MOTHER 3i is a full album of medleys from MOTHER 3 composer Shogo Sakai, featuring his favorite tracks from the game. Unlike the physical album MOTHER 3+, none of the tracks are remastered or remade, they are more directly just simple, high quality versions of the original music. Shigesato Itoi introduced MOTHER 3i at an event in 2006 that was translated by Starmen.net.

MOTHER 3i was only ever available digitally, and it can still be found on the Japanese iTunes store along with other Japanese music distribution sites. The album was briefly available with a digital version of MOTHER 3+ on the American iTunes store, but both were unlisted as of around 2010. It also released with liner notes which can be found below, and with wallpapers you can find here. An emulated version of the MOTHER 3i booklet website is embedded below from the Internet Archive.

Artwork

This collection of sprite art was released along with Composer Shogo Sakai’s liner notes when MOTHER 3i launched in 2007.

Liner Notes

The following are a collection of DeepL machine translations edited by Moola#5699 on Discord, with more accurate traditional translations of the track titles by webmaster Kody NOKOLO.

On the release of “MOTHER 3i”
Shogo Sakai

The wonderful album title “MOTHER 3i” was given by Shigesato Itoi, just like “MOTHER 3+” a CD that was released recently.

According to Mr. Itoi, MOTHER 3+ was an album which included things and people outside of the game, “MOTHER 3.” We had Taeko Onuki sing some of the songs, members of Crazy Ken Band perform, and many outside staff including mixers and engineers helped us record them. Some of the songs on the album were written by Keiichi Suzuki and Hirokazu Tanaka, and in that sense, I think the album is a “+” to MOTHER 3.

But what is the meaning behind the “i” in “MOTHER 3i”? According to Mr. Itoi: “It’s the ‘i’ in ‘iPod’ and ‘iTunes,’ but above all, it’s the ‘I’ in the first person.”

“Who is the first person?” I asked. In short, he answered, “I mean you, Sakai.”

During the long development period (10 years!) of MOTHER 3, I, Sakai, wrote many songs for the game, all of which I arranged and mixed myself. In contrast to the “+” in MOTHER 3+, which indicates how open the album was to the outside world, the “i” represents an album that matured internally.

I worked on this project for about a month in the summer of 2006. Strangely enough, I never got stuck.

I think it was because of the concept of “i” that Mr. Itoi gave me.

Before this, I wondered what kind of music the audience would want to hear and I couldn’t settle on a song selection. But I gained motivation after Mr. Itoi chose the name and pushed me, saying, “You’re the one, Sakai.” “I see!” I realized, “I can make an album from my own perspective, featuring songs I like and I’m satisfied with!” I relaxed.

Therefore, the music selection for MOTHER 3i is a reflection of my own taste. If your favorite song isn’t included, I’m sorry!

Track 1: Welcome to the World of MOTHER 3 

Songs Included:

“Fun Naming”, “Welcome!”, “True Welcome!”

The first song to open the event is “Welcome!” I tried to make a medley with a welcoming feeling.

“Fun Naming”

The player plugs the game cartridge into the game machine, turns on the power, selects “NEW GAME,” and starts playing. We want to make sure that the player’s expectations are met at that moment. I wrote this song with the words of Hirokazu Tanaka (“MOTHER 2”) in mind. 

“Welcome!”

This is a song I wrote after Mr. Itoi instructed me, “Mr. Sakai, this part should be like the Beatles’ ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.’ It’s not because it’s a song like ‘Sgt. Pepper’s’, but because it’s a part like it.” This was a point of concern for me.

“True Welcome!”

This song is also known as “Welcome to the World of Porky”. Porky’s world is, as Mr. Itoi puts it, “…a strange place…like Las Vegas.” That’s why this song is so gorgeous and jazzy–I swung it in a Vegas direction.

Track 2: The Setting is Tazmily

Songs Included:

“LOG-O-TYPE”, “Something Strange is Going On!”, “Run, My Dog, Run!”

