Step into a Dimensional Slip: intermittent interludes in “MOTHER,” She Wrote’s journey – where Cat Blackard and Jessica Mudd speak with guests from a multitude of backgrounds and delve deeper into the themes, media, and fandom that make up the tapestry of the EarthBound experience.

The story of EarthBound is two-fold: the story within games and the story of their cultural impact – how they’ve shaped the world around them. In this Dimensional Slip, we’re examining the uncanny life of Kody NOKOLO, Webmaster of the fan site Mother Forever and Director at the game design studio, NOKOGODO. Theirs is a tale of how the MOTHER fandom expands and self-perpetuates across generations – while inspiring enthusiasts to create their own art, without boundaries. These games speak to their players – not just figuratively, but literally, and that’s become a reciprocal dialogue.

In this episode they discuss NOKOLO’s investigative origins in the modern MOTHER fandom, the phenomena of “MOTHERlike” games, the power of breaking the fourth wall, and how all these concepts are in conversation with their forthcoming game, GNOMONIC.

Take it from somebody who appreciates every single one, there’s nothing better than passionate fans. Gaming communities can run the gambit from welcoming to toxic, engaging to gatekeeping. Whenever people are around people, people will do people things.

The community surrounding Earthbound is unique in both its welcoming nature and wide variety of people involved. Over 30 years worth of fans populate sites like starmen.net and mother4ever.net. And they all have one thing in common: an overflowing love for an incredible series.

On this week’s episode A Gamer Looks At 40, Bill Tucker chats with three people representative of the community as a whole: a curator, a YouTube creator and a couple brought together by the power of an epic game franchise.

In February 2023, one of the Motherlike game developers that showcased their project in the Mother Direct, Oates, released their new game, Sorry, We’re Open! After getting hooked on the game and eventually completing it, I asked Oates a few questions about their experiences with MOTHER and the making of Sorry, We’re Open.

Lend an ear to Livvy94, ROM hacker and composer for SNES hacking projects! Learn about Livvy’s MOTHER history, experiences with PK Hack, and stories about composing for HS’s MOTHER Remake in the 2010s or creating hacks like MOTHER: Photographic Beginnings!

Rockin! Ferris and McThrillington have been hard at work composing and reimagining tracks for MOTHER Encore! Listen to how they discovered MOTHER, entered the community, and eventually started working on Encore and other projects like HYPERSOMINA!

Need pixel art or a game? Better call Benichi, artist and programmer for MOTHER Encore and co-creator of MOTHER: ROOTS! Hear about how he’s recently gotten involved with the MOTHER community and all these fan projects!

The final Motherlike indie interview of summer 2022 is with Andrew and Brian Allanson, creators of YIIK: A Postmodern RPG! Listen in on Kody NOKOLO’s discussion with them to learn more about how MOTHER influenced their lives and games.

It’s another Motherlike indie developer interview, this time with Austin Jorgensen, creator of LISA: The Painful! Hear about his perspective on the MOTHER series and about how the games influenced him and LISA.

The Motherlike indie developer interviews continue with Ryan Vandendyck of Eden Industries, creator of Citizens of Earth and Citizens of Space! Learn about Ryan’s history with the series and how he turned his dream of another MOTHER into reality!!

Next up in Kody NOKOLO’s series of Motherlike indie developer interviews is an interview with Kasey Ozymy, creator of Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass! Learn about Kasey’s experiences with MOTHER, game development, and his new SNES-inspired game coming soon!

In the first of a few interviews Kody NOKOLO is having with Motherlike indie developers of the past decade, they ask Toby Fox a few questions about his experiences with the MOTHER series!

Mother: Cognitive Dissonance, the legendary MOTHER fan game, released in 2009 and has had a following within the MOTHER community ever since. It was directed by “Handish2000,” otherwise known as “Otherhand!” We reached out to Otherhand to find out more about his experiences with the MOTHER series, with the MOTHER community, and with the development of Mother: Cognitive Dissonance (CogDis for short)!

We were really excited and happy to be able to interview Shane Mesa from the Oddity Team. He has made a lot of the music for the upcoming Oddity RPG inspired by EarthBound/Mother. In this interview we uncover a lot of inspirations and personal ideals regarding music. We also learned a great deal about the ODDITY project and what it meant meant for Shane in his musical career.