHER 2 is in the process of being made. Haven’t decided yet.”

Interview with Itoi from MOTHER Strategy Guidebook by Shogakukan, 9/1989