This is a medley of three pieces that are played in the village of Tazmily during the first half of the game.

“LOG-O-TYPE”

This is a song that acts as a doorway to the main story.

“Something Strange is Going On!”

This is the last song of the halcyon days of Tazmily. Even after hearing Leder’s story in Chapter 8, this theme continues to play as a reflection of Lucas’ spiritual growth.

“Run, My Dog, Run!”

This song is used in a very impressive scene in the first half of the game in which Boney leads Duster to the cliff. The scene ends, there’s silence for half a second, and then it’s back to the background music in the game. My job as a game musician is considering these details.

In these cutscenes, the graphics come first and the music is added in later (the exception being the D.C.M.C. performances). Wess’ dance, which appears later in the game, is a natural example.

Track 3: Twist and Battle 

Songs Included:

“Mr. Batty Twist”, “Rock and Roll (Mild)”, “Mischievous Blues”

A medley of the most lively and my personal favorite battle themes.

“Mr. Batty Twist”

I had to stop myself from playing along with the full-blown rock band sound–♪ teke teke teke!

To play this melody on guitar, you need something called a tremolo arm. My guitar is a semi-acoustic, so it doesn’t have one. I thought for a second that I could try it with a neck bend (a technique for bending pitch on a guitar without an arm), but I was afraid the neck would snap! I gave up immediately and had the synth play it for me. The guitar sound from the synth was plugged into a guitar amp, and the sound from the amp’s spring reverb (the cheesy sound is the secret) was recorded with a microphone. 

All that to say, I just can’t play such a difficult and fast melody unassisted.

“Rock and Roll (Mild)”

I wrote this song to celebrate Akihito Toda rejoining the MOTHER 3 team, who was working with me to develop the game for the Nintendo 64. He and I were in the same year in high school, and I have a memory of performing songs by Carol with him at our high school festival. I based this song on that memory.

“Mischievous Blues”

Mr. Akki Suzuki of Brownie Brown, who was in charge of planning battles and monsters, really liked this theme. I’m glad he did, but it’s not my favorite song and I didn’t think I could use it in any of my monster battles. But he wanted to use “Mischievous Blues” in every enemy encounter.

One day, I had to stick next to his seat and ask him to modify all the data. It’s a good memory for me now.

Track 4: Nothing Could Be Done

Songs Included:

“Confusion”, “Somewhere, Someday”, “Gentle Rain”

This is a medley of sad and sorrowful songs played in the first chapter. 

“Confusion”

This was one of the most difficult songs to write–what kind of music is supposed to play during a scene like this? But to play it on the piano… This is the least challenging piece in the game.

“Somewhere, Someday”

You may not notice at first, but the melody is a slowed-down version of the song from the first chapter when Flint goes to put out the forest fire. Throughout MOTHER 3, single melodic elements like this are expanded in various ways. I recommend playing the game from the perspective of looking for such elements.

“Gentle Rain”

This melody is the theme of natural disasters–rain, snow, volcanic eruptions, etc. I intended to use it in various situations. However, snow is “Snowman”, isn’t it? I forgot about that and wrote “White”, a song that now plays on the jukebox in a cafe at a highway parking area.

By the way, be sure to watch out for the “natural disaster” at the end of the game where, incidentally, the melody is still present.

Track 5: I Don’t Like Mambos

Translator’s note: This title in Japanese seems like an intentional reference to the Japanese title for the song “I Don’t Like Mondays” by The Boomtown Rats.

Songs Included:

“Mambo de Battle”, “And El Mariachi”

This is a collection of Latin American-style battle songs.

I was conscious of the fact that Latin elements were also incorporated into the Fourside background music of MOTHER 2. MOTHER 3 had a very long development period, and I was able to trace the history of my musical hobbies and interests to that era.

“Mambo de Battle”

I composed this song when I was listening to salsa and mambo a lot. This genre of music is characterized by the fact that the bass jumps ahead of the other instruments by an eighth note. I thought this might make the rhythm-based battle a little more difficult.

“And El Mariachi”

This is a song from when I was into tango.

Track 6: Theme of Duster

Songs Included:

“Sorrowful Tazmily”, “Morning Already,” “Mind of a Thief”

“Sorrowful Tazmily”

This is a ballad based on Duster’s theme. The scene in the first chapter in front of the jail and the beginning of the second chapter are told from Duster’s perspective. I like the way the melody is the same when the story is told through the same protagonist.

“Morning Already”

A short song was inserted as a connecting part. I used the scene at the beginning of MOTHER 2, the dawn after the meteorite incident when Ness first leaves his house, as reference. I love that scene.

“Mind of a Thief”

The title of each song in the sound player was given by the aforementioned Mr. Toda. I like the name “Mind of a Thief”. By the way, the instrumental sound that Duster makes when he attacks in battle is…

Of course! The electric bass. Flint plays the saxophone, a “masculine” instrument. Kumatora plays a guitar run through an effect pedal called a Cry Baby. Lucas is a natural, clean guitar. Salsa is a percussion instrument called a cuica. I digress.

Track 7: In Osohe Castle

Songs Included:

“Ragtime Osohe”, “Osohe Castle”, “Etude for Ghosts”

“Ragtime Osohe”

In the tense atmosphere of Osohe Castle, this is the room where you can take a break.

“I’ve got a little mole on my back

Even though I’ve forgotten my tiny mole…”

I tried to sing this message by Mr. Itoi to this song.

Of course, I couldn’t get the words right, could I?

“Osohe Castle”

A change from bright ragtime piano, this is an eerie piece written for strings. In the first loop, the thin lines of the string quartet make it even more scary. The second loop is an ensemble with more strings.

In the game, the same song is played in the Chimera Laboratory, but this time the arrangement is changed so that the song resonates on the tiled floor and the hard concrete walls.

“Etude for Ghosts”

This is a piano-only piece that I played myself. However, I’ve managed to cheat with modern technology. I play it at a very slow tempo and then increase the tempo. Someday, I’d like to hear this “live”, at full tempo, as an audience member. I hope to make friends with a skilled pianist and have him play it for me. 

Track 8: Funky Monkey Dance 

Songs Included:

“Chapter 3”, “A Monkey’s Love Song”, “Open Sesame Tofu!”, “Monkey’s Delivery Service”

“Chapter 3” – “A Monkey’s Love Song”

I use a lot of accordion in my background music for Salsa. This may be my own personal feeling, and I wish I could explain it to you better…

When I was in elementary school, I heard a rumor.

“Hey! Have you heard?

When you go into the fitting room of a French clothing store, the mirror spins around and you’re dropped down a dark hole! Then you’re taken by kidnappers and sold to the circus.”

It was a lie, of course, but the innocent schoolchildren who believed the story were shaken up. I became very scared of France.

For some reason, when I hear the sound of an accordion, I think of France, and the sadness and wistfulness of being forced to work in the circus. Now can you see why I use accordion in my Salsa themes?

“Open Sesame Oil!” – “Open Sesame Tofu!”

I must apologize for these two songs, since I feel like my arrangement lacks a sense of urgency. I’m not sure, but it may be because I’m using a synthesizer.

The MOTHER 3i tracks were created using synthesizers and other instruments that are capable of producing an arbitrary amount of sounds. Meanwhile, this scene in the game is on the edge of the CPU’s processing capacity (the heart of the Game Boy Advance), and the number of sound channels is at the maximum value. In other words, the limits of the console are being pushed, and we’re only playing Wess’ dance scene. 

The CPU is screaming at the last possible moment, and I can’t help but think it’s trying to tell the player something–the latest in technology is fighting a losing battle.

…Game Boy ”Advance”?!

“Monkey’s Delivery Service”

This piece utilizes a compositional structure called a fugue. You could imagine it as a round chorus like “♪ I can hear the frogs singing… ♪”

The oboe sings the melody, the flute follows, and the clarinet follows after that. Salsa can walk alone at this point. The melody should be free, but it is always being followed by something.

That’s the feeling I tried to express with the fugue.

Track 9: Oh! Pigmasks 

Songs Included:

“Piggy Guys”, “Unfounded Revenge”

“Piggy Guys” — “Unfounded Revenge”

Once you hear the “oink!” of the Pigmasks, you’ll be hooked, won’t you? The sound effects for MOTHER 3 were created by Masaaki Iwasaki, who I’ve been working with for the past 20 years. 

I wanted to write a song to fit those sound effects, but it wasn’t so easy. Of course, the Pigmasks are a formidable enemy, but for some reason, I can’t bring myself to hate them. I’ve tried to create a song that captures that subtle feeling.

Track 10: Memory of Tazmily 

Songs Included:

“Happy Town?”, “And Then There Were None”

“Happy Town?”

I had to make the player think, “Tazmily has changed!” the moment this song comes on. I wanted to contrast the good old days of Tazmily with the convenience and technological progress of Tazmily. How do I express that in music?

If you’re playing for the first time and you’re like, “Oh? I feel like the atmosphere has changed…” If you can feel it for even a moment, I’ll be very happy.

“And Then There Were None”

The melody of the song “Happy Town?” is applied to the depopulation of Tazmily. When I listen to it in the fall, it really soaks in…

Track 11: With a Magypsy 

Songs Included:

“Pink Shell”, “Magypsy’s Home, Sweety-Pie”

“Pink Shell”

Out of all the characters in MOTHER 3, I like the Magypsies the best. I can’t get enough of their “Let It Be” way of life.

What’s the garden like by the pink shell where the Magypsies live? I have an image of a Norwegian forest, or perhaps a lakeside with fog in Scandinavia.

“Magypsy’s Home, Sweety-Pie”

The baroque atmosphere is rich, elegant, and languid. But then a vulgar and masculine tenor saxophone intervenes. This unlikely combination is the main characteristic of this piece. In a sense, it’s a Chimera of music.

In the game, however, when the Magypsy’s body disappears, the tenor sax disappears and only the languid and elegant baroque part remains.

Grandpa Alec said the Magypsies were “neither a man nor a woman”… If the tenor saxophone disappears, then… I won’t continue that thought.

Track 12: Do Not Disturb 

Songs Included:

“Astonishing March”, “Wasteful Anthem”, “Formidable Foe”, “Intense Guys”

“Astonishing March”

Let’s start with the first theme—piccolo (a very high-pitched flute) and tuba (very low-pitched brass). In the middle of the track, the string section crawls up. 

At first, I thought I could make it through the middle of the battle, but I was soon forced to retreat. I can’t stand these monsters. They’re just like, “Don’t bother me.”

“Wasteful Anthem”

The first half of the song sounds scary. At the end, I added a lovely flute accompaniment. It’s like a little bird chirping, and it only makes it scarier. The sweetness of oshiruko is enhanced by adding a little bit of salt.

“Formidable Foe”

One day, I was talking with a graduate of the percussion department at the University of the Arts.

“What kind of music is challenging for someone who plays the timpani?” I asked him.

“The chorus of Beethoven’s Ninth,” I think he said, “It’s really exciting, it burns.”
It was an unexpected answer. Beethoven’s Ninth isn’t a display of technique featuring a bunch of timpani kettles. It doesn’t have that many notes. But if you ask me, it’s true that in the fast movement, the “Scherzo”, there are parts that seem to be burning.

“Well, okay! I’ll write a piece that makes the timpani players burn!” So I wrote this song.

“Intense Guys”

In a sense, it’s magnificent to hear four allegro pieces together like this. I’d like to say “kudos” to the enemy.

Track 13: Flowers 

Songs Included:

“Shower Time Ballad”, “Letter From You, My Sweet”, “Mother?!”

“Shower Time Ballad”

This is one of my favorite songs. This song and the other one, “Quite the River,” are the ones I like most. But they don’t get much attention, and people don’t remember them because they only appear once throughout the game. Don’t worry about it though, I’ve received words of consolation from the people around me.

Well, anyway…

Please enjoy my favorite song!

“Letter From You, My Sweet”

Hinawa sends a letter with a dove, which Bateau passes on to Flint. Hmm? I thought I was missing something—there’s no rain in the background. The power of sound effects and environmental sounds is immense.

Try listening to this song on a rainy day.

“Mother?!”

A plateau covered with sunflowers. The sky is clear and crisp.

But I wanted to express a feeling of emptiness. If you have the CD of MOTHER 3+, please listen to this song while opening the case.

Track 14: Theme of a Bad Boy 

Songs Included:

“Porky’s Porkies”, “Master Porky’s Theme”, “Memories of Battle”

“Porky’s Porkies”

This song imitates the sound of the NES. It’s commonly known as the “pico-pico” sound. I was surprised to find that more people were touched by this sound than I expected—everyone really likes it! 

It’s easy to recreate this sound on the Game Boy Advance, since the source that produces the “bleeping” is built into the console itself.

However, imitating this sound with my current computer and synthesizer equipment is a painstaking task. There are some magazines that specialize in desktop music; I’m sure you’ve heard of projects like “Recreating the sound of the NES”. You can follow the recipe, but you won’t be able to capture the sound of a real NES.

That said, I had planned not to cover this song for MOTHER 3i, but one person insisted on its inclusion. So I changed my plan to dedicate it to him. That person is Mr. Kofuku from Nintendo, who was a strong driving force behind MOTHER 3. Thank you very much for your support.

But boy, was it hard to reproduce that classic sound.

“Master Porky’s Theme”

This is a long song. It can be divided into a fast-paced first half and a slow-paced second half—actually, the tempo remains at 150 BPM the entire time, but you get the impression of a change in pace.

It’s no surprise that Porky’s theme takes the melody in the first half. However, the melody in the latter half of the piece is the same as the melody in “Monkey Delivery Service” and “Fairies”. There was a person who asked me a very in-depth question. They must have played a lot of MOTHER 3, and I couldn’t lie to such a hardcore fan so I answered honestly.

“To tell you the truth, I still have leftovers from the Nintendo 64 days. When we announced the cancellation of development for the N64 on the Almost Daily page, we made it possible to listen to the theme music of Tazmily Village. That’s the melody you hear.”

And he said, “Oh, I loved that song. Why didn’t you use it?”

Again, I answered candidly.

“I did want to use it, for financial reasons. I wanted to use what I could rather than create new songs for the GBA version; in fact, several versions of this song were ported to the device. But when I heard it in-game, it felt too slow and leisurely and didn’t fit. Even increasing the tempo didn’t work. The impression from the spacious N64 screen is different from the impression from the size of the Advance screen—in other words, the game screen naturally chooses the songs for me.”

How did that song get mixed into the battle with Porky? I can’t really explain it myself. In the long history of MOTHER 3, some things get lost for no reason at all. That’s all I can say.

“Memories of Battle”

I tried to make a medley where memories of the past run around like the projections of a revolving lantern over the static beat of a drum machine. 

“Mischievous Blues, “Audacious March”, “Etude for Ghosts,” “Battle with Mecha-Drago”, “Tragic Reconstruction”, “Piggy Guys”, and “Intense Guys”.

In the end, it runs out of energy and collapses.

Track 15: From the City at the End of the Road

Songs Included:

“Isn’t This Such a Utopia?!”, “Suspicious Flying Object”, “His Highness’ Theme”, “Memory of Life”

“Isn’t This Such a Utopia?!”

I wrote a noisy and chaotic song to fit New Pork City, a place full of lies and obscenity. 

Let me tell you a little about the inner workings of game production. Initially, there were more sounds in this song. However, as development progressed, more and more objects were placed in the city and more were displayed on screen at one time. CPU processing slowed down and the background music suffered as a result, so one by one sounds were pruned from the track like a crane plucking its own feathers.

“Isn’t This Such a Utopia?!” was chipped away at endlessly, a bone of contention that I barely managed to have my way with. I included it in MOTHER 3i as a testament to my own struggle.

“Suspicious Flying Object”

That’s Porky’s “car”. I would hate to see something like this flying in the sky. 

This song seemed to have quite an impact, so the effect was worth the memory consumption.

What do I mean by “memory consumption”? This song is streamed. It’s a bit technical, but streamed audio is like an MP3 of the song in the game. The audio was pre-processed to sound like the speakers of a street car and it can be played back as is within the game. Streaming audio takes up a lot of memory, which is why most songs in the game were sequenced.

…What’s a sequence? I’m sorry, but if you want to know more about this, please do your own research!

“His Highness’ Theme”

This song was written in the early stages of development.

“Mr. Sakai,” Mr. Itoi told me, “I want you to write a theme for Porky.”

“What kind of song would it be?”

“It’s as if a dictator forced a genius composer to write his anthem. It sounds bold and brave, but somewhat distorted because it was contrived from duress. There’s a little bit of enka in it,” he added.

At the time, Stalin jumped to mind, and the contemporary Soviet composer was Shostakovich. In fact, he was forced to write the oratorio “Song of the Forest” in praise of Stalin. 

I wasn’t forced to do anything, and I enjoyed writing Porky’s theme. That’s far from the reality of dictatorship.

There’s one more thing I’d like to add. A separate theme is hidden within this song, hearkening back to Porky’s taunting departure at the end of MOTHER 2—the bridge of His Highness’ Theme is a corruption of the melody of “Because I Love You”, which plays after defeating Giygas. I was sad to hear that this was not talked about as much as expected.

…Speaking of which, I’d like to mention one more thing (sorry, I’m getting further and further away from MOTHER 3i!). There’s a song in MOTHER 3 called “War of the Words”, which you can listen to in the game’s sound player, number 194. This song is all about verbal insults, and I actually sang lyrics to it but it doesn’t sound that way, unfortunately. 

“Mr. Saturn’s ribbon is a bow tie,

He has a big fat nose and long whiskers”

I sang. It’s as if the Pigmasks are saying “Your mom is an outie!” to the captive Mr. Saturns, so to speak. 
Note:  “One of the meanest things one Japanese child can say to another is… ‘Your mom’s belly button sticks out”…it simply means that your mother is uncouth and ugly. The Japanese are big on navel terminology, for you can dismiss someone as a crank by saying that he has ‘a bent belly button.'”
From New York Times

I hope you’ll start up the game and listen to it again.

“Memory of Life”

The last song in the main game, and the last song in MOTHER 3i. I joined the MOTHER 3 team on November 12, 1996, and on November 21, 2006, I wrote this liner to conclude MOTHER 3.

I hope you liked this soundtrack. I really wish that Keiichi Suzuki and Hirokazu Tanaka could have joined us in the creation of MOTHER 3. However, I’m honored to have scored the final installation in the MOTHER series. I was in charge, and I accepted the weight of that responsibility. I did my best, and I’m sure there are things I didn’t do well.

By Mr. Itoi, and by his words.

I have come this far. Thank you very much.

With the help of Mr. Iwata and the people at Nintendo.

I have come this far. Thank you very much.

I would like to thank the creators of the first MOTHER and MOTHER 2. Thank you to everyone at HAL Laboratory and Creatures, Inc. who helped develop MOTHER 3 for the Nintendo 64, and everyone at Brownie Brown who brought it back to life on the Game Boy Advance.

And thank you to everyone who took the time to play with it.

Thank you very much.

And finally, to quote Aeolia, my favorite Magypsy…

I’m simply going to follow fate and disappear.

So it will be a happy thing.

I do have many fond memories though, so it will be a little sad, too… hehehe.